Chapter 1 The Welcome Ceremony

Author's pov

The grand hall of the Frostwood Pack House glowed beneath rows of crystal chandeliers, every polished surface reflecting gold light, expensive gowns, tailored suits, and the kind of easy laughter that belonged only to people who had never worried about where they would sleep tomorrow.

Tonight was Alpha Jonas's welcome ceremony.

After four years at the prestigious Alpha Academy, Jonas Harlan was finally returning to officially take over the Frostwood Pack. Every ranked family had come dressed in their finest clothes, eager to welcome the young Alpha home and remind him of their loyalty before his new rule began.

Freya Gilbert stood near the back entrance with a silver tray in her hands. Her black Omega uniform was stiff and ugly, the collar too tight around her throat. The sleeves were slightly too long, hiding the bruises on her wrists, and the hem brushed against her knees whenever she moved. It was not a dress she had chosen. It was a uniform given to her after the pack stripped away everything else.

Once, she would have entered through the front doors, people would have lowered their heads and greeted her as Beta Gilbert's daughter.

Now, she stood with the servants,as an Omega.

Freya tightened her fingers around the tray until the metal edge bit into her skin.

"Careful," her wolf, Vicki, whispered in her mind, her voice soft but tense. "If you drop that, they will use it as another excuse to punish us."

"I know," Freya answered silently.

Of course she knew.

For the past month, every mistake had been recorded. Every spilled glass, every delayed order, every dirty look someone claimed she gave them. The pack no longer treated her like a girl who had grown up among them. They treated her like a stain that needed to be scrubbed from the floor.

All because of her father.

A month ago, Freya had returned home from art school to find strangers in dark suits standing outside the Gilbert estate. Court officers, debt collectors, pack auditors. Their vehicles had filled the driveway, and yellow seizure notices had already been pasted across the front door.

At first, Freya had thought there had to be some mistake.

Her father, Matthew Gilbert, had been the Beta of Frostwood Pack for years. He was proud, charming, and careless with money, but Freya had never imagined he was capable of destroying them completely.

Then the lead auditor handed her the documents.

Her father had emptied the family accounts and fled with his mistress.

What he left behind was worse than silence.

Over 2.6 million dollars in debt.

Loans. Penalties. Gambling markers. Private agreements with dangerous lenders. And at the bottom of the final contract, written in her father's signature, was the clause that had changed Freya's life.

If Matthew Gilbert failed to repay the debt, his daughter, Freya Gilbert, would be pledged to Frostwood Pack as bonded labor until the debt was cleared.

The Council had accepted the contract because Matthew had once been a Beta, and because powerful men always found legal words for ugly things.

Freya had begged them to let her work outside the pack. She had promised to repay every cent. She had even offered to sell her paintings, her mother's jewelry, anything she still had left.

The elders barely listened.

A disgraced Beta's daughter with no money, no protector, and no wolf strong enough to defend her had no bargaining power.

Within three days, she was demoted to Omega.

Within a week, she was moved into the Omega quarters.

Within a month, the girl who had once sat beside Alpha Jonas during childhood lessons was scrubbing floors and serving drinks to the same people who used to smile at her father's table.

Freya swallowed against the tightness in her throat and looked toward the main staircase.

Jonas would appear there soon.

Her heart betrayed her with one painful, hopeful beat.

Jonas.

Even thinking his name made her chest ache.

They had grown up together before Alpha Academy took him away. When they were children, Jonas had once helped her climb the old cedar tree behind the training field because she wanted to see the whole pack from above. When she fell and scraped both knees, he had carried her home on his back and told everyone she had fought a rogue wolf.

When other children laughed because Freya was too gentle to enjoy combat drills, Jonas had stood beside her and said not every wolf needed to bare its teeth to be strong.

For years, Freya had kept those memories hidden like stolen jewels.

She knew it was foolish.

Jonas was the Alpha's son. She had been the Beta's daughter once, but even then, she had never truly stood beside him as an equal. Now she was an Omega with a debt collar hidden beneath her uniform.

Still, a desperate part of her could not stop hoping.

Tonight, Jonas was returning as Alpha. Tonight, he would see what had happened to her. He would remember the girl who used to share books with him beneath the cedar tree. He would ask questions.

Maybe he would help.

Maybe, now that she had come of age, the Moon Goddess would finally show mercy and make him her mate.

The thought made Freya's face warm despite everything.

"Freya," Vicki said quietly, not cruelly, only sadly. "Do not put all our hope in one person."

"I don't have anyone else," Freya replied.

Before Vicki could answer, a sharp voice cut through the noise behind her.

"Well, look what the debt collectors dragged in."

Freya's shoulders stiffened.

She knew that voice.

Berea Maddox.

The daughter of the new Beta.

Beta Ronan Maddox had taken her father's place two weeks after Matthew Gilbert disappeared. The promotion made his family one of the most powerful households in Frostwood Pack, and Berea had wasted no time enjoying her new status.

