Moonlight stabs into the center of the clearing like a cold white blade. I stand at the very heart of the scorched circle, my bare feet feeling every crack in the ancient stone. A tremor racks my body; my tattered dress clings to my skin with cold sweat.
— Stand still, trash.
The voice from the crowd lashes like a whip. I don't turn around. Directly in front of me is a void, and beyond it, in the shadows of ancient firs, they stand frozen. The Pack. Hundreds of eyes glow in the darkness like hungry amber.
— Is this really the best we can do? — Rein spits demonstratively on the grass. — Putting a defective girl before the Moon. What a disgrace.
Tom, standing slightly behind him, frowns and crosses his arms over his chest.
— She's a replacement, Rein. You know the rules. If the Chosen fails to appear, the circle must be filled.
— Filled by whom? This trembling sheep? — Rein sneers, his teeth gleaming unnaturally white in the moonlight. — The Alpha will devour her without a second thought. Look at her, Tom. Her legs are about to give out.
I dig my nails into my palms. The pain distracts me from the fear. The air around me begins to thicken, filling with ozone like it does before the worst storm of one's life.
— The ritual has begun! — The Pack Elder throws his hands toward the sky. — Blood to blood! Power to power!
— She'll probably drop dead right here, — whispers a woman from the second row. — Too skinny. The bond will simply burn her up.
— Everyone shut up, — Tom cuts off the whispering. — Look.
The Moon overhead suddenly flares, becoming unbearably bright. I want to squeeze my eyes shut, but my eyelids feel glued open. My pupils dilate, drinking in the deathly light. And in that moment, the world explodes.
The first blow strikes right in my chest. It isn't just a flash—it's lightning entering beneath my ribs.
— A-a-ah...
The sound hitches in my throat. My lungs instantly stop pumping air. Instead, he rushes in. The scent.
Bitter pine needles, burnt sugar, and cold steel. Cale's scent. It fills me to the brim, saturating every cell, displacing my own fragrance. This isn't just a bond; it's a seizure. An occupation.
— What is that sound? — Rein leans forward, his mockery replaced by bewilderment. — Why is the air crackling like that?
— It's the bond, you idiot, — Tom takes a step back, instinctively crouching low. — But it... it's too strong. Look at the stones.
The surface of the circle begins to spark. White arcs of magical energy stretch from my feet to the edge of the forest. To where Cale stands.
I see him. He doesn't move. His powerful figure is frozen like a stone statue ten meters away. He doesn't help. He just watches as I am turned inside out.
A second jolt of electricity pierces my spine. I feel the invisible threads of my will snapping. My muscles contract in a spasm.
— Look at her chest! — someone in the crowd screams. — Her skin is glowing!
— A true curse, — mutters an old woman at the edge of the circle. — The Moon is mocking the Alpha. Binding him to this...
— She isn't even a full wolf, — Rein finds his voice again, his tone dripping with venom. — Cale, kill her now! Break the bond before it takes root!
Cale is silent. His gaze burns a hole through me.
Something snaps inside me. The heat in my chest becomes unbearable, as if molten lead has been poured into my heart. The pain is so sharp that a white veil shrouds my vision.
— Stop it... — my whisper is drowned out by the rising roar.
— Did you hear her? — Rein elbows Tom. — She's begging for mercy. How pathetic. Hey, runt! Try harder! You're being bound to a future king, not a scavenger!
— Shut up, Rein, — Tom doesn't take his eyes off my trembling hands. — Do you see his eyes? Cale is in a fury.
I feel his rage through this cursed thread. It flows into me in a bitter stream, poisoning my blood. Cale hates this moment. He hates that I am his mate.
— She's falling, — a voice in the crowd states.
My knees give out. The crunch of stone beneath my kneecaps sounds deafening. I collapse onto the sharp edges of the ritual circle, scraping my skin until it bleeds. My arms give way; I double over, pressing my forehead against the cold granite.
— Well, that's that, — Rein shakes his head in disappointment. — She broke. Didn't even make it to the end of the hymn.
— Is she alive? — Tom takes an uncertain step toward the edge of the circle.
— Back! — Cale's growl makes the entire pack flinch.
It is the first time he has spoken. Low and vibrating, it makes the ground beneath my palms tremble. I force myself to lift my head.
The bond between us is now physically visible—a thin, shimmering thread of pure light connecting my heart to his. It pulses in rhythm with his frantic heartbeat.
— Cale, it's a mistake, — Rein gestures toward me, trying to offer an ingratiating smile. — You won't accept her, surely? The Pack won't. Look at this piece of trash. She can't even stand on her own two feet.
Cale slowly steps out of the shadows. Every step he takes echoes through me as a flash of pain. He stops at the very edge of the circle, looking down at me.
