Chapter 1 Lyra's POV

His teeth grazed my skin, his tongue following, slow and deliberate, until every inch of me felt swollen with heat.

I shouldn't remember the way his mouth dragged down my body-hungry, claiming, until I was trembling under him... but I do.

His hand slammed my wrists above my head before I could breathe, his body crushing mine into the window as he thrust into me hard enough to make the glass crack.

I shouldn't remember the way his mouth closed over my private lips, pulling every sound out of me, or the way his lips suckled at my tits with slow, desperate hunger... but I do."

And even now, standing in this stupid wedding hall, my lips still tremble from the way he kissed me like he wanted to ruin me.

I didn't know his name then. I didn't know he was an Alpha. I didn't know he was my mate's father.

I only knew one thing: a prophecy woke in my blood.

Instead, I arched into the stranger whose scent burned like sin...

*******

Hours earlier, before I let a dangerous stranger drag those sounds out of me, I was just an Omega standing behind a bar pretending I wasn't breaking apart.

The laughter swirling all around me is too loud, and the music too sweet. They wrap their hands around me like poisonous vines, choking until I don't think I have anything left in me.

The bride's hands wrap around what should have been mine, giggle on her lips, and satisfaction in her eyes. My fingers grip the edge of the bar so hard that I feel it in my knuckles.

I force myself to breathe, to close my eyes, and act like I'm just another Omega pouring drinks at the Alpha's son's wedding. But nothing is that simple.

Because my mate is standing at the front of the crowd, sliding a ring onto someone else's finger. And not just anyone. Selene. My best friend since childhood, the one who promised she'd always have my back.

What a way to show it. A sharp pulse stings behind my ribs like an arrow. For a second, the world goes muffled, like something inside me is trying to wake up. I blink hard as my throat bobbed unconsciously. Not here and certainly not now.

The glass I'm drying suddenly shatters in my hand from how hard I'm holding it, and at once, heads turn in my direction, their eyes glaring daggers at me.

Somewhere across the hall, a shadow shift. A presence that felt heavy and dominant My wolf, weak as she is bristles so sharply I almost drop the remaining shards. Someone powerful is watching me.

"Be quiet, girl!" Selene's mother scolds harshly, her face squeezing into a frown. "And get away from there this minute. You are ruining such a beautiful day."

She was just like Selene. They acted like they were my friends for so long that I forgot who I was with them. A poor omega, working in the pack's kitchen with nothing else to her name.

I bow quickly and move farther away from them, walking out back to dump the shredded glass into the bin.

Blood trickles down my hand, but it doesn't hurt as much as every other thing happening today. The wound isn't healing on time because Omegas don't heal as fast as all the others.

Sliding to the floor, I allow the sobs I have been holding back all morning rack through me. My shoulders bob and my lips part wide open. I taste the salt in my own tears and the hurt laced in it.

I hear the sound of footsteps echo in the air until they come to an abrupt stop in front of me. "Lyra, you really shouldn't be taking it this personally," I hear Selene say, and suddenly, I feel the urge to tear her apart from the inside.

"Selene..."

She scoffs and shakes her head. "You are really making a scene out here, and someone from a guest pack might think I actually stole your mate from you."

"But you did," the words come out in a choked whisper as another torrent of tears starts pouring.

She leans in, her perfume chokingly sweet. "You were always too slow, Lyra. Too soft. You really thought fate would choose you?"

"You knew, Selene. You knew how much I liked Aiden, yet you took him from me. You know he was my mate..."

"He asked me to marry him, Lyra. What could I have done? Say no?"

I stare at her disbelievingly, finding it hard to believe that it is the same Selene I have always known.

"And it isn't my fault you didn't figure out that there is no way Aiden will agree to mate with an ordinary Omega like you." I hear the disdain drip from her tone. "You are just a wench in the kitchen. He deserves...."

"Better," I complete, pulling myself off the ground. "Someone like you."

Her lips quirk with the ghost of a smile just as Aiden saunters in through the door at one corner.

"There you are, my lovely bride," he murmurs, then halts when he notices me. "Is she hurting you?"

Selene shakes her head, her eyes turning to stare at Aiden. "I was only trying to explain to her why things have to be the way they are, but...."

"Can you listen to yourself?" I cry out. Suddenly, Aiden charges towards me, hitting me hard on my shoulder and forcing me back to the ground.

"What are you trying to do, Lyra?" he barks just as Selene places a hand on his chest, seemingly trying to calm him down. "This is the reason my father should have listened to me when I asked him to send you out of the pack."

Selene gasps dramatically and shakes her head at Aiden. "Baby, I've told you it's fine. Lyra and I have been friends for so long, and I was only trying to make her understand why I have to get married to her mate. I thought she would understand...."

"You are far too kind," Aiden murmurs, pushing back a stray curl from her hair before glaring down at me. "You hear that, Lyra? Despite the fact that you almost ruined our day with the scene you pulled inside, Selene still cares about your feelings. You don't deserve a friend as good as her."

"Aiden," I wail. It hurts so bad that I think my heart is going to claw its way out of my chest. My tears flow on ceaselessly, and I get on my knees, wrapping my hands around his ankles.

"You are my mate," I whisper. "Why are you doing this to me?"

He kicks me out of the way, just as Selene takes in a sharp breath. "She's already bleeding, Aiden."

"I don't care," he murmurs, then wraps a hand around her waist. "The only person I care about is you."

And then, his eyes fall once again on my crumpled form. "Just in case what happened in there wasn't clear, this is me, Aiden, the son of Alpha Kael of the Mystic Hollows Pack, rejecting you."

It hurts so bad. I see the look of triumph on Selene's face before it is masked by another feigned concern as Aiden whisks her away with him.

Something snarls inside me-quiet, buried, furious. Not my wolf, something that tastes like fire on my tongue.

My whole body quivers underneath me, but that only makes me angrier. My wolf is weak. She can do nothing other than quiver and shake. Why was I even born? Why do I have to go through this?

I hear another sound of footsteps echoing, and I brace myself, expecting Selene again.

The air changes first-tightening, lowering, pressing then a dominance so thick it rolls over like red carpet beneath me. I held my breath, even the warriors outside pause.

And then he steps into the doorway... tall, carved from shadow and authority, his presence hitting my senses like a slap. His feet, clad in black boots, halt in front of me. His eyes drag over me slowly-too slowly, like he's cataloging every bruise, every mark, and every place I'm breaking.

"Hello, Omega."

The way he says it shouldn't curl heat low in my stomach-but it does.

I look up, slightly relieved that someone is finally paying me attention. But his cold eyes regard me slowly, and he mutters after another second.

"You are standing in my way."

But this time... he doesn't move. Neither do I.

His gaze catches mine and holds, too intense, too knowing, too familiar like he's already seen me stripped bare under his hands.

A shiver shot through my spine not from fear but from recognition, memory and from the way my body suddenly remembers everything from the night I should never speak of, but my skin still aches for

His eyes narrow like he felt it too.

"Get up," he orders quietly. "Before I decide to pick you up myself."

My breath caught in my throat, and when he reaches out, not to help me, but to touch my wrist, slow and claiming the world goes hot and blinding.

The medallion around his neck burns green.

And everything inside me... answers.