She walked toward Freya in a pale blue gown that shimmered like moonlit water. Her blond hair had been styled into perfect waves, and a diamond necklace rested at her throat, glittering just enough to make everyone notice it.

Two girls followed behind her, both dressed beautifully, both wearing the eager smiles of people who enjoyed watching cruelty as long as it was not aimed at them.

Freya lowered her eyes. "Good evening, Miss Maddox."

Berea laughed softly. "Miss Maddox. How polite. I almost forgot you used to think you were one of us."

One of the girls beside her covered a smile.

Freya said nothing.

That was usually safer.

Berea stepped closer, her perfume sweet and expensive enough to make Freya's stomach turn. "Tell me, Freya, is it true your father sold you to pay his gambling debts? Or did he just forget to take you when he ran off with his whore?"

The words hit like a slap, but Freya forced her face to remain still.

"My father's actions are not mine."

"Oh?" Berea's eyebrows lifted. "That's a brave thing to say for someone wearing an Omega uniform."

Freya gripped the tray harder.

She could feel several nearby guests turning to watch. The humiliation crawled over her skin like insects, but she knew if she reacted, Berea would only enjoy it more.

Berea glanced down at the drinks on the tray. "Are those for the guests?"

"Yes."

"Then serve me."

Freya lifted a glass carefully and held it out.

Berea did not take it.

Instead, she tilted her hand just enough to knock the glass sideways.

Cold liquid splashed across Freya's chest and soaked into the front of her uniform.

The girls behind Berea gasped, then began to laugh.

Freya froze, the empty glass still in her hand. The wine was cold against her skin, but not as cold as the stares gathering around her.

"Oh, Freya," Berea said with false sweetness. "How clumsy. No wonder they made you an Omega."

"It was not my fault," Freya said before she could stop herself.

The smile faded from Berea's face.

"What did you say?"

Freya knew she should lower her head. She knew she should apologize and step back. But something in her chest, something bruised and exhausted, refused to fold that easily.

"I said it was not my fault."

Berea stared at her for two seconds, then slowly smiled again.

That smile was worse.

"You're right," Berea said. "A little wine isn't enough."

Before Freya could move, Berea grabbed a full glass of chilled champagne from the tray and poured it over Freya's head.

The liquid ran through Freya's hair, down her temples, over her cheeks, and into the collar of her uniform. Her dark hair clung to her face in wet strands.

The laughter around her grew louder.

Freya stood motionless, humiliation burning behind her eyes.

"Much better," Berea said. "Now you look like what you are."

She set the tray down on a nearby table with careful hands, afraid that if she kept holding it, she might throw it at Berea's perfect face.

"Excuse me," Freya said, her voice barely steady. "I need to clean up before Alpha Jonas arrives."

She tried to step away.

Berea caught her wrist.

"Not so fast."

Freya looked down at the hand gripping her. "Please let go."

"Please?" Berea's eyes brightened. "That's better. But before you run off, I seem to be missing something."

The hall around them had grown quieter.

Freya's pulse quickened.

Berea touched her bare throat with dramatic surprise. The diamond necklace that had been there moments ago was gone.

"My necklace," she said loudly. "Where is my necklace?"

One of her friends gasped. "Berea, you were wearing it just now."

"I know." Berea turned her gaze slowly toward Freya. "And then this Omega bumped into me."

Freya's stomach dropped.

"I did not touch your necklace."

Berea's voice rose enough for the nearby guests to hear. "Are you calling me a liar?"

"No. I am saying I did not take it."

"Search her," one of Berea's friends said immediately. "Everyone knows the Gilberts are drowning in debt. Maybe she thought a diamond necklace would help pay her father's bills."

The whispers began at once.

"How embarrassing."

"Her father stole from half the pack. Like father, like daughter."

"An Omega thief at the Alpha's welcome ceremony? Disgusting."

Freya's face went pale.

If they accused her of stealing from the new Beta's daughter during Alpha Jonas's welcome ceremony, she could be punished publicly. Worse, Jonas might see her as nothing more than a desperate thief before she ever had the chance to speak to him.

"Berea, please," Freya said, forcing down her panic. "You know I did not steal anything."

Berea stepped closer, her voice dropping so only Freya could hear. "I know exactly what you are, Freya. A debt-slave in an Omega uniform. Don't pretend you still belong here."

Pain tightened Freya's chest.

Then Berea raised her voice again, full of wounded innocence. "Someone call security. I want her searched before Alpha Jonas comes down."

Freya looked toward the staircase with desperate eyes.

The music was changing.

The crowd was shifting.

At the top of the grand staircase, the pack's announcer stepped forward.

"Members of Frostwood Pack and honored guests," he declared, his voice echoing through the hall, "please welcome home our Alpha, Jonas Harlan."

Applause exploded across the room.

Freya's heart slammed against her ribs.

Jonas appeared at the top of the staircase in a dark suit, taller and broader than she remembered, his presence calm and luminous beneath the chandelier light. For one painful second, Freya forgot the champagne in her hair, the accusation hanging over her, and the people waiting to search her like a criminal.

He was here.