CHAPTER FOUR

Everyone dispersed as Marcel approached Celia, his lithe body seeming to flow like water as he moved.

He was unlike any Alpha— unlike any being Celia had seen. The other Alphas stood by in silence, clearly obedient to him. He had also defeated Nicholas without shifting.

How could anyone challenge him? Even Jon had turned his attention to taking care of his gravely wounded mate.

This was the man? This was the werewolf someone like her was fated to spend her life with, bound by an invisible bond and all that other crap her mother never stopped talking about?

When Marcel was only a few steps away, a powerful figure centered in a humbled pack, Sheeva boldly stepped into his path, standing between him and Celia.

He eyed her with a leveled gaze. “Why do you stop me?”

Sheeva raised her head proudly. “She is my daughter.”

“She is my mate.”

Sheeva went still. There was a shift in attention. It was clear everyone had been fixated on Marcel, but at his declaration, all focus was on Celia.

All her life, she was the girl with the weakest presence in a room. The one no one noticed, and when they did, she was viewed with pity or disgust.

Now she was the mate of a werewolf who killed their Alpha. A werewolf who dominated other packs. A villain, undoubtedly.

Hadn’t things just become worse for her?

“Move,” Marcel instructed Sheeva, but she didn’t obey. “Move,” he said again, his eyes glowing this time.

Sheeva trembled, doing her best to fight against the intimidation that came with Marcel’s unbelievable power.

Celia touched her mother’s shoulder and pulled her aside. “It’s okay.”

Now that Marcel had her in view, he assessed her with dull red eyes. It was like she was bare before him. She stood with her back straight, even though she wanted to crawl and hide herself under a sheet.

Towering over her small frame, Marcel walked around her—inspecting her. He even pulled close and sniffed her hair, like he would learn all he needed to just by that.

He returned to stand in front of her. She shivered when he dragged a finger down the side of her face. His hand was still bloody since it had seen the inside of two chests.

He suddenly scoffed and pulled back a step. “This is the world’s way of entertaining itself, I suppose. It pairs me with…” He scanned Celia with unhidden disgust. “I do not accept you.”

It shouldn’t have come as a shock. It shouldn’t have hurt her, but it did. Perhaps, even with her skeptical demeanor, she had been holding on to the sliver of hope that if anyone would accept her, it would be her mate.

That hope was dashed. She had just been rejected, and even if it was by an evil menace who deserved death for the harm he had brought to the settlement, his rejection carried weight.

“Do not say such a thing,” Sheeva chastened.

Marcel turned a raised brow to her, and she lowered her head slightly. “She is not worthy of being my mate. I can practically smell how weak she is. What are you, an Omega?”

It was meant as a joke, but when there was no response, he found he had guessed right.

He rubbed his eyes and laughed. “Unbelievable. My fated partner, an Omega?” He shook his head. “I will accept that only when the moon can no longer brighten my nights.”

Celia’s gaze fell to the floor. Her hands clenched her gown tightly. Now she really wanted to crawl under a sheet.

“That is not the way it works!” Sheeva retorted.

“Do you always speak for her?” Marcel asked. He lifted Celia’s chin up with a finger, his claws out. “Are you also too weak to speak?” he teased, holding her eyes.

Celia swallowed, doing everything she could to keep tears from running down her face. “I can speak,” she answered with a shaky voice.

He let her go. “Good.” Be sure to use that voice to tell yourself that you are not my mate. You’re just another unfortunate Omega who’ll be by herself forever.”

Sheeva took Celia’s hand in hers and held on tightly. Her mother was always trying to support her. Always trying to be a rock. For how long? How long would it be her mother protecting her?

Celia stared at Marcel. “This bond will not break,” she said, “so I hope you’ll enjoy being as alone as I’ll be.”

Marcel stared at her in surprise, then he chuckled. “There is nothing that can’t be destroyed. You’ll learn that.” He turned around. “Can you imagine this, Darius? An Omega, as my mate?! Isn’t it laughable?!”

Darius’ gaze turned from Marcel to where Jon was on the ground, holding Indra in his arms, glaring daggers.

Marcel started into movement, walking past the couple, and past Nicholas’ lifeless body. “I’ll be back by first light. Bury your dead, and treat your injured.” He stopped beside Darius. “If anyone tries anything stupid, kill them.”

Marcel glanced at Celia before disappearing into the woods.

________________________________________________________________________

No one let her help in cleaning up the mess Marcel had caused. They kept giving her strange looks. It was better when she had been invisible. Now, it was like she had done something wrong, but no one had the nerve to admit it.

She didn’t control the mating process. It just…happened. That was how it was for werewolves. It was believed that fate knew best who their eternal pair should be.

If this was any indication, fate was not exempted from making mistakes.

“It makes no sense,” Celia said as she paced the length of her and her mother’s cabin. “It makes no sense.”

Sheeva was sitting against the wall, her short gray hair deceived to be golden by the light of the torch’s flames. She watched Celia pace. She was definitely burdened by the events of the night, but no matter what, she tried to look stronger than Celia.

“How could this happen?” Celia asked herself.

“Fate has no logic, my dear,” Sheeva explained. “It matches us with someone else and well…we trust it knows best.”

“Mother, he killed Nicholas,” Celia pointed out. “He hurt our pack members, and he’s dominated other packs. He’s evil.” Celia ran a hand through her hair. “He rejected me, but maybe if I was bold enough, I would have rejected him first. You can’t tell me fate knows best in this case.”

Sheeva opened her mouth to speak, but instead, put off what she was going to say and dropped her gaze. “I’m not sure what to tell you.”

Celia sighed and went to settle in front of her mother with her legs crossed under her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m ranting about being mated to a probable psychopath when we should be mourning Nicholas.”

Sheeva smiled. “You can do both.”

They were silent for a short while. Sleep would not come easy after everything that had happened. Celia reckoned her thoughts would be all over the place through the night.

“They didn’t see me before, but now that they do, they hate me,” Celia said.

Sheeva shook her head, wearing a disbelieving look. “That is absurd, my dear. No one hates you.”

Celia scoffed and looked down. “Didn’t you see the way they were looking at me?”

“Well of course you would get strange looks. I don’t think you truly understand what this means for you.”

Celia raised a brow. “What does it mean?”

Sheeva pulled closer to Celia. “Marcel is no longer some outsider. After defeating Nicholas, he is the Alpha of the Knox settlement pack, and that makes you Luna.”

Celia blinked and reared back, then she began laughing. “Don’t be ridiculous, mother. I’m an Omega.”

“There’s no rule that says Omegas can’t be Lunas.”

“But…” Celia swallowed. “He rejected me.”

“That doesn’t change what you’ve become.”

Celia shook her head. “This can’t be right.”

“It is, and you had best start believing it,” Sheeva said. “As of the moment you mated with Marcel, you became Luna of the Knox settlement pack.”