Chapter 1
Everyone in the pack knew I was destined to be Andrew’s mate. It was fate—our natural bond, the whispers of the elders, the way our wolves gravitated toward each other.
I thought so too.
Until the night before our mating ceremony.
That was the night the rogues attacked.
Amid the chaos—the blood, the snarls, the clash of fangs and claws—Andrew made a choice.
He pushed me aside.
And protected her instead.
Elsa.
Something inside me shattered. I watched as he shielded her with his own body, his wolf curling around her possessively. My mate. My alpha. My fate.
And yet, at that moment, I was nothing to him.
I should have fought for him. I should have waited for an explanation.
But I didn’t.
I let go.
And when I did, Andrew regretted it.
He begged for me to look at him, his eyes full of desperation. But I only tilted my head and whispered—
“Sorry, who are you?”
———
“I don’t want to be your mate, Andrew.”
My voice was steady, even though my heart was barely holding together.
The battlefield around us was still littered with the wounded, the air thick with the scent of blood. No one noticed the way we stood apart from the others—Andrew, still in his wolf form, glaring at me like I was an insolent pup.
“Are you done throwing a tantrum?” His deep voice carried irritation, but I wasn’t fooled. “Let’s go back.”
He barely looked at me. Instead, his focus was entirely on Elsa, who leaned into him as if she belonged there.
Like she was the Luna.
The way he shielded her, his posture protective, the gentle way he touched her arm—it was something I’d never seen before.
Something he had never given me.
I swallowed down the bitter taste rising in my throat and lowered my gaze.
“I’m serious, Andrew.”
But he was already turning away, leading Elsa with him.
They looked perfect together. And me?
I was just a joke.
A warm presence appeared beside me.
“Let me take you back.”
I turned to see Gabriel, my oldest friend. The beta.
His eyes followed mine, locking onto Andrew and Elsa. A sigh left his lips.
“As an omega, you can’t help much here.”
I tried to smile, to thank him. But I couldn’t.
My body hurt.
My heart hurt.
And the scent of blood in the air—thick, metallic, suffocating—made my stomach churn.
Gabriel stiffened. His nose twitched. His gaze flicked to me, sharp and assessing.
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” I lied. “Just a small wound.”
Gabriel’s eyes darkened.
Without another word, his arm slid around my waist, steadying me. “You need to see the doctor.”
“Gabriel, I can—”
He ignored me. Lifted me into his arms like I weighed nothing and carried me straight toward the medics.
The doctor was busy treating another warrior when Gabriel pushed him aside.
“She’s hurt. Take care of her.”
The doctor looked up, eyes narrowing. “An omega? You want me to treat an omega on the battlefield?”
Gabriel growled, low and dangerous.
The doctor raised his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine.”
But the moment Gabriel walked away, his expression twisted with disgust.
“I don’t know what you did to make Gabriel care about you so much.”
A warrior standing beside him scoffed. “First, you use Luna’s name. Now, you’re clinging to the beta? If the old leader was still alive, he’d be ashamed of you.”
My breath caught.
“That’s not what’s happening—”
“Don’t lie! We all saw how you were with him!”
The doctor pressed a swab to my wound, deliberately rough. I winced.
“Let go!” I tried to pull away, but the warrior beside him held me down.
I couldn’t move. I had no choice but to take it.
And then—
A voice.
Cold. Lethal. Familiar.
“What’s going on here?”
The warrior immediately released me, stepping back in panic.
The doctor went pale.
Because standing behind us, radiating pure dominance—
Was Andrew.
