Chapter Two

Natalie pov 

A sharp, stabbing pain hit the middle of my chest. It felt like someone stuck a cold blade right into my heart and twisted it.

I turned around and walked out of the conference room. Nobody noticed me leave.

I walked down the quiet hallway and went into the small, dark breakroom. I sat down on a hard metal chair and gripped the edge of the table so hard my knuckles turned white.

'It is okay,' I lied to myself before wiping a hot tear off my cheek before it could drop. 'He had to do that. He is the Alpha. He has to look strong in front of his men. He loves me. He needs me.' I reassured myself in my thoughts. 

I repeated those words in my head over and over like a spell.

'He needs me. He loves me.'

I closed my eyes and let my mind drift backward in time, away from this cold building, back to the day my whole life broke into pieces.

I remembered my eighteenth birthday.

In our pack, eighteen was the most important age. It was the night you changed. It was the night your wolf woke up inside your soul.

I remembered standing in the middle of the clearing under the bright full moon. The grass was wet with dew. 

My parents stood at the edge of the woods, holding hands. They smiled at me with proud eyes. My dad was a strong warrior while my mother was a swift hunter and they waited for my big moment.

"Let it come, Natalia," my father called out. "Feel the moon!"

I stood there in my white dress, closing my eyes and waiting for the moment to come. 

I waited for the heat. I waited for the spark. I waited for the thunder in my veins that every young wolf felt.

Five minutes passed....Ten minutes passed.

The wind blew cold across my bare arms, yet nothing had happened.

I looked at my hands. They were still human hands, I didn't see any sharp claws surfacing. My teeth did not turn into sharp fangs nor did my eyes start to glow yellow in the dark.

"Try harder, sweetie!" my mother yelled. Her voice sounded worried now. "Focus on your heart!"

I squeezed my eyes shut so hard my face hurt. I begged the moon. I screamed inside my head. 'Please! Please wake up! Please come out!'

Still nothing. Inside my chest, it was totally quiet. There was no wolf, there was only me.

We went to the pack healer's cabin that night. The air inside smelled like dried fire-weed and old paper. The old healer held a glowing blue stone over my heart. The stone stayed dark. It did not glow.

The healer looked at my parents and shook his head.

"She has no wolf spirit," the healer said softly. "She is wolf-less. She is just an Omega."

My mother burst into tears. My father turned his face away from me. He could not even look at my eyes.

From that night, everything changed. In the supernatural world, if you have no wolf, you are nothing. You are weaker than a child. You cannot run fast. You cannot heal from wounds. You cannot smell danger.

The other kids at school stopped talking to me. They pushed me in the halls. They threw trash at my feet.

"Watch out, weakling!" They laughed. "Do not break your tiny bones!"

I could not fight them with my fists. So, I fought with my brain.

I locked myself in my bedroom. I read every book I could find. I studied math, business, history, and law. While other kids were running through the woods and hunting deer, I solved hard math problems. 

I got perfect grades. I worked so hard my fingers bled from writing.

My hard work paid off because in less than a year, I got a full scholarship to Wharton, the best business school in the world. I thought I was free.

 I thought I could build a real life far away from packs and wolves.

Then, three years ago, Adrian came into my life.

I was sitting in a quiet corner of the college library with books piled high around me.

Suddenly, a tall man sat down at my table. He did not look like the human students. He was bigger, stronger, and his eyes held a strange, golden light.

"Natalia Ernest?" he asked.

I looked up, scared. "Yes?"

He held up a paper. It was my research paper about how pack businesses lose money to corrupt leaders.

"I read your work," Adrian said. He smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. "It is brilliant. You see things that nobody else sees."

"I am just an Omega," I whispered, looking down at my shoes. "I do not have a wolf."

Adrian reached across the table. He put his warm hand over mine. Electric sparks danced across my skin. My whole body shivered.

"I do not care about that," Adrian said softly. His voice felt like a warm blanket on a freezing night.

 "Your mind is different, Natalia. It is special. I am building a new company. It is called Blackwood. I am drowning in debt, and my enemies are trying to destroy me. I need you. Come with me and help me build an empire."

'I need you.'

Nobody had ever said those words to me before. My family did not need me. My pack did not want me. But this strong, handsome Alpha looked at me like I was the most important person in the world.

I said yes.

For three years, I gave him my whole life. I worked eighteen hours a day. 

When Blackwood had no money, I fixed the budget. When bad wolves tried to steal our land, I found the legal tricks to stop them. 

When Adrian was stressed, I stayed up late with him in his dark office, making him tea and talking about the future.

We spent so many late nights together. Just the two of us. The city lights twinkled outside the window.

Sometimes, Adrian would reach out and touch my hair. He would look into my eyes for a long time.

"You are my secret weapon, Natalia," he would whisper. "I could never do this without you."

Because I had no wolf, I could not feel the true mate bond. I could not smell his scent properly. I could not tell if the moon had picked him for me.