Chapter 3 

ARIA

I splashed cold water on my face and looked at the mirror. Dark eyebags hung under my fearful eyes.

Twenty four hours. That's all I had to save my child.

What was I supposed to do? Ryan, Damian and Kane weren't ready to accept me as their mate.

I clenched my hand. There was no option but to run away from the pack.

I started to pack my bags. There wasn't much I had since I lived in a small, cramped apartment in the slums where sunlight barely entered. Thankfully, I managed to save some money.

There was only one place where a wolfless omega like me could go. The lands where the humans lived. Omegas like me who had no wolves, were either banished or abandoned by their families went there since no one would let us live in the packs.

I looked at my belly. "Don't worry little pup. Mama will protect you."

I knew it wouldn't hear me since I was only one month into my pregnancy but knowing that I would have my child made me feel less lonely. My best friends had already abandoned me, and no one else in this pack considered me more than just a wolfless omega.

I shook those sad feelings away and started to get dressed.

Once I was ready, I shouldered the bag and was prepared to leave when the marks on my neck started to throb painfully.

The door to my apartment clicked open and I saw a tall figure step in.

It was Damian, followed by Ryan and Kane. I was a little shocked to see them but remembered they knew where the spare key to my apartment was since they visited me often.

"Aria?" Damian took my name in concern as he saw my pained expression as soon as he entered my house.

"Ah!" I yelled as the throbbing got stronger. The walls in my room started to spin and my legs gave up.

"Aria!!" I heard them yell before darkness took over.

I was woken up by the sound of a machine beeping and the strong smell of antiseptic. It didn't take me much to realize I was in the hospital.

Before my bed sat three people who looked at me with worry.

"Aria, are you alright?" Kane asked, his blue eyes soft with concern.

"You freaked us out when you passed out on the floor," Ryan said and Damian nodded.

I slowly sat upright on the bed, feeling the marks still throbbing but the pain was lesser than before. My gaze fell on my lap where a white sheet covered up to my waist.

"Why were you at my home?" I asked, my voice sounding hoarse.

"We were worried about you after you said—" Damian hesitated to say the word 'pregnant' as if it was a curse.

"Yeah," Ryan muttered, sounding regretful. "I was too harsh on you."

"We don't want to leave you alone in this since we are equally responsible." Kane muttered and my heart started to race.

A wave of hope rushed over me. I smiled at them, glad that they cared for me. It seemed that I wasn't wrong when I believed that all those years of friendship wouldn't simply be forgotten in one incident.

Footsteps thundered into the room and the door to the ward opened. A nurse walked in and pointed at me. "That's her. The omega who's pregnant and bears glowing marks."

My face paled as I saw a man walk into the room wearing a black overcoat over black trousers. He had a mystical aura to him and his eyes seemed full of wisdom.

Kane got up from his seat in shock. "Elder Crest! What are you doing here?"

Ryan and Damian looked equally shocked at his arrival in the hospital.

Elder Crest looked at Kane. "We received a report from the hospital about a wolfless pregnant omega with glowing golden marks admitted here."

My blood ran cold. I looked at the nurse and the doctor behind her who glared at me. They must have reported once they saw that I was pregnant. My glowing marks were also a giveaway of my unique bond with the Alphas.

His eyes fell on me. "Is that her?" Despite being already pointed out, the Elder seemed to be demanding an answer from the three Alphas.

The three of them looked at me.

"Please, don't." I said through the telepathic mind-link since I was bound to them.

Ryan's jaw was clenched in frustration. Damian looked like he was on the verge of tears and Kane's gaze had turned frosty like he was calculating something.

"I'm sorry, Aria. But it's for the best." Kane was the one to reply, his voice cold. He looked at the Elder and nodded.

No!

Elder Crest turned to me again. "You're an omega with no power or a wolf. Impure creatures like you are nothing but a curse to the pack. Yet you had the audacity to get in bed with not one but three Alphas! What a shameless woman!"

I flinched at his harsh words.

He smirked. "It's understandable now why you are an orphan. Your parents didn't want an omega whore as their daughter!" He spat.

I trembled and tears started to roll down my eyes.

"If you thought bearing the Alphas' child would help you climb the social ladder, then you're wrong. Grab her!" He yelled and a few men walked in, surrounding my bed.

Soon I was grabbed by my arms.

"No! Please let me go! It wasn't my fault!" I started to cry. "The Blood Moon made me lose consciousness."

Elder Crest scoffed. "The Blood Moon can't affect someone who doesn't have a wolf. Bring her." He commanded the warriors who dragged me towards the door.

My feet scraped against the floor as I tried to resist. I turned towards Damian, Ryan and Kane. "Please. You know this isn't my fault. Please tell them to let me go!" I cried, hoping they'd do something.

But none of them moved an inch. Ryan had already looked away, Kane briefly closed his eyes and Damian was in tears.

