1. Flashback

Isabella POV

Stealthily making my way to the kitchen to avoid disturbing the others, I slipped into the bustling, chaotic heat of the room. The other omegas were already scurrying around, preparing breakfast in a frantic rush. And yes...it was a breakfast that I was supposed to have been helping them make.

I offered a quiet greeting to Sloane, but her expression tightened the second her eyes landed on me. I hadn't expected a smile. To be honest, I didn't think anyone in this pack had ever seen her smile.

"Why are you just getting here?" she demanded gruffly. Without waiting for me to speak, she jumped straight to a conclusion. "Let me guess...

you overslept again."

Fun fact: she was completely right. But it wasn't entirely my fault.

Beta Lyra, their precious future beta and my lovely stepsister had kept me on a leash until the early hours of the morning.

She was throwing a mini party with her inner circle and called me back to her room for the most pathetic, humiliating tasks. At one point, I watched her purposefully drop one of her diamond earrings onto the rug, only to demand I find it. The moment I bent over, she and her friends broke into giggles, mocking me right to my face.

"Isabella!" Sloane suddenly yelled my name so loudly that a few of the nearby omegas jumped in fright. All eyes snapped to me.

I had been so trapped in the bitter memories of last night that I hadn't realized she was still talking to me.

"I... I'm sorry, I—" I stammered, a familiar spike of anxiety tight in my chest.

"You are what? Sorry? I don't need your apologies," Sloane snapped, her tone dripping with contempt. "Just move your lazy ass and serve Beta Lyra her breakfast."

Without wasting another second, I grabbed a heavy silver tray from an omega who looked deeply relieved to be stripped of the chore. I turned and hurried upstairs to the high ranking quarters to meet Lyra.

When I reached her door, I knocked quietly and waited. Instead of a verbal answer, a series of muffled, breathless sounds came through the wood. Taking it as permission to enter, I slowly pushed the door open.

My heart didn't just sink, it shattered.

There, tangled on the bed in a passionate, breathless embrace, was Blaine Cross the future Alpha of our pack and Lyra.

Tears instantly welled in my eyes, burning hot and furious. Unable to bear the sight for another second, I spun on my heel to flee.

"What the fuck are you doing here, you lowlife?" Lyra's high pitched voice shrieked from the bed, cutting through the air like a whip.

"Get the heck out!"

I slammed the door shut behind me and ran. I didn't stop until I burst into the sanctuary of the garden, tears streaming freely down my face as I tried to outrun the humiliation.

They did it on purpose, a dark, intrusive voice whispered in my mind.

And the voice was right. I was a hundred percent certain Lyra had orchestrated the entire thing. She wanted me to walk in on them. Step by step, she had systematically stripped away everything that was supposed to be mine first my father's affection, then the pack's respect, and now, Blaine. She wanted me to witness her victory, reveling in the fact that I was entirely powerless to stop her. And as for Blaine? He clearly didn't give a damn about me anymore.

My life was a pathetic mess.

My mother was dead. After her passing, my father, the pack's beta, had been pushed to take another mate...Stella, Lyra's mother, who had lost her own husband in a brutal pack war. Stella played the part of the sweet, comforting stepmother at first, but she slowly and venomously turned my father against me.

My Eighteenth birthday had been the absolute breaking point.

𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬

I could still vividly remember that night. I had been dressed in a flowing, lilac colored gown, my heart hammering against my ribs with a mix of wild excitement and terror. I was finally going to meet my wolf. My father had even thrown a joint transition party for Lyra and me.

When we were summoned to the podium, I walked with my head held high, forcing myself to take slow, elegant steps. From the corner of my eye, I caught Lyra glaring at me, her eyes narrowed in bitter jealousy. It was nothing new, so I didn't let it ruin the moment. This was my night. I genuinely hoped that once I shifted into a strong, capable wolf, it would mend the fracturing bond between my father and me. We had grown so distant ever since he married Stella.

The Alpha stepped forward, his deep voice reciting the ancient ritual words, but I couldn't focus on them. My eyes were locked on Blaine, who was standing in the crowd, smiling up at me.

Then, midnight struck.

The Alpha stopped reciting and gave the ultimate command. "Shift!"

The word resonated through the courtyard, heavy with the undeniable weight of his Alpha aura. I closed my eyes, just like we had been taught, and reached deep inside myself to call forth my wolf.

Nothing happened.

I waited. One minute. Two. Still, absolutely nothing. Beside me, the sickening, brutal sound of cracking bones filled the air as Lyra's transformation began. Panic, cold and sharp, flooded my veins. What on earth is happening? I screamed internally, trying to concentrate, trying to pull on any thread of magic in my blood. Nothing worked.

I had dreamed of this day my entire life. I wanted to make my father proud. I wanted to shift into a powerful, striking wolf, just like my mother had been. I couldn't breathe. What would the pack say? The daughter of the Beta is wolfless.

Overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the failure, my knees gave out, and I collapsed onto the stone floor, sobbing open-mouthed.

Looking up through a blur of tears, I saw Lyra had already completed her shift. She was a beautiful brown wolf with a stunning, glossy coat, her distinctive lavender scent washing over the platform. She looked down at me and let out a loud, ringing howl. It wasn't a celebration; it was pure mockery.

Shame consumed me whole. I turned my eyes toward Blaine, looking for any shred of comfort, but his face was a mask of shock and profound disappointment.

"You can't shift, Isabella," my father said, his voice carrying over the sudden, whispering crowd. The disgust in his eyes was lethal. I had publicly disgraced his bloodline.

"Isabella Brooks, you are hereby demoted to the rank of omega," the Alpha declared. His face was entirely devoid of emotion. This was the man who had raised me, who had always shown me paternal warmth and care and in a single second, all of it vanished.

Lyra shifted back, a blanket immediately draped over her shoulders. A triumphant smirk played on her lips while Stella threw me a look of utter revulsion. When I looked back at Blaine, he just shook his head, taking a step back into the crowd. The message was loud and clear: we were over. Alphas and omegas didn't mix.

Fleeing the pity and disgust of the pack, I ran back to the packhouse, locking myself in my bedroom in the western wing and crying until my throat was raw.

The very next morning, the door was violently thrown open. Stella and Lyra barged in, ripping the blankets off my bed. Before I could even process what was happening, they began grabbing my clothes and throwing them out into the hallway.

"You stay in the omegas' quarters where you belong now," Stella sneered, her voice dripping with venom.

"You are a slave to this pack. You don't get to live in luxury anymore. You are just as weak and pathetic as your mother was."

She was wrong about my mother. My mother was one of the fiercest wolves this pack had ever seen. But she was right about me.

"Didn't you hear her? Move your pathetic ass," Lyra chimed in, grabbing my arm and yanking me out of the bed, shoving me toward the door.

Forced to gather my scattered belongings from the hallway floor under the staring, judgmental eyes of the western wing pack members, I kept my gaze locked strictly on the marble tiles, walking in silence to the dark underbelly of the packhouse.

𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