Goodbye, Alpha!

The ceremonial fire crackled in the center of the pack grounds, casting dancing shadows across the faces of gathered wolves. Tonight was my eighteenth birthday—the night I would finally discover my wolf's true nature, the night that would determine my place in the Blackwood Pack forever.

I smoothed my simple white dress with trembling hands, acutely aware of how plain it looked compared to the elegant gowns worn by the higher-ranking she-wolves. My parents, both Omegas who worked in the pack kitchens, had saved for months to buy this dress. It wasn't much, but it was mine.

"Aria Winters, step forward," Elder Marcus called, his weathered voice carrying across the silent crowd.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I walked toward the ceremonial circle. Every eye in the pack was on me, and I could feel their judgment like needles against my skin. Whispers followed in my wake—"Just another Omega," "Wonder what weak wolf she'll get," "Poor thing doesn't even know her place yet."

But as I reached the center of the circle, something extraordinary happened. The Moon Goddess's silver light suddenly blazed down from the cloudless sky, enveloping me in a luminous column that made the entire gathering gasp. The light was warm, electric, and it seemed to pulse with an ancient power that made my very bones sing.

Then I felt it—a pull so intense it nearly brought me to my knees. My wolf stirred within me for the first time, not with the gentle awakening I'd expected, but with a fierce, primal recognition that shook me to my core.

Mate.

The word echoed through my mind as my gaze was drawn inexorably across the crowd to a figure standing at the edge of the circle. Alpha Damien Blackwood. His dark hair caught the moonlight, and his powerful frame radiated the kind of authority that made lesser wolves bow their heads instinctively. He was everything I had dreamed of in my most secret fantasies—strong, commanding, devastatingly handsome.

And he was staring at me with an expression of pure horror.

"No," he breathed, the word carrying across the suddenly silent gathering. "This is impossible."

Elder Marcus's eyes widened as understanding dawned. "The Moon Goddess has spoken," he announced, his voice trembling with awe. "Alpha Damien Blackwood and Aria Winters are fated mates."

The crowd erupted in shocked murmurs. I heard fragments of conversation—"An Omega?" "How can this be?" "What about Serena?"

Serena. The beautiful human girl who had captured Damien's heart two years ago. I'd seen them together countless times, the way he looked at her like she was his entire world. The way he held her hand during pack meetings, defying tradition by bringing a human into our sacred spaces.

Damien's face twisted with disgust as he looked at me, and something cold and sharp lodged itself in my chest. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Fated mates were supposed to feel joy, completion, love at first sight. Instead, I saw only revulsion in his