Omega's Rebirth Story

2 The Festival Of Lies

Chapter 2: The Festival of Lies**

"You can either walk out, save your dignity and leave your brother to die in the hand of the rogues. Or you can come here, lie down on your back, do the needful, and your brother would be saved."

The words wouldn't stop.

They circled Morwenna's skull like vultures, picking at her, tearing strips from her sanity. She stood in the center of the festival grounds, surrounded by faces she had known her entire life, and every single one of them was looking at her like she was something foul stuck to the bottom of a shoe.

"You can either walk out... or you can lie down on your back..."

She had made her choice. She had thought it was the right one. And now, standing here with the afternoon sun beating down on her head and the weight of a hundred accusatory stares pressing against her chest, she realized she had never had a choice at all.

---

The morning had started with light.

A thin, sharp streak of sunlight had slipped through the tiny bathroom window and landed directly across Morwenna's face. She woke with a gasp, her body jerking upright before her mind caught up. The cold from the stone floor had seeped into her bones overnight, and every joint screamed as she moved. Her neck was stiff. Her back was raw. Her legs felt like they belonged to someone else.

She had slept on the bathroom floor. She had cried herself unconscious on the cold, unforgiving stone, and no one had found her. No one had come looking. The realization settled over her like a second skin, familiar and miserable.

The soap she hadn't rinsed off had dried on her body in sticky, flaking patches. It clung to the raw wounds on her arms and thighs, stinging where the skin was still open. Morwenna forced herself to stand, gripping the edge of her bucket for support, noticing the water unsuitability immediately, and turned the cold water tap. She scrubbed quickly this time—not the frantic, desperate scrubbing of the night before, but a mechanical, empty motion. Get the soap off. Get the dried blood off. Get dressed. Move.

She didn't look at herself in the cracked mirror above the sink. She didn't want to see what was looking back.

The guards were filing in as she was leaving. Big men, broad-shouldered, still shaking off sleep. Some of them threw her questioning looks—what was the Omega doing in the guards' bathroom at dawn? Others didn't bother with questions and went straight to disgust, their noses wrinkling as she passed. She kept her head down. She was used to disgust.

The hallway that had been empty the night before was now alive with bodies. Servants hurried past with armfuls of decorations. Betas shouted orders. Children darted between legs, squealing with excitement. The entire packhouse was buzzing with preparation for the Festival of Mates.

Morwenna had been excited about it once. The Festival was the most important day of the year—a sacred celebration where every wolf who had turned eighteen, or was about to turn eighteen, would present themselves to the pack. The Moon Goddess would open the mate bonds, and wolves would find their other halves. It was supposed to be beautiful. Romantic. The day every young wolf dreamed about.

Today was also Morwenna's birthday.

She was eighteen. Today, she was supposed to feel the bond snap into place. Today, she was supposed to look across the festival grounds and see her mate looking back at her, and everything was supposed to make sense. All the suffering, all the loneliness, all the years of being treated like nothing—it was all supposed to be worth it when her mate claimed her.

What if he doesn't?

She pushed the thought away. Hard. Violently. She shoved it into the same dark corner where she had buried the memory of Kael's hands on her body, his weight, his grunting. She couldn't think about that. She wouldn't.

She made it to her tiny room and closed the warped door behind her. The thin dress she had worn the night before was ruined, so she pulled out her only other garment—a simple, faded blue dress that had belonged to her mother. It was too loose in some places and too tight in others, but it was clean. It would have to do.

Nothing is going to go wrong, she told herself as she smoothed down the fabric. Nothing. Today is going to be a good day. I'm going to find my mate. He's going to choose me. And after today, everything will be better.

She said it like a prayer. She said it like she could make it true just by wanting it hard enough.

---

Now, hours later, standing in the festival grounds with the taste of bile in her throat, Morwenna realized how foolish she had been.

The Festival had started beautifully. The pack had gathered in the great clearing beyond the packhouse, where lanterns hung from every tree and ribbons in the pack colors—black and silver—fluttered in the warm breeze. The elders had spoken the sacred words. The Moon Goddess had been invoked. And then the mate bonds had begun to snap into place.

