Chapter Two

Tanya's POV

"He is going to change his mind, right?" I asked, my voice cracking as the coarse sponge scraped harshly over my collarbone.

The head maid, Adriana didn't stop scrubbing. She kept her eyes focused on the soapy water, but I could see her hands trembling slightly against my skin.

"Oh, dear..."

 "May the goddess be with you."

"Adriana, please tell me he can't actually do this," I pleaded, grabbing her wet wrist. "I'm just a servant. I don't belong in his bed."

Adriana sighed, gently prying my fingers away. She picked up a wooden bucket of steaming, rose-scented water and poured it slowly over my shoulders.

 "It is the full moon tonight, child. And you know how Lycans can be."

"I don't know anything about Lycans! I don't even remember my own childhood!"

"They are extremely feral," Adriana continued, ignoring my outburst, her voice dropping to a hushed whisper. 

"Furious. Unpredictable. Especially during the claiming process. The beast is closest to the surface tonight. Whatever you do in that room... do not fight him. Yield."

Yield. The word made my stomach churn.

I stared blindly at the mirror as two other omegas rushed in with towels, drying my hair with terrified speed. This was not supposed to happen. I had a plan. I was supposed to leave.

When I turned twenty-one next month, I was going to pack my belongings, ask the council for a formal dismissal, and disappear into the human world. I had paid off my debt to the pack. I survived the rogue attack that wiped my memory three years ago. I survived being dumped into the care of the Delucas family.

"Why does the Alpha even let you breathe our air?"

my stepsister’s vicious voice echoed in my head.  a toxic memory from my first year in this pack.

And earlier at the hallway when I was being dragged by the guards she'd confronted me.

 "You aren't worth the dirt on his shoes. Even if they force you to be his breeder, he will toss you out the second you drop a pup. You're a cursed witch. You brought that rogue attack on your own family, and now you leech off ours. Don't start getting pretty ideas in your sick head."

I never had pretty ideas. I just wanted to be free.

Now, I was trapped in a sheer, white  robe, shaking so hard my teeth rattled against each other.

"It is time," a deep voice announced.

A senior pack guard stood at the doorway of the washroom. 

"Stand up, child," Adriana coaxed gently, handing me a small, embroidered cloak. "Goddess keep you."

I followed the guard down the long corridor of the Alpha’s private wing. Every step felt like walking to the gallows. The guard pushed the doors open and stepped aside.

I walked in.

The heat in the room hit me instantly, smelling of burnt cedar and heavy, suffocating power. Gibeon stood by the  stone fireplace. He had discarded his suit jacket and tie. His crisp white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, his jaw tight, his dark eyes glowing with a faint, terrifying amber ring that confirmed Adriana's warning. The full moon was dragging his Lycan out.

Beside him stood Elec, the pack healer, holding a small iron crucible that glowed red-hot over the open flames.

"Step forward," Elec instructed, his voice strictly professional.

I couldn't move. My feet were glued to the floor.

"I said, step forward, omega," Elec repeated, harsher this time.

Gibeon's eyes snapped to mine. The sheer intensity in his gaze made my breath catch in my throat. "Do as he says. Let's get this over with."

I forced my legs to move, stopping just inches from the healer. 

"This is the breeder’s rite," Elec muttered, dipping a rod into the glowing crucible. 

"It suppresses the mother's inner wolf to prevent the pup from taking on omega traits. It ensures the heir inherits purely Alpha blood. Turn your neck to the left."

"No," I choked out, my survival instinct finally overriding my fear. I took a panicked step back.

 "Please, no."

Gibeon crossed the space between us in a second. His large, scorching hot hand clamped onto the back of my neck, holding me completely still. His broad chest pressed flush against my back, trapping me effortlessly.

"Turn your neck," Gibeon whispered, his lips brushing the shell of my ear, sending a violent, unbidden shiver down my spine. "Or I will hold you down myself."

I turned my head, tears spilling hot and fast down my cheeks.

Elec pressed the searing silver rod against the base of my throat.

The pain was blinding. I screamed, thrashing wildly against Gibeon's hold, but he was a brick wall behind me. 

"The vessel is sealed," Elec chanted quickly, bowing his head as he pulled the silver away. He packed up his tools without another word, refusing to meet my tear-filled eyes, and hurried out.

We were alone.

Gibeon spun me around to face him. His chest was heaving, the fabric of his shirt stretching across his muscles. The amber in his eyes was bleeding into the whites, his Lycan pushing aggressively against his human restraint.

I backed up, stumbling over my own feet until the back of my knees hit the edge of the massive four-poster bed. I fell backward onto the mattress, scrambling to push myself away from him.

"Please," I begged, my voice a pathetic, broken whisper.

 "Gibeon, please."

He stalked toward me, stopping so close his thighs caged my legs. He leaned over me, planting his hands firmly on the mattress on either side of my hips. He didn't grab me.

"How old are you?" he asked suddenly, his voice suddenly low.

"Twenty," I gasped, my hands trembling as I pressed them flat against his solid chest, a futile attempt to keep some distance between us. "I'll be twenty-one next month."

Gibeon stared at my mouth. His eyes darkened, the amber glowing fiercely. He leaned in closer, his nose trailing along my jawline, inhaling my scent deeply. A low, feral growl erupted from his chest, sending a jolt of pure, unwanted electricity straight to my core. The heat radiating from his body was intoxicating, melting away the lingering pain of the silver burn.

"I'm sorry," he murmured against my collarbone, his voice thick with raw need.

My breath hitched. "What?"

"But this is going to hurt a bit."

His hands suddenly gripped my waist, lifting me completely onto the center of the mattress. He pushed my hair over my shoulder, exposing the unburned crook of my neck.

"Gibeon, no!"

His mouth descended on my bare skin, his lips pressing hot and firm against my pulse point for a fraction of a second before his canines descended.

He bit down hard, slicing brutally into the tender flesh of my mating gland.

I screamed, arching off the bed, my fingers digging desperately into his broad shoulders. It felt like liquid fire was being injected directly into my veins. 

He clamped his arms around me, hauling my body flush against his as my blood rushed into his mouth. The pain suddenly shifted, melting into a heavy, pooling heat in my lower stomach. The mating bond. The forced claim. My inner wolf, suppressed and broken for years, suddenly howled to life, clawing at my chest, submitting entirely to the Alpha's intoxicating dominance.

Every nerve in my body lit on fire. 

Gibeon pulled back slowly. His lips were stained with my blood. His eyes were entirely amber now, the beast completely in control of the man.

He stared down at the wounds on my neck, watching them slowly seal under the power of his saliva.

But then, he froze.

The feral lust in his eyes shattered instantly, replaced by shock. He stumbled back a step, touching his blood-stained lips with trembling fingers.

"Your blood," Gibeon choked out, his voice cracking entirely.

"What?" I whimpered, clutching my throbbing neck, still dizzy from the overwhelming rush of the bond.

Gibeon looked at me as if the ground beneath him had just vanished. 

"Who the hell are you?" 

A blinding hot pain suddenly split my skull perfectly in two.

The memories I had lost three years ago returned. 

I gasped, falling back onto the pillows as the first memory slammed violently into my mind. I saw the night of the rogue attack. I saw the fire. I saw the bodies of the people I used to know.

But they weren't rogues who attacked my family that night.

I saw Gibeon's face in the dark, his eyes glowing amber, holding a dripping blade standing right over my father's body.