POV: Aria
I wake up on the floor with my mother standing over me, her face twisted in horror.
"What are you?" she whispers, backing away like I'm a monster.
My entire body screams in pain. Every muscle feels like it's been ripped apart and sewn back together. I can barely remember what happened after midnight—just flashes of agony and something inside me clawing its way to the surface.
"Mom?" My voice comes out hoarse. "What happened?"
She doesn't answer. She just stares at me with wide, terrified eyes before turning and running out of the room. I hear her footsteps pounding down the hallway, hear her shouting for Father.
I drag myself up, using the wall for support. My legs shake so badly I almost fall. But something feels different. Everything looks sharper, clearer. I can hear conversations from three rooms away. I can smell breakfast cooking downstairs and the roses in the garden outside and something else—fear. My mother's fear.
My wolf. It's really here.
After eighteen years of nothing, my wolf finally came. But why does Mother look at me like I'm a threat?
I don't have time to figure it out. Father appears in my doorway, his face cold and hard.
"Get dressed," he says. "The pack is gathering for your birthday run. We're already late."
"But I—"
"Now, Aria."
He leaves before I can explain that I can barely stand, that something weird happened last night, that maybe we should wait. But Father has never cared about what I need. This birthday run isn't for me—it's to save face in front of the pack. To prove the Winters family isn't completely worthless.
I pull on jeans and a t-shirt, my hands trembling. In the cracked mirror on my wall, I look the same as always. Same dark hair. Same ordinary face. But my eyes look different somehow. Brighter. Almost like they're glowing.
Outside, the entire pack has gathered in the clearing behind the pack house. At least two hundred wolves stand in groups, talking and laughing. Everyone goes quiet when I walk up.
Vivian stands near the front with Damon. She looks perfect in designer jeans and a silk top that probably costs more than my entire wardrobe. When she sees me, her mouth curves into a cruel smile.
Damon stands next to her like always—tall and dangerous and beautiful in a way that makes my chest hurt. Not because I like him. Because someone who looks like that shouldn't be so ugly inside.
His dark eyes find me in the crowd. For a second, something flickers across his face. Then his expression hardens into the disgust I'm used to.
Alpha Rowan steps forward. He's even more intimidating than his son—a massive man with grey in his hair and eyes like ice.
"Today we welcome Aria Winters," he announces. His tone makes it clear this is a formality, nothing more. "She has finally received her wolf. Late, but better than never."
A few people snicker. My face burns with shame.
"We run," Alpha Rowan commands. "Shift!"
Around me, wolves begin transforming. It's beautiful and terrifying—bodies flowing from human to wolf in seconds. Bones crack and reshape smoothly. Fur ripples across skin. Within moments, I'm surrounded by dozens of wolves in every color and size.
Vivian's wolf is gorgeous—golden fur that shines in the sunlight, sleek and graceful. She moves to stand beside Damon, who hasn't shifted yet. Neither have I.
Everyone is waiting. Watching. Judging.
I close my eyes and reach for my wolf. Last night it took hours of pain. Please let it be easier now. Please don't let me embarrass myself in front of everyone.
My wolf responds instantly, like she's been waiting. Power rushes through me—so much power it steals my breath. This isn't normal. This isn't what I expected at all.
The shift happens in a heartbeat.
One second I'm standing on two legs. The next I'm on four paws.
Gasps ripple through the pack. I look down at myself and freeze.
My wolf is huge. Not as big as the males, but larger than any female wolf I've ever seen. My fur is midnight black with silver tips that catch the light like starlight. And I can feel something else—strength. Raw, ancient power humming through my veins.
What is this? What am I?
Then a scent hits my nose and everything else disappears.
Pine trees after rain. Thunderstorms. Wild earth. It's the most incredible smell I've ever experienced, and I need to find its source like I need air to breathe.
My wolf takes control, whipping my head around. My golden eyes—when did they turn gold?—lock onto a wolf across the clearing.
Damon's wolf is massive, nearly twice my size. Dark grey fur with black markings. Powerful muscles. And those eyes—silver and intense and staring right at me.
No.