One by one, wolves found each other. A young she-wolf from the warrior class locked eyes with a blacksmith's apprentice, and the bond flared between them like visible lightning. They had run to each other, laughing, crying, and the pack had cheered. Another pairing. Another. The air grew thick with the scent of joy and arousal and relief. Couples embraced. Families wept with happiness. The festival grounds became a tapestry of everything Morwenna had ever wanted.

And she stood alone.

She had positioned herself at the edge of the clearing, near the old oak tree where her parents used to sit during festivals. She had waited. She had watched. She had felt the minutes crawl past like hours, and with every new bond that formed, the hope inside her withered a little more.

Maybe he's shy. Maybe he's looking for me. Maybe he'll come.

Another bond snapped. A girl younger than Morwenna—seventeen, not even officially of age yet—shrieked with joy as a tall Beta pulled her into his arms. The pack roared its approval.

Morwenna's hands began to tremble.

What if the scrubbing didn't work? What if he can smell Kael on me? What if he senses what I did and he's disgusted?

The self-loathing thoughts that had been circling all morning found their way back to her. They settled in her chest like stones.

What if I don't have a mate at all? What if the Moon Goddess looked at me and decided I wasn't worth the trouble? What if I end up mateless, packless, nothing? What happens to Omegas who no one claims?

She had heard stories about that too. Mateless wolves were pitied at best and exiled at worst. A wolf with no bond was a wolf with no purpose. They became servants. Beggars. Bodies found in rivers with no one to mourn them.

The festival continued. The sun climbed higher. And Morwenna Blackthorn remained alone.

---

"Well, it seems it's only Morwenna left."

The voice cut through the noise of the crowd like a blade through silk. Female. Sweet. Poisonous.

Morwenna's head snapped up.

The speaker was a woman she recognized—Lyra, one of the Alpha's personal aides. She was beautiful in the way a snake was beautiful, all sleek hair and sharp cheekbones and eyes that glittered with malice. She stood among the Alpha's entourage, her arm linked through another aide's, and she was smiling directly at Morwenna.

"No mate for her," Lyra continued, her voice carrying across the suddenly quiet clearing. "I can't say I'm surprised, though. Not after what she did."

The crowd shifted. Faces turned. Whispers began to ripple outward like stones dropped in still water.

Morwenna's stomach dropped.

"Considering she seduced the Alpha and had her way with him," Lyra said, each word precise and deliberate, "if I were her mate, I wouldn't claim her either. Who would want a cheap w***e for a bond-mate?"

The word hit Morwenna like a physical blow. *Whore.* It echoed across the clearing, and the whispers exploded into gasps. People stepped back from her. People she had grown up with, worked alongside, served—they all recoiled as if she had suddenly grown scales.

"That's not—" Morwenna's voice came out broken, barely audible. "That's not what happened."

Her eyes found Kael.

He stood at the center of the Alpha's entourage, dressed in ceremonial black and silver. His face was a mask of perfect, practiced neutrality. No emotion. No recognition. But his eyes—his eyes were something else entirely. They held a glint that was almost playful. Evil coiled in their depths like a serpent waiting to strike.

Morwenna begged him with her gaze. She poured everything she had into that silent plea. Tell them. Tell them the truth. Tell them what you did. Tell them I didn't seduce you. Tell them you forced me. Tell them about Liam. Tell them. Please. Please.

Kael's expression didn't change.

The memory crashed over her, vivid and drowning.

The guard had come to her room yesterday afternoon. Not the same guard who usually delivered orders to the servants—this one was higher-ranked, a Beta with cold eyes and a permanent sneer. "The Alpha wants to see you," he had said. "Now."

She had spent the rest of the day wondering why. Alpha Kael had never summoned her before. He probably didn't even know her name. What could he possibly want with an Omega servant?

Hours later, the same guard had returned. His face had been harder this time. Angrier. "The Alpha expected you immediately," he had snarled. "Do you think his time is worth nothing?"

