THE CHOOSING

The pack square smelled of smoke and spilt ale, torches burned along the walls and the drums were loud enough to vibrate through the ground beneath my feet. Wolves crowded towards the raised platform , laughter and chanting rising every time the Alpha’s name was shouted. 

I stayed near the outer ring, no  one noticed. They never did.

An omega’s place wasn’t at the centre of celebration unless she was serving it. I carried the wooden tray carefully between my shoulders and elbows, keeping my head lowered. A girl brushed past me without looking and nearly knocked a cup loose. I steadied it automatically. Years of practice. Years of learning how to exist without being seen.

Tonight was the Choosing.

Every unmated she-wolf dressed for it, silk braids, jewellery, confidence, even the betas walked straight as if the future Luna’s favour might fall on them by accident. 

I only wanted to finish work and leave, but the closer I moved to the platform, the harder it became to breathe. At first I thought it was the crowd, then the scent hit me.

Alpha Xander

Everything inside me stopped, the air changed. 

It wasn’t wine or smoke or pinewood. It was something warmer, sharper, alive in a way nothing else had ever been. My fingers tightened around the tray as heat rushed up my spine. My wolf; quiet my entire life; barely more than a presence, surged awake so violently I nearly staggered. 

He had stepped onto the platform, the square fell silent, conversations died instantly, he didn’t need to raise his voice, his presence alone commanded attention. 

Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair falling over his shoulders, there was dried blood along his knuckles like he had come from a fight and hadn’t bothered to clean it.

His gaze swept over the pack, passed me, then stopped, the moment his eyes locked onto mine, the world narrowed, his pupils widened, not out of  curiosity, but recognition.

The bond snapped into place, my foot moved forward before I could realise it, one step forward. The tray tilted, cups struck stone and shattered around my boots, the only thing I could hear was my own pulse; and the pull dragging me towards him.

Mate—The word formed in my chest, but never made it past my throat, my wolf already knew.

On the platform, Xander went completely still.

For one brief second he looked shaken. His hand curled at his side, fingers curling  until the skin split along his palm. I saw the blood bead, bright against his knuckles. He didn’t seem to notice.

His gaze didn’t leave me.

“Xander?” the woman beside him said softly.

Selene. She stood in white, already dressed like a Luna; beautiful, calm, certain. When she followed his stare and found me in the crowd, her expression hardened; in understanding, and  then in calculation. Immediately Selene slipped her hand into his arm possessively

That movement flipped something in me, his jaw tightened, and whatever had been in his eyes vanished behind the mask of an Alpha.  He raised his hand to indicate silence, when he spoke, his voice carried across the stone.

“Tonight,” he announced, “I name Selene as my chosen mate.”

Chosen, not fated.

A murmur spread instantly, not celebration;  unease. Wolves shifted, glancing at one another. They could feel it in the air as clearly as I could.

Xander looked at me again.

For a moment he said nothing. His throat moved as if the words resisted him. Quietly, so softly I almost thought I imagined it, he breathed:

“Nyra…”

Then his expression hardened.

“I, Alpha Xander  of the Moonridge Pack…” His voice was louder now, formal and unbreakable. “…reject you as my mate.”

The pain hit like something tearing straight through my chest. My knees struck the stone. I couldn’t draw air., I couldn’t think. Around me, whispers turned sharp.

An omega, his  fated mate, was an omega.

Someone laughed. Someone else spat near my hand.

Selene smiled.

He watched, face carved from stone, though his bleeding hand had curled into a fist so tight the scent of iron reached even me.

“Take her away,” he ordered.

Two guards pushed through the crowd and grabbed my arms.

The instant their hands closed around me, the bond convulsed.

A growl ripped across the square.

Not mine.

Alpha Xander  doubled forward as if the same hands had seized him instead.

And suddenly every wolf in the pack understood; the rejection had not broken the bond.