"Stop crying, Skylar. You are ruining your makeup."
My mother didn't look at my face. She didn't see the silent plea in my eyes or the way my lower lip trembled. Her gaze was fixed on the lace of my body, her fingers obsessively smoothing a wrinkle that didn't exist.
I turned to the mirror, but the girl staring back was a stranger. She was draped in heavy white silk and suffocating pearls that felt like cold, smooth stones weighted against my skin. My father, Herbert, the Alpha of the Crescent Pack, had finally found a use for his "useless" Omega daughter. I was the collateral. The peace treaty. The lamb being led to the wolf to stop a war we were losing. And why was the great Alpha accepting me? Because an ancient tomb, that shit binds us together. The shadow tomb.
"I can't do this," I whispered, my voice cracking like thin ice. "Mother, please. They say Alec has no soul. They say he's a monster."
My mother's hand snapped out, gripping my chin. "It doesn't matter what he is. He is the Alpha of the Black-Stone Pack. He is the power we need. And the shadow tomb. No one can go against it. If you marry him, you will stand tall, you will be his Luna, and you will not embarrass this family."
The door swung open, hitting the wall with a sharp thud.
My brother, Leo, leaned against the frame, a cruel, jagged smirk playing on his lips. He'd spent my entire life reminding me that Omegas were at the bottom of the food chain. Today was his masterpiece.
"Time's up, little bird," Leo drawled, his eyes scanning me with mockery. "The big bad wolf is waiting at the altar. Try not to faint. If he gets bored, he might just decide to eat the rest of us instead."
He grabbed my upper arm, his thumb digging into the soft flesh with unnecessary force. I felt the bruise forming instantly. I wanted to scream, to run, to vanish into the floorboards, but my legs moved like lead.
The heavy oak doors of the cathedral groaned open, revealing a sea of faces. Faces that judged.
My father took my hand. "One mistake, Skylar," he hissed under his breath, "and I'll make sure you regret ever being born."
I looked away from him, fighting my tears. Anywhere. Then, I saw him.
Alpha Alec. The Alpha of Alphas.
He stood at the end of the aisle, a pillar of darkness against the stained-glass light. He was terrifyingly beautiful in a way that made your heart stop for all the wrong reasons. His shoulders were broad enough to carry the weight of his entire brutal pack, and his black suit fit him like a second skin.
When he turned, our eyes met. His weren't the eyes of a groom. They were the color of a midnight forest, cold, predatory, and utterly void of warmth.
I stood beside him, feeling like a doll next to a mountain. He didn't even acknowledge my presence. He kept his gaze fixed on the priest, his jaw set in a hard, merciless line.
"We begin," the priest intoned, his voice echoing in the hollow silence.
The ceremony was a blur of ancient words that felt like a death sentence. When it was Alec's turn to speak, his voice rolled through the room like distant thunder,
"I, Alec of Black-Stone, take this female as my property," he declared. He didn't promise to cherish me. He promised to own me. "I claim her blood, her breath, and her debt. She belongs to the Black-Stone now. Her life is mine to use as I see fit."
My turn came. I couldn't breathe. I looked at the floor, my voice barely a thread. "I... I, Skylar... accept the bond."
The priest produced a silver ceremonial blade. The tradition of our kind. Alec didn't wait. He snatched my wrist, his touch searing my skin. With a flick of the blade, he sliced a jagged line across my palm. I gasped at the sharp sting, but he didn't flinch as he cut his own hand.
When he pressed our palms together, the world tilted. A violent, electrical shock slammed into my chest, a spiritual chain snapping shut around my soul. The Blood Bond. I could feel his darkness leaking into me. His power, his rage, his absolute lack of mercy. I felt sick. I was no longer Skylar. I was his. His Luna.
"The bond is sealed," the priest announced. "You may seal it with a kiss."
The crowd erupted into polite, hollow applause. I looked up at Alec, searching for even a glimmer of humanity. A secret soft spot? A moment of pity?
Nope. His lip curled in pure disgust. He leaned down, his massive frame blotting out the light from the stained glass. I felt the heat radiating from his skin, the scent of woodsmoke and rain clinging to his expensive suit. I tilted my head back, my eyes fluttering shut, my lips parting just a fraction.
But his lips never touched mine.
He stopped an inch from my mouth, letting the silence stretch until the humiliation tasted like bile in my throat. I opened my eyes, finding his cold, dark, and utterly bored.
"So bold of you to offer a mouth I have no interest in using, Skylar." He muttered.
He pulled back, his eyes dead as he looked out at the guests. He didn't touch me again.
"Cut the crap." His announced. "I have more important matters to attend to than a party."
