Sera's POV
Kade's hatred burns into me like acid.
I can't look away from his eyes. They're dark, endless, and filled with pure disgust. Not at Marcus. Not at the Council. At me.
Like this is my fault.
You will mate with this omega, Marcus repeats, savoring every word. Or lose everything you've built, Alpha Thornridge.
The other Council members nod, their faces smug. They're enjoying this. Watching the most powerful Alpha in five territories get backed into a corner.
Watching me get chained to someone who already hates me.
Kade's hands clench into fists so tight I hear his knuckles crack. You can't force a mating bond.
Marcus smiles. We're not forcing anything. We're simply offering you a choice. Mate with the omega, or abandon your pack to rogue attacks and territorial wars. Your choice, Alpha.
It's not a choice. It's a trap.
Kade finally looks away from me to face Marcus. This omega is a criminal. A thief.
I'm not! The words burst out before I can stop them. I didn't steal anything!
Kade's eyes snap back to me. Silence, omega.
His voice is like a whip crack. I flinch, and immediately hate myself for it. But omegas are trained from birth to obey Alphas. Fighting that instinct is like fighting gravity.
Still, I force my chin up. I won't die silent.
I was framed, I say, my voice shaking. My friend lied. Someone planted those relics in my room while I was working. I've never even touched them!
We have witnesses, Marcus says smoothly. Multiple pack members saw you near the vault. Your scent was on the relics. The evidence is overwhelming.
Because someone put it there! I look desperately at the other Council members. Please. Investigate. Check the security logs. Talk to the kitchen staff who can prove I was working
Enough. Marcus's voice cuts through mine like a blade. We have investigated. You are guilty. The only question now is your punishment.
He turns back to Kade. So, Alpha. What will it be? This omega's life, bound to yours? Or your pack's destruction?
The silence stretches so long I forget how to breathe.
Kade stares at Marcus with pure murder in his eyes. Then, slowly, he speaks. If I accept this... binding, my pack keeps all territorial rights and Council protection?
Every right and privilege, Marcus confirms. As if this unfortunate situation never happened.
Unfortunate. Like I'm a natural disaster. Something that just happened to him.
And if I refuse?
Then the Council withdraws all support immediately. Marcus leans back in his chair. I'm sure the neighboring packs would be very interested to hear that the great Kade Thornridge has lost Council backing. How long do you think your borders would hold?
It's blackmail. Pure and simple.
Kade's jaw works. A muscle ticks in his cheek. He doesn't look at me again, but I feel his fury like heat from a fire.
Fine. The word comes out like broken glass. I accept.
My heart stops.
No. No, he can't. This can't be real.
Excellent! Marcus claps his hands together. The ceremony will take place tonight. Publicly, so all may witness.
Tonight? I gasp. But
You have something more important to attend to, omega? Marcus's smile is cruel. No? Then tonight it is.
He waves his hand, and guards grab my arms. Take her to the preparation chambers. Make sure she's... presentable.
The guards haul me to my feet. The chains pull tight around my wrists, and pain shoots up my arms.
As they drag me toward the door, I look back one last time.
Kade stands perfectly still, staring at nothing. His face is carved from stone. He doesn't watch me go. Doesn't acknowledge I exist.
To him, I'm already dead.
The preparation chamber is a small room with a single mirror and a white dress hanging on the wall.
A mating dress.
The guards remove my chains finally and a stern-faced woman enters. She doesn't speak. Just points at a basin of water and the dress.
I'm supposed to wash. To make myself pretty for the Alpha who despises me.
My hands shake as I splash water on my face. The cold helps clear my head slightly.
Think, Sera. There has to be a way out of this.
But there isn't. I'm an omega with no family, no money, no power. Even if I ran, where would I go? The Council controls everything. They'd hunt me down in hours.
And Lydia... my chest tightens with the betrayal. She was my only friend. The only person who made me feel less alone.
It was all a lie.
The woman clears her throat impatiently. I force myself to change into the dress. It's simple but beautiful white silk that flows to the floor. In another life, I might have dreamed of wearing something like this.
