CHAPTER ONE

I knelt on the cold kitchen stones with my raw hands buried in dirty water, scrubbing the same spot over and over even though the floor was already clean. The brush scraped against my broken blisters. Every stroke sent a sharp sting up my arms, but I did not stop. Stopping meant being noticed. Being noticed meant another round of words that cut deeper than any claw.

The palace never slept, and neither did the cruelty.

“Faster, omega.” The head cook’s voice cracked across the steam like a whip. “Alpha King Kael will walk through those doors any moment. If he sees this floor looking like a pigsty, it will be your back that pays.”

I bent lower. My silver-white hair slipped from the rough knot at my neck and fell into the filthy water. I did not bother to push it back. What was the point? No one here saw me as anything worth protecting.

The heavy doors swung open. Conversations died. Boots struck the stone in a rhythm that belonged only to one man.

Alpha King Kael Draven entered the kitchen as if it were another throne room. Tall. Black hair. Golden eyes that never warmed. He did not look at the cooks or the Betas. His gaze found me instantly, the way a predator finds the weakest animal in the herd.

“You are still here,” he said. His voice was calm, almost bored. “I thought even a creature as useless as you would have crawled away by now.”

I kept my eyes on the floor. “I was given no permission to leave, Alpha King.”

He stopped directly in front of me. The tips of his polished boots entered my vision. “Look at me when I speak to you.”

I raised my head. The moment our eyes met, the full weight of his Alpha presence slammed into my chest. My lungs refused to fill properly.

Kael’s lip curled. “Still so quick to obey, yet still so worthless. Do you know what the other Alphas call the Crimson Moon now? They laugh and ask if I keep a broken omega as a pet because I am too soft to put her down.”

Selene stood a few steps behind him, elegant in deep red, a small, satisfied smile on her lips. “Perhaps she enjoys the attention, my King. Some omegas only feel alive when they are being reminded of their place.”

Kael did not correct her. He never did.

He crouched slightly, bringing his face closer to mine. The scent of power and cold pine surrounded me. “You were brought here to secure peace. That is the only reason you still breathe inside these walls. Remember that every time you open your eyes. You are not a Luna. You are not even a proper mate. You are a contract. A burden. A living reminder of a deal I already regret.”

Each word landed like a fresh bruise. I felt them settle in the hollow places inside me where hope used to live. My throat tightened, but I refused to let the tears fall. Tears only gave them more to use against me.

“I understand, Alpha King,” I whispered.

“Do you?” He straightened. “Then prove it. Crawl.”

The kitchen went completely silent.

I stared at him, certain I had misheard.

Kael’s golden eyes did not blink. “I said crawl. From here to the far wall and back. Let every wolf in this room see exactly what you are.”

My body moved before my pride could stop it. I placed my raw palms on the wet stone and dragged myself forward on my knees. The floor bit into my skin. Someone laughed under their breath. Another wolf made a soft, disgusted sound. I kept my head down and crawled the full length of the kitchen, turned, and crawled back until I stopped at his boots again.

Kael looked down at me the way a man looks at something already discarded. “Better. Stay on your knees when I am in the room from now on. It suits you.”

He turned and walked away without another glance. Selene lingered just long enough to murmur, “He will never see you as anything more. Stop hoping. It is pathetic.”

Then she followed him out.

I remained on the floor long after their scents faded. My palms burned. My knees throbbed. The worthlessness he had named settled deeper into my bones until it felt like the only true thing left inside me.

Nia appeared at my side minutes later, eyes shining with unshed tears. She helped me stand and pressed a clean cloth into my bleeding hands without a word. We both knew speaking would only make it worse.

That night I lay on the thin pallet in the servants’ quarters and stared at the dark ceiling. Every degrading word Kael had ever spoken replayed in my mind on an endless loop. Contract. Burden. Worthless. Pet. I pressed my face into the rough blanket so no one would hear the quiet, broken sounds I could no longer hold back.

Somewhere above me, in the royal wing, Kael slept without guilt.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember a time when I had believed I might matter to someone.

I could not.

Just before sleep finally dragged me under, a sharp, unfamiliar howl rose from the outer walls of the palace. It was not a Crimson Moon howl. It was deeper. Stronger. And it carried a strange, impossible note of recognition that made the sealed place inside my chest ache for the first time in months.

Someone new had arrived.

And whatever they were, they were already looking for me.