Chapter 1 — The Wrong Bride

Bella's POV

The garment bag was heavy but I was used to heavy.

I carried it carefully across both arms like it was made of glass, making sure the fabric inside didn't crease or drag. The royal pack seamstress had spent six months on this gown. The last thing I needed was to ruin it before it even reached its owner.

Nobody looked at me as I moved through the wedding grounds.

Of course they didn't. I was Bella Cooper. Pack omega. The fat girl who carried other people's beautiful things to them and then disappeared back into the background where she belonged. Years of being invisible had made me good at that... moving through spaces like I didn't exist. Like I was air.

Outside, the Silverpeak Pack grounds had never looked more beautiful. String lights hung between the trees like trapped stars. White flowers decorated every arch and pillar. The air smelled like jasmine and expensive perfume and the kind of joy that belonged to other people.

Tonight, Alpha Zane Ashford was taking his Luna.

The whole pack had been buzzing about it for weeks. Even the elders looked excited, which was saying something because Elder Crest hadn't smiled since the last blood moon. Alpha Zane was powerful, ruthless and the most feared Alpha in the entire region. And Tyla Voss... beautiful, sharp-tongued Tyla... had somehow managed to get herself fated to him.

Or so everyone believed.

I knocked twice on the bridal suite door.

"Enter," came the cold, sweet voice.

I pushed it open with my shoulder and the first thing that hit me was the overwhelming scent of roses and hair product. Tyla stood in the center of the room wrapped in a silk robe, her bridesmaids fluttering around her like moths near a flame. Her hair was already done. Her makeup already perfect. All she needed was the gown.

My gown. Well... the gown I was delivering.

"The alteration is complete, Miss Tyla," I said quietly, holding the garment bag out carefully. "The seamstress adjusted the hem exactly like you requested and..."

"Stop."

She didn't even look at me. She was examining her nails.

"Did they really send YOU?"

Silence fell over the room. Then slowly, like she was doing me a tremendous favor, Tyla turned and looked at me. Really looked. Her eyes traveled from my face down to my arms, across my waist and all the way to my feet and back up again. Slow. Deliberate. The kind of look designed to make a person feel like they were melting into the floor.

Her lips pulled into a smile that had absolutely no warmth in it.

"An abomination," she said softly. "Delivering my wedding gown. How utterly disgusting."

Her bridesmaids erupted instantly. Giggling, nudging each other, one of them pressing a hand to her mouth like the sight of me was genuinely hard to stomach.

"She probably sweated all over it just carrying it here," one said.

"Someone check if the fabric is still clean," said another and they all dissolved into fresh laughter.

I stood still. I had learned a long time ago that flinching only gave them more to work with.

Tyla stepped closer. Her heels clicked slow and deliberate against the marble floor until she stopped right in front of me. Close enough that I could smell her perfume... something sharp and expensive that probably cost more than my entire existence.

She reached out and took the garment bag from my arms without a word of thanks. Handed it off to one of her girls without even looking at it. Then she crossed her arms and tilted her head at me like I was a puzzle she found deeply boring.

"You know what's funny, Bella?" Her voice dropped low enough that only I could hear. "You walked in here with my gown like you were doing something important. Like you mattered." She smiled wider. "You don't. You're just the fat little errand girl they send when nobody else is available."

One of the bridesmaids snorted. "Errand whale, more like."

The room erupted again.

Tyla looked over her shoulder at them and laughed too... that light, effortless laugh of someone who has never had to work for anything in her life. Then she turned back to me and the laughter died in her eyes immediately.

"Now," she said quietly, "fix your face, suck in whatever you can suck in and go serve drinks at my wedding like a good little omega. And Bella?" She leaned in slightly. "Try not to eat the canapés. We don't have enough for the actual guests."

The room absolutely lost it.

I turned and walked out.

The door clicked shut behind me and the laughter chased me all the way down the hall. I didn't stop walking. I didn't let my hands shake until I was completely alone in the corridor.

I pressed my back against the cold stone wall, closed my eyes and breathed slowly.

Just get through tonight.

I picked up a serving tray from the kitchen and made my way to the wedding grounds. The ceremony was already beginning. Guests filled every seat, all of them turned toward the altar where Alpha Zane stood.

He was tall. Broader than he looked from a distance, with dark hair pushed back and sharp eyes that missed nothing. He stood at that altar like he'd been carved from authority itself. Completely certain of what was about to happen.

I moved quietly along the outer edge of the crowd, offering drinks to guests who barely glanced at me. Just the way I liked it.

Elder Crest raised his hands and the crowd fell silent.

"We gather under the eyes of the Moon Goddess," he began, "to witness the sacred bonding of Alpha Zane Ashford to his fated Luna..."

My foot caught the edge of the stone border along the path. The tray tilted and one goblet slipped, hit the ground and shattered with a crack that split the silence wide open.

Every head turned.

I crouched to gather the pieces and that was when the heat tore through my wrist. Violent. Sudden. I grabbed it with my other hand and froze.

A mark was burning itself into my skin. Glowing silver and gold like liquid moonlight writing itself into my flesh, swirling into the shape of a crescent moon wrapped in ancient symbols.

A strangled sound came from the altar.

Alpha Zane was staring at his own wrist. Then his eyes snapped up and found mine across the crowd. The entire wedding went absolutely still.

His voice came out low and dangerous and barely controlled.

"She is NOT my mate!"

Elder Crest looked at the Alpha. Then at me. Then at the matching marks burning on both our wrists like the Moon Goddess was signing her name in fire.

The old man exhaled slowly.

“The Goddess never makes mistakes."