The knot stayed lodged deep inside me long after the crowd began to disperse.
Kael didn't move.
He stood behind me, still fully seated within my body, one broad hand gripping my hip, the other trailing slow circles along the curve of my spine. I knelt in the dirt, trembling, raw, and wet. My slick dripped steadily between my thighs, my muscles fluttering helplessly around the thick knot sealing me shut.
I was wrecked. Opened. Displayed.
And he was proud of it.
Proud of the mess he made of me—his enemy's daughter turned into his property.
The wolves had watched the entire thing. Dozens of them—his pack, his loyal followers. Their eyes drank in my shame, their noses full of the scent of my heat and his seed.
Kael leaned closer, his breath warm against the nape of my neck. "Still pulsing around me," he murmured. "Your body doesn't want to let me go."
"I hate you," I whispered.
He chuckled.
"No, little Omega," he said darkly. "You hate that it felt good."
He shifted slightly, grinding his hips to emphasize the knot inside me. I gasped, my fingers digging into the dirt.
"Bring her," he commanded, voice suddenly cold.
Two she-wolves stepped forward—pack females, both taller than me, stronger. One carried a folded length of sheer fabric. The other had a collar looped around her wrist.
I didn't resist as they helped Kael withdraw his knot. It took effort—my body clenched hard as he pulled, a wet pop echoing when the swollen bulb finally slid out. My insides ached at the emptiness. A fresh gush of his release spilled out onto the grass beneath me.
One of the females wiped me down between my legs, and I flinched. The other slipped a thin, transparent shift over my head. It clung to my sweat-slicked skin, doing nothing to hide the marks, the bruises, or the dripping trail on my thighs.
I was still wet. Still leaking. Still open.
Humiliated.
And that was exactly what Kael wanted.
He walked beside me as they lifted me to my feet, his hand resting possessively on the back of my neck like a leash. I was taller than most Omegas in my territory—my father's pride—but next to Kael, I felt small. My legs buckled with every step, sore from being spread so wide for so long.
The camp was quiet as we moved. But every eye was on us.
Every face turned.
They weren't just watching.
They were witnessing.
The noble-born daughter of House Veyne, defiled. Knotted. Collared.
Owned.
Some bowed their heads as I passed. Some smirked. A few females licked their lips. The males inhaled deeply, scenting the sex still clinging to me.
No one dared speak.
Kael didn't rush. He walked like a conqueror, and I was his trophy.
"You carry my scent now," he said softly. "The others know you're taken."
I said nothing.
I couldn't speak. My throat burned with humiliation. My cheeks were wet. I didn't know when the tears had started.
When we reached the heart of the camp—a stone-walled den with a massive iron door—Kael paused.
He turned to the crowd.
"This Omega is mine," he announced, voice loud and clear. "She will sleep in my den. She will kneel when commanded. And when her next heat rises, she'll beg me to breed her again."
A ripple of sound passed through the crowd—half growl, half approval.
I wanted to scream. To run. But my legs were jelly, and Kael's hand on my neck tightened slightly.
"Do you understand what you are now?" he asked me, voice low.
I looked up at him, my lips quivering.
"You're a monster."
He smiled.
"Monsters don't knot you twice."
Inside the den, it was warm. Furred pelts covered the stone floor. A large bed of moss and hides waited in the center. To one side, a shallow basin of water. On the other, a rack of restraints and collars.
Kael stripped off his pants and tossed them aside. He sat on the bed and spread his legs wide, watching me as the females stepped back.
They didn't stay.
They bowed to him—and left me alone with him.
"On your knees," Kael said.
I hesitated.
He tilted his head. "I won't repeat myself, Omega."
I sank to the floor, pain flaring in my knees.
The shift clung to me, soaked in the front. My nipples were hard, my thighs slick again despite myself. I hated how my body responded. Hated that my core still throbbed faintly, as if begging to be filled again.
"You did well today," Kael said, standing slowly.
I tensed.
"I didn't do anything."
"Oh, but you did." He walked behind me, his hand brushing down the curve of my back, over the bruises he'd left earlier. "You didn't break."
"Is that what you want? For me to break?"
"No," he said simply. "I want you to submit."
He knelt beside me and slid something cool against my neck. A strip of thick leather, freshly stamped with his crest. Not the temporary knot collar the others wore.
This one had no clasp. No lock.
Just a single word carved into the leather:
Mine.