✦ Chapter 19 ✦
Elian had heard it all his life—how deadly marking could be. Not deadly in the way claws tore flesh or blades spilled blood, but in the quiet, irreversible way of no return. A single bite, a single surrender, and your future no longer belonged to you. It was a once-in-a-lifetime choice, one that could never be undone no matter how much regret followed.
Most omegas never chose at all.
They were marked young, taken without consent, claimed by Alphas who wanted loyalty without tenderness and devotion without love. Female omegas were tolerated. Male omegas were erased—discarded before they could grow, before they could hope, before they could become inconvenient.
