Daemon's POV
I watched her walk away, broken and trembling, and my wolf tried to tear me apart from the inside.
WHAT DID YOU DO? GO BACK. PROTECT MATE. COMFORT HER.
"Shut up," I growled aloud, slamming my fist into a tree trunk hard enough to crack the bark. Blood dripped from my knuckles, but the pain felt good. Deserved.
My wolf snarled. YOU HURT HER. OUR MATE. WE MADE HER CRY.
"She's not really our mate." I paced the clearing like a caged animal. "The Moon Goddess made a mistake. She has to have. Aria's nobody. Nothing. She can't even shift, for crying out loud!"
But even as I said it, my body burned with the memory of her. The taste of her lips. The way she'd melted against me despite everything cruel I'd said. The bond humming with satisfaction now that I'd claimed her.
Mine. She was mine.
And I absolutely hated it.
I'd spent my whole life preparing to be Alpha. Dad trained me since I could walk. "You're destined for greatness, son. The pack needs strong leadership. Everything you do reflects on our bloodline." The expectations crushed me sometimes, but I'd learned to carry the weight.
I'd also learned what the pack expected in a Luna.
Beautiful. Strong. Good bloodlines. Someone who could stand beside me at ceremonies and make other packs jealous. Someone like Celeste—perfect, powerful Celeste who'd been throwing herself at me since we were teenagers.
Not a broken omega who scrubbed toilets.
MATE IS PERFECT, my wolf insisted. MATE IS OURS. MOON GODDESS DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES.
"Then explain why she gave me someone who'll make me look weak!" I shouted at the empty forest.
But my wolf went quiet, and suddenly I was alone with my thoughts. Alone with the memory of Aria's violet eyes filled with hurt and hope.
Why did she have to look at me like that? Like I was something good? Like I was her salvation instead of her destruction?
I pressed my palms against my temples. Think, Daemon. Think logically.
Rejecting her wasn't an option—that would weaken us both permanently. But claiming her publicly would destroy my reputation. Dad would disown me. The pack would lose respect. Other Alphas would see it as weakness, an invitation to challenge me.
So the arrangement I'd forced on her was the only solution. Keep her secret. Use the bond to satisfy my wolf. Choose Celeste as my public mate once I became Alpha.
It was practical. Smart. The only way to protect everything I'd worked for.
So why did I feel like the worst kind of monster?
BECAUSE YOU ARE, my wolf whispered. YOU HURT THE ONE PERSON WHO WILL EVER LOVE US UNCONDITIONALLY.
"She doesn't love me," I said. "She doesn't even know me. It's just the bond talking."
But I remembered her trembling voice saying "I understand" when I'd laid out my cruel terms. The way she'd kissed me back despite her tears. The defeated slump of her shoulders as she'd agreed to be my secret.
She'd do anything I asked. The bond would make her forgive anything, endure anything, just to be near me.
The power that gave me should have felt good.
Instead, it made me sick.
I forced myself to walk back toward the ceremony. Forced my face into a pleasant mask. Found Celeste immediately—she was laughing with her friends, beautiful and carefree.
"There you are!" She looped her arm through mine possessively. "Where did you disappear to?"
"Just needed air." I smiled, and it felt like my face would crack. "Big night."
"Mmm." She leaned closer, her perfume expensive and cloying. Nothing like Aria's scent—rain and wildflowers and something uniquely her. "Everyone's waiting for your father to announce your chosen mate. They all know it's me."
She said it smugly, confidently. Like it was already decided.
Maybe it was.
I looked across the clearing and found Aria instantly—like my eyes were designed to seek her out. She was carrying a tray of dirty glasses, head down, invisible to everyone.
Except me. I'd never be able to not see her again.
Our eyes met for one brief second. The bond flared between us, golden and unbreakable. Her expression was carefully blank, but I saw the pain underneath.
Then she looked away and disappeared into the packhouse.
"Daemon?" Celeste's voice pulled me back. "You okay? You look distracted."
"I'm fine." I kissed her forehead, and my wolf recoiled in disgust. "Just thinking about the future."
"Our future," she corrected, smiling. Then her expression turned calculating. "Did you see that omega earlier? The one who dropped all those glasses during the ceremony? So clumsy. Someone should punish her for disrupting such an important moment."
My wolf surged forward with protective rage so intense I almost shifted right there.
"Leave her alone," I said, voice coming out harder than intended.
Celeste blinked, surprised. "What? She's just an omega—"
"I said leave her alone." I gentled my tone with effort. "It was an accident. She's already miserable enough."
Celeste studied me with suspicious eyes. "Since when do you care about omegas?"
Since one of them became my fated mate, I thought but didn't say.
"I don't," I lied. "I just don't want drama tonight. Dad's watching everything."
She accepted that, relaxing against me. "You're right. Tonight should be perfect."
But as the ceremony ended and wolves started heading home, all I could think about was Aria alone in her cold servant room. Was she crying? Was she regretting agreeing to my terms?
Was she touching her lips, remembering our kiss the way I couldn't stop remembering it?
Tomorrow, I'd go to her. Tomorrow night, when the packhouse was dark and no one was watching, I'd make my way to her room and claim her properly. The bond wouldn't be satisfied until I did.
And honestly? Neither would I.
I walked Celeste home, kissed her goodnight, and headed to my own room in the packhouse. But I couldn't sleep. The bond pulled at me constantly, showing me exactly where Aria was—three floors below, in the servant quarters.
Finally, at three in the morning, I gave up fighting it.
I slipped out of my room and down the back stairs. The servant quarters were cold and drafty, a far cry from the luxury above. Aria's room was the smallest one, barely bigger than a closet.
I pressed my palm against her door.
Inside, I heard her crying. Soft, broken sobs she was trying to muffle with her pillow.
My wolf whimpered. COMFORT HER. APOLOGIZE. MAKE IT RIGHT.
But I didn't. I couldn't. Instead, I stood there listening to my mate cry herself to sleep because of me, and I did nothing.
When her breathing finally evened out, I whispered against the door, so quietly she couldn't possibly hear: "I'm sorry."
Then I walked away, back to my perfect room, my perfect life, my perfect future that suddenly felt like the biggest lie I'd ever told.
As I climbed into bed, one thought haunted me:
What if, in three years, when I finally became Alpha and had all the power I'd ever wanted—what if by then, there was nothing left of Aria to claim?
What if I destroyed my own mate before I ever had the chance to deserve her?