MATE. My wolf howls the word inside my head. MATE. MATE. MATE.
No, no, no, this can't be happening.
But I feel it snap into place—an invisible rope tying me to him. The mate bond. It's real and it's undeniable and it's with the one person I hate most in the world.
Across the clearing, Damon's wolf goes completely still. I can see the moment he feels it too. His silver eyes go wide with shock, then horror.
The bond hums between us, carrying his emotions straight into my chest. Disgust. Anger. Disbelief. Panic.
Every feeling hits me like a punch, and I know he can feel mine too. The humiliation. The crushing disappointment. The absolute certainty that the Moon Goddess made a terrible mistake.
Vivian's golden wolf nudges Damon with her nose, trying to get his attention. But he can't look away from me. Neither of us can move.
The entire pack has gone silent. They're all staring at us, confused and shocked. Some of them are starting to understand. Whispers spread through the crowd.
"Is that—?"
"The mate bond? But he's engaged to—"
"This can't be right."
Alpha Rowan's growl cuts through the whispers. Even in human form, his command makes every wolf cower. "Damon. Shift. Now."
Damon's wolf hesitates for one more second. Then he shifts back to human form.
He stands there, and I forget how to breathe. Not because he's handsome—I've always known that. But because the mate bond makes everything worse. Now I can't look at him without my wolf screaming that he belongs to us.
"No." Damon's voice is loud enough for everyone to hear. "This is wrong. This has to be wrong."
I should shift back and respond, but I'm frozen in wolf form. My paws feel rooted to the ground.
Alpha Rowan steps closer to his son, his face dark with rage. "What's wrong?"
Damon points at me. His hand shakes. "Her. Aria. The bond—" He can't seem to finish the sentence.
Vivian shifts back to human form, her face twisted in confusion and growing horror. "What are you saying, Damon?"
"She's—" Damon's jaw clenches. He looks like he might be sick. "She's my mate."
The words hang in the air like a bomb about to explode.
Vivian screams. Actually screams. "No! That's impossible! You're MY mate! We're engaged!"
But everyone knows the truth now. They can probably all sense it—the bond humming between Damon and me like electricity.
My mother pushes through the crowd, her face white as snow. "This is a mistake. There must be some mistake. Aria can't be—she's nobody. She's nothing!"
The words hurt worse than the shift did. My own mother, announcing to everyone that I'm not good enough to be the Alpha's mate.
Damon stares at me with pure hatred. "Shift back," he commands. "Now."
I don't want to. As a wolf, I feel powerful. As a human, I'll just be small and weak and wrong again.
But the Alpha command in his voice makes my wolf obey. I shift back, and suddenly I'm standing naked in front of the entire pack. Someone throws me a blanket and I wrap it around myself, trembling.
Damon stalks toward me. Everyone moves out of his way. When he's close enough that I can feel the heat from his skin, he speaks in a low, dangerous voice only I can hear.
"This changes nothing," he hisses. "You're still worthless. You're still nobody. And I will NEVER accept you as my mate."
Then he raises his voice so everyone can hear. "I, Damon Steele, future Alpha of Crimson Ridge Pack, reject you, Aria Winters, as my mate."
The rejection hits me like lightning. Pain explodes through my chest. The mate bond screams in protest, trying to hold on. But Damon's will is stronger.
I should feel relieved. I don't want him either. But the rejection hurts worse than anything I've ever felt.
Through the pain, I force myself to stand straighter. To look him in the eye.
"Good," I say, my voice shaking but clear. "Because I reject you too."
The crowd gasps again. Double rejections are rare. Dangerous.
But before anyone can react, something impossible happens.
The bond doesn't break.
It should shatter with both of us rejecting it. But instead, it pulls tighter, burning hotter, connecting us even stronger than before.
Damon's face goes white. He feels it too.
"What—" he starts.
Then my wolf surges up inside me, and power explodes out of my body in a wave of silver light. It knocks everyone back a step. Even Alpha Rowan stumbles.
And in that moment, with silver light still crackling around me and the entire pack staring in shock, I realize the truth.
I'm not an omega at all.
I never was.