Chapter 01: Just One Heart

Anastasia:

Skybound Pack.

The cutlery clicked.

That was the only sound I could focus on, the soft, refined scrape of my father's steak knife against the royalty plate, methodical and sure, like everything he ever did. My gaze flicked to the light directing at us from the outside, and an exhausted sigh escaped from my lips. 

Goddess, I am tired of this suspension. 

I sat perfectly poised, as expected. Back straight. Chin lifted. Hands folded on top of a linen napkin in my lap. Not because I wanted to, but because I was taught to. Trained to. Conditioned like a perfect Luna-in-waiting. 

Everything about this dinner reeked of funeral. Of something about to drop. Even Riley, my nanny since birth, hovered a little too close behind me, unusually tense. 

Since when? Since when have we ever sat down like this to eat as a family?

And then it came. Something I was expecting, anyway.

“Ana,” my father said, placing his cutlery down with a practiced grace. “Now that you're of age, we can no longer delay the inevitable.”

My stomach dropped at the statement, and my heart raced.

Of age?

That meant 21? That meant unmated. That meant… vulnerable. That meant I was just an omega that needed a protection that they couldn't provide. 

My fingers curled under the table. Tight and unbearable. I was pretty sure my knuckles were turning white.

“You will be wed to a member of the Dragon Rider Pack,” he continued smoothly, as if he were announcing a business merger. “In two weeks.”

There it was. 

I blinked. “What?” 

My voice broke, weak. But inside, my wolf growled. 

Mother dabbed her mouth with her napkin and offered a thin smile. Always supporting her husband. “It's a political arrangement. The Moonbound and Dragon Rider Packs have been divided for over a decade. This reunion is the perfect opportunity to mend what was broken. Through unity and through you.”

I stared between them… these people who had given me life and yet never asked what I wanted to do with it. 

I wasn't surprised. Not really. But betrayal still found new ways to cut. 

“And you decided this without even speaking to me?” I asked, my voice trembling more than I wanted it to. 

I really hated being in this situation. Talking to my parents. Arguing about getting married to a total stranger. 

My father raised a brow at me. “We don't need your permission, Anastasia. You're a daughter of Skybound. Bound to duty only.”

I turned to my mother. “And you? Is that all I am to you too? A tool for alliance? For once, for once, Mother, you couldn't even be of help? You couldn't pick my side?”

She exhaled, long and tired, her manicured hands finding their way towards my hand, but I jerked them off. “If you had found your mate by now, this wouldn't be necessary. We gave you years. But politics doesn't wait on destiny. It doesn't have to be love.”

“Politics,” I spat the word out like it was some evil thing to even say. 

The room fell silent, and I choked out. 

“I don't have a mate, and so? The moon goddess decided not to give me a mate, and I found mine. I found my soulmate…”

“Shut up!” My father's thunderous voice ripped into the dining room as he slammed his palm on the mahogany table, sending shock and fear into everybody that was in it. Including me. 

His eyes had now turned red. “I have told you never to name any lowlife man your mate! I don't want to ever know this man with no name!” He yelled, and I rolled my eyes. 

“Is that it? No name? Because a man that's just like everybody here suddenly doesn't deserve something worth good things? Because of this?” I flicked my hands at the whole palace. “Do you even rule like this? Rule the kingdom pack with t….”

“Anastasia!!!” My mother's voice rang deep, eyes filled with fear as my father charged towards me, his hand stretching towards my face like he was about to give me a hot slap. 

“Do not provoke me, child.” He warned, and I scoffed, even though my heart was beating. 

“Why are you restraining? Hit me like you always do! Hit me!” I yelled out, my eyes red with tears almost spilling out. “Hit me, Father. This isn't the first, second, or even the third and won't even be the last, so hit me all you want!” My voice broke as I held onto his hands towards my face. 

“Stacy, calm down. Please. He is still your father.” That was my mother's voice. 

Whenever things go extremely far beyond her hand, you see her pawing over you.

“Calm down? You tell me to calm down? All my life. All my years I have given it to you guys. I have served you. You have treated me like I was some far-away family relation. Since when was the last time we sat down and had a wonderful, peaceful dinner? Since when?” They all fell silent, and a smile tucked at the corner of my lips. “I guess you don't even know what to say. Since I was 5, Father. Since you heard I was an omega. I was barely even 5, yet you treated me like trash. And you, Mother, he treated you like you were nothing. Just because you couldn't give him a child. You instilled fear in me. All my life.”

The room fell silent.

Even the guards along the walls stood stone-still. Riley, behind me, reached for my shoulder gently, but I shrugged her off. 

“I'm not hungry anymore,” I muttered, my whole body trembling as I stood, storming out but not without my mother's voice screaming from behind. 

And even though…I still feared him.

“Anastasia! Stacy! You are walking out on us? Is that how I trained you?”

“Maybe I am following your steps.” I muttered underneath my breath as I hastened my pace. 

Riley followed. 

She always did. 

In my room, I tore off the ceremonial robe I had worn, soft cream silk with silver embroidery. My body trembled with restrained fury as I ruffled my packed dark brown hair. 

“They didn't even tell me who he is, Riley!” I choked. “Just a name. ‘Someone from the Dragon Rider’s.’ I'm not even a person to them, just…a bride offering. They had fed me to sell me off.”

