Chapter 3

Liora POV:

I froze, my hand hovering inches from the door, my heart a leaden weight in my chest. And then I heard his voice, laced with a casual cruelty that gutted me more than Selena's betrayal.

"She's just an Omega. A little reassurance and she'll be fine. Her value doesn't compare to the loyalty of Selena's father and his warriors."

The words were a poisoned blade, twisting in a wound I hadn't even known was there. The bond between us didn't just sting anymore; it felt like it was being ripped apart, thread by painful thread. My Omega disguise-the test I'd designed to ensure his love was pure-had become the very reason he was discarding me. The irony was a bitter, nauseating pill.

"Exactly, Kade," another voice chimed in. I recognized it as Jace Thorne, his second-in-command. "An Omega Luna? It's practically unheard of. She'd be a liability, a weakness our enemies would exploit."

My fists clenched, my nails digging so deep into my palms that I felt the sting of breaking skin. The pain was a welcome anchor, a physical sensation to focus on as I fought to suppress the surge of raw Alpha pheromones threatening to erupt from me.

"But she's your Fated Mate, man," a more hesitant voice argued. Finn Reed. He'd always been the more compassionate one. "To reject a gift from the Goddess... that brings bad luck."

Kade laughed, a cold, sharp sound devoid of any warmth. "The Goddess gave me strength, Finn, not a leash to be held by a weaker wolf. This pack needs a powerful matriarch, not a decorative flower that needs constant protection."

*He dares!* Lyra's roar of outrage in my mind was not for our rejection, but for his blasphemy. For the way he spoke of the Goddess's sacred bond as if it were a mere inconvenience.

"Liora is docile," Kade continued, his voice dripping with condescending certainty. "We'll give her some compensation, let her stay in the pack. She won't go anywhere. She needs my protection to survive."

That was it. The last fragile shard of hope I'd been clinging to shattered into dust. He wasn't just rejecting me. He planned to keep me here, a broken toy to be stored away, a constant, living monument to his betrayal, trapped under the rule of the woman who had replaced me.

A wave of revulsion washed over me. The man I had loved, the man I had been willing to give my entire self to, was arrogant, selfish, and utterly ruthless. Every ounce of love I'd ever felt for him curdled, transforming into an icy, potent hatred.

A plan began to form in the cold, clear space of my broken heart. But first, this had to end. Publicly.

I let go of the tight leash I held on my power, but only partially. I allowed a wave of pheromones to emanate from me, not the commanding scent of an Alpha, but the overwhelming, heart-wrenching scent of an Omega shattered by grief.

Inside the room, the chatter stopped.

"There's someone outside," Finn said, his voice sharp with alarm.

I heard Kade's frustrated sigh. He smelled it, of course. My unique scent of rain-soaked forest, now drenched in agony. I heard the scrape of his chair as he stood, his heavy footsteps approaching the door. He was coming to deal with the "trouble."

I took a deep breath, letting the tears I'd been holding back stream down my face. I needed them to see the madness of a spurned Omega. It would be the perfect cover for everything that was about to happen.

Just as his hand touched the doorknob from the inside, I drew my foot back and kicked.

The heavy oak door flew open, slamming against the interior wall with a deafening crack.

I stood in the doorway, my beautiful dress a mockery, my face streaked with tears, but my eyes... my eyes burned with a fire he had never seen before. I stared straight at him, my voice low and shaking with fury.

"Everything you just said... do you have the courage to say it again to my face?"