Chapter 3: Ceremony of Betrayal

Ivy’s POV

The morning after Kael forced himself on me, I woke up alone, like I always did. For a moment I thought he had finally accepted me but to my shock he asked me out of his room after taking my virginity.

The sheets were cold and the space beside me empty. I had once again woken up in the damp room assigned to me.

For a moment, I lay still, my body aching, my mind numb. The memory of last night clawed its way to the surface, the weight of him pressing me down, the cruel way he had taken me, not out of love, not even out of lust, but because he could and wanted to.

Because I was bound to him. I was his to take when ever he wished. A price for peace between our packs.

My fingers trailed over my skin, the bruises forming in places his grip had been too tight. My lips burned, not from the kind of kisses I once dreamed of, but from the harsh press of his mouth, stealing rather than giving.

I had never felt so small.

And yet, through all of it, one fragile hope remained.

Tonight was the Mating Ceremony.

The night he was supposed to claim me before the entire pack. He had already made me his Luna, binding by the contract that bound us, but he had yet to mark me.

Maybe last night had meant something. Maybe, just maybe, when he stood before the pack tonight, he would finally accept me.

Maybe I wasn’t as disposable as I feared.

I held onto that thought as I prepared for the ceremony, draped in a flowing white gown that did nothing to shield me from the cold stares I knew I would face.

The ceremonial hall was magnificent, towering columns bathed in golden light, its vastness filled with the murmurs of the pack. Wolves gathered in clusters, their eyes flicking toward me as I stepped inside. Their whispers slithered through the air like poison.

"She doesn’t deserve to stand beside him."

"An Omega as Luna of Blackwood? It’s so pathetic."

"He’s definitely going to reject her. Just watch."

I clenched my fists, forcing my chin up as I walked forward, searching for him.

Kael stood at the altar, dressed in his black ceremonial robes, his silver eyes unreadable.

He was beautiful in the cruelest way, his presence dark and commanding, a storm barely contained beneath his skin.

I tried to find something, anything, in his expression. A flicker of recognition. A shred of warmth.

There was none.

But I knew him.

I knew the way his fingers curled into fists when he was restless. I knew the way his jaw tightened when he was suppressing something.

He was nervous.

That had to mean something, didn’t it?

I reached him, my heart hammering against my ribs. He didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge me. The Elder’s voice rang out, steady and powerful.

"You may now mark your mate."

I turned to him, my breath catching as I bared my neck.

This was it.

The moment I had been waiting for. The moment I had longed for.

He had used me last night. But if he marked me tonight, if he made it real, then maybe it hadn’t all been for nothing.

Seconds stretched into eternity.

And then… footsteps.

Sharp. Confident. A sound I knew all too well.

Selena.

A woman who was everything I could never be.. strong, powerful, wanted.

I didn’t have to turn to know she was smiling.

Kael moved then. But not toward me.

Toward her.

My stomach dropped as his hand found her waist, pulling her close, his touch far gentler than it had ever been with me. My breath hitched, horror slamming into me with the force of a thousand blades.

"No," I whispered.

And then, before the entire pack.. before me... he sank his teeth into her neck.

Pain.

Raw. Unbearable. Soul-crushing.

I felt it the moment the bond between us was severed before it had ever truly formed.

My knees nearly buckled. The whispers of the pack turned into a roar, gasps of shock mixing with cruel laughter.

"Poor thing. Did she really think he’d pick her?"

"She really thought she could upgrade from an Omega to a Luna? What a joke."

"Selena was always meant to be his mate."

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

Kael pulled away from Selena, blood staining his lips. His mark.. his bond... embedded into her skin, sealing what should have been mine.

When he turned back to me, there was no guilt. No hesitation.

Nothing.

"All you are to me is a Contracted Luna, a symbol of Peace that is all you are meant to be," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. "You will never be my mate nor my equal."

The words shattered something inside me.

I should have begged. I should have screamed.

But I did none of those things as the pain in my heart was piling up and all I wanted to do was disappear.

Instead, I straightened my spine, forcing my trembling lips into a small, defiant smile.

"I understand, Alpha."

Selena smirked, stepping closer, her fingers brushing over her fresh mark. "At least she finally knows her place now."

The pack laughed.

I bowed at Kael and turned on my heels without hesitation.

The doors slammed shut behind me, but I didn’t stop. I kept walking, through the corridors, through the cold night air, until I was alone beneath the moon’s silver glow.

Only then did my knees hit the ground.

Only then did I let the tears fall.

Kael had taken everything from me... my dignity, my pride, my foolish hope.

And yet…

I couldn't bring myself to stop loving him, how silly could I have been.