The Invisible Omega: Awakening the Secret White Wolf

For three years, I was the invisible Omega scrubbing Alpha Kane's floors, hiding the secret that we were Fated Mates.

I thought my silence and devotion would eventually win him over, especially after I shifted to save his life from a mutated bear.

But then I heard his voice through the Mind-Link, cold and mocking, speaking to Serra, the woman he intended to make Luna.

"She is just a tool," he laughed. "A shield to keep the elders off my back while I secure our alliance. You are the only one I want."

My heart shattered, but the true knife twist came during the rogue ambush at the bar.

While I was cornered by a wolf wielding a knife, Kane didn't even look at me.

He threw his body over Serra, letting rogues tear his flesh to protect her, while leaving me to die.

He broke every instinct of the mate bond to save a woman who didn't even have a scratch on her.

I watched him bleed for her, and my love finally turned to ash.

I didn't wait for him to heal. I didn't wait for him to realize Serra was actually a human spy using dark magic to fool the pack.

I severed the bond, rejected him under the full moon, and walked into the snow.

Five years later, a crippled, broken Alpha crawled to the border of my new territory.

"Lilith, please," Kane begged, kneeling in the frost, his eyes desperate. "I was a fool. I need you."

I looked down at him, my hand resting securely in the grip of the most powerful Alpha in the North.

"You don't need me, Kane," I said coldly.

"You just need someone to save you from the hell you built."

Chapter 1

Lilith POV

For three years, I had been the invisible stain on the Blood Moon Pack's pristine reputation.

I was an Omega. The lowest of the low. My existence was defined by the grit beneath my fingernails: scouring stone floors until my knees were raw, cooking feasts I wasn't allowed to eat, and bowing my head so low my nose brushed the dirt whenever a high-ranking wolf strode past.

But I harbored a secret that kept the frost from settling in my marrow during the long, lonely nights in the servant's quarters.

Alpha Kane was my Mate.

I knew it the second the clock struck midnight on my eighteenth birthday. The scent had slammed into me like a physical blow-a heady, intoxicating collision of ozone, petrichor, and the sharp, resinous tang of ancient pine.

My inner wolf, usually a quiet, submissive creature, had clawed at my chest, howling a single word that vibrated through my very bones.

Mine.

But Kane was the Alpha. He was powerful, radiant, and destined for a dynasty. I was a nobody. I swallowed the truth. I never told him. I waited, praying the Moon Goddess would guide him to me, that he would catch a drift of my scent-wild jasmine and honey-and claim me.

He never did. Or perhaps, he simply chose to ignore what was beneath him.

Still, I didn't yield. I served him. I served the Pack. I poured my devotion into every shirt I ironed, every meal I plated, loving him from the shadows.

Then came the day the snow turned red.

It was supposed to be a routine patrol. But the woods were cruel that winter. A rogue bear-massive, mutated, and foaming with madness-had ambushed the hunting party. I shouldn't have been there, but I was running supplies to the perimeter.

I saw Kane cornered. His flank was torn open, his wolf form stumbling in the deep drifts. The bear reared up, a mountain of matted fur and muscle, ready to crush his skull.

I didn't think. My body moved before my mind could process the terror. I shifted.

My wolf was small, russet-colored, and unimpressive, but I was fast. I threw myself into the void between the Alpha and death, snapping at the bear's sensitive nose, drawing its roar and its rage onto myself.

It bought Kane the split-second he needed. He lunged, tearing the beast's throat out in a spray of dark blood.

I lay in the snow, panting, my vision blurring as red stained the white around me. Kane shifted back to human form. He was naked, glorious, and terrifying in his violence. He walked over to me.

He didn't scold me. He didn't look through me. For the first time, he truly saw me.

He crouched down, his hand brushing my cheek. The sparks-the electric jolt of the Mate bond-exploded under my skin. I stopped breathing.

"You have spirit, Lilith," he murmured, his voice low and rough with adrenaline. "More than I gave you credit for."

I trembled under his touch, starved for it.

"If you can prove your worth," he whispered, his thumb tracing the line of my jaw, "maybe I can give you a chance. A chance to stand by my side. To be Luna."

That promise became my religion.

For the next six months, I worked myself to the bone. I memorized the Pack laws. I organized the winter stores with military precision. I mediated disputes between the Omegas. I took on the burdens of a Luna without the crown, ignoring the sneers of the Gamma female and the whispers that a servant was reaching above her station.

I did it all for him. For that chance.

Tonight was the Winter Solstice Celebration. The entire Pack had gathered. I had spent weeks preparing the Great Hall, ensuring every garland was hung with care. I believed-truly, foolishly believed-that tonight, Kane would finally claim me in front of them all.

I was in the kitchen, wiping down the granite counters, when I felt a sharp prickle in my mind. It was the Mind-Link. Usually, the Alpha's private channel was sealed to Omegas, but sometimes, when emotions ran high, the barriers thinned.

Or maybe, the Moon Goddess simply wanted me to bleed.

"She's exhausted, Kane," a female voice tittered. It was Serra, the Beta female from the Silver Lake Pack. She had been lingering around our territory for weeks. "Look at her, running around like a headless chicken."

My heart seized. I froze, clutching the damp dishrag until my knuckles turned white.

"Let her run," Kane's voice replied. It was cold. Detached. Void of the heat he had shown me in the snow. "She is useful. The Pack has never been more organized."

"But you promised her a chance," Serra teased, her mental voice dripping with false sympathy. "Isn't that cruel?"

"It's strategy, Serra," Kane answered, and I could hear the smirk in his tone. "Lilith is a tool. An Omega who thinks she has a shot at the throne works harder than ten paid warriors. She's a placeholder. A shield to keep the elders off my back while I secure our alliance."

The rag dropped from my numb fingers.

"Besides," Kane added, his voice softening in a way that made bile rise in my throat. "You are the only Luna I want. She is just... an obstacle. An annoying, but useful, obstacle."

The link snapped shut.

I stood there in the empty kitchen. The festive music from the Great Hall drifted in, muffled and mocking.

A pain ripped through my chest, sharper than any claw. It wasn't a metaphor. My inner wolf let out a sound that wasn't a howl-it was a scream of pure, unadulterated agony. The bond, the sacred connection I had cherished, felt like it was being sawed in half with a rusty knife.

He knew. He had always known.

He used my love as a leash.

I couldn't breathe. The walls of the kitchen felt like they were closing in, crushing me. I turned and ran. I burst out the back door, into the freezing night air.

I ran toward the forest, my human legs stumbling over roots and rocks. I didn't shift. I couldn't. My wolf was broken, curled into a ball of misery in my mind.

I reached the edge of the territory, gasping for air. The cold bit into my skin, but I was numb to it.

Memories flashed before my eyes. The way he looked at me in the snow. The lie. If you prove your worth.

I looked down at my hands. They were rough, calloused from months of labor for a man who called me an obstacle.

"Irene was right," I whispered to the darkness.

Irene, the old Pack Healer, had warned me once. "Child, not all Mate bonds are gifts. Some are curses disguised as blessings."

I reached up and grabbed the leather cord around my neck. Hanging from it was a small, carved wooden wolf Kane had given me as a 'reward' for the harvest. I had worn it like a diamond.

With a sob that tore my throat, I yanked it.

The leather snapped.

I threw it into the mud.

I couldn't go back. I couldn't serve him. I couldn't watch him claim Serra.

I would rather be a Rogue-a lawless, hunted thing without a name-than be Kane's tool for one second longer.

I took a step into the darkness of the unclaimed lands, and I didn't look back.