Chapter 1 The Banished Omega

Raven POV

"Anyone who objects to this union between Alpha Matthew and our future Luna, Cassandra, speak now or forever hold your peace."

"I object," I said, my voice slicing through the air as I stepped into the wedding hall.

Gasps rippled through the crowd like thunder.

But I didn't care.

I barely saw them. My eyes locked on only two people.

Matthew...the only man I ever loved since I was a teenager. The one I believed saw me, truly saw me, beyond my rank... beyond being a wolfless omega.

And Cassandra...my best friend. My sister in everything but blood.

Standing there beside him in a Luna's wedding gown.

About to marry him.

On the same day that was supposed to be ours.

The same day he promised would bind us.

My heart pounded as I stepped forward, each footfall heavier than the last.

The betrayal clawed at my chest, but I kept walking, toward the altar, toward the lie, toward the knife they had both buried in my back.

"What's going on?!" I screamed, my voice cracking as I stumbled forward. "Today is our wedding day!"

Tears streamed down my cheeks.

Matthew didn't flinch.

He didn't even blink.

"The only thing that should surprise you," he said coldly, "is that you ever thought I'd marry a stupid, wolfless omega."

Cassandra laughed beside him, lacing her fingers through his.

"How could the pack's little slut ever dream of becoming a Luna?" she sneered, smirking as if this was all one big joke.

I gasped, clutching my chest as pain lanced through me. Like my heart was being ripped out in front of everyone.

"I'm not a whore," I whispered. "And you...of all people...you know that."

I stepped forward, reaching for him. For the man who'd once held me like I was his world.

"But... you promised me.."

"Don't touch me," he snapped.

He shoved me hard...

I fell backwards from the altar, landing with a sickening thud.

The wind was knocked out of me. My gown tangled around me like a shroud.

"Raven!" My mother cried, rushing to my side.

She dropped to her knees, clutching my shoulders ,her arms wrapping around me like a shield ,but I couldn't hear her over the pounding in my head.

Over the sound of my own soul tearing.I collapsed into her, sobbing.

I had thought my parents would be disappointed.

I had expected judgment when I told them I couldn't keep waiting for a fated mate. But instead... they'd surprised me.

They were happy. Proud, even.

Supportive of my decision to choose love rather than wait for a bond that might never come.

Not every wolf gets to meet their mate.

The lucky ones do. But for the rest of us... we're left with nothing but fading hope and the quiet ache of time slipping away.

So I chose Matthew.

He wasn't my mate...but he was kind. Or at least, I thought he was.

I let myself believe I could be happy with him. That maybe a chosen mate could still mean forever.

But now?

Matthew had shattered that fragile dream. He didn't just break my heart.

He destroyed my one chance at happiness.

And as I clutched my mother in the middle of that church, surrounded by laughter and betrayal, I knew...

There was no going back.

"This should be the last time I ever see you near my pack...or my family," Matthew growled, his voice dripping venom. "The next time I do, I'll skin you alive. Consider this a favor."

His words were a blade.

And they cut deeper than anything ever had.

I screamed.

A sound so raw, so full of agony, it echoed through the hall and out into the night.

I clutched my chest as a deeper pain surged through me...one I couldn't stop, couldn't control.

For a wolf, there was nothing worse than exile.

Separation from the pack wasn't just punishment-it was a death sentence for the soul.

It carves you open. Hollows you out. Leaves you... nothing.

And just when I thought the pain couldn't get any worse...

It did.

Something snapped deep inside me. My bones twisted. My skin burned. I collapsed again, spasming as the first wave of my shift hit.

The world blurred.

My screams turned into snarls.

And for the first time in my life-

I began to transform.

"What's going on?!" someone shouted behind me.

"She's... she's transforming!" another voice cried, trembling.

But I couldn't hear them anymore, not even my mothers frantic screaming.

All I could hear was the sound of my bones snapping and rearranging, one after the other. My screams turned to snarls.

My nails tore through skin. My back arched as my wolf unfurled inside me.

Pain consumed me.

All of me.

A firestorm ripping through my veins, devouring my humanity.

I howled.

A guttural, agonizing sound that ripped through the walls of the church.

Then I bolted...charging out into the cold night, claws tearing into the ground,my eyes wild with rage and confusion.

"Raven!" my mother's voice cried out, frantic, and desperately.I heard her try to follow me.

"Don't go near her!" someone shouted behind her. "She's rogue now...she'll attack anything that moves!"

Their voices blurred, thinned, and faded as I tore through the woods.

The trees became a blur. The wind howled around me. My breath came in ragged bursts as I ran deeper, faster, farther.

Away from them.

From the lies.

From the betrayal.

But I couldn't escape the madness curling through my mind. A slow, creeping wildfire that whispered...

My name is Ara.

Just then, through the haze of pain and fury...

A scent slammed into me like a wall.

So rich and intoxicating. It was like earth and wildflowers, fresh rain on soil...I froze.

My claws dug into the ground as I slowly turned, breath heaving, my golden eyes snapping from tree to tree, as I searched for the source.

The scent pulled at me like a string through my chest.

Mate.

The word echoed in my head.

My wolf's voice, clear and wild and certain, whispered over and over again .

Mate. Mate. Mate.

She was howling it now, over and over, louder than the pain, louder than the madness.

The forest quieted around me. My muscles trembled, my body still in pain from shifting, but nothing else mattered.

The scent overruled everything.

The rage. The grief. The betrayal.

All of it fell silent.

Because he was near.

Somewhere, beyond the trees, the one fate had chosen for me.

Not Matthew. Not the liar who left me broken on the church floor.

And I would find him.

Even if I had to tear the forest apart to do it.

I kept running, as the scent grew stronger, and sharper almost impossible to ignore.

It wrapped around me like heat, calling me deeper into the woods.

I slowed as I reached the source.

My chest heaved. My skin still buzzed from the shift. My gown was in tatters, barely hanging onto my frame. I didn't care.

I shifted back into human form, pushing branches aside, my bare feet crunching over twigs and leaves. Step by step, I followed the scent...until the trees opened up into a small clearing.

And then I stopped cold.

My breath hitched.

Three men standing in front of me.

Not one,Not two.

But three.

All staring at me.

Three pairs of eyes locked onto mine like magnets. Eyes that shimmered with recognition. Hunger. Shock. And Possession.

My knees nearly buckled.

Because I could feel it-deep in my bones, in my soul, in my wolf.

They were all my mates.

Not one, but all three of them.