Now it feels like a funeral shroud.
When I'm ready, the guards return. They don't chain me this time. There's no point. Where would I run?
They lead me down a different hallway, and I hear it before I see it voices. Lots of them.
My stomach drops.
Marcus said publicly. I didn't realize he meant the entire pack.
We step into a massive courtyard, and my worst fear becomes reality. Hundreds of wolves fill the space, all turned to stare at me. Their expressions range from curious to disgusted to gleeful.
They're here to watch the great Alpha Thornridge be humiliated by bonding with omega trash.
They're here to watch me be bound to someone who hates me.
This isn't a ceremony. It's a public execution.
The guards push me toward a raised platform in the center. Kade is already there, standing rigid. He's changed into formal clothes all black, making him look even more dangerous.
I climb the steps on shaking legs. When I reach the top, Kade still doesn't look at me.
An elderly man in ceremonial robes steps between us the pack's ceremony master. He begins speaking in a loud voice, reciting the ancient words of mating bonds.
I don't hear most of it. My heart is pounding too loud in my ears.
Then the ceremony master pulls out a silver cord. Join hands.
Kade's hand shoots out. His grip is iron-tight, bordering on painful. I wince but don't pull away.
The ceremony master wraps the cord around our joined hands, binding us together. The silver burns where it touches my skin still raw from the chains earlier.
By the moon's light and the pack's witness, the ceremony master intones, I bind these two souls. Alpha and omega. Protector and protected.
Protected. The irony would be funny if I wasn't so terrified.
Do you, Kade Thornridge, accept this bond?
Kade's voice is flat, emotionless. I accept.
Do you, Sera Blackwood, accept this bond?
What choice do I have? I accept.
Then let the bond be sealed. The ceremony master looks at Kade. Mark her.
Oh god. The mating mark. The permanent bite that will tie us together forever.
Kade finally looks at me. His eyes are completely empty. Then he steps closer, towering over me.
I tilt my head to the side, exposing my neck. Every instinct screams to run, but my body won't move.
His hand grips my shoulder. Not gentle. Not tender. Just... efficient.
I feel his breath on my neck. Then his teeth.
The pain is instant and blinding. I bite down on my lip hard enough to taste blood, refusing to scream in front of all these people.
But pain isn't the worst part.
The worst part is what comes after the bond snapping into place like a chain around my soul. Suddenly, I can feel him. His rage. His resentment. His absolute fury at being forced into this.
And underneath all that... something else. Something hot and unwanted that he's trying desperately to suppress.
The mate bond recognizes what his mind refuses to accept.
Kade jerks back like I've burned him. His eyes are wide, shocked. He felt it too.
The ceremony master raises his hands. The bond is complete! Alpha and omega, now joined for life!
The crowd erupts. Some cheer. Most whisper. I hear laughter.
Marcus stands in the front row, smiling like a cat that caught a mouse.
Kade drops my hand like it's poison. He walks off the platform without a word, disappearing into the crowd.
He doesn't even look back.
I stand there alone, neck bleeding, bond burning in my chest, while hundreds of wolves stare at the omega who ruined their Alpha's life.
A guard appears at my elbow. Come. You'll be taken to the Alpha's territory now.
The Alpha's territory. Iron peak Stronghold. Where Kade lives.
Where I'll have to live now too.
With a mate who can barely stand to look at me.
As the guard leads me away, I catch one last glimpse of Lydia in the crowd. She's standing with a group of higher-ranked wolves, laughing at something one of them said.
She's wearing that silver bracelet.
And she looks happy.
I was the price of her happiness. Her stepping stone to a better life.
The guard opens a car door and pushes me inside. Through the window, I watch the crowd disperse. Watch Marcus talk to other Council members with satisfied expressions.
Watch Kade disappear completely.
The bond in my chest pulses with his emotions anger, disgust, and something that feels dangerously close to despair.
He didn't just lose his freedom tonight.
He lost hope.
And so did I.