Damien POV
Three Days Before the Ceremony
"You're making a mistake."
I stared at Luna Victoria across her office desk, my hands clenched into fists. She'd summoned me an hour ago, and I'd been arguing with her ever since.
"Aria is my choice," I said firmly. "I love her."
Victoria laughed—not a real laugh, but the cold kind that made you feel stupid. "Love? You're twenty-one years old, Damien. What do you know about love?"
"I know Aria's been there for me since we were kids. I know she's kind and brave and—"
"Wolfless." Victoria cut me off. "She's wolfless, powerless, and worthless. If you claim her as your mate, you'll be the laughingstock of the entire pack. Is that what you want?"
My wolf stirred uneasily in my chest. "People will get over it."
"Will they?" Victoria leaned forward, her eyes sharp. "Think carefully, Damien. You just earned your Beta rank—the youngest Beta in pack history. You have a real future now. But if you choose Aria, Alpha Cedric will strip that rank so fast your head will spin."
My stomach dropped. "He wouldn't—"
"He would. I've already discussed it with him." Victoria's smile was cruel. "Alpha Cedric believes strongly in maintaining pack standards. A Beta with a wolfless mate sets a terrible example. He'll demote you back to omega status before the night is over."
All the air left my lungs. I'd worked my entire life for Beta rank. Trained until my muscles screamed. Fought in ranked matches until I could barely stand. I'd finally earned respect, power, a real place in the pack hierarchy.
And Victoria was saying I'd lose it all for Aria.
"That's not fair," I whispered.
"Fair?" Victoria stood up, walking around the desk until she stood right in front of me. "Life isn't fair, boy. Life is about making smart choices. And right now, you have a choice to make."
"Between Aria and my rank."
"Between a wolfless orphan and everything you've ever worked for." She paused. "Or you could choose Scarlett. Beautiful, ranked, connected Scarlett. The Luna's daughter. Imagine what that would mean for your future."
I thought about Scarlett—pretty, popular, powerful. She'd been flirting with me ever since I made Beta. At first, I'd ignored her because my heart belonged to Aria. But lately, I'd started noticing how good it felt when Scarlett smiled at me, how other wolves looked at me with envy when she touched my arm.
"Scarlett could give you everything," Victoria continued, her voice smooth as poison. "Status. Influence. A real future. Can Aria offer you anything except shame?"
My wolf whimpered. He didn't like this conversation. He remembered Aria's shy smile, the way she'd kissed me behind the docks, how she'd believed every promise I'd made.
But Victoria was right. What future did Aria have? She couldn't shift, couldn't fight, couldn't contribute anything to the pack except cleaning floors. And I'd worked too hard to throw away my Beta rank for a girl who would drag me down with her.
"I need time to think," I managed.
"You have three days," Victoria said. "The Mating Ceremony is on Tuesday. Make the smart choice, Damien. Or live with the consequences."
She dismissed me, and I walked out of her office feeling like I'd swallowed rocks.
For the next three days, I avoided Aria. Every time I saw her through a window or across the packhouse, guilt twisted in my gut. She'd smile at me with so much hope and love, and I'd have to look away.
I knew what I was going to do. I'd known the moment Victoria threatened my Beta rank.
I was going to choose Scarlett.
The logical part of my brain listed all the reasons why this was right: Career advancement. Social status. Pack respect. A mate who could actually shift and contribute.
But the other part—the part that remembered kissing Aria, promising her forever, swearing she was enough—that part felt sick.
"She'll understand eventually," I told myself on the morning of the ceremony. "She'll see I did this for both of us. I can't take care of her if I'm demoted to omega. This way, I keep my rank and she... she'll find someone else."
Even my wolf didn't believe that lie.
I got dressed in my Beta cords, the new insignia still shiny on my chest. This was what mattered. This was what I'd earned.
Aria was a childhood dream. Scarlett was my future.
At the ceremony, I stood on the platform trying not to look for Aria in the crowd. But I found her anyway—standing at the edge in her patched dress, her gray eyes shining with hope and love.
My heart cracked right down the middle.
Then Luna Victoria shoved Aria forward into the center of the clearing where everyone could see her. The crowd went silent, all eyes on the wolfless girl and the Beta who'd supposedly chosen her.
This was it. My last chance to be the man I'd promised to be.
Or I could be the man I needed to be to survive.
I opened my mouth, and the words came out before I could stop them: "I reject Aria Blackwood as my mate."
Her face—God, her face. Like I'd stabbed her through the heart.
"She is wolfless, worthless, and beneath my station."
Every word was a knife, but I kept going because stopping would hurt worse.
"I choose instead Scarlett Blackwood. My true mate."
Scarlett appeared beside me and kissed me like we were in love. The crowd applauded. Luna Victoria beamed.
I'd made the smart choice. The right choice.
So why did I feel like I'd just destroyed the best part of myself?
Over Scarlett's shoulder, I met Aria's eyes one last time. They weren't filled with tears or anger or even hurt anymore.
They were empty. Like I'd killed something inside her that could never come back.
My wolf howled in pain, but I ignored him. This was for the best. For both of us.
Then the world went cold.
The temperature dropped so fast my breath turned to fog. Torches died. Darkness swallowed everything.
And a voice like thunder cracked across the ceremony: "ENOUGH."
Alpha power slammed into me—so crushing and absolute that my knees buckled. I hit the ground hard, my Beta rank meaningless against whatever force had just arrived.
Through the darkness, three massive shapes materialized.
The Moonshadow Triplets.
Every wolf in the clearing knew their names. The Lycan King's sons. The most powerful Alphas alive. Warriors who'd slaughtered armies and ruled kingdoms.
What were they doing here?
One of them—the one with ice-blue eyes that could freeze your soul—looked directly at Aria. His expression was cold fury.
"That girl," he announced, his voice carrying across the silent clearing, "is Seraphina Moonshadow. The Lost Princess. Our sister."
My brain stopped working. Aria? A princess? That was impossible. She was an orphan. A servant. A—
"She's also," another triplet said, his storm-gray eyes locked on Aria with frightening intensity, "our fated mate."
The world tilted sideways.
No. This couldn't be happening. Aria was nobody. I'd rejected her because she was worthless and—
Oh God.
I'd just publicly rejected and humiliated the Lost Princess of the Lycan Kingdom. In front of her brothers. Who were also the most powerful and deadly Alphas in existence.
And they were looking at me like they wanted to rip out my throat.
Luna Victoria's plan. My smart choice. My brilliant future.
All of it crumbled to dust as I realized I'd just made the worst mistake of my life.
The triplet with amber eyes—Ryker Moonshadow—smiled at me. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of a predator who'd just found prey.
"You," he said softly, pointing at me, "are going to regret every word you just said."
Then his eyes shifted to Aria, and his voice gentled impossibly. "Hello, little mate. We've been looking for you for a very long time."
Aria stood frozen in her patched dress, staring at three Lycan Princes like her world had just exploded.
Mine already had.
Because I'd thrown away a princess for a girl who'd betrayed her within five seconds of the triplets' arrival.
Scarlett gripped my arm, her perfectly manicured nails digging into my skin hard enough to draw blood.
"Damien," she whispered, her voice shaking with panic, "what did we just do?"