My skin burned under the weight of a hundred judgmental eyes. I had prepared for a monster, but I hadn't prepared to be invisible.
"Oh," the priest stammered, his eyes darting between us in the heavy quiet. "Right. Well. We shall conclude the rites without... the customary seal. Proceed."
The blood rushed to my ears, hot and loud. Humiliation, sharp and acidic, clawed at my chest. Alec didn't care. He was already stepping away from the altar, his dark coat swirling behind him like a shadow.
Does he hate me? The question tolled in my mind. Or was I simply so beneath him that even a fake kiss was too high a price to pay?
"Move," Alec's voice sliced through the murmurs. He didn't look back. He simply expected me to follow, like a shadow tethered to his heels.
I forced my feet to move, the heavy rustle of my silk dress sounding like a mockery in the silent church. I had to hurry to keep pace with his predatory stride. He didn't slow down. He didn't offer an arm. He treated the walk to the carriage like a march to a battlefield he had already won.
By the time the car pulled up to the Black-Stone estate, the sun had bled out of the sky, leaving the world in bruised shades of purple. The manor was a sprawling gothic nightmare of jagged stone, looming over the forest like a hungry beast.
Alec climbed out the second the car stopped, leaving me to struggle with the heavy skirts of my gown alone. I stepped out into the cold night air, following him up the grand stone steps. The moment the massive oak doors swung open, I was met with a sudden, unexpected wall of golden light.
"Welcome, my dear!"
A woman with silver hair and eyes the color of a winter sky stepped forward. Before I could pull back, she wrapped me in a hug that smelled of lavender. "I'm Bellina, Alec's mother. We have waited a long time to have a daughter in this house."
I blinked, my defense mechanisms faltering. My own mother had never held me with such fierce, unearned protectiveness. "Thank you... Luna," I managed to whisper.
"None of that. You call me Mom," she insisted, cupping my face. Her thumb brushed away a stray tear I hadn't realized I'd shed.
"Skylar! My sister-in-law!" A girl with fiery hair and Alec's piercing eyes practically tackled me next. "I'm Aveline. Ignore my brother; he was raised by wolves, literally."
A young man behind her pulled her back by her hood, offering me a polite, sympathetic smile. "I'm Dmitri. Alec's best friend. Welcome to the madhouse, Skylar."
For a heartbeat, the ice around my heart cracked. They were warm. They were human. Maybe the monster was just an outlier.
"Enough."
Alec's voice cut as he stood at the edge of the circle. He looked at his mother, his expression softening by a fraction. "She's had a long journey," Alec said, though his eyes remained on me, cold. "She needs to relax."
Oh… so caring.
"Of course," Bellina agreed, beaming. "Take her up, Alec. Show her our home."
He gave a curt nod and gestured toward the grand staircase. "Come."
I followed.
He moved through the house as if he hated every inch of the luxury. "First floor is common area. Kitchen to the right. Training grounds are at the back," He spat. We climbed to the second floor. "Pack members live here. Do not enter the west wing without my permission. You won't like the consequences."
We reached the third floor. The air felt thinner here, colder.
"The North wing is our living space," he said. "The East wing is my office. It is entirely off-limits to you. No exceptions. Do you understand?"
I stopped walking. My legs were heavy from the weight of the dress. Frustration was bubbling in my chest. A small spark of anger flickered through my exhaustion.
"I understand," I whispered, almost muttering to myself. "Everything is off-limits. The west wing, the east wing, your heart, your respect. I just need to be a ghost."
I didn't mean for it to sound like a challenge. It was just the truth leaking out of my broken heart.
Alec stopped. He turned slowly. I froze, my breath hitching in my chest. I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have spoken at all. I waited for the blow, or the shout, or the grip on my throat.
But Alec just looked down at me with a gaze so hollow it was worse than anger. It was total indifference.
"Precisely," He said calmly. "But I'be careful, Skylar. A tongue that wags too much tends to get cut." He uttered before he pushed open the double doors to the master suite.
It was a massive, cold room in shades of midnight blue. A large four-poster bed sat in the center, looking less like a place of sleep and more like a stage for my further humiliation.
I followed him in, my head bowed. Alec didn't look at me as he began to unbutton his coat.
The white shirt beneath strained against the hard muscles of his shoulders as he tossed the coat onto a chair.
"The reason I hurried the ceremony," Alec said, walking toward a heavy mahogany desk. "is because I have something to give you."
"What is it?" I asked, my heart sinking into my stomach.
He pulled a single piece of paper from a drawer and turned, holding it out.
"A contract," he said. "The terms of your existence in this house."