Claimed by the Alpha that rejected me

SIENA

"Move, omega."

The words sliced through the morning mist like a whip. I barely had time to steady my grip before a shoulder clipped mine. Not hard. But hard enough to remind me I didn't matter.

My feet stumbled backward, toes curling against the damp earth. The bundle of laundry in my arms threatened to slip.

Behind me, laughter rang out. Sharp, amused, cruel.

I didn't look back.

You learn quickly in this pack: omegas don't look pride in the eye. Not if you want to survive.

So I kept walking. One breath. One step. One humiliation at a time.

The cold clung to my skin, biting through the paper-thin shawl I wrapped around my shoulders. It wasn't warm. Nothing I owned was. My soles were bare, numb from the wet ground, but the ache didn't compare to the sting behind my ribs.

"Should've died with the rest of them," someone muttered behind me.

Louder this time. Deliberate.

I heard it. Of course, I

My chest squeezed, but I didn't react. That was the rule. Flinch, and they won. Cry, and they fed on it.

They always fed on it.

×××

I reached the stream and sank to my knees, the stones biting into my skin. The laundry hit the water with a splash, the cold like knives against my fingers. I scrubbed like my life depended on it.

Maybe it did.

But my thoughts... they drifted. They always did.

To the fire. The bloodhis. The screams.

I was fifteen when the rogues came.

They tore through our outpost like a storm. My mother–our pack's healer–bled out on the grass while I screamed her name; she couldn't survive it. My brother tried to shield me, his shift incomplete. He was barely thirteen. He didn't make it either.

But I did.

Somehow, I walked away without a single scratch. No scars. No burns. Just... emptiness.

Some called it luck.

Others called it something else.

Whispers crawled through the pack like snakes: She was untouched. The rogues didn't even look at her. Like she wasn't there. Or like she wasn't real.

The Alpha brought me back. Not out of compassion. No. It was duty. Or pity. Maybe guilt.

But it was never love. Never!

And my father?

He didn't even wait to bury my mother and my brother. He just vanished. No goodbye, no explanation.

He just abandoned me there.

Left me to rot in a pack that already hated me.

×××

The water turned pink from the blood where my knuckles cracked. I didn't stop. At least the sting reminded me I still existed.

A shadow passed overhead. I glanced up just in time to see a silver hawk cut through the cloud. Its wings were wide, powerful, almost... otherworldly. It circled once, slow, deliberate, then vanished behind the trees.

I stared after it, heart thudding too fast.

There was something about it.

Something that didn't feel right.

Then...it hit.

A jolt fired down my spine, sharp and cold. My fingers went numb. The cloth dropped into the stream, carried quickly by the current. I stood, but dizziness slammed into me like a wall.

The world blurred.

Flashes of fire. Screams. A pair of glowing eyes–blue, impossibly bright, staring at me through the darkness.

And then...nothing

I blinked. The stream was quiet again. But I was shaking.

"What the hell was that?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

I spun. Mara–A Beta's daughter, with a rank far above mine.

She stood behind me with a smirk curled on her lips, arms folded like she'd been watching me for a while.

I swallowed, forcing calm into my voice. "I'm fine."

"You always say that," she said smoothly, eyes raking over me. "Still doesn't make it true."

She stepped closer, voice dipping. "You should get back. The Alpha called for everyone. Something about an arrangement."

I blinked. "Arrangement?"

Mara's smile widened like she knew a secret I wouldn't like. "You'll find out soon enough. Poor little omega."

She turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the words behind like poison in the air.

Arrangement?

My stomach twisted. The way she said it... like it was already decided. Like I had no say.

The forest grew colder around me.

Something's coming.

And I'm not ready.

×××

A low, guttural howl split the silence. The Alpha's guard.

I didn't wait.

I turned and ran, heart thundering against my ribs.

But I wasn't fast enough.

A figure emerged from the fog. Tall, broad-shouldered, still. Just standing there like he belonged to the shadows themselves.

I froze.

My breath hitched as I stared at him, unable to make out his face. He didn't speak. Didn't move. Just watched.

And then... he stepped aside.

Silently.

As if inviting me to pass.

I didn't. Not immediately. Every instinct screamed Don't trust it.

But the howl came again, louder this time.

I brushed past him, barely breathing.

Still, my mind echoed with one question:

What arrangement?

And why did it feel like the beginning of the end?