Chapter 2

The kitchen was too hot and loud, and it smelled like burning onions and sweat. A sensation that stung my eyes badly but I kept my head down, hands moving fast, peeling, chopping, scraping, and trying not to draw attention, trying to be invisible.

They shoved past me and threw scraps at me, called me names like it was my job to absorb them, and maybe it was, maybe that’s what being omega meant, taking hits, swallowing shame, and pretending it didn’t matter

“Faster, rat,” one of the head cooks snapped, tossing a cloth at my face, it hit me hard enough to stumble, but I didn’t flinch, I just nodded and kept going.

“Stars above, do you even know how to hold a knife properly?” another scoffed, slamming a basket of potatoes onto the counter. “It’s like watching a squirrel trying to sew.”

“She probably eats with her hands,” one of the scullery girls added with a snort. “Omegas don’t need manners. They just need to stay out of the way.”

I kept my eyes down, because it was safer that way.

“Don’t cut yourself,” someone muttered. “We sure don’t want your blood in the stew.”

A burst of laughter echoed around the room, but my hands didn’t stop moving.

“I bet she thinks she’s too good to talk,” said Tomas, the butcher’s apprentice. “She thinks she’s better than the rest of us.”

“She’s just slow,” the head cook snapped. “No better than a shadow and the Goddess help us if she’s chosen at the ceremony.”

“She won’t be,” someone else said. “The goddess doesn’t make mistakes like that.”

“I heard the last omega who tried to bond with someone ended up clawing her own throat out,” whispered one of the younger girls.

“That’s just a story,” another said, smirking. “Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one ends up the same.”

I wasn’t allowed to eat until the rest of the pack did, I wasn’t allowed to speak unless spoken to, I wasn’t allowed to look anyone in the eye, not unless I wanted another bruise to match the ones on my ribs.

The others never spoke to me, until it was to spit or laugh or point, but I’d gotten good at silence, good at disappearing, good at hiding in corners and counting seconds until it was safe to breathe again.

But that night, I didn’t make it back to the sleeping quarters, not at first.

I was halfway down the dark hall when I heard footsteps, fast, deliberate behind me, I didn’t turn in fear, I just pressed myself to the wall, hoping they’d pass and wouldn't notice me.

But they stopped

“Eva,” his voice was low, deep, and tender in the way it always got when he was alone with me.

Kael.

I turned slowly, with wide eyes and an already pounding heart, he stepped out of the shadows, tall, dangerous, and beautiful in a way that made my throat tighten.

No one knew what he was to me.

They saw him as Alpha’s heir, the untouchable prince of the pack, but I saw the boy who once helped me up when I fell, the one who always looked too long, and hard, the one who snuck into the kitchens when he thought no one was watching.

He stepped closer, his hand brushing my wrist, gentle, familiar, and clearly forbidden.

“You didn’t eat,” he said.

I shook my head, I didn’t trust my voice, his fingers tightened slightly, like that tiny detail made him angry.

“I told you to wait for me,” he whispered.

“You were in training,” I finally managed to speak.

He frowned, then leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine, and just like that, the cold vanished.

“I hate seeing you like this,” he murmured, “Like you’re nothing”

I didn’t say anything…heck I didn’t know what to say, because I was nothing to everyone but him.

He touched my cheek, his thumb running over a fresh scratch, I winced, and he growled low in his throat.

“They’ll pay for this,” he said, more to himself than to me.

I shook my head quickly, “Please don’t”.

He looked at me then, really looked, and behind his eyes they looked cracked.

“I’m choosing you,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, “At the ceremony, I don’t care what the elders say, I don’t care what my father wants, I know what the goddess will choose, I know what I want”.

I couldn’t speak

“I want you, Eva,” he said, “Only you”

My chest ached in a way that had nothing to do with bruises.

I should’ve said no, I should’ve reminded him what this would cost, I should’ve walked away like I always did.

But I didn’t

I reached for him instead

His lips crashed into mine, hungry, and desperate, like he was trying to erase every moment I’d been hurt, and every word I’d ever swallowed.

He pulled me into the old storage room, the door slamming shut behind us, the world outside disappearing like it never existed.

His hands were warm, familiar, and reverent, like he was holding a sacred vessel.

“Slow down,” I whispered. “Please.”

He stilled instantly, his eyes searching mine. “Am I being too much?”

I shook my head. “No... just…you know no one’s ever touched me like this before.”

Kael’s brow furrowed, like my words hurt more than any blade could. “Then let me be the first to teach you that you deserve tenderness.”

He kissed my shoulder, my wrist, the hollow of my throat, my neck, trailing kisses down them to the top my now obvious cleavage. “You deserve love, Eva. You deserve everything.”

“I’ll never hurt you,” he said against my skin,

“Never”.

And I believed him, In that room, with his arms around me, I believed every word.

“They say omegas are weak,” I murmured. “But you don’t treat me like I’m fragile.”

“You’re the strongest person I know,” he said. “You get up every day in a world that tries to hurt you, and you still keep breathing. That’s strength, Eva. That’s power.”

“Even if I’m not chosen?”

He tilted my chin up. “Then the goddess is blind. But I’ll choose you regardless. I already have.”

When we sank into the blankets, our hearts began racing with tangled breaths in between, I let myself forget the bruises, the hunger, the silence and I let myself be his.

And he was mine

“Promise me,” I whispered into his chest.

“Anything.”

“That you won’t disappear. That this won’t just be some secret night you forget once they throw you a throne.”

Kael looked down at me like I’d hung the stars.

“Eva... you think I could forget this?” He touched the place over his heart. “You’re carved into me now. Whatever happens next, you’re part of it.”

I don’t know how long we stayed there, just that when I finally slept, I felt safe for the first time in years.

Until morning came.

The sun was barely up when I opened my eyes, the room was cold again, Kael was gone, the door slightly ajar and the quiet of my lose hrfpressing in

I sat up slowly, my body aching in strange new places, the blanket sliding off my shoulders.

Only…I felt different…like my senses had heightened

The air smelled sharper, sweeter, like rain and ash, like something old and powerful waking up

And then I caught it

That scent

The scent of a bond forming

It clung to my skin, and to the sheets, and deep in my body, new life formed.