Chapter 01

SCARLETT

All werewolves were supposed to get their wolves when they turned eighteen. But I was six days past my eighteenth birthday and I didn’t shift into my wolf.

At first, I waited for the wolf to show up or to hear a voice or feel a foreign presence in my mind that could hint at my wolf being there but just being held back by something but nothing happened.

So, it was final. I was ranked the wolfless omega yesterday and this rank was supposed to turn me into nothing but a breeder and domestic help.

It was insulting to me because I was the daughter of the royal Beta couple and I was supposed to inherit a beta she-wolf. By not shifting, I let my murdered parents down and couldn’t even take revenge on their murderer—the Rogue Lycan either.

But that was not what kept me on my toes all this time. It was rather the fear that Alpha King's heir, Rush Rivera was going to leave me now.

I admired him for a long time. He was my first love and the man I wanted to spend my life with.

I was not only wolfless but in fact, it turned out, that I was not his mate either.

This was heartbreaking for me and I instantly locked myself away for this truth was too great for me to bear.

He had just confessed his love to me, one day before my eighteenth birthday and he had told me that he wanted me to be his Queen. I was so happy and now, the fear was bigger than that happiness.

Luckily for me, Rush proved me wrong. He didn’t care that I was wolfless or that I was not even his mate. He needed me, and loved me, nonetheless. He desired me to become his chosen mate.

I didn’t waste a moment and said yes. I wouldn’t bother thinking about my true-fated mate as I might not even be getting one, given my wolfless nature.

After getting my answer, Rush convinced his father, the Alpha King Cadamus Rivera to let him claim me as his. Surprisingly, he had agreed. After my family’s murder, he had taken me in as his daughter. I was already indebted to him and by letting his son choose me as his mate, the Alpha King’s spot in my heart had become firmer.

I had a family again. Rush, Alpha King, and my friend Valerie. These three people meant the world to me.

And today, on the occasion of the full moon, I was about to make this bond stronger. A chosen mate ceremony was being held for me and Rush—the Alpha King heir of the Wolf Riverania pack.

All Alphas and their families would gather in the hall and they would watch me getting marked by Rush.

To prepare for this day, I had woken up early. Or it would be safe to say, I couldn’t sleep the whole night and only took a small nap when the day was about to start.

My nerves were all over the place as I took a quick bath and wore the white, knee-length chiffon dress Rush had sent for me with a lovely note in the box.

‘ I can’t wait to make you mine. ’ Such a short message but it meant the world to me.

How did I get so lucky? I still couldn’t believe that I was getting everything I wished for.

Giggling to myself, I sat down in front of the vanity mirror. My copper hair was half wet and my green eyes were sparkling as I inspected my figure in the reflection of the mirror.

I was happy, but a small part of me missed my parents on this important day. If Dad and Mom had been here, they would be all over the place. Dad would have been so fidgety and grumpy about it. And Mom would be helping me get ready.

A soft smile lit my lips as I lowered my eyes to the floor. I shouldn’t be thinking about them but I couldn’t get them out of my mind. Their death and disappearance from my life was too sudden. I didn’t think we would part ways so soon in life. There were so many things I wanted to do with them.

All of a sudden, my eyes snapped to the door of my room. I could hear the footsteps coming closer and I could also tell it was Queen Eva after inhaling the lingering scent in the air.

It was strange for a wolfless omega to have heightened senses and werewolf strength but it turned out, I was not all normal. I was everything werewolf, excluding the wolf.

I sighed as the door opened, revealing the face I didn’t want to see right now. Queen Eva was Rush’s mother, and she hated me with a fiery passion.

These past three years I spent as an orphan around her had left me scarred and opened my eyes to the world. She often tortured me when Rush and Alpha King were not around.

The reason for her hate was simple. She didn’t want me anywhere near Rush. And after I was deemed wolfless, her hate had only grown. She couldn’t bear her prince son mated to a wolfless omega.

“ You must be so happy after ruining my son’s happiness! ” As expected, she sneered while standing in the doorway.

“ I love him. I don’t intend on ruining his life. ” I sighed.

“ Yet you whored your way into Rush’s life. If you loved him, you should have let him go. He needed someone strong by his side. Not a filthy, wolfless whore who still cries over her parents like a three years old child! ” She gritted her teeth, sauntering towards me.

My chest tightened after hearing her words. She was always direct and harsh about my weakness.

I assessed her cruel face, her thin lips pressed together, her black hair pulled into a bun and her regal green dress flowing behind her.

My hands trembled by my side. I opened my mouth to protest but her hand was clawing at my jaw the next moment. Her nails dug into my chin, nearly drawing blood with the force.

“ You think you can become the Queen one day, Scarlett? ” She spat. “ don’t even dream about it. Once Rush comes across his fated mate, he will get rid of you. ”

I gulped. My heartbeat dropped in my stomach.

I had thought about my fated mate and felt nothing but Rush’s fated mate was another thing. I did think that he might be tempted to get rid of me once he came across her, but his love for me had helped me get over these insecurities.

He would never leave me.

“ N-No. He will never do that. He loves me. ” I cried out.

Tears brimmed in my eyes. My chin wobbled. The Queen left my face with a hard jerk and stepped back from me.

“ Tsk! Love is nothing compared to a mate bond. You will see. ” She smirked, turning around.

I exhaled a deep breath and faced the mirror. I won’t be thinking about the Queen today. I will only focus on Rush.

Nervousness twisted my guts as I recalled what Rush had told me. The ceremony was to take place in front of the Alphas and their families.

I was to be marked and mated by Rush in front of all of them so they bore witness to our union. This meant, that I had to have sex with Rush openly.

This had irked me out and I had asked Rush to do something but…he was helpless. This was an old tradition and he couldn’t go against it.

When I cried over this, he melted. He said he was going to try to do something about it even if it meant getting people on his bad side but I didn’t want that so I stopped him.

For Rush, I could do anything.

But the picture of it in my head was enough to make me want to puke. My heart was beating hard in my chest, silently protesting against the future.