The city lights shone as brightly as the sun, trapped behind the glass walls of the Skyhall. The chandeliers sparkled and every suit and gown was lovely, yet I still felt like a caged animal. The ballroom was not merely for show tonight. It was where my destiny would be decided.
My palms were perspiring, even with the fans' cool breeze. Wolves filled the room in their well-groomed human forms. Their true nature was hidden behind practiced smiles. But beneath the perfume and champagne, I could smell it; tension so thick.
This was supposed to be the night that I laid my claim on him. My mate, my Alpha. The one the Moon had chosen for me.
I searched for him, then I saw him– Alpha Enzo Moretti. Chest broad in his black suit, dark curly hair pushed back, and shining eyes like storms barely reined in. He was "power incarnate". And he was mine. At least, that was what the bond had promised.
My heart pounded as he turned to me. For a moment, his eyes softened as though the bond meant something to him too. Tonight, finally, everything would turn out right.
Then his mouth opened, and my world fell apart.
"Hera St. Claire," he addressed me in a low tone that was still loud enough, so every wolf in the hall could hear, "I reject you."
The words hit me harder than a blow to the throat. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. I was certain I hadn't heard him right. There were gasps around the hall as my knees gave way, and I caught at the hem of my dress, fighting not to fall over in front of everyone.
"You can't mean that," I whispered, though my voice cracked.
Enzo's jaw tightened as his eyes burned with unspoken pain, but his words cut deep without mercy. "I won't bind myself to you Hera. Not now. Not ever. Let that sink"
The rejection felt like needles piercing my heart and throat. Wolves whispered around me. Some pitied me. Some mocked me. My chest tightened, and my wolf wailed inside me, clawing at my ribs in protest. The bond was not meant to break like that.
"Enzo," I panted, desperately reaching for him. "But… why?"
He stepped away hurriedly as though my touch was poison and said, "Because binding myself to you will get all of us killed."
I didn't get a chance to respond before Seraphina Lennox, my best and sole friend, was at my side, her hand clamped on my arm tightly enough that I could feel her nails biting through my blouse.
She stepped in front of me, her blonde hair swirling around her face, her eyes blazing like she'd fight the entire pack if she had to.
"You don't get to stand there and shame her in front of everyone without a reason, Alpha Enzo!"
Her voice was commanding, shaking the walls themselves. Some wolves lowered their heads; others taunted as usual.
Enzo's eyes flickered for the first time. Just a flicker, a muscle tightening in his jaw, but enough to show that he was not as unaffected by this as he would like us to believe.
"Stand aside, Seraphina," he said coldly.
"I won't," she snarled. "Reject her in your chambers if you're so cowardly. But here? In front of them?" She looked him in the eyeball, "It's not strength. This is cruelty."
I wished to say to her to stop, to spare herself from getting involved with the problem. But I could not. My voice was gone, my lungs too constricted, my mind elsewhere.
Suddenly, I detected a pulse. Low tremors beneath the marble floor. I stopped breathing. I was not the only one who had noticed. Wolves shifted uneasily, their eyes scanning the glass walls, noses twitching in the air.
Enzo tensed. His mask of indifference shattered and something flickered in his eyes. Fear.
I swallowed, forcing myself to breathe, yet my chest was tightened, every nerve on fire. Then I saw a cluster of strangers at the service doors of the hall. The heartbeats that I sensed were not of wolves; nor were their eyes.
They were humans!
They were dressed in simple suits. They stood too stiff and vigilant. Their eyes weren't questioning like a guest's. They were measuring and calculating. When their eyes met Enzo's, I could swear I knew then and there that something was going to go wrong.
"How did they get here?" I asked myself rhetorically. This was a sacred pack ritual which no one from the outside should have even known existed.
Enzo's attention arrived with his flared nostrils. His wolf erupted so abruptly that I felt it rip through the air, pressing against us all. All the wolves circling the hall stiffened. The humming and mutterings kept rising into a snarl of unease.
"Sera.," I muttered beneath my breath. "Do you see them?"
Her fist tightened. "Be quiet."
But I couldn't. The rejection burned me, my wolf wailed, and now danger hummed through the very air we breathed.
Enzo turned to the crowd and his voice developed a slashing edge of authority. "The ceremony is over."
"No!" The word tore from my throat before I could stop it. Every head swung to me, and Enzo's gaze struck me like a blade.
But I did not care. My blood boiled, my soul torn asunder. I had lost him, lost my mate, lost my destiny in front of them all.
"You don't get to end it like this," I spat. My wolf surged and my body trembled with the effort of keeping her at bay. "Reject me, fine. Humiliate me too, fine. But don't you dare treat this bond like it means nothing."
There were gasps from across the entire hall. Wolves crept closer and closer, instinct feeding havoc.
Enzo's chest swelled. I thought for a second that he would break, reach for me, pull me in, take everything back. Instead, he whispered something only I could hear.
"The curse would not permit us, Hera."
The words froze me.
I had no time to ask questions or even breathe before the service doors at the far end of the hall were forced open. The humans came in, but not as guests, rather as hunters. They were carrying guns beneath their jackets.
There were shrieks. Wolves tore their flesh and bones snapped as their fur burst through. The ballroom descended into chaos as the chandeliers swayed violently and the shards of glass dropped with a hard rain.
I stumbled back in horror, my wolf ripping at me, demanding freedom. Seraphina shoved me behind her, her eyes burning amber. "Stay back!" she shouted.
But the chaos only intensified. Humans fired, wolves snarled and bodies crashed in a whirlwind of teeth and bullets. Enzo moved like shadow and steel, cutting down enemies. His eyes burned with fury, something I had never seen.
A slanted crack tore through the marble floor. My breath caught, my heart racing. And amidst the chaos, my hand brushed against something sleek– A knife.
It lay discarded near the knocked-over table, silver flashing under the broken lights. My wolf howled all the more, feral and screaming. My hand closed around it and stabbed into someone before I even thought.
And I turned, and it was my alpha, Enzo. Bloodied, furious, his hand outstretched to me.
"No…" I whispered, the knife trembling in my hand. "I didn't mean…"
He collapsed to the ground, the sound of his body hitting the dirt so deafening. His chest rose and fell. Strength was diminishing fast. I knelt beside him, hands shaking like a caffeine junkie. His lips moved but were silent. Just the faintest rasp of breath.
Then…. silence.