Chapter 1
909 Words
Chapter One
Rumi learned early that survival in the pack meant being invisible.
It wasn’t something anyone taught her, it wasn’t written in pack law or whispered like a sacred tradition. It was simply… understood.
If you were born an Omega, you stayed quiet. If you were weak, you stayed invisible. And if you were defective—
You survived by pretending you didn’t exist at all.
“Move, Omega!”
The shout cracked across the stone hall, followed by the sharp kick of a boot against her bucket. Dirty water sloshed over the edge, soaking the hem of Rumi’s already threadbare dress.
She didn’t look up.
“Sorry,” she said automatically, dropping to her knees as she reached for the cloth she’d dropped.
“You always are.” another voice mocked.
Soft laughter followed, but Rumi kept scrubbing.
The marble floors of the Pack House gleamed like ice, reflecting distorted images of the wolves who walked above her. Strong wolves; Real wolves. Wolves who had wolves.
Not like her.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she wrung out the cloth. The water was cold enough to sting, but she barely felt it anymore. She hadn’t felt much of anything in a long time.
“You’re too slow,” the first she-wolf snapped. “Do you want to get punished again?”
Rumi’s shoulders tensed.
“No,” she murmured, scrubbing harder while attempting to go faster.
She didn’t need another punishment.
The last one had lasted three days.
Three days without food. Three days locked in a dark storage room while the others laughed outside the door.
Three days of silence. Three days of nothing.
Her stomach twisted at the memory. She forced herself to focus on the floor.
Invisible. Stay invisible.
“That’s better,” the she-wolf said with a satisfied hum. “Maybe you’re trainable after all.”
More laughter.
Rumi swallowed and didn’t respond because that would only made things worse.
By midday, the entire Pack House buzzed with an unexplained energy which Rumi noticed itimmediately.
Even without a wolf, she could feel… something.
A shift.
The air felt heavier, charged even like the moment before a storm broke.
“Why is everyone acting like this?” she whispered under her breath.
“Because you’re stupid,” a voice answered.
Rumi flinched slightly as another Omega—older, sharper-eyed—stepped beside her.
“The Alpha is announcing his Luna today,” the woman continued, lowering her voice. “The chosen one.”
Rumi blinked.
“Oh.” The word slipped out before she could stop it.
The older Omega studied her for a moment.
“You don’t care?” she asked, a hint of disbelief in her tone.
Rumi hesitated. “I… don’t think it matters to me,” she admitted quietly.
The woman let out a short laugh.
“Of course it matters. Everything the Alpha does matters.”
Rumi didn’t argue.
But inside, she felt nothing.
The Alpha existed somewhere far above her reality—like the moon or the stars. Powerful, untouchable and unreachable.
Not meant for someone like her.
“Just stay out of sight,” the woman warned. “If you’re seen during the announcement, someone will blame you if something goes awry.”
Cassie nodded, she could manage that, being invisible and being able to disappear at the drop of a hat is her forte. The last thing she needs right now is to anger a wolf and risk their wrath.
The courtyard filled quickly.
Rumi lingered at the edges, slipping between shadows and columns until she found a place where she could stand without being noticed.
Or at least noticed less.
The wolves gathered in clusters, their voices low with anticipation. Even the Betas looked tense.
This was an important night in every pack’s history where the Alpha finally chooses a mate who will become the Luna and rule beside him much like the human king and queen.
Cassie hugged her arms to herself.
She didn’t belong here, she should leave Rumi thought, but something—Something kept her rooted in place.
A strange, restless feeling coiled in her chest.
It was unfamiliar and uncomfortable and that screams wrong in every sense of the word.
She shifted slightly, trying to ignore it.
“Why is she here?”
The whisper came from behind her.
Rumi froze.
“She’ll ruin the moment.”
“Omegas shouldn’t be present for something like this.”
“Especially not her.”
A soft, cruel laugh followed. Rumi lowered her gaze.
Invisible. Just stay invisible, she chanted
The feeling in her chest tightened. Then everything changed…The courtyard fell into an instant silence that made the hair at the back of her head prickle. It was like someone had stolen the air from the world.
Rumi’s head lifted before she could stop herself and that’s when she saw him.
The Alpha.
Everything in Rumi’s body went still.
He was… overwhelming. Not just physically—though he was tall, broad-shouldered, commanding—but something deeper. Something instinctual.
Power.
It rolled off him in waves, suffocating and magnetic all at once.
Rumi’s heart stuttered, her breath hitched suddenly and then It happened.
A sharp, searing pull snapped through her chest. She gasped, clutching at her heart as something inside her—something that had been silent her entire life—stir
red.
Her head shot up in disbelief as their eyes met and the world stopped.
- Writer