I gasp for air. The scent of pine and steel is so strong now that my head spins. I see his boots—heavy, splattered with mud. I lift my gaze higher.
— Cale... — my throat is raw, my voice sounding like the rustle of dry leaves.
He doesn't answer. His face is twisted in a grimace of such deep contempt that I want the ground to open up beneath me. In his eyes, there is neither sympathy nor recognition. Only cold, icy rage.
— And this is my mate? — His voice rings out across the clearing, silencing the Pack.
— We can perform a cleansing ritual, — the Elder offers quickly, wiping sweat from his forehead. — We can try to break the—
— She is weak, — Cale interrupts, his eyes never leaving mine. — She smells of fear and defeat.
I try to lift myself, propping myself up on trembling elbows. Blood from my mangled knees flows onto the stone, staining the ritual symbols dark red.
— I didn't... didn't choose this... — I choke out with effort.
— You don't even have the right to speak, — Rein laughs, bolstered by the Alpha's stance. — Look at her writhing. Like a stray dog.
— Enough, — Tom turns away, his face showing a mix of disgust and something akin to pity. — This is no sight for warriors.
Cale takes another step. Now he stands so close I can see the pile of his cloak. The bond between us stretches tight, like a wire ready to snap and rip out my spine.
— You are the shame of this circle, — he spits the words into my face. — The Moon made a mistake in choosing you.
He leans down lower, so that only I can hear his rasping breath.
— Do not hope for a soft bed or my name. You are a burden I will carry until I find a way to cut you out.
I feel his contempt pouring into me through the magical channel, incinerating the last of my hope. The Pack begins to disperse, whispering and casting sidelong glances at me.
— Well, omega? — Rein walks past, catching my shoulder with his boot. — Enjoy your triumph. You're the Alpha's mate now. It's just a pity he'd sooner shoot you than touch you.
— Come on, Rein, — Tom pulls him by the sleeve. — There's nothing left to see here.
I remain on my knees in the center of the circle. The moonlight slowly fades, but the searing pain in my chest remains. Cale's scent—pine and cold steel—is etched into my lungs like a brand.
I lift my eyes. Cale is already walking away without looking back. His broad shoulders disappear into the forest thicket, and the bond between us pulls tight, forcing my face down against the cold stone once more.
— Get up, trash, — the voice of one of the guards calls from a distance. — The celebration is over. Your hell is only just beginning.
I try to move my fingers, but they won't obey. The bond jolts me with every attempt to move away from him. I am tied to a man who wants me dead more than anyone else in this world.
— Please... — I whisper into the void, but the Moon is silent, and the Pack has already forgotten I exist.
I claw at the stone, trying to find purchase. The pain in my chest pulses—thump-thump, thump-thump—in time with Cale's receding footsteps. He carries my heart with him, even though he doesn't want it.
— How revolting, — I hear Rein's final chuckle before silence finally swallows the clearing. — It's sickening even to look at her.
I close my eyes, and the only thing I see is the cold, revulsion-filled gaze of the one who has just become my destiny.
— Do you hear me? — The Pack Elder roughly grabs my shoulder, forcing me up. — Get up. The Alpha has ordered you taken to the dungeons.
— The dungeons? — I repeat the word dumbly, feeling blood from my bitten lip trickle down my chin. — But I am... the mate.
The old man sneers, and in his eyes, I see the same thing I saw in Cale's.
— You are a mistake, girl. And the Alpha keeps mistakes under lock and key.
He shoves me forward, and I stagger out of the circle. The magical thread pulls me toward Cale, inflicting physical agony with every meter. I drag my feet through the grass, feeling the night chill pierce me to the bone.
— Watch where you're going, — Tom says as he passes, his gaze lingering on me for a moment before he turns away as Rein calls out to him.
I walk hunched over, pressing my hands to my chest where the invisible brand still sears. The scent of pine and steel haunts me, a reminder that I no longer belong to myself.
— Faster! — the guard jerks my arm.
I stumble and nearly fall again. Everything is a blur. The flash of the bond still hangs before my eyes like a white veil.
— Cale... — the name slips from my lips like a curse.
— Shut up, — the guard growls. — Don't you dare call the Alpha by his name. To you, he is Master. And he is the only one who will decide if you live to see the dawn.
We pass beneath the castle arches, and the dampness of the walls instantly swallows what little warmth I have left. I look back at the clearing, flooded with silver. My life stayed there. My cage begins here.
— Down, — the voice commands, and I obey, feeling the invisible chain around my neck tighten.
The bond no longer strikes like lightning. Now it smolders inside me like a heavy, sullen ember, a constant reminder of the contemptuous gaze that has become my only dowry.