The Breaking Of A Star

Starlight’s POV

Fate had played its cruelest trick on me. Helios. The boy who spent his life tormenting me. The Alpha who stood before me now, looking at me like I was dirt beneath his feet. My mate.

His golden eyes burned with disgust, his voice still echoing in my mind. "You’re not even worth the effort it takes to reject you." "I’ll take another she-wolf, mark her, mate her, and let you break on your own." "That way, you’ll die quietly from the pain, and I won’t even have to lift a finger."

He had spoken those words so easily, as if my suffering was nothing but an inconvenience to him. As if my existence, our mate bond, was a joke. But as I stood there, fists clenched at my sides, the past eighteen years replayed in my mind.

The bruises. The jeers. The loneliness. The pain. And suddenly, something inside me shifted. I was done. Done being weak. Done being the runt. Done crying over a pack that had never once treated me as one of their own. They wanted me to die quietly? No. If I was going to suffer, then so would he.

Flashback Four Years Ago....

The first time I truly broke was the night of the Blood Moon Festival.

I had been forced to serve drinks at the feast, my omega status making me nothing more than a glorified servant while the rest of the pack celebrated. To make matters worse, I was only fourteen years old. The night was filled with laughter, music, and the scent of roasted meat, but I was too exhausted to enjoy it.

And then I made the mistake of crossing Helios' path. He had been lounging with his warriors, a goblet of wine in his hand. The moment he saw me, his lips curled into a wicked smile. "Star," he called mockingly, his voice dripping with fake affection. "Come here."

I hesitated. I always did when he called me by that name. Once, long ago, it had been something my mother whispered with love. But in his mouth, it was always laced with cruelty.

I had no choice but to obey. He tilted his goblet, letting the deep red liquid slosh dangerously close to the edge. "Be a good omega and refill my drink."

I reached for the bottle of wine, but just as I began pouring, he jerked his hand, spilling the entire goblet down my front. The laughter that followed was deafening.

I stood there, wine dripping down my arms, soaking into my clothes, as Helios leaned back with a smirk. "Oops," he said, feigning innocence.

My cheeks burned. My hands trembled. But I said nothing. I only bowed my head and walked away. That night, I didn't sleep. That night, something in me cracked.

And now, standing before my mate, the same boy who had humiliated me again and again, I realized something. That crack had grown into a chasm. I wasn’t the same girl anymore. I would never be the same girl again.

Back to the Present.....

Helios had already turned his back on me, his focus now on the group of she-wolves who practically draped themselves over him.

He thought I would break easily. That I would crumble under the weight of his cruelty and fade into the background like I always had. But not this time. If he wanted a war, I would give him one.

I straightened my spine, lifting my chin despite the humiliation clawing at my throat. My wolf stirred within me, weak but burning with something new, something sharp and unyielding.

I would not let him win. If Helios thought he could control my fate, he was wrong. He might be the Alpha. But I? I would make him submit. Even if it was the last thing I did.

The laughter still echoed in my ears long after I left the hall. Helios had turned his back on me. His words, his cruel, deliberate words, lingered in my mind, cutting deeper than any wound ever had.

I had known he would never accept me. Had never expected anything from him. But hearing him say it, watching him sneer at our bond as if it was nothing, ignited something inside me. It was not sadness. Not despair. It was rage. A raw, crimson rage.

I clenched my fists as I walked down the dimly lit corridors of the packhouse, my nails biting into my palms. The past eighteen years of my life had been filled with nothing but suffering. And Helios, my mate, had been the one leading the charge.

I had spent years avoiding him, trying to disappear into the background, knowing that the more invisible I was, the safer I would be. But I wasn’t invisible anymore. Not to him. And if I couldn’t escape his cruelty, then I would make sure he felt every ounce of the pain I had endured.

Four Years Ago, on the night after the Blood Moon Festival, I had made a promise to myself. I would stop caring. Caring was what got me hurt. So I let the humiliation, the pain, the loneliness harden me.

