FIA
The kiss broke, and I stood there on that altar feeling like my soul had been ripped out of my body. Cian's grip on me loosened, but the mate bond between us hummed with a finality that made my stomach turn. It was done. Sealed. Permanent.
The biggest mistake of my life.
I looked out at the crowd, searching for even one friendly face. One person who might believe me. Who might think that maybe, just maybe, something wasn't right about all this.
Nothing.
Every single face stared back at me with the same expression. Relief. Actual relief. Like they'd narrowly escaped disaster because Alpha Cian had agreed to begrudgingly take me instead of declaring war on Silver Creek. Like I was the problem that had been neatly solved.
Mrs. Chen, who used to slip me extra pastries at the bakery, shook her head slowly. Archer, one of the sentnel warriors I'd trained alongside and a friend of Milo, looked at me with pure disgust. Even old Thomas, who'd taught me how to track when I was barely tall enough to reach his knee, turned away when our eyes met.
They were grateful. Grateful that I was being taken away. Grateful that my "madness" hadn't destroyed them all.
I had put on that dress to save them. I had walked down that aisle thinking I was protecting my pack from destruction. And now they looked at me like I was a monster they were glad to be rid of.
My vision blurred with tears. I blinked hard, trying to clear them, and that's when I saw her.
Isobel stood near the front of the crowd, her arm around my father's shoulders. She was smiling. Actually smiling. Not broadly, but I could see it there at the corners of her mouth. This small, satisfied curve of her lips as she held my father while he looked like someone had just told him his entire world had ended.
His face was gray. His shoulders slumped. He looked ten years older than he had this morning. But he wasn't fighting for me. Wasn't demanding answers. Wasn't calling anyone out on the obvious lies. He just stood there, broken, while Isobel held him close.
It was the first time he had never defended me. And that hurt the most. The man who had always been in my corner even in the worst of days doubted me. If he did, why did any other betrayal hurt and shock me?
Something in my chest snapped.
I took a step forward, pulling against Cian's grip. My hands curled into fists at my sides. All I could see was Isobel's face. That smile. The satisfaction in her eyes as she surveyed her handiwork.
"You," I started, my voice shaking with rage instead of fear now. "You did this. You put me in that dress. You told me to save the pack. You—"
Cian's hand clamped down on my arm like iron. Hard enough that I felt it in my bones.
"Are you thinking of running now, Omega?" His voice was cold against my ear.
I spun to face him, and the words bubbled up in my throat before I could stop them. Words about how blind he was. How stupid. How could someone who was supposed to be this powerful Alpha not see through the most obvious setup in the world? How could he stand there and believe every lie they fed him without questioning any of it?
But when I looked at his face, I saw nothing but ice. His eyes were hard. Final. Like he'd already decided everything about me and nothing I said would change his mind.
I wondered if it was because I was an Omega? That had to be it. It was always the answer.
I wanted to scream at him. To shake him. To make him see.
Instead, my eyes drifted past his shoulder, and I froze.
Milo.
He stood near the side of the hall, and in his arms was Hazel. She had apparently woken up from her dramatic collapse. He held her carefully, like she was made of glass, his face creased with concern as he looked down at her bruised features.
The air left my lungs in a rush.
Milo. My fated mate. The person the Moon Goddess herself had chosen for me. He was part of this. He had to be. The way he held Hazel, the way he looked at her, the way he'd rejected our bond this morning. It all fit together into a picture so ugly I wanted to look away from it.
But I couldn't. I just stood there staring at them while something vital inside me crumbled to dust.
Life in Silver Creek had never been easy for me. I knew that. I'd always known that. I was the product of a fated mate bond that had destroyed a perfectly good marriage. My mother had been an Omega who'd shown up and taken the Alpha away from his Luna wife. Isobel had every reason to resent me. Hazel had grown up watching her mother's heartbreak and hating me for it.
I understood that. I did. I never expected them to love me.
But I thought there were lines. Boundaries. We were still family, weren't we? Still pack. Still connected by blood and bonds that should have meant something.
Apparently not.
