Chapter 3 Marked for misery

Lauren had always found that particular shade unsettling- too deep, too heavy, like it had soaked up the suffering of the world. It bled across the forest as she stood by the river, knees trembling beneath her. The frigid water bit at her ankles, but she didn't move. Couldn't. Not when her whole world had shifted in the span of one heartbeat.

She was mated.

And not to some kind, patient soul sent by the Luna Goddess to rescue her from years of torment.

No.

Her mate was Alpha Ryder.

The same monster who ruled Bloodmoon with an iron fist. The same man who had shattered countless lives-including her own. The same man who had once looked her in the eye and said she was nothing but a resource-a thing to be used and discarded.

Now, he was her fated mate.

Lauren's breath came in shallow, uneven gasps as the scent of him clung to her skin like smoke. She'd never forget the moment it happened-the precise instant their eyes locked across the training yard. He had paused mid-conversation, his expression twisting from boredom to something primal. His eyes flared red, and she had felt it deep within her chest-like a tether snapping taut.

Fate. Bond. Mate.

Every instinct in her body had screamed it. Confirmed it.

And then... dread.

While others might've felt joy or relief at finding their destined one, Lauren had felt the opposite.

She had felt horror.

"Omega," Ryder had said, striding toward her with purpose, his presence a storm rolling in. "It's you."

Lauren had dropped the wooden practice spear in her hands, backing away without even realizing it.

"Stay away from me," she whispered, panic clenching her throat.

Ryder only grinned. A slow, wicked, victorious grin that chilled her blood.

"Oh, Lauren," he said, drawing her name out like a purr. "Don't you see? This is fate. You're mine."

She ran.

Right there, in front of the other warriors, in front of Mira, in front of the entire pack.

She didn't care.

She ran like hell.

*****

Now, hours later, she was by the river, still shivering, still trying to understand how this had happened.

Why would the Goddess do this to her? After everything?

Her thoughts spiraled.

Was it a punishment?

Had she not suffered enough?

She sank to her knees, fists clenched in the cold mud, and screamed.

A sound raw and aching. A cry that didn't echo through the trees because it wasn't meant to be heard. It was meant to be released.

Tears followed. Silent and bitter.

Her parents were gone. Her childhood had been stolen. Her dignity ripped away day by day.

And now... this?

Ryder. Her mate.

No. She refused.

She couldn't allow herself to be tied to him-not in this life, not in any life.

"I reject you," she whispered to the river, voice trembling. "Even if the bond is real, I reject you."

But there was no surge of release, no break in the tight thread coiled around her soul. Because a rejection could not work until it was accepted. And Ryder had no intention of letting her go.

---

She returned to the pack house just before sunset, the walk back feeling like a funeral march. Everyone had heard. The gossip buzzed like flies, whispering through every corridor.

The Omega is the Alpha's mate.

Did you see her run?

He won't let her go.

They watched her now-some with curiosity, some with envy, most with disgust.

"Guess that means she's the new Luna," one girl sneered as Lauren passed.

"She'll never survive the heat in that bed," a warrior muttered.

"She's just an omega. What a joke."

Lauren ignored them all, kept her chin up even though her insides were crumbling. She knew how this worked. Ryder would claim her publicly. Use her as a pawn. A symbol of submission. And then discard her when he was done.

And just as she feared, that moment came quicker than expected.

He summoned her.

To his private quarters.

---

The door creaked shut behind her as Lauren stepped into the Alpha's room for the first time. She had cleaned it many times before-scrubbed the floor, polished the oak furniture, folded the fine furs. But now, standing inside it as his mate, it felt foreign. Sinister.

Ryder stood by the fireplace, swirling amber liquid in a glass. His silhouette was sharp in the low firelight-tall, broad, dangerous.

"Come here," he said without turning.

Lauren didn't move.

He turned his head slowly, his expression unreadable. "I said come."

Her legs moved of their own accord, driven by the bond she didn't want. She stopped just short of the hearth, clenching her jaw.

"Why?" she asked, her voice low but steady. "Why me?"

"Because fate decided it," Ryder replied, raising his glass to his lips. "Or perhaps the Goddess has a sick sense of humor. Either way... here we are."

"You don't even like me," she snapped. "You've treated me like dirt for years."

Ryder chuckled darkly. "I don't have to like you to own you."

Lauren's stomach twisted.

"I will not be your Luna."

"No, you won't," he said flatly. "You'll be exactly what I make you. Nothing more."

She backed away, bile rising in her throat.

"You're disgusting."

"Maybe," he said with a shrug. "But I'm your mate. And you belong to me now. You will eat when I say. Sleep when I say. Submit when I say."

"No!" she cried, the word echoing off the stone walls.

He was before her in a flash, eyes blazing with fury. He gripped her arm, dragging her closer, his nose brushing against hers.

"You think you have a choice, little omega?"

"I'll never be yours," she hissed.

"Too late," he said, and then bit her.

Hard.

Lauren screamed as his teeth tore into her neck-not a mark of love, but of dominance. It burned, an agony she'd never felt before. A claim made in cruelty, not desire. Her knees buckled as the bond flared white-hot.

Then... silence.

He let go.

She crumpled to the floor, tears falling freely now.

He crouched beside her, wiping blood from his lips.

"That bond will keep you here," he murmured. "Whether you want it or not."

---

Lauren didn't remember leaving the room. She didn't remember the corridor, the sneering faces, or the mocking words.

All she remembered was the pain.

And the fire in her chest.

By the time she reached the storage shed behind the laundry wing, she was shaking violently. She collapsed against the wall, pressing her sleeve against the bleeding wound on her neck.

Her body trembled with exhaustion, rage, and the cruel tether that now yanked at her soul. She could feel Ryder's presence inside her mind like a brand. A claiming.

She wanted to vomit. Scream. Rip the skin from her bones.

But instead, she breathed.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

"I will run," she whispered.

Her voice was hoarse, raw, but filled with steel.

"I don't care if the bond ties me to him. I'll find a way. I will never be his."

She would find a way out. There had to be one.

Even if it killed her.

Because Lauren might be an omega.

But she was not weak.

She was not broken.

She was not his.

And if the Luna Goddess had cursed Reece for killing his mate... then perhaps she had cursed Lauren too- by giving her the wrong one. But curses could be broken. And Lauren would be the one to do it. Even if she had to tear fate apart with her own hands.