Intimate.

Selena.

Warm water ran down my back, carrying the scent of my mint bathing soap with it. I closed my eyes and let my shoulders finally relax.

It had been a long day. A chaotic one. Final preparations, last-minute arrangements, and endless reminders that everything had to be perfect.

Tomorrow was the day. Christopher’s birthday. The day he would become Alpha of our pack.

The day I would finally be named Luna of the pack.

It felt too big to hold inside my chest, as if happiness might actually burst out of me. I pressed my palms to the tiled wall and breathed it in, letting the happiness settle deep inside me.

For two years, I had built my whole world around him without question. He was my future, the only thing in my life that had ever felt certain.

Tomorrow, everything will become real. Public. Official.

I tilted my face into the stream of water and let my thoughts drift.

The ceremony. The elders. The pack gathered beneath the banners. Christopher standing tall, the alpha cloak draped across his shoulders.

His hand reaches for mine.

Mine.

As an omega, I had never been meant to dream of this. We were taught to stay quiet. To be grateful. To survive. We did not grow up believing alphas would choose us.

That was why it still felt unreal.

Christopher had chosen me. 

Even after knowing I was wolfless. Even after knowing how weak that made me in the eyes of the pack. He had chosen me anyway.

At least, that was what I told myself.

But the truth was, it had not always been that way.

Before the title. Before the attention. Before everyone suddenly remembered my name.

I had been the girl they laughed at.

Being a plus size girl, growing up in the pack was the worst experience I would never wish on anyone. 

They called me fat when they thought I couldn’t hear. Sometimes when they knew I could.

The pack children had learned early who was worth respect and who wasn’t. And I had never been one of them.

Christopher had been there then too. Not as my mate. Not as my protector. But as one of them.

He never stopped them. Sometimes he laughed along. Sometimes he looked straight through me like I didn’t exist at all.

So when he stood in front of the pack three months after I turned eighteen and called me his mate, I had been stunned.

I had thought that perhaps it was one of cruel pranks, but he proved otherwise.

Suddenly, the water turned too hot, and I hissed softly as a sharp pain curled low in my stomach. I pressed a hand there and breathed through it. It has been happening more often lately. A deep ache that came and went.

The doctor had said it was nothing serious. Just stress. But it had never felt like nothing.

Still, I would get all the rest I needed after the coronation. Until then, I did not mind pushing myself, proving to everyone that I was more than capable of being the pack’s Luna.

Everything had to be perfect. I had come too far to stop now.

I finished my shower, dried off, and stepped into the pale blue dress laid out on the bed. It fit perfectly. Soft fabric. Simple. Luna worthy. My hands trembled as I buttoned it, but I told myself it was just excitement.

Christopher did not court me the way other alphas courted their mates. There were no walks through the park grounds. No public touches. No open affection. It used to hurt. His reason was that he wanted us to remain absent until we were official.

Then he had moved my family into the Alpha Mansion.

That had meant everything.

Before that, we had been poor, no thanks to my father’s business suffering a major setback. But since Christopher had claimed me, everything had gotten better for my entire family.

No omega family had ever been allowed to live here in the alpha mansion. It was his way of showing the pack that I mattered. That we mattered.

People had stopped laughing at us. My parents held their heads higher. My siblings smiled more and gained special recognition everywhere they went.

All because of him.

I picked up the small box on my dresser. The gift I had gotten him. Nothing flashy. Just something meaningful. Something I hoped he would understand.

I knew the rules. I knew I was not supposed to enter his chambers without being called. Alphas valued privacy. Christopher did, more than most.

But that day was different.

With barely twenty-four hours left before I became his, I could not contain my excitement.

I stepped into the hallway, my bare feet silent against the polished marble floor. I pictured the look on his face when I gave him the gift, a small smile curling at my lips.

But as I approached his door, I heard voices.

A chuckle.

Not his.

My steps slowed without me meaning to. Something in my chest stuttered, like my body already knew what I did not want to.

I told myself I was overthinking, like I always did. He could have been in there with anyone. A servant or a pack member. Someone who was helping with preparations.

Then I heard him.

Not angry. Not commanding.

Intimate.

My hand froze on the door.

Another sound followed, soft and breathless. My stomach twisted.

“Christopher?” I called, my voice barely there.

No answer.

The pain in my body flared sharply and suddenly. My fingers shook as I pushed the door open.

And something inside me just shattered.

Christopher was there.

His shirt lay discarded somewhere behind him. His hair was tousled. His expression was loose and unfamiliar in a way I had never seen before.

And he was not alone.

Joyce stood pressed against him.

The beta’s daughter.

Her hands were still on his chest. Her cheeks were flushed, lips swollen like they had been kissed too many times to count. They were not just standing close. They were tangled together, bodies aligned in a way that left no room for misunderstanding.

The air in the room was thick with what they had been doing only seconds before I walked in.

Everything inside me went quiet, numb.

The box slipped from my fingers and hit the floor. The sound echoed too loudly in my ears.

Christopher turned.

For a heartbeat, his eyes widened.

Then his face hardened.

Not with guilt.

Not with shame.

With irritation.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snapped.

Joyce stepped back slowly, smoothing her clothes. She did not look at me. There was no apology in her posture, only the stiff tension of someone who had been caught.

My chest burned. My ears rang. I felt like I was floating outside my own body.

“You said you wanted to wait,” I whispered. “You said we had time.”

He dragged a hand through his hair and exhaled sharply. “That is not the answer to the question I asked. I have told you countless times that you must not come to my room uninvited, stupid omega.”

His words felt like he had struck me without even lifting his hand.

“You didn't really think Alpha Christopher was in love with you, did you fatso?” Joyce taunted with a smile hanging on her lips. 

“Don't be ridiculous, I mean look at her. Why would I ever fall for someone as fat and shapeless as her?”

A broken laugh slipped from me, thin and unfamiliar. “So I was never enough?” I asked quietly. “Or just not worth keeping a promise to?”

He said nothing, and somehow that hurt more than any answer he could have given.

The pain swelled until it stole my breath. I clutched my stomach as tears spilled over, humiliation and heartbreak crashing together.

I felt small. Stupid. Like I should have known better than to believe I belonged anywhere near him.

I turned to leave.

I had barely made it halfway to the door before his hand closed around my arm.

Hard.

I gasped as he yanked me back into the room, the door slamming shut behind me. I winced from pain due to the tightness of his hand.

His voice dropped low, cold, almost amused.

“Who do you think you are, walking out without permission?”