Apparently, they could orchestrate this entire thing. Beat Hazel's own face until it bruised. Lock her in a closet. Frame me for violence I never committed. Destroy my life completely and smile while they did it.
We were family. We were blood.
And they had done this anyway.
Hazel stirred in Milo's arms. She said something to him, and he nodded, helping her stand. Her legs wobbled, but she steadied herself, one hand pressed to her bruised cheek like she was still in terrible pain.
Then she started walking toward us.
Cian turned to face my father and Isobel. His voice carried across the hall, formal and polite like we were at a normal wedding instead of this nightmare.
"Alpha Joseph. Luna Isobel." He inclined his head slightly. "You are welcome to visit your daughter whenever you wish. Skollrend will always open its doors to you."
Isobel's smile turned to a sneer that grew wider. "I will never come."
My father flinched. "Isobel, don't be cruel."
"I cannot help but be honest," she said, and her voice dripped with false reasonableness. "What she did was monstrous. I could not bear to look at her face knowing what she is capable of."
"That is enough, Mother."
Hazel had reached us. She stood there between Cian and me, Milo hovering protectively behind her. Tears streamed down her face, making her bruises look even more dramatic in the light.
She looked at Cian first, and her voice broke when she spoke. "I really did want to marry you, Alpha Cian. But the fates have spoken."
Then she turned to me.
I saw it happen. Watched her expression shift into something that looked like forgiveness and sorrow and sisterly love all mixed together. Her eyes glistened with tears. Her lip trembled. She looked like a tragic heroine from one of those romance novels the pack women read.
"And I forgive you, little sister."
The words hit me like a slap.
"If the goddess has blessed this chosen match with her hand of fate," she continued, her voice wavering like she was fighting back sobs, "then it was meant to happen no matter what you did to make it happen."
She pressed her hand to her mouth, her shoulders shaking. Milo moved closer to her, ready to catch her if she fell again.
"I wish you nothing but happiness," Hazel whispered.
Then she collapsed against Milo's chest, her face buried in his shoulder, her whole body trembling with emotion. He wrapped his arms around her immediately, murmuring something I couldn't hear. The picture they made was perfect. The wounded sister and her devoted protector. The girl who'd been wronged but was still noble enough to offer forgiveness.
I wanted to throw up.
Hazel pulled away from Milo slightly, wiping at her eyes. Then she moved toward me with her arms outstretched.
"Let me hug you goodbye," she said softly. "Please."
I didn't want her anywhere near me. Every instinct I had screamed to back away. But I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. My whole body felt frozen in place.
She wrapped her arms around me, pressing close like we were real sisters who actually loved each other. I felt her breath against my ear. Felt her body shake like she was crying.
Then she whispered, so quietly that only I could hear, "Thank you for taking the trash brute. I will be busy with the sentinel and his ten inch cock tonight."
The words pierced through my shock like a knife. My hands flew up, grabbing her arms, and I shoved her away from me. She stumbled back a step, her eyes wide and innocent, like I'd just attacked her for no reason.
I looked at her. Really looked at her. At the false tears on her face. The calculated expression. The way she stood just close enough to Milo that everyone could see their connection.
Then I looked at Milo. At the man I'd thought was my destiny. Who I'd loved with everything I had. Who'd rejected me this morning without explanation. On the phone too. He did not even have the kindness to do it in my face.
My eyes swung to Isobel, standing there with her arm around my broken father, that satisfied smile still playing at her lips.
"You two." My voice came out strangled. I pointed at Hazel and Milo. "No. You three."
I had to add Isobel. How could I forget her.
I took a step toward them, and the words ripped out of me. "You will burn in hell. All three of you. You will—"
Hazel's expression shifted. Just for a second, her mask slipped, and I saw the sneer underneath. The pure satisfaction. The victory.
I took another step, moving down from the small platform where the altar stood. My foot hit the first step down to the main floor.
Then everything tilted sideways.
The hall spun around me. Faces blurred together. The light stretched into streaks of gold. I heard someone shouting, but the sound came from very far away, like I was underwater.
My legs gave out.
The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was Hazel's face, and she was smiling.