When the warriors threw scraps of food at me, laughing as I scrambled to collect them, I learned to swallow my pride along with the stale bread.

When Helios tripped me in the halls, sending me sprawling to the ground, I stopped fighting back. When they whispered behind my back, calling me the worthless omega, I learned to pretend I didn’t hear.

But no matter how much I endured, they never stopped. Not even when I stopped reacting. Not even when I stopped crying. The Moonlit Pack had been relentless in making sure I knew my place. But now? Now, I was the mate of their Alpha.

And if they knew, they would have hated it just as much as he did. I reached the servants’ quarters and stepped inside my tiny room, locking the door behind me.

The space was barely big enough for a single bed and a small wooden dresser. The mattress was thin, the blankets worn, but it was the only place that was truly mine. I sat on the edge of the bed, my heart still pounding with fury.

A mate was supposed to be a gift from the Moon Goddess. A sacred bond. A connection so deep that nothing, absolutely nothing, was supposed to come between it.

And yet, Helios had declared his intentions without hesitation. He would break me. He would mark another, mate another, until I was nothing but a ghost of what I had once been. A quiet death. That was what he wanted for me.

And maybe, once upon a time, I would have let him win. But I wasn’t that girl anymore. If he wanted me to break, then I would do the opposite. If he wanted me to fade into nothing, then I would make sure he had no choice but to see me.

No longer would I lower my head when he entered the room. No longer would I allow myself to be treated like an insect beneath his feet. Helios thought he was the one in control. That he held all the power.

But he didn’t realize something crucial. He may have been the Alpha. But I was his mate. His equal. And that meant that no matter how much he hated me, no matter how much he tried to ignore it, he would feel me.

Every emotion. Every ounce of strength I had left. The bond would make sure of it, as long as he was reject me. He would feel my presence. So if he wanted to push me down, I would rise higher.

If he wanted to make me suffer, then I would make sure he suffered with me. I wasn’t going to die quietly. No. I was going to make the mighty Alpha Helios kneel. And he wouldn’t even see it coming.

The next day, The whispers started early that morning. I could feel the eyes on me as I walked through the halls, the weight of their scorn pressing down on me like a storm cloud.

"The Alpha really got stuck with her?" "Poor Helios. She’ll bring nothing but shame to the pack." "An omega and an Alpha? That bond should be illegal."

One of Helios friends snapped. "Quiet down, you mutts! Why are you blabbering about some jilted she-wolf's mere speculation? Had the alpha been truly mated to the runt, wouldn't he have openly rejected her? You know he hates her more than anything in this world!"

My grip tightened around the basket of herbs I was carrying. The pack healer had sent me to collect supplies, knowing that no one else wanted to waste their time on me.

I had done this a hundred times before. Moved through the packhouse like a ghost, ignored, overlooked. But today, things were different. Today, they weren’t ignoring me. Today, they saw me. And they hated what they saw.

As I turned the corner, I suddenly found myself face-to-face with Helios. He stood in the center of the hall, flanked by his warriors, his golden eyes burning into me like fire. For the first time since last night, I met his gaze head-on.

A flicker of something flashed across his face, annoyance? Displeasure? Before I could grasp it, it disappeared. I kept walking, refusing to lower my head. Refusing to let him see the way my heart pounded against my ribs.

But just as I passed him, he spoke to me through mindlink. Making sure the pack doesn't hear it. "Try not to embarrass me today, runt." A slow, mocking smirk spread across his face. "As my mate, you represent me now," he continued. "And we both know you’re not exactly… presentable."

Once, his words would have sent me running. Once, I would have lowered my gaze, clenched my fists, swallowed my pride. But today?

Today, I did something I had never done before. I smiled. And then, in the sweetest voice I could muster, I said, "Of course, Alpha." His smirk faltered. It was small, barely noticeable. But I saw it. And it was enough.

Helios thought he had already won. That I would crumble at his feet, that I would break the way he wanted me to. But he was wrong. The game had only just begun. And I was going to make sure that by the time it ended...Helios would be the one on his knees.