CHAPTER 4: Marked

The world tilted sideways.

I could not breathe. I could not think. Three hundred wolves were staring at me, their shock crashing down like a heavy wave. Whispers spread through the clearing, fast and wild.

“Midnight’s Mark” “The Beta” “That’s an omega—l” “That can’t be real”

My legs stopped working. If Vera had not been holding my arm, I would have collapsed right there.

“Breathe, Lila,” Vera said sharply, her healer voice cutting through my panic. "Lila, you need to breathe."

I forced air into my lungs. It hurt, like glass scraping my throat.

Across the clearing, Beta Darius had not moved. His hand remained pressed to his neck, covering the mark that I knew matched mine exactly. His gray eyes were locked on me, and the expression on his face was not joy or wonder or any of the things you were supposed to feel when meeting your fated mate.

it was anger.

Alpha Marcus stepped beside him, speaking urgently. I couldn’t hear what he said, but I saw the Alpha’s expression change from shock to calculation. He glanced at me once, then back to his Beta.

“We need to leave,” Vera whispered. “Right now.”

"I cannot move."

"You have to." She started pulling me backward, toward the edge of the clearing. "Everyone is staring.

She was right. Wolves were closing in, curious and hungry for gossip. I heard someone say my name. Someone else asked if it was real.

Then Sienna Ravencroft pushed through the crowd like a knife cutting flesh. When she reached me, her beautiful face was twisted with something I could not quite name. Shock. Disbelief. Hatred.

“You?” she snapped. “The Moon Goddess chose you?” for hm?

I tried to speak, but my throat locked.

“This is wrong,” Sienna said, stepping closer. “You’re nothing. An omega. You don’t deserve him.”

Vera stepped between us. “Enough, Sienna. The mark doesn’t lie.”

“Then the Moon Goddess is wrong,” Sienna shot back. Her eyes cut into me. “You’ll ruin him. You’ll ruin everything. You’re too weak to be his mate.”

Her words hurt because part of me believed them.

“Enough.”

Alpha Marcus’s voice silenced the clearing instantly.

“The ceremony is over,” he said. “Everyone go home. Now.”

The crowd slowly began to dispersing, but the whispers followed us.

“I’ve never seen Midnight’s Mark” “He’ll reject her” “Poor omega”

Vera held me upright as we walked away. My neck burned where the silver crescent rested.

“Omega.”

The voice stopped me cold.

I turned.

Beta Darius stood a few steps away. He was terrifying up close, tall, broad, scarred, and powerful. His storm gray eyes locked onto mine.

“Beta Darius,” I whispered.

He lowered his hand, revealing the same glowing crescent on his neck.

“This,” he said calmly, “is not happening.”

The words hurt more than Sienna’s insults.

“I didn’t ask for this,” I said quietly.

“Neither did I.” He stepped closer. The mate bond pulled at me, urging me toward him. I stayed still. “You’re an omega.”

“I know.”

“I am the Beta of this pack. Next in line for Alpha,” he said coldly. “I cannot have an omega mate.”

Anger broke through my fear. “Sorry my existence is inconvenient.”

“This isn’t about convenience,” he said. “I have duties. I won’t be tied down by this.”

Vera snapped, “She has a name. And she is your mate.”

“I can choose not to accept it,” Darius said.

My chest tightened. Rejecting a mate bond was rare and painful.

“You would reject the Moon Goddess choice?” Vera demanded.

“I know the consequences,” he replied, eyes fixed on me. “This was a mistake. I won’t claim an omega.”

Something inside me broke.

“Fine,” I said softly. “Reject it. I don’t want a mate who looks at me like a burden.”

For a moment, surprise flickered in his eyes.

Then it vanished.

“Good,” he said, turning away. “We understand each other.”

He walked off, leaving the bond stretched tight and aching between us.

I couldn’t stand the stares anymore.

“I need to go,” I told Vera.

She nodded and guided me home.

My apartment felt smaller than ever. An hour ago, I was just invisible Lila the baker. Now I was the omega marked by the Beta and rejected.

I sat on the couch, shaking.

“He’s an asshole,” Vera said firmly.

“He’s right,” I whispered. “Why would he want me?”

Vera grabbed my shoulders. “The Moon Goddess chose you. Do you understand what that means? Out of every female in this pack, every warrior and healer and wolf with high rank, she chose you. That means something."

“It means she made a mistake”

“The moon Goddess does not make a mistake,” Vera said. “You are kind. You are strong. You survived things others wouldn’t. You are enough.”

I wanted to believe her. "But"

“What happens now?” I asked.

“I’ll research Midnight’s Mark,” she said. “But if he rejects you officially, it will hurt. Badly.”

I touched the mark on my neck. It was warm.

“I’ve survived worse,” I said.

After she left, I sat alone in the dark.

Somewhere, Beta Darius had the same mark.

Was he feeling this ache too?

The worst part wasn’t the rejection.

It was the hope I felt just for a moment that maybe I mattered.

That hope was gone.

I was still invisible Lila.

The mark changed nothing.

Except now I knew that even the Moon Goddess’s choice wasn’t enough to make me worthy.