3

I ignored the cries and planted myself directly and firmly in front of Dylan, brushing aside Vanessa's horrified look with disgust. I locked my eyes onto my stepbrother's stormy greys and, losing my balance from the pain in my ankle, I fell to my knees in front of him.

Dylan remained motionless, his eyes locked onto mine, his jaw clenched so tightly that the muscles in his neck strained like ropes.

I looked up at the future Alpha and, with a voice that was not my own, I sentenced before the entire pack:

"Mate... My mate."

Shit. I had really said that in front of the entire crowd.

"Harper... what... what have you said?" my mother choked out a cry, covering her mouth.

On the other hand, Vanessa opened her mouth, scandalized, looking at Dylan and then at me as if I were a cockroach.

Darius lowered the microphone, his face transfigured by confusion and budding fury. "Harper! What on earth does this mean? Dylan...".

Dylan didn't blink; he simply looked down at me, clenching his fists, as that intoxicating scent spread throughout the hall.

I thought that now he would finally claim me, that he would tell everyone about our bond, but he only let out a scoff, adjusting his tie, and raised his hands, waving them.

"Silence!" the command voice of Dylan Volkov cut through the air like a steel whip, silencing the bustle of the thousands of wolves immediately.

Dylan took a step forward, physically interposing himself between Vanessa and my kneeling body. His golden royal Alpha gaze flashed for a second before returning to its cold, stormy grey.

He looked at the pack and then at his father with an artificial calmness that gave me chills.

"The girl is suffering from shock due to the sudden clash with my pure aura," Dylan declared in a voice so firm it admitted no doubt. "My royal Alpha aura, upon returning after five years, has confused her immature senses. It is nothing more than the mystical delusion of a disoriented Omega. Security, take my stepbrother's daughter to rest."

A bustle of whispers and stifled laughter began to spread among the guests. "She's crazy."

"A desperate Omega," they whispered below.

"Wow, I didn't think she'd dare try to trick us."

"They say that's why she and her mother fled, she used to say strange things too."

Every word resonated in my head, causing a terrible pain in my chest. But before I could hear anything else, Vanessa took a step forward in her designer heels, raised her hand, and landed a clean slap on my left cheek.

"What is wrong with you, you damn bitch?" Vanessa hissed at me, her voice dripping a lethal venom as she leaned toward me. "Are you so desperate for an ounce of attention that you make up a sacred bond with my man? You starving beggar."

The blow turned my face, but it didn't hurt. Hearing the word "stray," the wolf inside me unleashed a roar of fury so colossal that the wood of the stage creaked under my knees and the colossal lights of the hall flickered violently, threatening to burst.

I clenched my fists against the floor, wanting to leap at Vanessa's neck and rip out her jugular, but I held back at the last second.

I knew perfectly well that if I attacked the future Alpha's fiancée at this instant, my stepfather Darius would use the pack's law to execute me or banish me for life for ruining the royal lineage.

"Vanessa... enough... you already heard, the girl is deluded..." Darius suddenly implied.

"A delusion? She disrespected me!" Vanessa claimed, her eyes bloodshot. "Dylan, do something!"

Dylan looked at my mother, who was crying in a corner, and then at me coldly, as two huge Beta warriors roughly grabbed me by the arms.

I didn't fight. I let them drag me off the stage to a cold room, secluded from the great hall.

They dropped me carelessly and let me fall to the floor. They locked the door from the outside.

I stayed there, sitting on the cold floor, hugging my legs while my ankle kept swelling under the handkerchief Dylan had placed on me at the cabin.

Outside the room, in the hallway, the heavy footsteps of Darius and Dylan resonated against the walls.

"This is a damn embarrassment, Dylan," Darius's voice filtered a contained fury. "That damn girl almost destroyed the alliance with Vanessa's pack. Vanessa's father is demanding explanations. Are you sure it's a mistake of her wolf?"

"Completely sure, father," Dylan's voice leaked through the door. "Many low-ranking she-wolves have tried to use the bond trick to catch me ever since they knew I would inherit the throne. I will go speak with the girl alone to make her place clear to her."

"I'll go with you," Darius sentenced. "I don't trust the tears of that stray."

"There is no need for you to lower yourself to that, father," Dylan insisted.

But at that moment, the door swung wide open. Darius entered first, his face flushed with rage, followed by Dylan, who maintained an impeccable expression, adjusting the cuffs of his dark jacket.

"How dare you?!" Darius roared as soon as he saw me on the floor, releasing his Alpha pressure which forced me to flatten my chest against my knees. "What the hell did you want to achieve with that ridiculous scene, Harper?! Do you want to destroy the pack because I am marrying your mother?! Answer!"

"I... I didn't want to..." I tried to speak, but Darius's pressure made me stammer, cutting off my air.

I thought of my mother with tears in her eyes, fearing they would expel her because of me.

Dylan walked slowly toward me, ignoring his father's shouts.

His imposing six-foot-three figure eclipsed the light in the room. He leaned forward, partially kneeling in front of me on the floor.

He extended his right hand and took me by the chin with a firm force, forcing me to raise my face to look him directly in the eyes.

The touch of his fingers against my skin was pure dynamite.

The electric sparks burned my flesh, making me gasp. I could see the sweat accumulated on his forehead, but he didn't seem to have felt the bond that united us.

"I warned you at the cabin, little pup, and I repeat it to you in front of the Alpha of this pack," Dylan said in a voice so husky and cutting that it splintered my soul. "You are deeply mistaken. I already have my Luna. You are nothing to me, nor will you ever be. Get it into your head."

He let go of my chin with a calculated disdain, causing my head to fall slightly toward the floor. He stood up with total parsimony, turning his back on my broken body.

"You already heard, father. It's just a frightened Omega who doesn't know how to control her hormones," Dylan said, walking toward the exit. "Let the guards keep her locked up here until tomorrow. It's not worth wasting time on her."

Darius threw me one last look of disgust.

"You are lucky my son is benevolent, Harper. Tomorrow we will fix this mess," the Alpha growled, leaving behind his firstborn.

The iron door slammed shut, and I was left on the floor, with the echo of Dylan's words drilling into my ears.