Aria's POV
My name is Aria. I used to be the daughter of the Silvermoon Pack's Alpha. Now I'm nothing more than an Omega treated like a servant.
The Silvermoon Pack has been gone for seven years. That night still lives in my head—everyone scattering in panic, some falling right in front of me under the enemy's claws. The shock hit me so hard I never managed to shift at eighteen like I should have.
But the Moon Goddess didn't abandon me. I met Damon Gray, the powerful and ridiculously handsome Alpha of the Blackmoon Pack. He saved me, pulled me out of that nightmare, and claimed me as his Luna.
Our packs merged because of us. Everyone praised Damon for being such a compassionate Alpha. They loved him and trusted him completely.
But once they found out I was just an Omega, everything flipped. Elders who once bowed to me stopped looking me in the eye. Friends I grew up with suddenly had nothing to say to me. In their eyes, I wasn't a princess anymore. I was a powerless Omega without a drop of Alpha blood in my veins.
In our world, blood rank rules everything. Alphas lead through natural dominance. Betas hold the pack together. Omegas are born to obey. I understand why they treated me the way they did, but I don't hate my fate. My parents always taught me not to give up on myself. As long as you're alive, there's hope. Even as the lowest servant in the pack. Even as everyone's favorite target.
At least Damon never ignored me.
Whenever he finished his Alpha duties late at night, he'd come home and kiss me, sometimes bringing flowers or the desserts I loved.
I wanted to give him an heir. That was the best thing I could offer him. But he always worried about how weak I was, afraid my body couldn't handle carrying a strong Alpha pup. And he had big ambitions. He wanted our pack to be number one in the alliance, stronger than the Bloodmoon Pack, the pack led by his friend Ronan Thorne.
Damon was a driven Alpha, always aiming higher. I didn't want to hold him back. So I stayed quiet. I never told him how the pack treated me. I told myself the day we finally welcomed an heir would come sooner if I just kept my head down.
"Alright. Before hope shows up, I need to survive this floor first." I muttered the words under my breath, trying to boost my own morale.
I was kneeling on the ground, rubbing my sore lower back.
Three hours of scrubbing and I still wasn't done. The living room of the Alpha's mansion was massive, and Donna had ordered everyone else to stay away, leaving it all to me. The air was stuffy and hot. Sweat dripped down my forehead and my shirt stuck to my back. I felt like I might faint any second, but even that wasn't an excuse to stop. I forced myself to keep going.
I had to finish the last three tiles, then start dinner for the pack. Damon had worked all day for them. He'd be starving when he got home.
I rinsed the cloth in the dirty water, wrung it out, and was reaching for the final tile when a sharp voice exploded right above me.
"Aria!"
A rag hit me square in the face.
A burning sting spread across my cheek as I stumbled to the ground. Donna rushed over and yanked my hair hard enough to make my eyes water.
"You've been at this for hours and the floor still looks disgusting!" she screamed, her nails digging into my scalp. "Do you really think you're a real Luna? You can't even give my son an heir! I don't know why Damon ever marked a useless Omega like you!"
My scalp burned like fire. I bit down hard on my lip and forced myself not to make a sound. If I stayed quiet, it would end sooner.
Damon wasn't here. No one was going to step in for me.
"I wasn't slacking," I muttered, barely above a whisper.
"Not slacking?" Donna let go of my hair and straightened up, glancing behind her.
One of her maids stood nearby, her loyal shadow, the one assigned to watch me every day.
The maid tilted her head, a nasty little smile curling at her mouth.
"She was spacing out in the kitchen this morning. Didn't even touch the rag." Her voice carried deliberately through the whole room. "Clear as day she was slacking."
"That wasn't slacking!" I pushed myself up, anger shaking my voice. "I was eating breakfast. Just two slices of bread. Not even four minutes."
The maid shrugged. "What I saw was you slacking."
"You're lying!" My fists clenched so tight my nails dug into my palms.
"Enough!" Donna snapped. "I'll deal with you later. Right now, take Damon a clean shirt. He's negotiating with another pack's Alpha and doesn't have time to come home. You will bring it to him."
The maid tossed a freshly ironed white shirt into my arms.
I hugged the shirt to my chest and forced my sore legs to carry me out of the manor.
The meeting was being held in a villa at the edge of Blackmoon Pack territory. The place was quiet, almost too quiet. I climbed the stairs to the second floor and searched for Damon's presence.
