Marcus's POV
I threw my coffee mug against the kitchen wall and watched it break into a dozen pieces.
The music felt good. It fit the way my heart was breaking.
I'd been awake all night, pacing my cabin like a caged animal. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same thing: Drake sneaking out of Maya's hut at dawn, his hair messy and his shirt wrinkled.
My cousin. My best friend. The man I'd looked up to my whole life.
And the woman I'd been in love with for three years.
"This is a disaster," I muttered, kicking at the broken pieces of my mug.
I should have seen this coming. Should have known Drake would notice Maya soon. She was eighteen now, and her smell had changed. Every wolf in the pack had noticed, but I'd hoped... I'd prayed that Drake would stick to his normal type. The flashy girls who threw themselves at him. The ones who wanted him for his power and money.
Not Maya. Sweet, innocent Maya who deserved so much better than being another notch on Drake's belt.
My phone buzzed. A text from my cousin: "Pack meeting in an hour. Emergency session."
Emergency session? My stomach dropped. Those were only called for important pack business. The kind that changed everything.
I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door, but stopped when I saw movement across the opening. Maya was heading toward the main hall, her head down and her cheeks pink. She looked happy. Glowing.
The sight made me want to hit something else.
"Marcus!" She waved at me, that bright smile that always made my day lighting up her face. "Good morning!"
I forced myself to smile back, even though it felt like eating glass. "Morning, Maya."
She bounced over to me, practically floating on air. "Isn't it a beautiful day?"
"Sure is." I studied her face, looking for signs of what had happened. Her lips were slightly swollen. There was a small mark on her neck that she'd tried to cover with makeup.
Drake had marked her. Not forever, not the way a mate would, but enough to show possession.
"Are you coming to the pack meeting?" Maya asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Yeah." I wanted to warn her. Wanted to tell her that whatever Drake had promised her last night probably wasn't real. But how could I explain that without sounding jealous? Without saying that I'd been watching her cabin? That I'd seen Drake leave?
"I wonder what it's about," Maya said, dropping into step beside me as we walked.
I had a bad feeling I knew exactly what it was about.
The main hall was packed when we arrived. Every adult pack member was there, talking in excited whispers. I spotted Drake at the front, looking serious as he talked with the council elders.
He saw us come in and his eyes went straight to Maya. The look that passed between them made my chest tight. They had that glow that new lovers get, the invisible link that screams to everyone what they'd been doing.
"Find a seat," I told Maya, guiding her toward the back. "I'll be right back."
I needed to talk to Drake before this meeting started. Needed to know what his plan was.
I caught up with him near the stage. "Drake. We need to talk."
"Not now, Marcus. I'm busy."
"It's about Maya."
That got his attention. His silver eyes sharpened. "What about her?"
"You know what about her." I kept my voice low so no one else could hear. "I saw you leaving her cabin this morning."
Drake's jaw tightened. "That's none of your business."
"She's my friend. That makes it my business."
"Since when do you care who I spend time with?"
Since I fell in love with her, I wanted to say. Since I've been thinking about her for years. Since you have everything and I have nothing, and now you're taking the one thing that mattered to me.
But I couldn't say any of that. So instead I said, "She's not like the others, Drake. She's going to get hurt."
"Who says anyone's getting hurt?"
"Come on." I grabbed his arm. "This is me you're talking to. When have you ever kept a girl around for more than a few nights? Maya's not some pack lady who knows the game. She's going to think this means something."
Drake pulled away from me. "Maybe it does mean something."
"Does it? Really?"
For a second, I thought I saw doubt in his eyes. Then his Alpha mask slipped back into place.
"I can handle my own relationships, Marcus. Stay out of it."
He walked away before I could argue, leaving me standing there with my heart in my throat.
The meeting started a few minutes later. Elder Morrison stood up, his face grave.
"Pack members," he began, "we have important news about our Alpha's upcoming wedding."
I felt the blood drain from my face. Wedding? " Due to recent events with the Crescent Moon Pack, Alpha Drake's marriage to Lila Cross has been moved up. The ceremony will take place in three days."
The hall exploded in excited chatter. Three days? Drake was getting married in three days?
I looked across the room at Maya and watched her face collapse. She'd gone white as a sheet, her hands pressed to her stomach like she was going to be sick.
This was worse than I'd thought. Way worse.
Drake was still talking to the elders, his face giving nothing away. How could he stand there so calmly when Maya was falling apart twenty feet away?
I started to move toward her, but she was already pushing through the crowd, running for the exit. I followed, but by the time I got outside, she was gone.
I found her an hour later, sitting by the lake behind her house. She was crying so hard her whole body shook.
"Maya." I sat down beside her, wishing I could hold her. Wishing I could fix this.
"He's getting married," she whispered. "In three days."
"I know." "Last night he... he said..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
"What did he say?"
"That I was special. That he'd never felt anything like this before." She looked at me with red, swollen eyes. "I'm so stupid, Marcus. I actually thought... I thought maybe he loved me."
My heart broke all over again. Not just for my own feelings, but for hers. For the way Drake had used her and thrown her away like garbage.
"You're not stupid," I said firmly. "You're trusting and kind and you deserve better than this."
"Do I?" She laughed bitterly. "I'm just an omega. I cook and clean and try to stay unseen. What did I think would happen?"
"Maya, listen to me." I turned to face her, taking her hands in mine. "You are not just anything. You're smart and funny and brave. Any man would be lucky to have you."
She stared at me for a long moment, something shifting in her face. "Marcus..."
"I know this hurts now," I said quickly, before she could say something that would change everything between us. "But Drake isn't worth your tears. He's not worth your pain."
"Then why does it hurt so much?"
Because love always hurts when it's not returned, I thought. Because wanting someone who doesn't want you back is the worst kind of pain.
"Because you have a good heart," I said instead.
Maya wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Will you walk me home? I don't want to be alone right now."
"Of course."
We walked back to her cabin in silence. At her door, she turned to me.
"Thank you, Marcus. For being such a good friend."
Friend. The word stabbed like a knife, but I nodded. "Always."
She went inside, and I started to walk away. But then I heard voices coming from the direction of the main hall. Angry sounds.
I crept closer and recognized Elder Morrison's voice.
"This has gone too far," he was saying. "The girl is a distraction. She's making the Alpha weak."
"What do you suggest?" another elder asked.
"We handle it before the wedding. Make sure she understands her place."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Then we make the choice for her. The Alpha's marriage is too important to risk over some omega's feelings."
My blood ran cold. They were talking about Maya. About doing something to her.
I had to warn her. Had to protect her.
But as I turned to run back to her house, I saw something that made my heart stop.
Drake was walking toward Maya's door, a determined look on his face.
And behind him, hiding in the shadows, Elder Morrison and two other council members were following.
They weren't just going to threaten Maya.
They were planning to catch her and Drake together.
Which meant they were going to destroy them both.