Riley moved carefully, placing a soft shawl over my bare shoulders. “My princess…. I know this is hard. But perhaps…perhaps there's still time to make your own choice. They might not even mean bad for you. They just have a different way of breaking the news to you.”

I turned to her sharply. “They said two weeks. That's not time, Riley … That's a trap. A countdown. I am being monitored on how to even live my life. Isn't that ironic?” I blurted out, and even though I acted all tough, I still couldn't keep in the tears. So I let it out. 

“I’m tired, Riley. Y…. It's not easy for me. I…I can't keep this anymore. I am barely keeping it in, Riley, you know this.” I sobbed out, resting my head in her arms as I cried. 

Her eyes welled with something close to helplessness. She was always the one, holding it together for me, whenever I needed comfort. She never gets tired. “My princess, this will surely pass. I know… I know how hard it has been for you…”

“No, you don't. I…I barely get myself together. I lost my spark. They abandoned me. They forced me to be who I don't even want to be…”

“Anastasia…..

“Where is Leigh?” I asked, desperately cleaning my tears. “She would've known what to say at this point. I am so down.”

“Still in Blightfang,” she whispered. “Her father needed her for a border treaty, and she might likely not come for the Fiesta Reunion Gala tomorrow night.”

I nodded stiffly. Of course. Even my best friend was swallowed by duty. But luckily, she has her own mate. 

I blame the moon goddess for this!

I chewed my lower lip, heart racing. “I need to see someone.”

Riley hesitated. “Anastasia…”

“I just need to talk to him. He shouldn't find out in the worst way, Riley. I can't be that unfair.” Riley and Leigh we're the only ones aware of him. “I'll be back before anyone knows I'm gone. I promise.”

She hesitated for a while, but she didn't argue and gave a warm smile. “Please, be safe, princess. I do not want things to repeat themselves like the last time. He shouldn't try doing that to you again.”

I shrugged off and muttered underneath my breath. 

“You know he isn't like that. The heat made him that way.”

The wind bit cold against my cheeks as I pulled a shawl over my gown and slipped through the lesser courtyard. I know the guards' rotations. I knew which doors squealed and which gates were left unlocked. Being raised in a palace didn't mean I was naive. It just meant I was good at hiding things. 

Just like him. 

His name was Soren.

Not a noble, not high-born. Just a wolf from one of the lesser-known lineages in the outer rings of the Skybound territories. We’d met during a gala a year ago. Talked once, danced twice. Somehow, he made me feel real in a world that saw me as a symbol. He was a perfect thing for my peace. My only hope is to live a peaceful life, and trust me, I might have my plans to elope with him at the end of the day. 

I can't just give my heart to some stranger I know no damn thing about. 

We’d been careful. Discreet. But passionate.

I reached the edge of the barracks where he often stayed when visiting. I saw a flicker of firelight, and for no reason, my heart skipped a beat. 

I stepped up, hand raised to knock…and then I heard it.

A laugh.

Not his.

Hers.

Female. Breathless. Accompanied by the soft creak of a bed frame and a sound I knew too well. 

My stomach twisted. I shook my head as I stumbled backwards, trying not to believe what my head was thinking at the moment. 

No no no no no no. This can't even be. 

Perhaps one of his friends. 

Was I stupid?

I was about to open the door when I heard the voice again, and this time, it was loud, clear and even firm. 

“I honestly do not like the fact that she has to get the best part of you without doing a thing, and here I am, making the sacrifice, Soren.” The voice was sweet, silky, and evil at that. 

“She's about to do me a favor. We would get married together. I have been trying to convince her for a long time now, and she has been a stubborn dickhead. I would take over the throne and the Alpha title. Get her parents killed and turn her into my slave.”

I gasped, unknown tears slowly slipping down my face as I stepped back. 

Why do I deserve so much hatred? And betrayal?

“This can't work, trust me. I heard she's getting engaged in a few weeks now.”

“What?” His voice rang out, shocked and agitated. 

Agitated? He had rights to be?

I pushed the door open without knocking.

And froze.

Soren was half-naked, sprawled between the legs of a girl I didn’t recognize, both of them tangled in sheets and pleasure. He looked up, and his face dropped like a shattered mask.

“Ana…”

The girl gasped, clutching the sheet to her chest. “She…she is here…?”

I shook my head, and even when I tried to stop the tears, they still didn't stop. I couldn't help it. My heart was racing so hard that I couldn't help but hold onto my chest tightly. It was tightened, and I couldn't breathe. My breath seized. 

“Stacy…you have to believe me…this was just a one-night thing. You wouldn’t give yourself to me, and I needed… something. It meant nothing, Ana.” His words—they sent shivers down my spine. Shivers of pain, like an arrow, were piercing into my heart. Deep and deep until it was all in. 

“Y…” Words were caught in my head, and even when I had prepared it in my mind, it still came out silently. 

I made my way towards the door, and he uttered my name, loud and clear. 

“Anastasia.”

I halted, waiting for his response. 

“We can elope. Get married and live a happy life like you always wanted. I have a…..”

I turned over to him, my brows furrowed at how disgusting he could be. How heartless. How selfish. 

I chuckled even though it didn't even reach my heart. It was a teary chuckle. “Do you remember the first time we met? If you do, you know you will probably be dead in a few days.”