At the end of the hallway, a door hung half open.
A woman's laughter drifted through the crack.
No way. My heartbeat kicked against my ribs.
I walked over and stopped at the doorway, peeking inside through the narrow gap.
Damon was on the sofa, his broad chest rising and falling as he breathed hard. A female wolf knelt between his legs, her hair spilling over her shoulders as she worked her mouth over him.
Her voice was sticky-sweet and smug, hitting me like a slap. "Damon, that pathetic Omega hasn't let you touch her once in four years. She has no idea you're in my bed every single night."
"She wouldn't dare doubt me." Damon's voice dropped, cold enough to frost the air. "She has nothing. Even her own pack won't acknowledge her blood anymore. Without me, where would she go?"
My stomach twisted so hard I thought I might be sick.
"You're right," the woman giggled, light and airy, like none of it mattered. "Why don't you just dump her? An Omega like her is useless to you."
"Shut up. You're crossing a line." Damon's voice turned sharp and impatient. "You've got my dick in your mouth. Can you maybe focus?"
"Sorry," she whispered, then let out a soft moan. "Alpha, let me take care of you."
My fingers curled so tight my nails sliced into my palm. Warm blood seeped out between my fingers.
I couldn't hold back anymore. I shoved the door open hard enough it slammed against the wall.
And then I saw her face.
Anissa.
My personal maid back when I was still in the Silvermoon Pack. She had nearly been killed by thugs, and I had begged my father to save her. After the pack fell, I even asked Damon to look after her. I used to think she was different from the others.
None of that mattered now.
What mattered was that I couldn't believe Damon. I blinked away the tears burning in my eyes and stared straight at him.
"Aria?!" He shot to his feet and scrambled to pull up his pants. "Why are you here?!"
"More important than that," I said, my voice shaking but firm, "I want to know why. You at least owe me an explanation."
Anissa immediately stepped forward. "Miss, please don't be angry. Alpha is under a lot of stress. He needs release. And besides, when you were rescued that time, your body was already... dirty. He can't possibly feel desire for you."
The words hit like a bullet ripping straight through my chest.
So that was what he told people. That he never touched me because seven years ago, when he saved me, my clothes had been torn.
But that wasn't the truth. Not even close.
I shut my eyes for just a moment. If he had truly loved me, he would have bothered to ask what really happened.
I ignored Anissa completely. My eyes were locked on Damon, this man I had loved for seven years, the one whose mark still burned on my neck.
My father once told me no Alpha would betray their bond. That's why I never doubted Damon.
Turns out that wasn't a rule. Just a matter of character.
The pain of betrayal scorched through me like a hot iron, but I refused to fall apart here.
My mother taught me: when someone betrays you, you don't cling. You walk away first.
And besides, I owed him nothing.
I had scrubbed every inch of this pack's floors and endured every blow they threw at me. I had repaid his so-called kindness a thousand times over.
"I reject you, Damon! I'm breaking the mate bond!" The words tore out of me like a wolf's roar.
He froze, staring at me like a doll had just learned to speak.
Anissa's eyes went wide, then she shrieked, "Aria! You're being dramatic! You should understand. You lost your virginity to some thug, yet Alpha Damon still marked you. You're supposed to accept whatever your Alpha does!"
I looked straight at her, heat rising behind my eyes. "Remember this, Anissa. Traitors never end well."
"No!" Damon snapped back to himself and roared, his Alpha pressure crashing down on me so hard my lungs burned. "Aria! Get a grip!"
I fought to breathe through it. The mark on my neck tore with a sharp, ripping pain and my wolf thrashed like it wanted out of its cage. "Let me go!"
"You need a reality check." His voice dropped to a cold, cutting edge. "Leave me and you're nothing but a stray. I'll make sure no pack takes you in."
I shoved his hand off me. "We'll see about that."
I spun and bolted out the door.
Now I understood why he never pushed me away. He never needed to. An Omega Luna didn't stop him from taking any she-wolf he wanted.
But he seriously underestimated the will of a she-wolf who had watched her entire pack fall and still survived. I wasn't going to bend just because fate tried to crush me.
I couldn't stay in the Blackmoon Pack another second. Damon thought no pack would dare take me in.
But he forgot one thing. His closest friend, Ronan Thorne, Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack and the strongest Alpha in the alliance.
Ronan had wanted me to leave Damon from the moment he first laid eyes on me.
