CIAN
To think, just mere moments ago before I lifted the veil to kiss my bride, I felt like the luckiest alpha in the entire world.
The moon goddess had blessed me with an actual, functioning mate bond. It happened so rarely that I'd never actually expected it for myself. She had looked at this arrangement of convenience and politics and decided Hazel and I were compatible enough to tie together.
My mother would be heartened to know I had found a mate, I thought with relief. She only had mere months to live, with the disease eating her away from the inside. There was no cure, no matter how many healers I consulted for her. She was the reason why I was even in Silver Creek Pack to begin with.
Her one wish was to see me married. She wanted to leave the world knowing her son would not be alone, that there would be someone by my side when she was gone. She wanted the comfort of believing there would be pups to carry on the bloodline, a legacy secured before her body gave out. So I went to Silver Creek, the smallest, weakest pack, to make them an offer they couldn't refuse, rushing the wedding preparations and the wedding.
I promised my mother I would bring my bride to her straight after, so she could bless the union with what strength she had left.
But the moment I lifted the veil, my world came crashing down, the very same way it did when I first got the news of my mother's illness.
My bride was Hazel's sister. The bridesmaid I saw earlier.
Meanwhile, Hazel Hughes, the woman I was actually supposed to marry, was standing right in front of me, her face bruised and bleeding as she accused her sister of taking her place.
"She knocked me unconscious," Hazel cried out, touching her bruised face carefully. "When I woke up, I was locked in the storage closet. I've been trying to get out for the past twenty minutes."
I looked at Fia. Her face had gone completely white. She was staring at her sister like she'd never seen her before, her mouth hanging open in shock.
"That's not..." Fia started, but her voice was so weak I barely heard it.
The pieces were falling into place now, painting a picture I didn't want to see. An Omega desperate enough to attack her own sister and steal her place at a wedding. It happened sometimes. Wolves did crazy things when they wanted something badly enough. When they were willing to cross any line to get it.
But looking at Fia's face, seeing the genuine confusion and horror there, I felt doubt rise up within me.
Then I felt it. Her emotions. They were transmitted through the bond.
Not clearly, not like a fated mate bond would be. But enough to sense the broad strokes of what she was feeling.
Terror. Confusion. Betrayal. Desperation.
No triumph. No satisfaction. None of the emotions I'd expect from someone who'd successfully pulled off a deception. Even fear of being caught should still come with an undercurrent of accomplishment. But all I felt from her was bewilderment, like she couldn't understand how she'd gotten here.
Or maybe that was the point.
Maybe this was part of the performance.
You want me to believe that you are innocent, I thought coldly. You want me to hesitate.
She certainly had the audacity to think I would be easily manipulated by her attempts.
Did she think I was a fool?
After all, the evidence was right there in front of me. Hazel, beaten and bruised. Fia, standing at the altar in her sister's place. The mother, shocked and horrified. The explanation that made perfect sense even if something about it felt wrong.
Maybe it was the artificial bond messing with my clarity and common sense. I frowned. I had to get rid of it as soon as possible.
The whole mess had barely started to make sense when Hazel's accusatory finger dropped. Her knees buckled and she collapsed.
"Hazel!" Luna Isobel screamed as she rushed forward, catching Hazel before she hit the ground. "Somebody help me! Hazel!"
The open hall exploded into chaos. Everyone was shouting, moving, demanding answers and calling for blood.
They carried her away, her head lolling, her bruised face slack. Isobel followed, sobbing, and half the hall surged after them.
I stood at the altar with the rope still binding my hand to Fia's. The bond pulsed between us, and through it, I felt everything she was feeling.
Strangely, there was worry for Hazel. I supposed it could be false. Or perhaps she was simply afraid of the consequences if she did accidentally cause her sister's death.
No. This was carefully crafted, I reminded myself coldly. Concern was safer than indifference.
Liar. I growled under my breath, furious at how the chosen mate ceremony had turned into a mockery. My pack was of the same mind, they were shouting loudly, their voices crashing into one another, sharp with outrage and filled with insults.
"Unbind them," one of my pack members yelled. "This is sacrilege."
"It's an attack on Skollrend," another snapped back. "An insult we cannot ignore."
I turned slowly, letting my gaze drag across the open hall.
The Skollrend wolves were already up and bristling, with hands hovering near blades and hilts and their eyes bright with the kind of fury that only needed permission.
Elders leaned toward one another, whispering in tight, urgent clusters.
Across the aisle, the Alpha of Silver Creek looked hollowed out. Like a man watching the ground give way beneath his feet.
"What explanation does your pack offer?" I demanded.
My voice carried farther than I intended. Or maybe the hall was simply waiting for it. The noise died down, leaving a tension so tight it felt like it could cut skin.
The Silver Creek Alpha swallowed hard. "Alpha Cian, we were unaware of any deception. I swear to you, this was not sanctioned."
A laugh tore out of me, short and ugly, with no humor in it at all. "A chosen mate ceremony was violated at the altar," I said, "and you stand there telling me it was unsanctioned. Perhaps Silver Creek should not exist with you at the helm."
"Alpha Cian," he said, his voice shaking. "Please have mercy. I swear to you, we didn't know."
I felt Fia flinch beside me, like a wounded thing bracing for another blow. Colour was drained from her face, and her eyes looked glassy, unfocused, as if she was lost in memory. Her hands shook where they hovered near the binding rope, fingers curled like she expected them to be struck away.
"She is an Omega," someone snarled from the crowd. "And she dared to stand where a Luna should."
Her fear spiked so suddenly it slammed into my chest. The bond lit up with it, and my jaw locked as I fought the urge to lash out at every voice in the room that made her feel that way. But I stopped myself.
This was not entirely me, I told myself. She was somehow pushing this on me. Using the bond to her advantage in a way.
This mess was a disaster of her own making, and I refused to clean up after her. No matter the tug of emotions warring inside my head.
"Silence," I said.
The word dropped into the hall with the weight of my title behind it. The room obeyed, even the elders falling quiet. Fia stiffened beside me, like she'd been bracing for a physical blow.
The bond pulsed again, uneasy, frightened, too aware of every shift in my mood. I needed this blasted bond to be broken. It was clouding my judgment with something flimsy and repulsive. It tried to make me feel things I hadn't really chosen for myself.
Like pity for this deceiver. Like the need to protect her. I refused to be saddled with a manipulative, scheming omega. The moon goddess must have made a mistake.
I would not be moved by borrowed and heightened feelings.
I looked down at her one last time. This woman who had knowingly stood at the altar in her sister's place, made a fool of me, and expected to get away with it.
My anger was no longer blinding. It had sharpened into something colder.
"Elder Moira," My words were frosty. "Break the bond."