Lina's POV
Fwoosh!
I stood frozen in the grand ballroom of the Lockwood Estate, champagne dripping from my hair down the front of my midnight blue dress—the one I'd spent half my paycheck on just for tonight.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry," Susanna Laurent said with mock sincerity, her amber wolf eyes glinting with malice.
She paused, her voice dropping to a casual conversational tone—
"After all, you shouldn't even be here in the first place."
The room fell silent for a heartbeat.
Then, laughter rippled through the crowd.
"A packless orphan at the victory celebration? How bold."
"If the Lockwood Pack hadn't taken her in, she'd be dead in some ditch by now."
"She can't seriously think she belongs here, can she?"
The voices layered one over another, washing over me like a toxic tide, drowning me completely.
I said nothing.
Instead, I looked down at the champagne stain spreading across my dress, slowly tightening my fingers into a fist.
My palm stung from where my nails dug in.
But this pain was nothing compared to the ache their words inflicted.
—I should be used to this by now.
From the day I was brought into the Lockwood Pack, these whispers had never stopped.
The orphan whose parents were slaughtered by hunters with silver blades.
The girl without her wolf.
These labels had always defined me, with or without their reminders.
It didn't matter, I still had Jasper. He was the Alpha heir of the Lockwood Pack, and I'd had a crush on him since childhood.Three months ago, he accepted my pursuit, and we began a secret romance.
I could understand his reluctance to make our relationship public—he was my adoptive brother, and we needed to find the right moment to confess to the Alpha and Luna.
I had to be patient, patient until the day I became the pack's Luna. I would savor watching their jaws drop in shock.
But when I saw what Jasper was doing, reality shattered me completely.
His arm wrapped intimately around Sophie Laurent's waist—the heiress to the Stoneheart Pack. As Susanna's cruel laughter echoed around me, Jasper finally looked over.
Our eyes met for a brief moment. He tightened his grip on Sophie and called out coldly, "Lina, you're making a scene. A lady should conduct herself with grace and dignity." His voice carried across the ballroom, commanding and distant. "Perhaps you should go change into something more... appropriate."
Sophie smirked against his shoulder as the crowd murmured their agreement.
The man I loved had just publicly humiliated me while holding another woman.
I couldn't take it anymore.
I needed air. I needed to escape the suffocating environment.
The balcony doors offered escape, and I slipped through them gratefully. The cool night air hit my face like a balm, and I closed my eyes, letting the breeze dry the unshed tears that had gathered there.
After a few moments of blessed solitude, I felt strong enough to return to the party. I wouldn't let them drive me away completely.
I squared my shoulders and turned toward the door, determined to hold my head high despite everything.
That was when I heard them.
"Seriously, Jasper, you've been stringing Lina along for three months now. You can't possibly be thinking of marrying her, can you?"
A male voice I didn't immediately recognize drifted through the partially open door.
I pressed myself against the wall, listening through the crack in the door. My blood turned to ice as I realized they were talking about me.
"Marry her? How could I?" Jasper's voice carried cold disdain. "She's a packless orphan—worthless by any standard. But I'll keep her around as my beloved little sister. She's sexy and pretty enough to be a decent pet."
Each word struck me like a physical blow. I pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle any sound.
"Ha! But have you tasted her yet? I mean, since she's so gorgeous..." The stranger's voice turned crude and leering.
"Enough." Jasper's voice filled with visceral disgust. "I could never soil myself by sleeping with an Omega. The very thought makes me sick to my stomach."
"But you've got to admit, that face, that body... she'd be a real treat to play with in bed," his friend continued with his filthy fantasies, his voice dripping with revolting lust.
I couldn't listen anymore.
Pain crashed over me in waves, yet no tears came. The shock was too complete, too overwhelming for something as simple as crying.
I suddenly remembered days ago, when the crowd was mocking me, Jasper had stood apart, frowning as he said: "Enough. Stop."
I had thought it was protection. I had thought it was love. I had thought it meant I had a chance at being more than what I was born as.
Now I knew—it was nothing more than pity for a pet. Charity for a "little sister."
I slowly closed my eyes. When I opened them again, all emotion had crystallized into something harder, colder.
Enough. This humiliation needed to end.
Without making a sound, I walked back through the ballroom, past the staring eyes and whispering voices. None of it mattered anymore. Let them stare. Let them whisper. Their words could never hurt me again.
Jasper had already cut deep enough.
I left the estate without looking back, my heart filled with regret—not for him, but for the foolish girl I used to be.
---
When I finally made it back to my apartment, my phone buzzed with a notification. With trembling fingers, I opened the message from Sophie Laurent herself—an elegant digital wedding invitation, with a personal note:
"Thought you might want to be the first to know. Jasper and I make our official announcement next month. Know your place and stay away from my mate."
I picked up my phone with shaking hands and typed a simple message to Jasper:
"We're done. Don't contact me again."
Then, with methodical precision that barely contained my breaking heart, I deleted every photo of us together. Every text message. Every reminder that I had been foolish enough to believe someone like him could love someone like me.
I turned off my phone, crawled into bed fully clothed, and finally let myself shatter completely. Sobs wracked my body until my throat was raw and my pillow soaked with tears. The pain was physical, as though someone had carved out my chest and left nothing but an empty, bleeding cavity behind.
Days passed in a blur as I locked myself away from the world.
It wasn't until a persistent pounding threatened to break down my apartment door that I finally dragged myself to answer it.
"Lina! Open this door right now or I swear to the Moon Goddess I'll howl loud enough to get us both evicted!"
Chloe. My best friend.
I unlocked the door, revealing Chloe's worried face. Her eyes widened at my appearance—unwashed hair, swollen eyes, wearing the same clothes I'd had on for days.
"Holy shit, Lina," she whispered, pushing past me. "What happened?"
The kindness in her voice broke through what little composure I had left. Words spilled out between sobs as I told her everything—the conversation I'd overheard, Jasper's cruel words.
"That motherfucker," Chloe growled, pulling me into a fierce hug. "You know what you need? Someone who actually appreciates you."
She pulled back, her expression determined. "I'm going to introduce you to someone. A friend of mine."
---
Later that evening, my phone buzzed with a text from Chloe.
Tomorrow night. 9 PM. Le Bernardin restaurant. He'll be waiting.
Attached was a photo that made my breath catch. A man's silhouette against the dim bar lighting—broad shoulders, defined arms, strong hands wrapped around a whiskey glass. His face was obscured by shadows and the bar's low lighting, but his body... God, his body was pure temptation.
I stared at the image, feeling something stir in me for the first time in days. Not love—I was done with that foolish emotion. But desire? Raw, uncomplicated attraction?
Maybe that was exactly what I needed.
I looked at myself in the mirror—hollow eyes, pale skin. Then I thought of Jasper's disgusted voice: "I could never soil myself by sleeping with an Omega."
Well, maybe it was time to show him exactly what this Omega was capable of.
