Dahlia's POV
I could only stand there and watch as my partner marked another, and there was nothing I could do.
**
The hall fell unnaturally silent. Even the elders straightened as the Alpha stepped forward.
"Now," the Alpha's voice rang out, vibrating with authority, and jolting me back to reality.
"Everyone, prepare to mark your mate."
The air shifted instantly. Conversations died, and laughter faded. Even the wind howling outside the Great Hall seemed to hold its breath.
My heart slammed against my ribs as Nate stepped forward, his eyes glued on mine.
The Alpha's son. My Nate. The one I had loved for seven years in secret.
For a moment, I forgot the cruel whispers, the stares. The fact that I was a rankless orphan standing among wolves born into power.
'Could he really be choosing me?' I thought, my breath hitching.
I tried to ignore the murmurs that followed him.
"She doesn't belong here."
"She's a rankless orphan."
Each word pierced my skin like a silver blade, but I held my head high. I had endured worse. I had worked harder than anyone to be worthy of him, of this moment.
He promised, I reminded myself. He said he would choose me, pack laws be damned.
Nate slowed, then stopped.
His gaze wavered, not from fear, nor doubt, but as if a physical invisible tether had suddenly pulled at him.
"Nate…?" I whispered my voice breaking as he walked right past me, as if I were nothing more than empty air.
For a heartbeat, I didn't understand.
The world tilted as I turned, dread pooling in my stomach. He stopped in front of Gina Wilson, the Beta's daughter.
A gasp tore through the crowd as a crescent moon mark bloomed on Gina's neck, glowing with a divine, golden light, against her pale skin, so bright that everyone could see.
"A fated match!"
"The moon goddess has chosen!"
My ears rang as Nate cupped her face, his expression softening in a way I had only ever seen in private. Then, his fangs elongated. He sank them into her neck, drawing blood and sealing the mate bond.
She let out a moan that sounded like a mockery of every night I had spent in his arms.
Then they kissed. Slowly and passionately. Amid the applause of the pack, I couldn't breathe. I watched my life shatter before my eyes.
Gina's eyes found mine over Nate's shoulder. She smiled.
I couldn't stay. I couldn't bear it anymore, there was no place for me here. So, in tears, I gathered the skirts of the velvet dress I had saved for months to buy and fled toward the door.
"Dahlia."
I stopped, my breath coming in sharp gasps. I looked back. It was Gina. She was glowing, as her skin flushed from the new bond.
"I'm… sorry," she said softly, though her eyes danced with excitement.
The words sounded wrong coming from her mouth.
"I truly am. I heard you and Nate were… together."
I shook my head, backing away. "Please. I just want to leave."
She reached out, grabbed my arm and pulled me close to her.
Her voice dropped to a hiss. "Seven years, was it? That must be so embarrassing. Imagine being the 'practice' for a True Luna."
"Let go of me," I said quietly, my voice trembling with a dark, rising heat.
Oh no," she laughed softly. "Stay. Nate and I are about to have our first dance."
Her grip tightened.
"Maybe you can give me tips. You must have had so much… practice." She mocked.
Something dark stirred beneath my skin.
"Let. Me. Go."
"Or what?" She whispered, her claws digging into my skin, drawing blood.
"Maybe if you weren't such a rankless freak, the Alpha wouldn't have had to hire a shaman to search the continent for Nate's real mate. You were just a placeholder, Dahlia. Say goodbye to your days of fucking my husband."
That was it. The last thread of my sanity snapped. My wolf surged violently.
Heat rushed through my veins. My ears rang, and my claws shot out on instinct. I swiped at her face.
Gina screamed at the top of her voice, collapsing to the ground, and clutching her cheek as blood stained her expensive silk gown.
The music died and the crowd froze as everyone turned to us.
"She attacked the Beta's daughter!"
"She tried to kill the future Luna!"
I didn't feel remorse. I felt a primal, protective rage.
"What happened here?" Nate demanded, pushing through the crowd.
Gina sobbed into his chest. Her voice, breaking. "She attacked me. I was only trying to comfort her."
Nate looked at me. He really looked at me for the first time that night. I opened my mouth to tell him she had clawed me first, that she had mocked us, but the words died in my throat.
"I can see it runs in the blood," Jeremy, the Beta barked. "Your father was a dangerous rogue, and now you prove you're no different! We gave you a home, and this is how you repay us?"
I searched Nate's eyes. You know me, I pleaded silently. You know I wouldn't do this.
"How could you be so violent? You must apologize," Nate said sharply. "Now."
The words struck harder than any physical blow.
He didn't even look at the blood gushing from the claw marks on my own arm. He only saw his "Luna."
He helped Gina to her feet. She clung to him as if she belonged there.
"I—" My throat burned. "Nate, I—"
"The only thing I want to hear," he cut in coldly, "Is an apology. You hurt my Luna."
'My Luna.'
The shame crushed me. I had completely humiliated myself for a man who didn't recognize me anymore.
Tears spilled over as I turned and ran.
"Dahlia!" Nate called, but I didn't stop.
"Chase her down!" he roared. "Bring her back to answer for this!"
I fled into the forest, branches tearing at my face and dress. Shouts echoed behind me, and I could barely see where I was going, but that didn't stop me.
I ran until my lungs screamed and my legs gave out. Until everything went silent.
I collapsed against a massive oak tree, laughing bitterly through my tears.
"So this is how it ends," I whispered as I replayed the events of the evening in my head.
Then I remembered the letter. I had hidden it in the bodice of my dress, a secret I was meant to share with Nate tonight after he marked me as his mate. The pack physician had run tests three days ago when I felt sick. She was the only one who had ever rooted for us.
With shaking fingers, I pulled it out and I opened it.
"…pregnancy: positive. High alpha gene detected."
The world went still. I pressed my hands to my stomach. It hadn't been just my anger that attacked Gina, it was the instinct of a mother protecting her pups.
I pressed my forehead to the bark of the tree, my tears soaking into the earth.
My jaw tightened, the grief turning into a cold, hard resolve.
"I will leave this pack," I vowed softly. "Nate will never know about our child."