Chapter 1

ARIAThe cold stone floor was hurting my knees as I used all my strength to scrub at the bloodstain that had been there for three days. My hands were raw, cracked, and bleeding from the harsh lye soap Luna Clarissa insisted I use. She said it built character. She lied.

“You missed a spot.”

I didn’t look up. I never looked up anymore. I had learned that the hard way when I was newly under her employment as a maid. Looking up meant meeting her eyes, and meeting her eyes meant more punishment for me.

“Yes, Luna.” My voice came out barely audible, exactly the way she had trained me. She believed the notion that omegas should be seen and not heard.

Actually, omegas shouldn’t be seen at all if Clarissa had her way.

Her designer heels clicked loudly as she moved across the marble floors of her private quarters. I could smell her perfume, sharp and expensive, tainted beneath it by something acrid—an emotion she never bothered to hide. Jealousy, maybe. Or fear disguised as cruelty.

“Do you know what tomorrow is, Aria?”

My stomach tightened. Of course I knew. I’d been counting down the days for months, each one bringing me closer to freedom. Or so I’d hoped.

“My eighteenth birthday, Luna.”

“Mmm.” She circled me like a predator, slow and deliberate. “And do you know what that means?”

That I could finally leave this hellhole that had made my life a living nightmare since I was five. That I could request a transfer to another pack. That I might, for the first time in my miserable life, have a choice.

But I didn’t say any of that. I wanted to see tomorrow, and Clarissa had ways of making people disappear long before sunrise.

“No, Luna.”

Her laugh was soft, almost pleasant—far worse than when she shouted.

“It means you’ll finally shift. If you can shift at all. Some omegas are too weak even for that.” She crouched in front of me, her perfectly fixed nails gripping my chin and forcing my face up. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. They were cold. Measuring. “And when you do shift—if you do—you’ll still be exactly what you are now. Nothing. No one. A servant.”

Her thumb pressed harder, as if daring me to contradict her.

“Power doesn’t change what you are,” she continued quietly. “It only reveals it.”

She shoved me away, and I caught myself before falling face-first into the bucket of dirty water.

“Clean this entire room again. Top to bottom. If there’s a single speck of dust when I return, you’ll sleep outside. It’s supposed to snow tonight.”

The door slammed behind her, and I was alone.

I sat back on my heels, my whole body trembling. Not from the cold, though the room was freezing. My body was shaking from anger I’d spent my entire life swallowing. From hopelessness. From the deep-rooted knowledge that Clarissa believed every word she’d said.

And worse—I was afraid she might be right.

I would shift tomorrow, and nothing would change.

I finished cleaning as the sun set, my body moving on autopilot. The other omegas had long since gone to their shared quarters in the basement—warm, at least, with real beds. I’d been relegated to the attic three years ago after I accidentally spilled tea on Clarissa’s dress. The attic was freezing in winter and burning hot in summer. There was no in-between.

I climbed the narrow stairs, my legs trembling from fatigue. The pack house was settling for the night. Laughter drifted from the dining hall where the ranked wolves ate together. I could smell roasted meat and fresh bread. My stomach growled viciously. I’d eaten a piece of stale bread at dawn. Twelve hours ago.

The attic was exactly as cold as I’d expected. I could see my breath in the dim light from the single small window. I wrapped myself in the blanket and curled into a ball on the mattress, trying to preserve what little body heat I had left.

Tomorrow, I would shift and finally meet my wolf.

Tomorrow, everything would change.

Or nothing would change at all.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but my body had other plans.

As midnight approached, something began to stir inside me—something I had never felt before. Heat bloomed under my skin, spreading fast, impossible in the freezing room.

I gasped, sitting up and clutching my shirt. What was happening? It was too early. Shifts happened at dawn on your eighteenth birthday, not before.

But my body didn’t care about rules.

The heat became pain, sharp and tearing through me. My bones cracked and reformed. I bit down on my blanket to muffle my screams. No one could hear me. No one could know. If Clarissa found out I was shifting early, she would twist it into a weapon.

The transformation was agony. I’d heard stories about first shifts—how they hurt, how brutal they were—but nothing could have prepared me for this.

And then, suddenly, I wasn’t alone in my own head.

Hello, Aria.

The voice was feminine and strong, nothing like the timid version of me. My wolf. She was here. She was real.

Who… who are you?

I am you. The part of you you were never allowed to be. The part that is stronger than you think. My name is Eira.

I wanted to laugh at that.Strong? I almost laughed. I was the weakest omega in the pack. Everyone knew it.

Before I could argue, something else happened.

A pull—deep in my chest, sharp and undeniable, like a hook sinking into my ribs and dragging me forward. South. Toward the Alpha’s wing.

No, I begged silently. Please, no.

Mate, my wolf whispered, her certainty absolute. Our mate is here.

The world tilted. I shifted back into human form in a painful rush, landing naked and shaking on my mattress. My thoughts spun wildly, rejecting what my wolf was telling me.

It wasn’t possible.

The mate bond was sacred. Rare. It didn’t make mistakes.

But Alpha Kael was already mated. Already married to Luna Clarissa. Already bound by law, by politics, by a union meant to secure power.

He’s ours, my wolf insisted. She knows it too. That’s why she fears us.

My breath hitched.

Because if I could feel the bond, then he could feel it as well.

And if Alpha Kael felt it—

If Clarissa felt it—

Then my eighteenth birthday wasn’t the beginning of my freedom.

It was the moment I became a threat. What should I do?