Chapter 1 The Omega with no Chains.

~ZARIA~

They called me cursed before I ever bled.

Before I even shifted for the first time, whispers painted my name in ash and venom. I wasn't born screaming I was born silent. Watching. Breathing. Smelling everything. Even then, the elders said my scent was... wrong. Too rich. Too sharp. Too tempting. My mother cried the day the midwife flinched from me. She knew.

Omegas are meant to be soft.

Docile. Fragile. Carried by heat and ruled by instinct.

But I don't have a mate to anchor my instincts. No Alpha to leash my desire. No pack to tame me.

I was born an Omega but I became something else the moment the world turned its back on me.

And I've never turned back.

The moon was a sl*t in the sky silver, bleeding, watching.

The forest around me pulsed with sound: the rustle of low branches, the ripple of cold wind through pine, the heartbeat of prey and predator alike. I moved barefoot over the damp earth, skirts torn, blood on my thighs not mine. A warning.

Behind me, they hunted.

The Alphas. Five of them. Big. Ruthless. Feral. Arrogant enough to think I'd kneel just because their cocks got hard at my scent. The cursed one. The heatless one. The mate-less one.

"Zaria," one of them called. His voice was low, sing song sweet. That fake charm they all wore before their fangs came out. "Little Omega. Come out and play..."

I didn't reply.

I didn't run, either.

I crouched behind a tree, chest rising and falling slowly, grounding myself. I could feel my own scent thick in the air molten sugar and violence. That was the thing about me. My scent made them lose control. That's why they wanted to own me. Trap me. Breed me.

But I wasn't made to be bred.

I was made to burn.

A sharp crack to my left. A Beta maybe, scouting ahead.

They always sent the Beta first. Easier to replace.

I waited until he was close. I saw the glint of steel in his hand, the smug grin curving his lips.

He never saw my blade coming.

A whisper through the ribs. A flick under the chin. Blood misted the air like perfume. He dropped without a word. His blood was hot on my fingers as I leaned over him, eyes locked on the trees beyond.

They'd smell his death.

They'd come harder now.

Good.

I wanted them to.

They found me at the river.

Of course they did.

I stood waist deep in the dark current, the moonlight painting my skin silver, my hair slicked back. My torn dress clung to my body, soaked and ruined. My scent, too warped by blood, wet skin, and defiance.

The Alpha stepped out first. Darius.

Broad. Brutal. Smirking.

"You killed my Beta," he said, tone lazy, like we were making conversation in a goddamn tea house.

"I gave him mercy," I murmured. "More than he deserved."

The others fanned out behind him. Hungry. Eyes glowing. They wanted to break me down. Drag me to my knees. Knot me. Mark me. F*ck me into obedience.

I let them come closer.

I let them think they had a chance.

"Don't you want protection?" Darius asked, his voice laced with that sickly.sweet Alpha coaxing. "A pack? A home? Heat relief? You're not made to be alone, Zaria."

I tilted my head.

"You're right," I whispered. "I'm not made to be alone..."

He smiled.

"...I chose to be."

Then I leapt.

A blur. A flash of silver. The river surged around me as I slammed into him, blade pressed to his throat before he could shift. He roared. The others snarled, but they hesitated. Because even now, bleeding and half-naked, I reeked of danger. Of lust. Of something too wild to tame.

He grabbed my hair. I smiled in his face.

"Go ahead," I whispered against his lips. "Try and knot me. I dare you."

He froze.

Because I didn't smell scared.

I smelled... hungry.

The fight was chaos. Fangs. Claws. Heat. Pain.

I didn't win by strength. I didn't need to.

I danced.

I seduced.

I bled them dry.

When it was over, the river was red.

Darius lay sprawled at my feet, shifting back into his human skin, gasping like a man who'd just been reborn and realized God was a woman with a knife.

I stepped over him, chest heaving.

"Tell the others," I said. "Tell them the Omega with no mate is done hiding."

He didn't move.

I leaned down, lips to his ear.

"I'll build a pack out of wolves like me. Broken. Unbonded. Unclaimed. And when I do..."

I kissed his blood-slick cheek.

"...you'll beg to belong to it."

Then I walked away.

Naked. Unmarked. Unashamed.

And behind me, the forest didn't whisper my name.

It screamed it.