The Enigma's Omega Bride.

The girl's cries echoed through the chamber long before the sun had fully risen.

"I said I won't go!"

Her voice cracked, raw with fear, as she stumbled back from her mother's reaching hands. Tears streaked down her cheeks, her entire body trembling like a leaf caught in a storm.

"He's a monster!" she screamed. "Do you want me to die? Do you want me to come back like the others-broken... empty?"

Her father stood rigid near the door, his expression carved from stone. He did not move. Did not comfort. Did not deny.

Because he could not.

Every full moon, a bride was sent to him.

And every full moon... something came back-but never the same girl.

"Lower your voice," her father said coldly. "The guards will hear."

"I don't care!" she shot back. "Let them hear! Let the whole pack hear! I would rather die here than go to that cursed castle!"

Her mother's expression darkened-not with pity, but with irritation.

"Enough of this foolishness," she snapped. "Do you think you are special? Every family has made a sacrifice."

"No," the girl whispered, shaking her head violently. "Not like this... not to him..."

Silence fell.

Heavy.

Suffocating.

Then, slowly-too casually-her mother spoke again.

"...There is another option."

The girl froze.

Her father's eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you suggesting?"

Her mother turned her gaze toward the open doorway... toward the long hallway beyond it.

Toward where he always stayed.

"That omega boy."

The air shifted.

"You mean Elian?" the father asked, frowning.

Her lips curled faintly. "He is of age."

"He is also male," the father replied sharply. "This has never been done before."

"And?" she countered. "Has anything about that thing in the castle ever followed tradition?"

The girl's breathing slowed... hope flickering in her tear-filled eyes.

"Yes..." she whispered. "Yes! Send him instead!"

Her father hesitated.

"Elian Silvermist is the son of a great warrior," he said. "Even if he turned out... like that... we cannot simply throw him-"

"What use is he?" the mother cut in, her tone sharp as a blade. "A male omega. A disgrace to his bloodline. He cannot fight. Cannot lead. Cannot even walk proudly among his own kind without hiding his scent like a coward."

Each word landed like a hammer.

"And if he is so... beautiful," she continued, her voice lowering, "then perhaps even a devil might find use for him."

A knock interrupted the rising tension.

Three firm strikes.

The father turned.

"Enter."

A guard stepped in, bowing his head. "Alpha, the elders have gathered. The meeting has begun."

A pause.

The room seemed to hold its breath.

The father exhaled slowly.

"...I'm coming."

As he walked past his daughter, she grabbed his arm desperately.

"Please," she whispered. "I don't want to go..."

His jaw tightened-but he said nothing.

Behind him, the mother spoke the final words that sealed everything.

"Then pray the omega agrees."

******************************

The council hall of the Silvermist Pack loomed like a cavern of