Episode 3 – The Public Truth
1211 Words
The moment we stepped fully into the lantern light, I felt it.
The shift in the air.
The pull of attention.
The weight of dozens—no, hundreds—of gazes snapping toward us at once.
Music faltered.
Laughter thinned.
Whispers flared like sparks through dry brush.
I had walked through this courtyard all my life as a ghost. Tonight, every eye followed me as if I were standing at the center of the bonfire instead.
Kael’s hand hovered at the small of my back—not touching, not fully withdrawn. A warning to the pack as much as to me.
Do not approach.
Do not assume.
Do not yet.
My heart beat so violently it hurt.
“What’s happening?” someone murmured.
“Why is the Alpha bringing her out of the forest?”
“She smells different…”
That was the worst part.
The scent.
It was no longer just mine.
It was tangled with his.
Warm pine and storm wrapped around winter blood.
Mate scent.
Even the dullest wolf could recognize it.
Beta Mara was the first to push through the crowd.
Her sharp eyes went straight to me, narrowing as if she’d caught me in some forbidden act.
“What is this?” she demanded, eyes flicking to Kael. “Why was the Omega outside the grounds unescorted?”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“She was in the forest alone.”
A ripple of shock moved through the crowd.
“Alone?” one warrior scoffed. “On Solstice night?”
“Has she lost her mind?”
I shrank instinctively, every old instinct screaming at me to drop my gaze, to apologize, to make myself smaller.
But Kael spoke again, his voice steel.
“She was not supposed to be.”
Mara’s gaze sharpened. “And yet she was. Which means discipline is required.”
Fear wrapped icy claws around my spine.
“No,” Kael said.
The word thundered.
The courtyard fell into dead silence.
Mara blinked, clearly unused to being openly corrected. “Alpha?”
“She will not be punished,” Kael repeated coldly.
A murmur of confusion rippled through the wolves. Heads turned. Scented air shifted. Something heavy settled over the gathering.
Then an elder stepped forward.
Elder Varyn.
Ancient. Silver-haired. His gaze slid over me with uncomfortable precision before lifting to Kael.
“Your scent is disturbed, Alpha,” he said quietly. “It carries… another.”
My throat went dry.
Kael didn’t deny it.
The truth was already burning in every wolf’s nose.
The realization hit them together like lightning.
A collective gasp tore through the pack.
“She’s his—”
“No, impossible—”
“The Omega?”
Mara’s face drained of color.
Elder Varyn’s eyes widened fractionally.
Realization sharpened into something calculating.
“Is it true?” he asked Kael. “Has the Moon chosen your mate?”
The entire world held its breath.
My knees trembled.
Say yes.
Please, say yes.
Kael didn’t look at me.
Not once.
His gaze fixed on the elder, his expression unreadable.
“The bond has been triggered,” he said.
Triggered.
Not accepted.
Not claimed.
Just… triggered.
Whispers erupted from all sides.
“Mated to an Omega?”
“The Alpha’s line—tainted—”
“The council will never allow—”
Mara stepped back as if I were suddenly radioactive.
“You can’t be serious,” she said sharply. “This is a mistake. She’s—she’s nothing.”
The word landed like a blade.
I felt Kael stiffen beside me.
“And yet,” Elder Varyn murmured, “the Moon makes no mistakes.”
Hope fluttered weakly in my chest.
Kael’s silence stretched.
The tension coiled tight enough to snap.
I couldn’t bear it.
My voice slipped out before I could stop it. “Alpha…?”
He finally looked at me.
Our eyes met.
The bond surged painfully between us.
For one trembling second, I saw something in his gaze I didn’t dare name.
Regret.
Longing.
Fear.
Then it vanished behind iron resolve.
“This is not the place to resolve it,” he said.
Resolve what?
My heart stuttered.
“What does that mean?” Mara demanded.
“It means,” Kael answered, voice cold and carrying, “that the Solstice blessing will proceed as planned. Nothing will disrupt the pack’s ceremony.”
The word nothing tore through me.
Elder Varyn studied Kael carefully. “You delay choice on sacred ground, Alpha. That is… dangerous.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “I will not bend pack order to personal complication.”
Personal.
Complication.
Each word chipped something fragile inside me.
“But the Moon—” someone protested.
“The Moon does not rule us,” Kael cut in sharply. “I do.”
The courtyard fell into stunned silence.
Something old and furious stirred inside my chest.
I took a shaking step forward.
“Then what am I to you?” I asked softly.
Do not answer, my wolf pleaded.
Do not let them hear it.
Kael’s gaze flicked briefly over the watching pack.
Then back to me.
Low enough that only I could hear, he said, “You are in danger here.”
That was not an answer.
“You brought me back,” I whispered. “You let them scent it. You let them see me standing at your side.”
His eyes darkened.
“I was protecting you.”
“And now?” I asked.
He hesitated.
Only a fraction of a heartbeat.
That hesitation shattered me.
“And now,” he said, voice turning distant again, “you will return to the servant quarters under full guard. No one will touch you. No one will approach you without my order.”
Protected.
But not chosen.
Mara’s lips curved in cruel satisfaction.
“Of course,” she said smoothly. “An Omega may not be rejected by the Moon, but she can still know her place.”
I flinched.
Kael turned on her sharply. “You will show restraint.”
She bowed stiffly. “As you command, Alpha.”
Guards approached.
Two warriors moved to flank me.
Tears burned fiercely behind my eyes.
I looked at Kael one last time.
The bond throbbed between us like a wounded thing.
“Is this all I am?” I asked quietly. “A mistake you haven’t decided how to erase yet?”
His expression hardened.
“Faye,” he said warningly.
I nodded once, swallowing the ache in my throat.
“Of course,” I whispered. “I’ll return to where I belong.”
The words tasted like ashes.
The guards guided me away from the center of the courtyard.
Every step felt like I was walking through breaking glass.
Behind me, the ceremony resumed.
Drums began again.
Torches flared.
The pack pretended nothing had happened.
But I felt it.
The shift.
The fracture.
The beginning of something that would not remain quiet for long.
As I was led down the stone steps toward the shadows of the servant wing, the bond pulsed violently one last time.
And deep in my chest, a terrifying thought took root:
If the Alpha did not choose me…
The Moon would.
And She would not be kind about it.
- Writer