"I—I was going to come, I just—"

He hadn't let her finish. His hand had closed around her arm like a vise, and he had dragged her through the corridors, up the stairs, past the painted portraits of former Alphas, until they reached the heavy oak door of Kael's chambers.

She had stood in front of him, trembling, her mind racing through every possible reason for this summons. Had she done something wrong? Had someone accused her of something? Was she being punished?

"What—" she had started. "Why did you call for me, Alpha?"

Kael had been lounging in a chair by the window, a glass of amber liquid in his hand. He had looked at her the way a cat looks at a mouse it's about to toy with.

"My little friend down there is itching," he had said, gesturing vaguely toward his lap. "I need you to take care of it."

It had taken a moment for the words to register. When they did, disgust had flooded through her—hot, immediate, overwhelming. She had turned on her heel, her hand already reaching for the door handle.

"I think I didn't make myself clear enough."

Kael's voice had been lazy. Almost bored. But something in it had stopped her cold.

"Your brother is currently in the hands of rogues. Nasty bunch, from what my scouts tell me. Very enthusiastic about their work." He had paused, letting the words sink in. "So here's the situation. You can either walk out, save your dignity, and leave your brother to die in the hand of the rogues. Or you can come here, lie down on your back, do the needful, and your brother would be saved. Your pick."

She had turned back to face him. "I don't believe you."

Kael had smiled. Then he had produced his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and held it up for her to see.

The footage was grainy but unmistakable. Liam—her Liam, her baby brother, the boy she had raised and fed and protected—was on his knees in a dark room. His face was swollen. Blood dripped from a cut above his eye. Men she didn't recognize circled him, laughing, and one of them drew back a fist and—

She had looked away. She couldn't watch.

"This footage was sent to me by one of my scouts," Kael had said, rising from his chair. He walked toward her slowly, each step deliberate, until he was close enough that she could feel his breath on her ear. "So now you know I'm being truthful. Your pick, little Omega."

Sadness. Disgust. Horror. They had all crashed into her at once, a tidal wave of emotion that left her gasping. But beneath all of it, there was only one thought that mattered: *Liam.*

"Fine," she had whispered.

Her fingers had trembled so badly she couldn't work the buttons. The dress had stuck to her skin, and she had fumbled with it, tears already burning at the corners of her eyes, and Kael had watched her struggle with growing impatience.

"You're wasting time," he had growled.

And then his hands had been on her, ripping the fabric, and he had taken her before the dress even reached the ground.

---

Now, standing in the festival grounds with the entire pack staring at her, Morwenna felt that same helplessness crash over her again.

"That's not true," she whispered. Her voice was barely audible, a ghost of sound. "That's not what happened."

The crowd didn't hear her. Or if they did, they didn't care.

"You're lying," she said, louder this time. "I didn't—he—"

She looked at Kael again. His face was still that perfect, terrible mask. But his eyes—his eyes were laughing at her.

"Tell them!" The words tore out of her throat, raw and desperate. She was screaming now, tears streaming down her face, her whole body shaking. "Tell them what really happened! Tell them the truth! Please! Please!"

Kael didn't move.

Lyra tilted her head, a mockery of sympathy on her beautiful face. "Are you accusing the Alpha of lying?" She let the question hang in the air, letting the implication sink its teeth into the crowd. "Would it be so hard to accept the truth, Morwenna? To agree that having no mate is a punishment from the Moon Goddess herself?"

The crowd murmured its agreement. Faces that had been shocked were now hardening into anger. How dare she? How dare the Omega accuse their Alpha of dishonesty? How dare she stand there and play the victim?

"Or," Lyra continued, her smile widening, "do you want us to provide evidence? We have proof, Morwenna. We have witnesses who saw you enter the Alpha's chambers last night. We have testimony that you were the one who pursued him. That you drugged him. That you threw yourself at him like the desperate little w***e you are."

Morwenna's knees buckled. She caught herself, barely, one hand pressed against the rough bark of the oak tree.

Witnesses. Testimony. Evidence.

They had planned this. All of it. The guard who dragged her to Kael's room.The accusation. It was a trap, and she had walked right into it, and now there was no way out.