For two days, I was kept as a prisoner in the underground prison below the council office building. The stone walls had cracks through which mold grew, a thin strip of grey sky fell on the dirty floor through the small barred window near the ceiling.

I lay on the cot with my hands folded over my stomach, talking to the baby in the silence of my own head. They kept me starved for two days. I wasn't worried about it because I had spent months in the merciless streets of winter without any food. But my little pup needed food to grow.

I told the baby it was going to be alright.

I wasn't sure I believed it.

On the second day, they came for me and dragged me out of the cells.

I was taken to the main square at the heart of pack territory. It seemed like a ceremony would be held here since it was decorated beautifully with white flowers and long golden ribbons that caught the morning light. Rows of chairs faced a raised platform decked in blossoms, and beyond it, a canopy had been erected under which three ceremonial positions waited, chairs draped in the colours of the three Alpha lines.

It was definitely a wedding.

I was lost in the beauty of it all when I noticed a figure approaching me. It was Lily, draped in a pearly white gown.

She smiled as she looked at me, while I was standing in torn, dirty clothes with metallic chains tied around my wrists and ankles.

From my left, Damian, Ryan and Kane walked in wearing matching black tuxedos. They froze when they saw me.

Lily saw me looking at them and smirked. "I hope you'll enjoy our wedding."

Elder Crest stepped forward. "Lily, we can't start the ceremony. Aria bears the marks of the three Alphas."

On hearing that, the color drained from Lily's face before she seethed with fury. "What?!" She looked at the three of them. "I was fine with you three sleeping with a whore after our engagement. But why would you mark a wolfless piece of shit? That mark is only my right!" She growled, her eyes glowing silver.

Kane stepped forward, his expression unmoved. "Lily, it was the Blood Moon that led to this."

"I don't care!" She shouted and looked at me with blazing eyes. "Reject her, right now!"

The color drained from all three of their faces. Damian argued, "But it might harm her as well."

Lily scoffed. "So what if she's harmed? It's not like she's anything to you. Just do what I say or there will be no wedding." Her words were an ultimatum.

Damian's head dropped forward, his curls falling across his face. Ryan pressed his mouth into a thin line, his eyes finding mine for one unsteady moment before moving away. Kane's hands, at his sides, closed into fists.

He spoke first, his voice slightly unsteady. "I, Kane Harlow, Alpha of the Northern Pack, reject you, Aria, as my rightful mate."

A screeching pain hit my neck so hard it felt like someone had stabbed it.

Ryan said the same lines, followed by Damian whose voice cracked on the final word.

The pain spread throughout my body as the bond started to break. Then it moved inward and downward, and I bent forward with a gasp, one arm wrapping tight around my stomach.

The pup.

Fear overrode everything else. I saw stars in my vision as I dropped to the ground, hollering in agony for my pup who might be affected by this.

My entire life flashed before my eyes as I looked at them.

Why? Why did it have to be me?

Wasn't being born a wolfless omega cruel enough?

From the time I was born, all I ever experienced was pain. I was left in the snow-filled streets when I was a baby. The orphanage that took me in made me work like a maid. People outside would either sexually harass me or bully me.

There was hardly anything worth living for until they came. The light they brought into my life felt worth living for.

If I had known it would be taken from me, I would have never hoped.

"Strip her right here to confirm the marks are no longer present," Lily said, crossing her arms. "I want to be certain before we proceed."

Elder Crest nodded to the warriors.

I looked up as they approached me. Instead of feeling helpless, I felt a ball of rage building inside me. It started to spread throughout my entire body and soon I felt my bones begin to shift.

The warriors stopped.

The process was agonizing but I managed to get on all fours, letting the shift take over. I felt every single bone realign inside me, thick silver fur replacing my skin entirely. The ground dropped further away beneath me until I was fully transformed.

A loud gasp tore through the crowd and I heard Damian call out my name. "Aria! You have…"

"Shifted!" Ryan said as he looked at my wolf form with wide eyes.

Elder Crest walked closer, staring at me as if he had seen the Moon Goddess herself. "The primordial wolf and the mother of the King's heir! She is the one the prophecy speaks of!" He yelled but I couldn’t hear it clearly as chaos broke loose in the crowd.

Kane’s jaw dropped, the regret clear in his frosty eyes. Behind them, Lily stood frozen, her face as pale as her gown.

I turned and ran toward the forest.

"Aria, no! Wait!" Damian shouted and shifted into his wolf.

For the first time I felt something exhilarating as the trees brushed past me in a blur. It was freedom.

I heard Damian, Kane and Ryan's wolves chasing me so I increased my pace. But I couldn't control my newfound speed and what greeted me ahead was the edge of the cliff.

Before I knew it, I found myself falling down the cliff. The last thing I heard was my name being called by the three of them before I fell into the darkness below.