Chapter 2

Pain.

It had been two days since the Moon Festival, two days since Alpha Killian Thorne—the mate the Moon Goddess had chosen for her—had rejected her in front of the entire Silvercrest Pack.

Two days since he had shattered her soul and left her to rot in the shadows where she had always belonged.

Aria had thought the physical pain would fade with time, but she had been wrong. The mate bond was sacred, and when it was severed—when a rejection was spoken—the agony didn’t just vanish. It lingered like a cruel sickness, clawing at her from the inside, leaving her weak, empty, and aching in ways she had never known before.

Her body had healed from the shock of the rejection, but her heart… that was a wound that might never close.

She curled up on the thin mattress in the tiny servant’s quarters she had called home since childhood. The room was barely bigger than a closet, with cracked stone walls and a single wooden door that creaked with every gust of wind. It was cold. Dark. Suffocating.

She had always known her place in the Silvercrest Pack—at the bottom, beneath everyone else, an omega with no family and no future. But she had never expected to feel this empty.

She had thought that maybe, just maybe, the Moon Goddess had a plan for her. That maybe she wasn’t destined to live her life scrubbing floors and serving those who looked at her like she was nothing.

But fate was cruel.

A sharp knock at the door made her jolt upright, her breath catching in her throat. She barely had time to sit up before the door swung open, revealing a figure she had come to dread.

Lena.

The pack’s head servant, a bitter old omega who had made it her life’s mission to remind Aria of her worthlessness.

Lena sneered down at her, arms crossed over her chest. “Finally awake, are you? Thought you could hide in here forever?”

Aria swallowed, her throat dry. “I—I wasn’t hiding.”

Lena scoffed. “Sure you weren’t. Get up. You’ve wasted enough time feeling sorry for yourself. The Alpha has ordered you back to work.”

Her stomach twisted painfully at the mention of Killian, but she forced herself to keep her face blank. “I… I don’t feel well.”

Lena’s lip curled. “You think that matters? You belong to this pack, girl. And that means you work, whether you like it or not.”

Aria clenched her fists in her lap, nails digging into her palms. She wanted to fight back, to scream, to tell Lena that she didn’t belong anywhere, but what was the point? She had no one to defend her. No one to care if she disappeared.

So she swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to stand, her legs shaky beneath her. “What do you need me to do?”

Lena’s grin was nothing short of wicked. “The Beta’s daughter is requesting your presence.”

Aria’s blood turned to ice.

Celeste.

The woman who had stolen Killian from her.

Aria had spent years avoiding her, keeping to the shadows whenever she passed, knowing that Celeste saw her as nothing more than a speck of dirt beneath her designer heels.

And now she was calling for her?

Dread pooled in Aria’s stomach, but she knew there was no refusing an order. So she nodded, forcing her feet to move as she followed Lena out of the room, down the dimly lit corridors of the packhouse.

She could feel the stares as she passed. The whispers.

“The rejected mate…”

“She actually thought she was meant for the Alpha…”

“She should have left after the rejection. What’s she still doing here?”

Their words were knives, slicing through her resolve with every step.

She kept her head down, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other until she reached Celeste’s quarters on the top floor of the packhouse.

Lena knocked once before opening the door, ushering Aria inside with a smirk. “Try not to embarrass yourself.”

And then she was gone, leaving Aria standing in the doorway of the lavish room.

Celeste sat on a chaise lounge near the balcony, a silk robe draped over her shoulders, her long dark hair cascading down her back. She was beautiful—perfect, even. The kind of woman Killian deserved.

Not Aria.

Celeste barely looked up as Aria stepped forward. “Took you long enough.”

Aria swallowed, keeping her voice steady. “You called for me?”

Celeste finally turned to face her, and the smirk on her lips sent a shiver down Aria’s spine. “Yes. I wanted to see you for myself.”

Aria frowned. “See me?”

Celeste rose to her feet, stepping closer until she was just inches away, tilting her head as if she were inspecting a specimen beneath a microscope.

“I wanted to see what kind of girl actually thought she was worthy of Killian.”

Aria flinched, but Celeste only smiled.

“Tell me,” Celeste mused, circling her like a predator. “Did you really believe you were meant to be his mate? That you—a worthless omega—could ever stand beside him?”

Aria’s jaw clenched, but she refused to let Celeste see her break.

Celeste sighed dramatically. “The poor little rejected mate. How pathetic.”

Aria swallowed hard. “Is that why you called me here? To humiliate me?”

Celeste chuckled. “No, dear. I called you here because I want you gone.”

Aria’s breath caught in her throat.

Celeste’s eyes gleamed with something dangerous. “Killian may have rejected you, but that bond still lingers. And I won’t have him distracted by a broken little girl who doesn’t know her place.”

Aria’s hands trembled at her sides. “I have nowhere to go.”

Celeste’s smile was razor-sharp. “That’s not my problem. If you don’t leave willingly, I’ll make sure you do.”

Aria felt the weight of those words settle over her like a noose. She had always been at the mercy of the Silvercrest Pack, but now… now she was nothing more than an inconvenience.

She should have left after the rejection.

She should have run when she had the chance.

But now, it was too late.

And she had nowhere left to turn.