The Blackwood Pack gathered only when something important was about to happen.
Tonight, it was mating season.
Elara Thorne stood at the edge of the clearing, hands pressed tightly together so no one could see how much they were shaking.
She already knew what tonight would become.
Still, she came.
Leaving would only make things worse.
The moment she stepped into the open, voices started.
Low at first.
Then sharper.
“That’s her…”
“The wolfless omega.”
“She really showed up?”
Elara kept walking.
She didn’t look at them.
Looking always made it worse.
The stone circle in the middle of the clearing was already marked and waiting.
She stopped there.
Alone.
The wind moved through the trees, but even that felt quieter than usual.
Then everything changed.
The crowd went silent.
Not slowly.
Instantly.
Elara felt it before she saw him.
A pressure in the air.
Heavy.
Controlled.
Damon Blackwood stepped forward.
Alpha heir.
Future leader.
Someone everyone else instinctively made space for.
He didn’t look at anyone else.
Only her.
Elara’s breath tightened.
Something in her chest reacted before she understood why.
A pull.
Strong.
Confusing.
Her fingers curled slightly.
No.
That wasn’t possible.
Damon stopped in front of her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Just silence.
Then his eyes flickered.
Very briefly.
Like recognition.
Then it disappeared.
Coldness replaced it.
“I, Damon Blackwood,” he said clearly, loud enough for everyone to hear, “reject Elara Thorne as my mate.”
Silence hit the clearing.
Then noise.
Not shock.
Laughter.
Whispers.
Relief.
Elara didn’t move.
Her brain didn’t process it immediately.
But her body did.
A sharp pain hit her chest.
Like something had snapped inside her.
She stepped back once.
Then again.
“No…” she said quietly. “That’s not right…”
Damon didn’t react.
“I don’t accept defects in my future line.”
That sentence landed harder than the rejection itself.
Around them, people started talking again.
“She’s wolfless anyway.”
“What did she expect?”
“Delusional.”
Elara’s face burned.
Not from anger.
From humiliation.
She looked at Damon again.
Just once.
There had to be something.
Anything.
But there was nothing.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
No conflict.
Just finality.
Something inside her went still.
Not broken.
Just… shut.
She turned away.
No one stopped her.
Not even him.
Behind her, the ceremony continued like she had already been erased from it.
Elara walked out of the circle slowly.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
When she reached the edge of the forest, she finally broke into a run.
Branches scratched her arms as she pushed deeper inside.
She didn’t stop until her lungs burned.
Then she collapsed beside a stream.
For a while, there was only silence.
No voices.
No laughter.
Just water moving over stone.
Elara pressed a hand to her chest.
It still hurt.
But the pain was changing.
It wasn’t sharp anymore.
It was… shifting.
She frowned.
“What is this…”
Heat spread under her skin.
Slow at first.
Then faster.
Her breathing slowed without her meaning it to.
The forest sounded different.
Louder.
Clearer.
Too clear.
She could hear water moving under rocks.
She could hear leaves shifting far away.
Elara lifted her head slightly.
Something was wrong.
A second pulse hit her chest.
Not pain.
Not emotion.
Something else.
And for the first time—
It answered back.
Elara froze.
TBC...
