Chapter 1: The Omega

Chapter 1: The Omega

Kora pov 

“I reject you, Kora Rhysand," the pack beta announced with the ghost of a half smile on his face.

My eyes popped from their sockets in crippling shock. But I saw the pain that rippled through him because I felt it too, bone deep. Yet I couldn't understand why he was doing this.

How could this be happening?

Months ago, his wolf discovered me as his mate, even though my wolf was still dormant. The moon goddess tied our fates together and there had been nothing but love and desire between us since then.

I tugged at his calloused hand a few times, afraid that this was not a dream, incapable of doing anything more. It was like my heart was tearing out of my chest. The pain from the severed matebond almost blinded me.

I fell, looking up at him because I wanted to see where it all went wrong. Kai was the only one who stood up for me when my sisters and my father treated me like I didn't exist. 

He told me he loved me and that he'd always be by my side and that he wanted to solidify our bond with a wedding. I had hoped that after tonight, I would leave the Alpha's home and be with my mate forever. 

"How can she accept your rejection if she can't even speak, Beta Kai?" the pack Ancient, who stood next to us as the officiant, growled.

Blood rushed to my cheeks. I heard the laughter and taunts from the crowd gathered to witness our mating. They mocked me, eyes judging everything about me. 

"Get her a pen and paper then," Kai smirked cruelly and pain spread through my chest again.

I glanced at the Alpha's tent in the arena. There was a snarl on my father's face. He gripped his wine goblet so tightly that it began to compress. I had humiliated him again. 

The Alpha rose to his feet and tossed his goblet away. It landed with a loud clang on the ground, causing a spill and everyone in the room to freeze. 

"I cannot watch this joke anymore," he seethed.

My sister Jada hooked her arm around his and said, "You should punish her for wasting your precious time, father."

I met her gaze and the smile she spared me raised goosebumps on my skin. But I wasn't the one wasting time. It was Kai who led me to this moment, only to reject me in front of all these people. He should be punished for doing this to our family.

The Alpha’s mistress, Mai, handed me the marker and the blank sheet and I couldn't even raise my head up. I hesitated, then I begged him with my eyes to not do this to me.

"Be quick about it, Kora!" Kai growled sharply in response and I jolted in disbelief as I stared at him from the ground. 

"I accept your rejection, Beta Kai," I wrote the words on the sheet with a shaky hand and immediately, another sharp pain struck my heart and left me gasping for air.

My three older sisters were by my father's side, watching Kai do this to me, but somehow, I was the problem. The Alpha's personal guards grabbed my arms suddenly and jostled me out of the arena like a criminal while I struggled. 

The crowd murmured after me. I had made the Alpha's name a public joke by getting rejected on my wedding day, but couldn't my father and all of them see that I was hurting?

I locked myself up in my room the entire day, crying for the matebond that I had just lost. Kai humiliated me badly and it looked like it had been on purpose. But why? What had I ever done to him but love him?

Later in the evening, the Alpha summoned the family together. He said he had an important announcement to make before all of us. One of the Alpha's guards had to drag me downstairs again, even while I was still in my wedding dress, make-up ruined and scruffy.

My sisters had it all. Strong wolves, a father's love and popularity. I was the outcast, the piece that didn't belong here because I was adopted. My real father died and Alpha Galen had promised him that he would take care of me.

But he didn't keep his promise. He destroyed my life by feeding me little ounces of poison while growing up, just so I could die without leaving my blood on his hands and no longer be a burden to him.

I didn't die though, I just became forever mute.

I walked into the grand living room in the Alpha's home and found Ramona, Felicity, and Jada seated patiently. They scowled at me, like my presence just changed the air in the room to foul. 

"Why are you late, Kora?" Jada asked, keeping her arms folded and her lips pursed in anger. 

The Alpha's guard behind me bowed and answered, "I'm sorry. The princess wanted some more time alone."

"She's had all day to mourn her failed mating, so why waste our time yet again?!" Felicity kissed her teeth, looking elsewhere.

I ignored my sisters and took my seat at the far end of the living room. No one shared the sofa with me and more guards surrounded the couches when our father entered the room after being notified that we were ready.

We all stood and bowed to greet him. 

"Have a seat, princesses," he said after plopping down on his chair. 

"What is this about, father?" Ramona asked daringly. She was the oldest and the only one who could speak to Alpha Galen that way and get away with it.

"Your sister, Jada, has an announcement to make."

We all turned to the next youngest after me. She had a wide smile on her face as she stood, holding her stomach. "I'm pregnant!"

I couldn't close my mouth. How long had she kept this a secret? But then, I was the only one with a dormant Omega wolf, who didn’t have the ability to hear the sound of two hearts beating inside her. 

Felicity scoffed, "Are you out of your mind? Jada, you don't even have a mate."

"But I have someone who loves me and is willing to spend the rest of their lives with me."

"Can today really get any more dramatic?" Ramona cut her off and sighed, pinching her forehead.

The Alpha stood from the only armchair in the room and beckoned her over. One of his men handed him the pack's moon oil. 

He said first, "Where is the wolf who got you pregnant, you brat?"

Jada shuddered under our father’s wrathful gaze, but she glanced over her shoulder at the entrance of the living room. The doors opened and her lover entered. He was tall and muscular, just like someone I knew.

When he stepped into the room for all of us to see, everyone had their jaws on the carpet, save for my sisters who seemed to not be in the dark about what was actually going on.

Felicity nudged her elbow in Ramona's side, giggling behind her palm. I saw my big sisters laugh at the tears welling in my eyes.

Kai Stallard, Beta of the Crimson pack and my ex-mate, knelt at Jada’s side.

He had played me for a fool.