The night of the gathering was thick with tension.
Every full moon, the Wolf Fang Pack celebrated strength and loyalty with a feast beneath the stars. Warriors boasted of their victories, she-wolves flaunted their beauty, and the Alpha presided over it all like a god among wolves. They worship the Moon Goddess and show potential possibilities to get a mate. It's like a celebration of searching a mate.
Tonight, that target burned brighter than ever. I can feel something strange in the wind but I ignored it. It is not my place to decide if I'm coming or not.
I should have been invisible, an omega shadow meant to stay on the edges. But carrying the Alpha's heir painted a target on my back.
Selene made sure of it.
She stood beside Jacob when the feast began, a vision of grace and elegance, as if she were already crowned his Luna. Her laughter rang out like bells, her every movement calculated to draw eyes. But her gaze kept finding me, sharp and venomous, like daggers thrown across the firelit courtyard. I didn't get where she find the thought of me being her rival. I am just also a prisoner here. A mother carrying a child. I only want a place to start a new life but not in this situation. I didn't mean to get pregnant, specially, not with an alpha. I know my place as an omega.
I kept my head low, serving food, moving quietly, doing anything to avoid notice. My hand rested on my stomach often—not consciously, but instinctively, as if the child within was my anchor.
But Selene wasn't content with whispers tonight. She wanted a spectacle.
"Tell me, little omega," she suddenly called out, her voice slicing through the laughter and conversation. The pack fell silent, every eye turning toward me. "Is it true that you don't even know who your father is?"
Something inside of me snap. It is not me but my wolf. She's always makes me feel that she wanted to tear this woman limb by limb.
The question was a blade, thrown without mercy. My chest tightened, heat rushing to my face as the crowd tittered. My mother's shame had always followed me, but Selene had dragged it into the open, twisting it like a knife. I never wanted my mother's mistake be the topic here. She's a loving mother who supported me this whole time.
I clenched my hands, fighting the sting in my eyes. I wanted to disappear. To sink into the earth and never be seen again.
But then—something shifted.
A flutter, faint but undeniable, rippled through my stomach. The child. My child. It wasn't just life moving inside me—it was strength. A reminder that I wasn't alone. That I had someone worth standing for.
Slowly, I raised my head. My voice trembled, but it carried. "No. I don't know him. But that doesn't define me. And it won't define my child."
A hush swept the courtyard. No one expected me to answer, let alone with defiance.
Selene's smile faltered, but only for a moment. She recovered quickly, her eyes flashing. "How noble," she drawled. "But tell me—how long do you think an Alpha can stomach a mistake like you? Do you really believe you'll last as anything more than a vessel?"
Laughter rippled again, cruel and sharp.
My heart pounded, fear clawing at me—but beneath it was fire. For the first time in my life, I wasn't only protecting myself. I was protecting the tiny heartbeat within me, the fragile life Selene wanted destroyed.
And that gave me courage I never knew I had.
"I may be nothing to you," I said, my voice steadying, "but this child is everything. And no matter how much you try to break me, I will not let you touch them."
Gasps echoed around the fire. The crowd shifted, whispers rising like sparks. I had done the unthinkable—challenged Selene in front of everyone.
Her mask cracked. Fury burned across her face, raw and unrestrained. She stepped forward, claws glinting under the moonlight. "You dare—"
"Enough."
Jacob's voice thundered through the courtyard, silencing all. He rose from his seat, his presence drowning out the night itself. His gaze swept over the crowd before locking on Selene.
"Humiliating an omega makes you weak, Selene," he said coldly. "Weakness has no place in my pack."
The words struck harder than any blade. Selene froze, her pride crumbling in the face of his rebuke.
But his eyes didn't linger on her. They found me. And in them, I saw something terrifying—something that wasn't anger, nor disgust.
Possession.
"Come," he ordered, his voice leaving no room for refusal.
My legs trembled as I stepped forward, the crowd parting like shadows before me. Jacob's hand caught mine—not gently, not tenderly, but firmly, as if he were staking his claim before the world.
The pack watched in silence as he led me to his side, seating me where Selene had stood moments before. My breath caught, my pulse racing. I felt Selene's rage burn into my skin from across the courtyard, but I couldn't look at her.
Because Jacob's hand didn't release mine.
It stayed, heavy and commanding, his thumb brushing against my knuckles like a brand. His voice carried as he addressed the pack.
"This child is my heir. And she," his grip tightened, "is under my protection. Let it be known that anyone who dares to touch her—or challenge her—challenges me."
The declaration struck like thunder. Whispers broke out, some shocked, some disbelieving. Selene's face paled, her body trembling with restrained fury.
And me?
I sat frozen, torn between fear and something dangerously close to hope.
Because for the first time, Jacob hadn't just claimed the child.
He had claimed me.
But whether that claim was my salvation—or my doom—I didn't yet know.
What I did know was this: Selene wouldn't forgive this humiliation. She would strike again, harder than before.
And next time, she wouldn't settle for words.