Chapter 1

Daria’s POV

My knuckles were bleeding again.

I slowly wiped them on my training pants, leaving dark smears on the rough fabric. The dust from the training yard stuck to every inch of my sweat-soaked skin. Every breath felt like fire in my lungs, and my ribs still throbbed from the last blow. But I pushed myself up anyway, forcing my shaky legs to hold my weight.

The mocking laughter started before I was even fully standing.

“Look at her. She actually thinks she can be a warrior.” Marcus, one of the pack’s best fighters, didn’t bother lowering his voice. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the fence post, a smirk plastered across his face.

“An orphan omega? Please,” his friend scoffed, spitting into the dirt. “She should be in the kitchens where she belongs.”

I ignored them. I’d had years of practice ignoring the whispers, the sneers, the way pack members looked through me like I was invisible. My parents had died in the Great War when I was three, so I had no family or status. I was just another mouth to feed, another burden the pack tolerated out of obligation.

But I had a dream. Warriors were respected. Warriors mattered. If I could just prove myself strong enough, maybe someone would finally see me as more than nothing.

“Again.” Training Leader Garrett’s voice echoed across the yard.

I braced myself and raised my fists even as my tired arms shook. We had been at this for hours, and he had paired me against opponents twice my size, every single time. It didn’t matter how hard I trained or how much I improved. To him, I would always be worthless.

The wolf he chose to face me this time was built like a mountain, all muscle and bulk. His fist connected with my jaw before I could even think to dodge, snapping my head back. A sharp pain shot through my skull, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

I fell to the ground, dirt in my mouth as my vision blurred. The blow had knocked the wind out of me, and I gasped, trying to pull air back in.

Somewhere above me, Garrett's laughter was cold and heartless.

“Pathetic,” he sneered, his boot slamming into my ribs before I could recover.

I gasped as the air was knocked out of me again, curling up in reflex to protect myself from the pain that shot through my side. My wolf whimpered inside me, retreating deeper into my consciousness. She was weak too. We both were.

“You are nothing,” Garrett spat, grabbing a handful of my hair and yanking my head up. His face loomed above mine, twisted with disgust. “Just an orphaned omega pretending to be a warrior. You disgust me.”

He raised his hand for another strike, and the pack… they just watched. Dozens of wolves were standing in the training yard, and not one of them moved. Not one of them spoke up. They never did. No one ever helped me. No one ever cared.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the blow.

But it never came.

Instead, the atmosphere changed. A strong presence swept through the training yard like a storm, heavy and commanding. It was the kind of power that made every wolf instinctively bare their throats, the kind that demanded submission without a single word spoken.

My eyes snapped open, and I noticed the crowd parting. Wolves stepped back without even thinking about it, bowing their heads and lowering their gazes. And then I saw him.

Alpha Lucius.

He walked forward with the confidence of a man who had never questioned his place in the world. Tall, broad-shouldered, and devastatingly handsome. His dark hair caught the sunlight, but it was his golden eyes that held me spellbound.

Even through the pain, I couldn’t look away.

“What is going on here, Garrett?” His voice was deadly quiet. The kind of quiet that promised violence if the answer wasn’t satisfactory.

Garrett’s hand dropped from my hair immediately. He straightened, his expression changing from cruel confidence to something resembling nervousness. “Alpha, I was just…”

“You were just what?” Lucius’s gaze cut to him, sharp as a blade. “Beating a member of my pack into the dirt for sport?”

“She is weak, Alpha. She doesn’t belong here.” Garrett’s voice had lost its cruel edge. Now he just sounded defensive, like a child caught doing something wrong.

“That is not your decision to make.” Lucius’s tone dropped even lower, and the temperature in the yard suddenly seemed to drop with it.

Wolves shifted nervously. I had never seen anyone speak to Garrett like this. He was known for being untouchable, cruel, the kind of wolf who enjoyed inflicting pain and got away with it because no one dared challenge him.

But in the presence of an Alpha, he was nothing.

Lucius turned towards me, his expression softening just a bit as he extended his hand. “Get up.”

A spark of hope flared in my chest. Maybe, finally, someone saw me. Maybe this was the moment everything changed.

I slowly reached for his hand, my fingers trembling.

The moment our skin touched, it felt like… lightning.

Every nerve in my body was overwhelmed with sensation. The world seemed to stand still, and all I could feel was the place where his hand had touched mine, like a live wire connecting us. Energy passed between us, wild and untamed and absolutely right. My wolf jumped with a howl of pure joy, throwing herself against my ribs.

“Mate. Mate. MATE.”

His eyes widened, the gold starting to glow intensely. His breath caught, and his whole body went rigid as if he had been struck.

“Mate.” The word tore from his throat, barely a whisper.

My heart skipped a beat as my wolf continued howling with joy and recognition.

This was it. My salvation, my future, everything I had ever wanted and dreamed of, handed to me in one perfect moment.

The Moon Goddess had given me a mate. And not just any mate, but an Alpha.

Tears welled up in my eyes, not from pain this time, but from pure, overwhelming relief. I wasn’t nothing. I wasn’t invisible. The bond between us felt alive, beautiful, and unbreakable. This changed everything. He would protect me now. I would finally have a place where I belonged.

But then his expression changed.

The warmth drained from his face as his jaw clenched. Those golden eyes went cold and… empty. Like shutters slamming closed over a window.

“No.” He stepped back, ripping his hand away from mine. “I, Alpha Lucius of the Blood Pact, reject you as my mate.”

“What?” My voice came out broken, barely a whisper. “No. You can’t… why?”

But he didn’t answer. He just stared at me with those cold, empty eyes, and in a heartbeat, the bond between us cracked.

Pain ripped through my whole body, like claws tearing me apart from the inside out. My wolf howled in anguish, and the beautiful, perfect connection that had bloomed between us was suddenly torn away, leaving nothing but raw, bleeding wounds.

Breathing became impossible as my lungs refused to work. My mind went blank, and all I could feel was pain.

Blood pooled in my mouth from where I had bitten my tongue, and as I coughed, it splattered across the dusty ground in bright red drops.

The pack gasped, and someone shouted, but the sounds were distant and muffled, like I was underwater.

My vision grew hazy as darkness slowly crept in at the edges. Through the blur, I saw Lucius turn and walk away with a straight back and confident steps, leaving me broken and abandoned in the dust.

“Why?” The question echoed in my mind as the world started to fade. “Why would the Moon Goddess give me a mate, only to have him destroy me?”

The last thing I heard before the darkness took me was my best friend Mira’s terrified voice, calling my name.