Chapter 5

The great hall had been transformed.

White flowers draped every surface—lilies and roses that filled the air with a cloying sweetness that made my stomach turn. Candles flickered in ornate holders, casting dancing shadows across the faces of the pack members who’d gathered to witness this farce.

A wedding. A celebration.

Except no one was celebrating.

The wolves watched with neutral expressions as I walked down the aisle, my hand gripping the arm of Beta Ezra since I had no family to give me away. The white dress they’d forced me into was beautiful—silk and lace but it felt like a burial shroud.

At the end of the aisle stood Alpha Zane.

He looked devastating in his formal Alpha attire: black suit that emphasized his broad shoulders, his dark hair swept back to reveal those cold, perfect features. He could have been a groom from a fairytale.

Except fairytale grooms didn’t look at their brides with thinly veiled contempt.

His eyes swept over me once as I approached, finding me wanting as always before his gaze shifted away, as if he couldn’t bear to look at me for too long.

The Elder performing the ceremony cleared his throat. “We are gathered here under the full moon to witness the binding of Alpha Zane Blackthorne and Omega Tiana—”

“Let’s skip the formalities,” Zane interrupted, his voice cutting through the Elder’s rehearsed speech. “Get to the vows.”

A ripple of shocked whispers ran through the crowd. Even for an arranged marriage, this level of disrespect was unprecedented.

The Elder’s face reddened, but he nodded. “Very well. Alpha Zane, do you take this woman as your mate and Luna?”

“I do.” Two words, completely devoid of emotion.

“And Tiana, do you take this man as your mate and Alpha?”

Every eye in the room turned to me. I felt the weight of their judgment, their curiosity about whether the fat servant girl would actually go through with this.

I thought about saying no. Thought about the brief, glorious satisfaction of humiliating him in front of his entire pack.

Then I felt the mark on my neck pulse—a reminder that I was already his, whether I spoke the words or not.

“I do,” I whispered.

“Then by the power vested in me by the Moon Goddess, I pronounce you—”

But Zane was already turning away, striding back down the aisle before the Elder could finish.

The ceremony was over.

I stood there, abandoned at the altar, as the pack members began to disperse. Some shot me pitying looks. Others smirked. Most simply pretended I didn’t exist.

“Luna Tiana.” Beta Ezra appeared at my elbow, his voice gentle in a way that somehow made everything worse. “The Alpha requests you return to your chambers.”

Of course he did.

The Luna’s chambers felt even more like a cage now.

I shed the white dress, letting it pool on the floor like a shed skin, and changed into a simple nightgown. Through the frosted glass wall, I could see Zane’s silhouette in his own room, pacing like a caged wolf.

What now? I wondered. Do I just… wait for him to come in? To claim his marital rights?

The thought made bile rise in my throat.

But hours passed, and he never came.

I heard him moving around, heard the clink of glass against glass that suggested he was drinking. But the door between our rooms remained firmly shut.

Eventually, exhausted from crying and fear, I fell into a fitful sleep.

I woke to darkness and the sound of my own racing heart.

Something had pulled me from sleep—a sound, a presence? I was not sure.

My eyes adjusted slowly to the dim light filtering through the curtains. The room was empty. The door to Zane’s chambers still closed.

But as I sat up, my gaze caught on the glass wall.

And I froze.

Zane was in his room, visible through the frosted glass. He sat in a chair facing away from me, his head tilted back, and even through the distortion I could see the tension in his body.

Then his hand moved.

Down. Down to—

Oh gods.

I should have looked away. Should have buried my face in the pillows and pretended I’d seen nothing.

But I couldn’t.

Through the frosted glass, I watched him stroke himself, his movements slow yet intentional. His chest rose and fell with harsh breaths. His free hand gripped the arm of the chair so tightly.

Heat flooded through me—unwanted, shameful heat that made my thighs press together and my wolf whimper with need.

‘He’s touching himself,’ my traitorous mind supplied. Because he can’t touch you. Won’t touch you.

The humiliation should have doused the desire. But it didn’t. If anything, watching him like this only made the ache worse.

His movements quickened. His hips lifted off the chair. And then—

He turned.

Just slightly, but enough that through the frosted glass I saw his face. Saw the tension there, and the frustration.

Saw the exact moment his eyes found me watching.

I gasped, stumbling backward off the bed. My heart hammered hard. I thought it might burst from my chest.

Did he see me? Could he see through the glass from his side?

I didn’t wait to find out. I threw myself under the covers, pulling them over my head like a child hiding from monsters.

Behind the glass, I heard movement. Heard him swear.

Then silence.

I stayed buried under the blankets, my face burning with shame, until sleep finally claimed me again.