The courtyard had never been this silent.
Hundreds of wolves stood frozen beneath the blazing moon, caught between instinct and disbelief. Torches flickered wildly as the air trembled with raw, uncontrolled power.
Mine.
I stood at the center of the stone path, bare feet pressed against cold ground that vibrated faintly beneath me. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure the entire pack could hear it.
Across from me stood Alpha King Kael Draven.
For the first time since I'd known of him, he looked uncertain.
Not afraid.
Not weak.
But shaken.
His dominance rolled outward in heavy waves, instinctive and automatic, trying to assert control over a situation spiraling beyond expectation. Wolves nearest him bowed under the pressure, knees bending, spines curving in submission.
I felt it hit me.
And stop.
Not because I resisted.
But because it recognized me.
The realization sent a shudder through my body.
Around us, murmurs began to rise.
"She didn't bow…"
"Did you feel that?"
"That wasn't omega"
"Silence!"
Kael's command cracked through the air, sharp and absolute. The murmurs died instantly, but tension coiled tighter instead of easing.
His eyes never left mine.
Slowly, deliberately, he stepped forward.
Each footstep carried authority, his presence forcing the ground to respond, his aura sharpening into a blade meant to cut down defiance.
"Don't move," he ordered.
My wolf stirred restlessly, pressing close to the surface.
He doesn't own you.
I swallowed hard and forced my hands to unclench.
"I wasn't planning to," I said.
My voice carried farther than it should have.
Stronger.
Kael stopped a few paces away, studying me like a puzzle that had just rewritten its own rules.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
"I ran," I replied honestly. "They tried to contain me."
"That wasn't what I asked."
His eyes flicked briefly to the cracked stone behind me, the shattered runes, the unconscious guards scattered across the courtyard's edge.
"That kind of power doesn't belong to an omega."
The word snapped like an insult.
Something inside me bristled.
"I never said I was one."
A sharp intake of breath rippled through the crowd.
Kael's jaw tightened.
"You were registered as omega at birth," he said coldly. "Tested. Marked."
"Yes," I said quietly. "Sealed."
The word echoed.
Elder Thorne emerged slowly from the shadows at the edge of the courtyard, supported by two guards. Blood streaked the side of his temple, but his gaze was steady resigned.
"You told him," Kael said without looking away from me.
Elder Thorne bowed his head. "I helped create the lie."
The courtyard erupted.
"What?"
"A female Alpha?"
"That's impossible!"
"They were all executed"
Kael lifted a hand.
Absolute silence fell again.
"Explain," he ordered.
Elder Thorne's shoulders sagged. "Decades ago, before your reign, before your father's… female Alphas still appeared. Rare. Powerful. Uncontrollable."
Uncontrollable.
The word burned.
"They challenged the hierarchy," the elder continued. "They didn't submit. They didn't kneel. Packs fractured. Wars erupted."
Kael's gaze flicked to me again, sharp and searching.
"So you erased them."
"We sealed them," Elder Thorne corrected softly. "Those we could. Those we couldn't… were killed."
A cold hush swept through the pack.
My stomach twisted painfully.
"My mother," I whispered.
Elder Thorne closed his eyes. "She begged us to spare you."
I clenched my fists, heat roaring through my veins again, threatening to spill.
Kael turned fully toward me now.
"Is it true?" he asked, voice low. "Are you"
The word stuck.
Female Alpha.
I exhaled slowly.
"I don't know what I am," I said. "I only know what I was forced to be."
Silence stretched.
Then
A wolf at the edge of the crowd dropped to one knee.
Then another.
Then three more.
Confusion rippled as bodies bent not toward Kael, but toward me.
"No," I breathed. "Don't"
Kael spun, aura flaring violently.
"Get up!" he roared.
Some did.
Some couldn't.
The pressure in the air warped, dominance colliding with dominance, ancient power grinding against raw authority.
My knees buckled slightly as the conflicting forces tore through me.
Kael's gaze snapped back to mine.
"Stop this," he ordered. "You don't know what you're doing."
"I didn't ask for this!" I snapped back, pain and fury bleeding through my voice. "You rejected me. You broke the seal. You don't get to command me now."
The words hung heavy between us.
His eyes darkened.
"I am your Alpha King."
Something inside me rose to meet him.
"And you are not mine."
The impact was immediate.
The ground cracked.
A shockwave rippled outward, knocking wolves off their feet. Torches extinguished. Windows shattered.
Kael staggered back a step.
One step.
Gasps tore through the courtyard.
He caught himself instantly, fury flashing across his face but the damage was done.
They had seen it.
The Alpha King had been pushed back.
By a rejected omega.
No.
By something else entirely.
Kael straightened slowly, eyes blazing silver.
"Enough," he growled. "You will come with me. Now."
"No," I said.
The refusal came easily.
Naturally.
Kael stared at me, disbelief flickering beneath his anger.
"You don't understand," he said tightly. "If the council confirms this, they will hunt you. Every pack will."
"I know," I replied. "They already tried."
"You won't survive alone."
I met his gaze, unflinching.
"Then stop trying to cage me."
For a moment, something unreadable passed through his eyes.
Regret?
Doubt?
Then the mate bond surged violently, dragging a sharp breath from both of us.
Pain lanced through my chest.
Kael hissed, clutching his sternum.
"You still feel it," I whispered.
He said nothing.
"You rejected me," I continued, voice trembling despite my resolve. "But the bond didn't disappear. It changed."
His wolf snarled audibly beneath his skin.
"Don't test me," he warned.
I stepped closer.
The crowd held its breath.
"I'm not testing you," I said softly. "I'm warning you."
Gold flared fully in my eyes.
The seal screamed, fractures spreading rapidly now, magic burning away under the strain of truth and exposure.
"I won't kneel," I said. "Not to you. Not to the council. Not to a system that fears me because I was born wrong."
Kael stared at me like he was seeing me for the first time.
Not as an omega.
Not as a mistake.
But as a threat.
And something else.
Something dangerously close to awe.
"You're declaring war," he said quietly.
I shook my head.
"I'm choosing freedom."
A howl split the night.
Not mine.
From beyond the pack borders.
Answering.
Calling.
Every head snapped upward.
Kael's eyes widened slightly.
"You're not the only one," Elder Thorne whispered.
I felt it then faint but unmistakable.
Others.
Hidden.
Sealed.
Waiting.
The moon blazed brighter, flooding the courtyard in silver fire.
I took a step back.
Then another.
Kael moved instinctively, reaching for me.
"Don't," I said.
He stopped.
For the second time that night, the Alpha King obeyed me.
"I won't be your prisoner," I said softly. "But I won't be your enemy either."
Then I turned and ran.
This time, no one tried to stop me.
I disappeared into the trees beyond the courtyard, power humming beneath my skin, destiny burning hot and unstoppable.
Behind me, Kael Draven stood unmoving, chest tight, wolf howling in fury and longing.
Because the truth had finally settled in
He hadn't rejected a weak omega.
He had rejected an Alpha.
And the world had just begun to shift.