CHAPTER ONE: When I Opened My Eyes

AERIN

I woke up on stone.

Cold seeped through my back, unforgiving, as if the ground itself had decided I did not belong on it. The chill came first. Then the ache. Then the strange awareness that my body remembered warmth but could not find it.

Something was wrong.

I tried to move.

Pain burst behind my eyes, sharp enough to steal my breath. My stomach twisted hard, empty and furious, a hunger that felt old even though I couldn’t remember why.

I was hungry...weak...alive… and that felt wrong.

I forced my eyes open.

Buildings rose around me, tall and worn, edges softened by time. People passed nearby, footsteps steady, voices overlapping. No one was panicking. No one was running.

Life was continuing...as if nothing had ended.

I pushed myself upright slowly. My body responded without resistance. I felt stiff but capable, like it knew how to exist even if my mind did not.

I looked down at my hands.

Clean.

Unmarked.

Ordinary.

They were hands that belonged to someone.

‘Who am I?’

The question stopped halfway through.

Not because I didn’t know the answer.

But because there was no answer at all.

My chest tightened, not with fear, but with confusion so deep it felt hollow. I searched inward without thinking, the way someone reaches for air after being submerged too long.

...there was nothing.

No name.

No pull.

No echo.

Inside me was just...absence.

‘Don’t panic,’ I told myself.

People panic when something is wrong.

I did not feel broken... I felt emptied.

A sharp voice cut through the noise.

“Hey.”

I flinched.

A man stood a few steps away, staring at me like I had committed a personal offense just by existing.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

‘I don’t know,’ I almost said.

Instead, I stayed silent.

He jabbed a finger toward the ground. I followed the motion.

An overturned crate lay near my feet. Cloth, tools, dried food scattered across the stone.

People had stopped walking.

They were watching now.

“I didn’t…” I began, but my voice came out thin, uncertain, like it didn’t trust me either.

“She was reaching for it,” someone said.

“That’s what they always say.”

My stomach clenched.

“I just woke up here,” I said.

The words sounded wrong the moment they left my mouth.

Laughter rippled through the crowd.

“Oh, listen to her.”

“Woke up on the ground and thought she’d help herself next?”

Someone shoved my shoulder. Not hard enough to knock me down. But hard enough to remind me that I could be.

I staggered and caught myself. My balance wavered. Not clumsy. Unused.

Heat crept into my face.

‘This is a misunderstanding,’ I told myself.

That distinction mattered.

A man near the back frowned and drew a slow breath through his nose.

“She smells like wolf.”

Relief flickered before I could stop it.

‘So I belong somewhere.’

But then his expression shifted.

“But it’s wrong.”

The crowd went quiet.

Not suddenly.

Heavily.

He stepped closer, eyes narrowing, breathing in again like he didn’t trust what he sensed.

“Empty,” he said.

The word landed differently this time.

Not curiosity.

Interest.

Murmurs followed. Low. Tight. Unsettled.

The way the stares changed.

Before, they had been dismissive. Amused. Irritated.

Now their stares lingered.

Measured.

A woman’s gaze dragged over me from head to toe, then snapped back to my face, sharp and calculating. A man swallowed hard. Another shifted his stance, feet spreading like he was bracing himself.

The air thickened.

I took a step back. Every eye tracked the movement.

A guard near the edge of the crowd let out a quiet laugh. The sound slid under my skin.

Another man’s gaze dropped openly to my throat, my shoulders, the line of my waist.

Not admiration.... Assessment.

Something inside me recoiled.

I backed up again.

My heel scraped stone.

The sound was small.

It made them watch harder.

A woman whispered something sharp to the person beside her. I didn’t hear the words, but her tone was enough.

My pulse spiked.

‘Why are they looking at me like that?’

Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed my arms. Firm. Immediate.

“Wait,” I said, trying to pull back.

“Don’t struggle,” someone warned. “You’ll make it worse.”

Soon, rope bit into my wrists as they were dragged behind me. The knot was quick. Practiced.

No one protested.

A few people looked disappointed.

Like something had been interrupted.

“What are you doing with her?” someone asked.

“Taking her to the Alpha,” a guard said.

The word Alpha shifted the air.

Fear.

Relief.

Curiosity.

And something darker beneath it.

Expectation.

They dragged me through the streets. The market opened easily for us now. Bare feet slapped against stone. Sharp edges cut into my soles.

I kept walking.

I flinched with pain as my heels was slowly filled with scratches. But, I did not stumble.

The buildings changed. Cleaner stone. Taller walls. Quieter voices.

The looks towards me were worse here.

Not hunger.

Calculation.

We passed soldiers.

One of them stopped when he saw me. His nostrils flared. His gaze slid to my bound wrists, then up, then lower again.

Slow.

Deliberate.

Another soldier nudged him sharply.

“Eyes front.”

The first didn’t move.

My stomach twisted.

The palace gates rose ahead, massive and ancient, etched with symbols worn smooth by time.

I stopped without meaning to.

The rope jerked.

“Move.”

But my chest hurt.

Sharp. Sudden.

‘I’ve been here.’

The certainty arrived without memory.

'But...why?'

Inside, the air changed.

Cooler. Charged.

They hauled me through polished corridors until heavy doors opened.

“Council chamber,” someone said.

Elders waited inside.

The moment I was brought forward, the room reacted.

Not with surprise.

With recognition.

A guard spoke quickly. Efficient.

“Found in the lower quarter. No pack marks. Scent of wolf but wrong.”

One elder leaned forward.

“Wolfless,” he said.

This time, the word came with explanation.

“Omegas without wolves cannot anchor their energy,” an older man said calmly. “What should bond to their wolf remains in the body.”

“Which makes them dangerous,” another added.

“Or valuable,” someone corrected.

Their eyes turned to me…as a resource.

I finally understood the looks in the market.

Why my skin still crawled.

My breathing went shallow.

“Bring her closer,” an elder said.

The guards tightened their grip.

I dug my heels in.

“I didn’t steal anything," I firmly said.

The elder glanced at my mouth.

“You don’t even know what you are,” he said. “That is the problem.”

A guard beside me leaned in.

“If she’s a wolfless omega,” he said, “she needs to be placed under control.”

Another guard chuckled.

“Or given to someone who can handle her.”

The room did not object.

The guard holding my arm shifted his grip.

His hand slid lower, no longer restraining, no longer necessary. His thumb pressed deliberately into the inside of my arm.

Testing.

I flinched.

He noticed.

His smile widened.

“I’ll take responsibility,” he said lightly. “I’ll keep her quiet.”

My breath caught.

No one stopped him.

And in that moment, I understood.

If nothing changed…what he said would definitely happen next.