The words knocked the air out of Esme's chest. Her body swayed on her feet, the bouquet slipping from her numb fingers to scatter white petals across the ceremonial floor.
"What?" The word barely escaped her lips, a broken whisper in the suddenly silent hall.
Derek's expression remained cold, unmoved by the devastation spreading across her face. "You heard me."
"But... but we're mates." Her voice cracked, desperation bleeding through every syllable. "The Moon Goddess chose us. You said—"
"I said what I needed to say to keep you compliant." Derek's lips curved into a cruel smile. "Did you really think I would bind myself to someone like you permanently?"
A sharp laugh rang out from the crowd. A girl with sleek black hair and perfectly applied makeup stood up in the third row, her dark eyes glittering with malicious satisfaction.
Vivian Torres. Esme's stomach dropped further as recognition hit. Vivian had made her life hell, constantly reminding everyone that Esme was "charity case trash" living off the Rivers family's kindness.
"Finally," Vivian said, her voice carrying clearly through the hushed hall. "I was wondering how long this pathetic charade would go on."
"What is the meaning of this?" Esme turned frantically between Derek and Vivian, her mind struggling to process what was happening. "Derek, I don't understand—"
"Of course you don't." Vivian stepped into the aisle, her emerald dress hugging her curves as she moved with the confidence of someone who knew she held all the cards. "You never were the brightest, were you, Esme?"
Derek stepped away from the altar, moving toward Vivian. When he reached her, his arm slipped around her waist like it belonged there.
"You think I would allow you, a mere omega, to be my mate?" Derek's voice rang out across the hall, ensuring every pack member heard his words. "You're weak, Esme. Pathetic. A liability I can't afford to have as my Luna."
The cruelty in his tone made her knees buckle. She caught herself against the altar, the smooth stone cold beneath her palms.
"Your father was a failure who got himself killed by vampires," Derek continued, his words slicing through her like claws. "And you're just like him. Weak. Worthless. Did you really think I would tie myself to damaged goods?"
Gasps echoed through the hall, but not gasps of outrage. Gasps of agreement. Of vindication.
"She never belonged here anyway," someone called out from the crowd.
"About time someone said it," another voice added.
"The orphan girl thought she could rise above her station," Vivian laughed, the sound sharp and cutting. "How delusional."
Esme's gaze found Juno in the crowd, her friend's face pale with shock and fury. Beside her, Juno's older brothers, Jasper and Jude, looked equally stunned. Jasper's hands were clenched into fists, his jaw tight with barely controlled rage. Jude's arm was around Juno's shoulders, holding her back as she strained forward like she wanted to charge the altar.
But it was Derek's father who caught her attention next. Alpha Richard Gray sat in the front row, his expression utterly unsurprised. He looked... pleased. Like this had all gone exactly according to plan.
"How long?" Esme's voice was stronger now, fueled by a growing fire in her chest. "How long have you been planning this?"
"Long enough," Derek said, pulling Vivian closer. "Vivian is from a strong bloodline. Pure. Untainted. Everything a Luna should be."
"Unlike some people," Vivian added, her smile predatory. "Did you honestly think you were good enough for an Alpha? You, with your tragic sob story and hand-me-down clothes?"
The pack erupted in murmurs of agreement. Years of resentment and barely concealed disdain finally given permission to surface.
"She's been a burden on the Rivers family for five years," an elder called out. "Living off their charity like a parasite."
"Always knew she didn't belong," another voice added. "Omegas should know their place."
"The vampire blood is probably what made her father so weak," someone else contributed. "Weakness runs in her bloodline."
Each word was a fresh wound, cutting deeper than the last. Esme felt herself fragmenting, piece by piece, under the weight of their collective cruelty.
"This is what happens when we allow outsiders to rise above their station," Derek's father finally spoke, his voice carrying the authority of a former Alpha. "Let this be a lesson to anyone else with delusions of grandeur."
The pack's laughter felt like acid against her skin. These people she'd considered family, pack members she'd served and supported, were now tearing her apart with vicious glee.
"Please," Esme whispered, though she wasn't sure who she was pleading with anymore. "Please, this isn't—"
"Isn't what?" Derek stepped closer, his voice dropping to that intimate tone he'd used when they were alone. But now it felt like poison. "Isn't what you deserve? Because I think it's exactly what you deserve."
Vivian laughed again, the sound echoing off the stone walls. "Look at her. She's about to cry. How fitting for such a pathetic display."
"Cry, little orphan," someone called from the crowd. "Show us what a true omega looks like when her delusions crumble."
The voices blended together into a chorus of mockery and disdain. Every insecurity Esme had ever harbored about her place in the pack was being weaponized against her. Every kindness she'd mistaken for acceptance was revealed as mere tolerance.
"Your parents would be ashamed," Vivian said. "Watching their daughter humiliate herself like this."
That broke something inside Esme. The mention of her parents, the parents she'd lost to a vampire attack when she was barely eighteen, the parents who'd died protecting the pack's northern border, snapped the last thread holding her together.
She looked around the hall one final time. At Derek, whose face showed nothing but cold satisfaction. At Vivian, preening beside him like she'd won some grand prize. At the pack members who'd turned on her so easily, so completely.
At Juno, whose face was streaked with tears as she fought against her brothers' restraining arms.
"Esme, don't listen to them," Juno called out, her voice cracking. "They're wrong. You're worth ten of them—"
"Shut up, Juno," Derek snapped. "Your charity case isn't your problem anymore."
Something inside Esme shattered completely. The girl who'd walked down this aisle twenty minutes ago, full of hope and dreams and foolish trust, was gone. In her place stood someone hollow. Someone broken.
Someone who finally understood exactly how little she'd ever meant to any of them.
Without another word, Esme turned and ran.