Elowen's POV
My knees are bleeding again.
I scrub harder at the marble floor, trying to remove the wine stain before someone notices and blames me. Around me, the pack house explodes with celebration—wolves laughing, music playing, champagne glasses clinking. Tonight is Cassian Greythorne's alpha ascension ceremony, and everyone important in Shadowpine Pack is here.
Everyone except omegas like me. We're just the help.
"Move, omega!" A beta female kicks my bucket over, spilling dirty water across the floor I just cleaned. Her friends laugh as I scramble to soak it up with rags, keeping my head down like Papa taught me.
"Survive," he always says. "That's all we can do."
I squeeze the dirty water back into the bucket, my hands red and raw from chemicals. Twenty-three years old, and this is my life. Scrubbing floors while others celebrate. Invisible until someone needs to abuse something.
The ceremony begins in the great hall. I should keep working, but something draws me to the doorway. Through the crowd of beautiful, powerful wolves, I see him.
Cassian Greythorne.
He stands on the raised platform, golden-haired and perfect, waiting to receive the Alpha title from his father. Every unmated female in the room watches him with hungry eyes. He could have anyone.
I turn to leave—omegas aren't allowed to watch ceremonies—when it happens.
Pain explodes in my chest.
Not bad pain. The opposite. It's like lightning and honey mixed together, burning through every nerve in my body. The mate bond. I've heard about it my whole life but never expected to feel it.
My wolf, usually silent and small, suddenly howls inside me. Mate! Mate! MATE!
No. No, no, no. This can't be happening.
But it is. The bond is pulling me toward the platform, toward Cassian, like an invisible rope tied around my heart. I look up, and our eyes meet across the crowded hall.
His amber eyes widen. He feels it too. The bond snapping into place, connecting us forever.
For one perfect moment, hope flares in my chest so bright it hurts. Maybe the Moon Goddess chose me for something good. Maybe this is why I survived twenty-three years of abuse—because I was meant for him. To be his Luna. To finally matter.
Cassian's face goes through several emotions in seconds: shock, confusion, and then—
Disgust.
Pure, undeniable disgust.
His expression hardens like stone. He looks at me like I'm dirt on his expensive shoes. Then, deliberately, he looks away, continuing his speech like I don't exist.
"I accept the responsibility of Alpha," Cassian's voice rings through the hall, strong and confident. "I will protect this pack with my life. I will lead with wisdom and strength. I will choose a Luna worthy of standing beside me."
Worthy.
The word stabs into my heart. I'm not worthy. An omega is never worthy.
Around me, wolves cheer and celebrate, completely unaware that my world just shattered. The mate bond still burns in my chest, pulling me toward Cassian, but now it feels like torture instead of magic.
I stumble backward, my bucket clattering to the ground. I need to leave. Need to hide before I start crying in front of everyone.
"Clean that up, omega!" someone shouts.
I grab my supplies and run to the servant quarters, my vision blurred with tears. Inside our tiny shared room, I collapse on my narrow bed, pressing my hands to my chest where the bond pulses with pain.
He's my mate. The future Alpha is my mate.
And he looked at me like I was nothing.
Papa finds me an hour later, still crying. "Ellie, what's wrong?"
I can't tell him. Can't explain that the Moon Goddess gave me a mate who doesn't want me. "Nothing, Papa. Just tired."
He doesn't believe me, but he's too kind to push. He just sits beside me, his hand gentle on my shoulder—the only gentle touch I ever get.
We sit in silence until someone pounds on our door.
A warrior—tall, strong, important—stands in the hallway. He looks at me with pity that makes my stomach hurt.
"Elowen Thorne?" he asks.
"Yes?"
"Alpha Cassian summons you to his private quarters. Tonight. Alone." The warrior's expression says he knows exactly what this means. "You have one hour."
He leaves. The door clicks shut.
Papa's hand tightens on my shoulder. "Ellie... what did you do?"
"Nothing." My voice shakes. "I didn't do anything."
But I know what's happening. Cassian felt the bond. And now he's summoning me—not to accept me as his mate, but to deal with the problem I've become.
Fifty-nine minutes later, I stand outside Cassian's door on the top floor where omegas are forbidden to go. My hand trembles as I raise it to knock.
This is it. Whatever happens next will change everything. Maybe he'll reject me properly, breaking the bond so we can both move on. Maybe he'll explain that there's been a mistake, that the Moon Goddess got it wrong.
Or maybe—a tiny, stupid part of me hopes—maybe he'll give us a chance.
I take a deep breath and knock.
"Come in," Cassian's voice calls from inside.
I push the door open and step into his room. It's huge, with a massive bed and windows overlooking the forest. Cassian stands by the window, his back to me, radiating power and authority.
When he turns around, his eyes lock on mine. The mate bond flares between us, so strong it makes my knees weak.
But his expression isn't love or even acceptance.
It's cold. Calculating. Dangerous.
"Close the door, Elowen," he says quietly. "And lock it. We need to discuss what happens now."
I lock the door with shaking hands.
"You felt it too," I whisper. "The bond. You're my—"
"Don't." His voice cuts like a knife. "Don't say that word. Not here. Not ever."
My heart stops.
"Sit down," Cassian orders, pointing to a chair. "We're going to establish some rules. And if you break them, omega, I promise you'll regret it."
I sit because my legs won't hold me anymore.
And as Cassian begins to speak, telling me exactly how my nightmare is about to begin, I realize something terrible:
Finding your fated mate isn't always a blessing.
Sometimes it's a curse worse than being alone.