Chapter 2 Owned by the Alpha
812 Words
The pain did not fade.
Lyra remained on her knees on the cold wooden floor, her chest burning where the mate bond had been torn apart. It felt as if something inside her had been ripped away, leaving only an aching emptiness behind.
Around her, the pack hall buzzed with whispers.
“She actually thought the Alpha would accept her.”
“An omega as Luna? Ridiculous.”
“Poor girl… but she should have known her place.”
Their voices cut deeper than knives.
Lyra lowered her head, her hair falling forward to hide the tears sliding down her cheeks. She wished she could disappear. Vanish into the earth and escape the hundreds of eyes staring at her in pity and amusement.
Above her stood the man who had just destroyed her heart.
Alpha Kael Draven.
He looked down at her as though she were something unpleasant stuck to the bottom of his boot.
For a moment, the hall was silent again.
Then Kael turned to face the crowd.
“Enough,” he said coldly.
His voice carried the weight of authority that only an Alpha possessed. Instantly, the whispers died.
No one dared challenge him.
Kael’s sharp silver eyes swept across the room before settling once again on Lyra.
“Stand.”
The command rolled through the air like thunder.
Lyra’s body reacted before her mind could. Even though every part of her wanted to remain curled on the floor, her legs forced her upright.
She kept her head lowered.
She could not bear to look at him.
A heavy silence stretched between them.
Then Kael spoke again, his tone colder than ice.
“You will not leave my territory.”
Lyra’s head snapped up in shock.
“What…?” Her voice trembled.
Kael’s gaze hardened.
“You heard me.”
Confusion swirled through her mind. He had rejected her. The mate bond was gone.
So why would he keep her here?
A murmur of curiosity rippled through the crowd.
Lyra gathered the small courage she had left. “Alpha… I don’t understand.”
His lips curved slightly, but there was no warmth in the expression.
“You belong to the Moonridge Pack, correct?”
She nodded slowly.
“Yes… Alpha.”
Kael turned toward the pack members watching them like spectators at a show.
“Then you should know that earlier today your Alpha made a trade with me.”
Lyra’s stomach twisted.
A trade?
Kael’s next words fell like a hammer.
“Your pack has been struggling through the winter. Food shortages. Territory disputes.”
He paused, letting the tension build.
“In exchange for my protection and resources… they offered me something in return.”
Lyra’s heart began pounding again.
“No…” she whispered under her breath.
Kael’s cold eyes locked onto hers.
“You.”
The word echoed through the hall.
For a moment, Lyra thought she had misheard him.
“My… pack… sold me?”
A cruel smile appeared on the Alpha’s face.
“They called it a ‘political offering.’”
Laughter broke out among several wolves in the crowd.
Lyra felt the ground sway beneath her feet.
Her own pack had traded her like an object.
A useless omega.
Kael stepped closer, his towering frame casting a shadow over her.
“From today onward,” he continued, his voice low enough that only she could hear, “you will remain in Ironfang territory.”
Lyra swallowed hard. “As… what?”
The Alpha studied her face carefully, as if measuring something.
Then he said the words that made her blood run cold.
“My property.”
Shock froze her in place.
“You rejected me,” she whispered. “Why would you keep me?”
For a split second, something dark flickered in Kael’s eyes.
“Because,” he said quietly, “even rejected mates can be useful.”
Her breath caught.
Useful?
He turned away from her and addressed the watching pack.
“This omega now belongs to Ironfang Pack.”
No one protested.
No one questioned him.
That was the power of an Alpha.
Kael looked back at her one last time.
“You will serve in my house until I decide what to do with you.”
Humiliation burned through Lyra like fire.
Servant.
Slave.
Property.
She had lost everything in a single night.
As the pack slowly returned to their celebration, Kael leaned slightly closer to her.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Pray that you are more valuable than you appear, Lyra Vale.”
He straightened and walked away without another glance.
Leaving her standing alone in the middle of the hall.
Broken.
Sold.
Rejected.
But deep inside her chest, something stirred.
Something ancient.
Something powerful.
And for the first time that night, Lyra felt it clearly.
Her wolf was not crying.
Her wolf was angry.
- Writer
