ARIA

"Aria, you must accept the bond with that cursed Alpha Kael in place of my daughter. This is what you owe the Blackwood pack! You—"

"I will."

My reply made my foster mother, Luna Margaret, gasp in disbelief, hearing my words. Her weathered face went pale as if she was sick as she blinked her eyes repeatedly.

"What did you say?"

I could understand her shock. After all, in our territory, which happened to be the largest werewolf settlement in the Northern Territories—who didn't know how desperately I'd loved Alpha Damon Cross? From the moment I set eyes on him I was a goner. I'd been his devoted omega for years, giving up my future, my pride, everything for a bond that was never meant to be.

Besides this alliance wasn't a new thing for me. I had refused this arrangement countless times before, all because of Damon, hoping that maybe he would take this as my sign of devotion to him, and mate me. Margaret clearly hadn't expected me to actually agree this time—to bond with a stranger who'd been trapped in wolf form for three years after a dark magic curse left him unable to shift back to human.

Calm and emotionally drained of the hell I have been suffering quietly in their hands, I needed an out, so I repeated, "I'll do it."

Once it was clear I was serious, Margaret let out a breath of relief before her voice turned serious and sharp with suspicion again.

"One month from now, the Shadowmere pack will perform the bonding ceremony with their Alpha. They've decided on the date during the blood moon, and it's final. Someone will come to escort you for the ritual. I've already accepted their offering of silver and protection treaties. It's what you owe the Blackwood pack for taking you in as a rogue pup, and there's no changing it now. If you dare go back on your word or cause trouble, I will—"

"I won't," I cut her off coldly, my wolf stirring restlessly beneath my skin.

"The Shadowmere pack is powerful, even if their Alpha is cursed. I trust their offering was generous enough, considering my origin. I came to you as a lone pup from the ruins of the Crimson Moon pack, and you raised me for sixteen years. Now I'll take your daughter's place and bond with their Alpha. That settles my debt to the Blackwood pack. From now on, we owe each other nothing."

With that, I hung up and shifted my phone to silent, to discourage her from calling me back, or anyone else at this point.

Sitting alone in the small cabin Damon had given me that was situated on the edge of his territory, far away from the rest of the dwelling places of his pack members, I couldn't help but reopen the pack news I'd seen earlier.

The announcement was everywhere and not just that, it was also accompanied by photos and videos of Alpha Damon Cross's bonding ceremony with Sera Quinn. This was a trending topic, that was being talked about in all werewolf territories.

In the images that I saw, they stood together under the sacred moon oak, and they were surrounded by their pack members, vowing to share one soul for eternity.

The bond-mark on Sera's neck was present and it seemed to glow in the moonlight. They clearly didn't care who saw it. The entire werewolf community was offering their blessings, to them, happy and celebrating that the two childhood sweethearts had finally completed their destined bond.

Everyone except me.

Because Damon had been my Alpha—the wolf I had loved with every fiber of my being and I had made sure that he knew that through everything that I did, since the moment he walked into my life.

Four years ago, he'd been poisoned with wolfsbane during a rogue attack. His wolf had nearly died, and the proud Cross family had written him off as weak, already looking for a replacement.. And now just that, his so called childhood sweetheart Sera had fled to the human city, claiming she couldn't handle being mated to a damaged Alpha.

Back when I was being tormented by other pack members for being an orphaned rogue and treated less than human, he was the one who had pulled me out of that darkness and saved me. Since that faithful day, my heart had started beating just for him and he was my reason to survive.

I had loved him in secret for so long. On that freezing winter night when the wolfsbane poisoning had driven him to the brink of ending it all, I was the one who had gone out in the freezing winter, found him and I brought him to my cabin.

I did everything I could to heal him, to pull his wolf back from the edge of madness one step at a time, I had been patient, and took his lash outs silently knowing he was hurting and felt like he had lost all purpose in life, but I didn't let that deter me. I researched ancient remedies, traded favors with witch healers, even offered my own life force to strengthen his wolf.

I'd heard about a powerful witch in the Eastern Territories who could purge wolfsbane completely. To afford her services, I sold my blood to vampire contacts, became a message runner through dangerous rogue territories, ending up with three broken ribs and scars that still ached in cold weather.

I suffered endlessly, but finally, two years ago, I gathered enough resources for the cleansing ritual.

It worked. His wolf was stronger than ever. He kissed me that night and promised he would claim me as his mate, that he would never let me suffer alone again, that we would build a pack together.

I had believed that everything we'd been through was finally behind us, and from then on, we would run together under every full moon.

I never expected everything to crumble the moment Sera returned back to the pack, and take everything from me without even doing anything.

Word was that Sera had been attacked by hunters and was dying from silver poisoning. How convenient. Her last wish was to complete the mating bond with Damon before her wolf faded forever.

He couldn't bear to watch his childhood friend suffer, he suddenly developed selective amnesia, forgetting that when he needed her, she didn't give a damn about him, and went further to make sure that the ceremony I had spent six months helping him plan became Sera's.

The ritual dress I had sewn with traditional pack symbols—Sera had been the one who wore it and flaunted it in front of me, while I gritted my teeth silently and watched.

The mating collar Damon had commissioned from the pack's silversmith—Sera wore it around her throat, the silver gleaming against her pale skin.

Through blurred vision as I blinked, feeling hot tears roll down my cheeks, I saw a pendant hanging beside her mating collar.

I recognized it instantly.

It was the only thing left from my birth pack— it was a moonstone pendant that had belonged to my mother.

I had lost it during the night I saved Damon from the wolfsbane madness and I had mourned the loss of it, convincing myself that Damon was more important.

He had once told me he found it and would return it to me on my eighteenth birthday when I officially became an adult in the pack and I waited patiently, like a fool, believing his words.

But now, just because Sera had admired it and wanted it... he gave it to her instead.

Suddenly, I realized there was no point in loving an Alpha like Damon.

I didn't howl for him. Didn't beg him to reconsider our bond or force him to tell me what he bought o my sacrifices all this years. He didn't want to acknowledge me,neither would i.

I simply lit the candle on my small birthday cake and watched it slowly burn down.

The sweet scent of frosting and vanilla turned bitter in the empty cabin—just like my love for Damon, which had died overnight, leaving nothing but cold ash.

It was nearly dawn when Damon finally returned to the cabin.

When he saw me sitting at my small dining table with red-rimmed eyes, clearly having stayed up all night, his jaw clenched tight. Even in the dim light, his Alpha presence was overwhelming but I refused to bow down anymore, I was truly done with him.

"Why haven't you slept?"

I ignored his question and said steadily, "Damon, I'm ending whatever this was between us. And tell Sera to return my mother's pendant as soon as possible."

Damon's eyes flashed gold—his wolf rising to the surface. He immediately understood my reason for this—I must have seen the bonding announcement and was feeling the sting of rejection.

He had never liked jealous omegas, because they were a nuisance to deal with, always clinging and whatnot but he had never once considered completely cutting me out of his life.

So he gentled his voice, his Alpha authority trying to soothe me.

"Don't be upset. I didn't forget your birthday. This is for you."

He opened an elegant black velvet box in front of me.

Inside lay a silver chain with a rare blue moonstone pendant.

It was far more valuable than the simple pendant my mother had left me. But it wasn't what I wanted.

Just like how I no longer wanted him.