Aria's POV
His hand clamped around my wrist like an iron shackle before I could run.
"Don't. Move." Daemon's voice was barely a whisper, but it carried absolute command.
Around us, the ceremony continued. No one noticed the future Alpha gripping the omega servant with enough force to bruise. No one saw the golden thread connecting us, visible only to mates. No one suspected the Moon Goddess had just destroyed both our lives.
The mate bond burned through my veins like liquid fire. Every cell in my body screamed for me to get closer to him, to touch him, to claim him. My silent wolf—the one that had never existed before tonight—howled with desperate joy inside my mind.
MATE. OURS. FINALLY.
But Daemon's emerald eyes held nothing but cold fury.
"Follow me," he snarled quietly. "Don't speak. Don't look at anyone. Walk three steps behind like the good little omega you are."
Before I could respond, he released my wrist and strode toward the forest edge. His fingers were still intertwined with Celeste's. She laughed at something he said, completely unaware her perfect world was crumbling.
My feet moved without permission, pulled by the bond like a puppet on strings. I hated it. Hated how my body betrayed me, craving someone who looked at me with disgust.
At the tree line, Daemon whispered something in Celeste's ear. She giggled and kissed his cheek before walking back to her friends. The moment she turned away, his smile vanished.
"Move." He jerked his head toward the dark forest.
I should have run. Should have screamed. Should have done anything except follow the wolf who clearly wished I didn't exist.
But the bond pulled me forward, and my traitorous heart hoped maybe—just maybe—everything would be okay once we were alone.
The forest swallowed us whole. Moonlight barely penetrated the thick canopy. I stumbled over roots, trying to keep up with Daemon's furious pace. He didn't slow down. Didn't look back. Just walked deeper and deeper until the ceremony sounds faded to nothing.
Finally, in a small clearing far from pack territory, he stopped.
Then he whirled on me.
"This is impossible." His voice shook with rage. "You're nobody. Nothing. How can you be—" He couldn't even finish the sentence.
"I don't understand either," I whispered. My wrist throbbed where he'd grabbed me. "I never thought—"
"You never thought what? That someone like me could be cursed with someone like you?" He laughed, but it was an ugly sound. "Do you know what you are, Aria? You're wolfless trash. You're the pack joke. You're the omega we keep around because someone has to scrub toilets."
Each word was a knife to my chest, but I forced myself to stand straight. "The Moon Goddess chose—"
"The Moon Goddess made a mistake!" He advanced on me, and I stumbled backward until my spine hit a tree. He slammed his palm against the trunk beside my head, caging me in. "I'm going to be Alpha. I need a strong Luna, not some defective omega who can't even shift."
"Then reject me." The words came out stronger than I felt. "If I'm so terrible, break the bond."
Something flickered in his eyes—surprise? Respect? It vanished quickly. "I can't."
"What?"
"Rejecting a fated mate weakens both wolves permanently." His jaw clenched. "I need my strength to lead this pack. And you..." He leaned closer, his breath hot on my face. "You need this bond more than I do, don't you? Without it, you're less than nothing."
He was right. Horribly, painfully right. The bond was the only thing that made me matter to anyone.
"So here's what's going to happen." Daemon's voice dropped dangerously low. "We keep this secret. You don't tell anyone—not a single soul—that we're mates. You stay in your pathetic little servant role. You scrub floors and serve drinks and disappear like always."
"And you?" I hated how weak my voice sounded.
"I'll choose a proper mate. Celeste, probably. She's beautiful, strong, everything a Luna should be." His eyes raked over me with clear disappointment. "Everything you're not."
The bond twisted painfully in my chest. My wolf whimpered, confused why our mate was saying such cruel things.
"But—" He moved even closer, his lips almost brushing my ear. "—the bond won't let me ignore you completely. My wolf will demand... satisfaction."
I didn't understand until his hand traced down my arm, leaving electricity in its wake.
"I'll come to you sometimes. Late at night, when no one's watching. I'll give my wolf what it needs to stay calm." His fingers tilted my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze. "You'll give me your body. Your silence. Your complete obedience. In return, I won't reject you and doom us both."
Horror and desire warred inside me. This was wrong. Everything about this was wrong.
But his touch felt like heaven and hell combined. The bond sang with approval, drowning out my screaming common sense.
"Do you understand, Aria?" His thumb traced my lower lip. "You're mine in the shadows. But in the daylight, you're nobody."
I should have said no. Should have slapped him. Should have chosen dignity over the scraps he was offering.
Instead, I heard myself whisper, "I understand."
His smile was sharp and victorious. "Good girl."
Then his mouth crashed onto mine, claiming me with a hunger that stole my breath. The mate bond exploded like fireworks, flooding me with pleasure so intense my knees buckled. Daemon caught me, pressing me harder against the tree, kissing me like he was drowning and I was air.
My first kiss. Brutal and perfect and destroying me.
When he finally pulled away, we were both breathing hard. His eyes glowed with his wolf's presence—silver threading through the emerald green.
"Tomorrow, you'll wake up and scrub my floors like always," he said roughly. "And tomorrow night, I'll come to your room and make you mine again."
He stepped back, leaving me cold and shaking.
"Three years," he continued, adjusting his clothes like nothing earth-shattering had just happened. "In three years, I'll be Alpha. Maybe by then, you'll have proven yourself worthy. Maybe I'll claim you publicly. But until then..." He turned to leave. "You're my dirty little secret."
He disappeared into the forest, leaving me alone with the taste of him on my lips and the bond screaming for more.
I slid down the tree trunk, sitting in the dirt, touching my swollen lips with trembling fingers.
What had I just agreed to?
And why did part of me—the desperate, lonely part that had never been chosen for anything—feel grateful?
My wolf stirred inside my mind, whispering words that made my blood run cold:
He'll break us. But we'll let him. Because even broken, we're his.
I wrapped my arms around myself and started the long walk back to my servant quarters.
Behind me, in the direction Daemon had gone, I heard voices. His voice. And Celeste's laugh.
The bond flared with jealous agony as I realized exactly what he was doing.
Kissing her. Holding her. Giving her the public claiming he'd just denied me.
I pressed my fist against my mouth to muffle my sob.
Tomorrow, this nightmare would truly begin.
And I had no one to blame but myself for accepting it.