Contract Marriage To Alpha Elias: An Omega’s Fate

CHAPTER 002

Rowan's POV

Elias's words were like a lightning strike. The question; raw, furious and almost pleading hung between us, unanswered.

His mouth was still so close I could feel the heat of it on my lips, the faint shake in his breath. His hand gripped the back of my neck, fingers running through my hair, as if letting go would break something we didn't understand.

For a moment, time stopped. His gold eyes burned into mine, their pupils so big that they looked like a wolf and a human fighting over the same gaze. I could feel his heart beating fast when his chest pressed to my chest, the way his body coiled like it was fighting every urge to close that final inch.

Then he hesitated.

Elias pulled back and let out a choked growl that sounded more like pain than anger. His hand fell off my neck like it was on fire. He rolled away so fast the mattress dipped, leaving a cold space between us.

He didn’t speak again or look at me. He just lay on his side, shoulders rigid, breathing slowly and deeply, like a man trying to hold back a storm in his lungs.

I stayed still on my back and stared at the dark ceiling. My lips were tingly from how close we were, and my heart was pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it. My scent was still in the air, but it was weak and betrayed, responding to his without permission. His pine-smoke power pressed down on me harder than ever, claiming me without touching me.

That night, neither of us moved again.

I finally fell asleep, but it was short and jerky, pulling me under against my will.

The next morning, I woke to the weight of an arm around my waist and the steady rise and fall of a chest pressed to my back. For a few seconds, I forgot where I was and why my heart was racing so fast.

There was a strong, warm scent around me that made me feel safe, even though my mind was screaming that this was dangerous—because comfort was not the same as choice, and I had learned that lesson far too early in life.

Elias was still asleep behind me, his grip firm even in sleep, as if his wolf did not trust the world enough to let me go. The thought made my chest tighten in a way I did not want to name.

Carefully, I tried to move, afraid that if I woke him, I would see that same distant look again—the one that told me I was only here because I fit a shape someone else had left behind.

Instead, his arm tightened and pulled me closer with a quiet sound in his throat. His face pressed into the curve of my neck as his scent flared without warning, rich and heavy, filling the space between us.

My breath hitched, my body reacting before my mind could catch up, and I felt a strange pull deep inside my chest—not painful but sharp, like something waking after a long sleep.

“Elias,” I whispered, unsure if I wanted him to wake or not.

He stirred then, his breath changing, his grip loosening just enough for me to turn. When he opened his eyes, the gold in them was already bright and awake, as if he had never really slept.

As we stared at each other for a moment, the space between our faces felt small and dangerous and I saw something in his expression that made my stomach twist: not softness or warmth, but deep, unsolved conflict.

“You should not react to me like that,” he said finally, his voice low and controlled, though the scent filling the room said something else.

“I didn’t mean to,” I replied, pushing myself up slightly, needing space even as my body was fighting it. “I don’t understand why this is happening.”

He looked down at my neck for a moment, then quickly looked away again, his jaw tightening like he was holding something back.

“That makes two of us,” he said, and swung his legs over the side of the bed, putting distance between us suddenly that the absence felt loud.

The rest of the morning passed in a careful silence, filled with small movements and unspoken rules, as if we were both pretending that nothing unusual had happened while thinking about nothing else.

At breakfast, the long table felt colder than the night before, the servants avoiding my eyes as they moved around us, while Elias sat at the head of the table with his shoulders tense. He looked around the room and then back to me.

"You will attend the gathering with me in the evening," he finally said in a calm but firm voice.

"The pack wants to see you next to me."

My fingers tightened around my cup, heat crawling up my arms at the thought of so many eyes, so many comparisons and whispers that would follow me like shadows.

“If you want me there,” I said carefully, “then I will come.”

Something flickered across his face at that moment, not anger or approval, but something closer to guilt, and it made my chest ache in a way I couldn't explain.

The gathering was worse than I thought it would be, the air thick with scent and sound, and as we walked in, wolves turned to look at us. Their eyes were sharp, curious, and at same time mean, like they were holding me against a memory they wouldn't let go of.

I stayed close to Elias, not because he asked me to, but because the moment I stepped even slightly away, the space around me felt unstable, like the ground itself did not know how to hold me.

We were followed by whispers, and I heard my brother's name more than once, each time feeling like a small cut I had learned to deal with without bleeding.

Then something changed.

As Elias spoke with the elders, their voices low and tense, I felt it again, that pull in my chest again. This time it was stronger, and it spread out in slow waves that made the air feel thick and strange.

The wolves nearest to me went still, their heads lifting as if they were listening to something they could not hear, and a murmur rippled through the crowd, confusion spreading fast.

Elias turned sharply, his eyes locking onto me as his scent surged, sharp and alarming.

“Rowan,” he said, stepping closer, his voice tight. “What is happening to you?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered, my hands pressing to my chest as the pull deepened, it wasn't pain or fear, but pressure, like something pushing against a door that had been shut for too long.

The murmurs grew louder, wolves shifting uneasily, and I was shocked to learn that they weren't reacting to Elias, but to me.

Elder Marcus, one of the pack elders, looked at us with a sharp, calculated look in his eyes, and the moment our eyes met, I felt a cold certainty settle in my stomach.

Before I could say anything, Elias moved in front of me and used his body as a shield, his voice cutting through the noise as he said, “Enough. This gathering is over.”

The elders hesitated, the pack was restless, and the air felt tense and like it was on the verge of something dangerous.

Marcus smiled then, slow and knowing before saying calmly, “Alpha, are you sure you know what you brought into your den?”

Elias tensed up, and his body twisted like a predator ready to rip Marcus apart.

The pull in my chest got stronger and louder, spreading through me like flames through threads I couldn't see. The wolves nearby stopped moving and snapped their heads toward me with their eyes wide and unblinking. The crowd let out a low whine, and the uncertainty turned into something primal and obedient.

Marcus’s smile never wavered. Elias stepped in front of me, his body like a wall, his scent exploding with fury and fear.

But the pressure inside me wouldn't go away. It pushed outward and begged to be let go.

I locked my eyes with Marcus, my voice cracking like glass under stress:

“What the hell have you done to me?!” I demanded.