Chapter 1

(Dahlia)

“SAY the word, Dal. That’s all you have to do. And I will turn the car around. It’s not too late to run.”

It’s a cold night, but the concern in Craig’s voice warms me up. My brother’s presence inside the bridal car helps calm my fraying nerves. He’s driving me to the cathedral for my wedding. In a few hours, I would be marrying General Brent Wilson, the man of my dreams and also my fated mate, and yet, my brother is looking at me like he is sending me to my execution.

I laugh. “And where will we go, brother? If I tell you to turn the car around, we’ll be freed… that’s for sure. But only for a while. After a couple of hours, we’ll be hunted by the army. Escaping will be a crime to our alpha and our pack. News will spread. Before the sun shines tomorrow, you and I will be punished. We’ll die.” My hands tremble. “There’s also the bond and dad to worry about.”

The mate bond would punish me first. For omegas, being separated from their alphas for a long time will torment us. I know because I tried. It’s like drowning and the only thing that can keep us afloat is our alpha’s presence. It’s impossible for omegas to stay away. Not to mention that Brent is the general of our kingdom’s army and one of the members of the council. Craig and me? We are merely members of the Moon Shadow pack. We can’t go against him.

My brother’s expression hardens. “We both know that if dad could walk, if he could still shift, he’ll take you away, Dal, and forget about the rules.”

Our father was once the enforcer of the Moon Shadow Pack. After the car accident he had during one of his missions when I was a teenager, he lost the ability to shift and walk. After hearing about the wedding, instead of giving me his blessings, his face turned grim. His first word was ‘run.’

Very encouraging.

I take a deep breath, force myself to smile, and tell him the lie I’ve been repeating to myself during the entire wedding preparations. “Everything is going to be alright, Craig.”

We arrive in front of the cathedral and because it looks like he has no plans of getting out first, I reach for the door handle. And then I hear him speak.

“Dad and I have always wanted to see you get married one day, little sis. After the accident, his greatest disappointment is not being able to walk you to the altar and so I promised him not to worry because I’d do it myself. That I’ll walk you there. But not like this.” He closes his eyes and groans painfully. “Never like this.”

I bite my lower lip and glance at the people outside. The whispers and laughter are getting louder. They couldn’t see through the tinted windows, but I could hear them loud and clear.

“Here she is. The failure of an omega.”

“She’s really doing this knowing the consequences? Where is her pride and dignity?”

“Pathetic.”

They would never understand. They are not omegas. The bond doesn’t scream at them; it doesn’t tear them apart.

Craig’s hands on the stirring wheel tighten. He’s stronger than me. If I could hear them, so did my brother. I tune out the rest of their word attacks. It had been like that since the day of the annual mating ceremony for all unbonded alphas and omegas.

Brent didn’t want to attend. He was not interested in finding his mate because he already had a lover but as an unbonded alpha, he was required to make an appearance, to send a handkerchief soaked with his pheromones, and lay it on the table for all omegas to sniff on.

I could still remember that day. My first heartbreak. My wolf almost went feral upon sniffing his pheromones, the mate bond calling to me, howling, and confirming what I’ve always felt. The General is mine; he is my mate, my fated alpha, and I am his omega. He took one sniff of my own handkerchief, his wolf reacting just as viciously, but instead of moving closer to claim me, he stepped away and took Rosie’s hand, his longtime girlfriend, a beta.

Leaving me just two words before stepping out of the hall.

‘I’m sorry.’

Omegas are rare and valuable to all packs. In the Moon Shadow pack, there are only two omegas. One is already claimed by the gamma of our pack and then there’s me. There are no records of an alpha refusing his omega before, of an alpha turning his back from the mate bond. Brent was the first.

Since then, as the crowd watched me break, I’ve been tagged as the ‘unchosen mate, the unclaimed, the omega who was outshined by a beta’, and many more. Brent and Craig were the best of friends before the mating ceremony. After that? Their friendship fell apart because of me.

That’s why it took us all by surprise when Brent summoned me and brought out the marriage plan six months ago. It was an order, but at that time, there was nothing more that my wolf and the omega in me wanted.

The contract I signed stated I’d be given everything. Wealth, safety, stability, and glory. Through this marriage, I can send dad to the realm of the mages and have his knees checked. Mages are known healers. I would take any opportunity for my dad to be able to walk again. If I would wait until Craig and I save enough money to send him there, it would take us a decade. Maybe more.

Besides, this union is blessed by the Alpha King whose words were the law. And as ordinary people and pack members, my family and I can only follow.

“Brent is not going to hurt me. You know that. He needs me.”

Craig scoff. “To keep up appearances, yes, to give him an heir, and to solidify his place in the council.”

Rosie could never carry an alpha’s child.

“He needs me,” I repeat.

“Need is not love, Dal.”

“If need is all I’ll ever get from my mate, then I’d take it. Better that than nothing at all, Craig.”

I still want to live. And for an omega, living without our mates would not only weaken us. It would shatter us, and it could send us to our early demise. The bond tethers me to him for the rest of my life. Unless Brent would formally reject the bond, I would remain tied to him. Shifters with stronger wolves could initiate the rejection, but mine is small and still weak. I can’t guarantee that my wolf and I will survive after the rejection. It’s a risk I wouldn’t dare take at the moment.

They don’t get it. This marriage means survival for me.

I don’t wait for my brother to speak. I open the door and greet the crowd with a smile. When the ceremony starts, the golden double doors open and I march towards the altar.

Towards the only man I’ve ever loved.

Towards the man whose heart I could never have.