Nine years later
“Rufus Savage. You want me to marry Rufus Savage.”
“That’s what I said, Luna.” My father let out a deep, weary sigh. “Look, I know it’s not exactly the mate bond you would have wanted. But I’m afraid we have little choice. You might be an Omega, Luna, but you’re not stupid. You knew this was going to happen.”
I bit the inside of my cheek so hard it bled. I didn’t know what burned me more, the casual reference to how inferior my father deemed me to be, or the fact that this didn’t really surprise me. “I just thought we were going to wait a little longer, that’s all,” I said after a long pause. “The chaos has to come back.”
“It may, or it may not. But we can’t wait that long. The Firewolves are getting more and more anxious. At this rate, we’ll have a pack war on our hands, Luna, and we can’t afford that. We’re fortunate that their Alpha is looking for a female who can give him a strong litter of pups. That will, at the very least, buy us enough time to strengthen our forces until the next chaos rolls around.”
I wanted to argue with my father, to tell him this wasn’t fair. Rufus Savage, the Alpha of the Firewolf Pack, was a notoriously brutal man, and during past skirmishes between our two packs, he’d killed and maimed countless of our fellow wolves. The mere idea that I’d have to become his bonded mate repulsed me.
But like my father had said, I didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t wrong in worrying about the future of the Wolfsbane Pack. We’d been fighting our neighbors for as long as I could remember—from before I’d been born—but the recent disappearance of the chaos had made things so much worse.
Every year, the wolves of Chaos Valley were supposed to receive a gift. Darkness descended over our lands, but it lifted the veil over our eyes, allowing us to track down our true mates. The chaos hadn’t come in nine years, and because of that, things were falling apart more and more in the valley. Some packs were dealing with it better, but here, so close to the Badlands, the situation had become particularly bad. There were fewer pups, and the future seemed so uncertain.
If I wanted to, I could try to run away. No matter what my father believed about me, I wasn’t weak or incapable. In fact, being an Omega gave me a mild advantage, because everyone underestimated me. But if I left the valley, I’d have to abandon my pack. I couldn’t bring myself to do that.
I remembered the last time the chaos had come, and everything I’d lost that night. To this day, I still didn’t know what had happened to Sam and Nate, but I was pretty sure they lived in the Badlands, with the other rogues. I’d never be able to see them again.
Shaking myself, I chased away the memories and focused on the conversation with my father. “I understand, Father,” I replied. “I will do my best to be a suitable mate for Alpha Savage.”
“I’m sure you will,” my father answered with a pleased smile. “You’ve always been a wonderful daughter. If only weren’t an Omega.”
The latter sentence just slipped out automatically, like most of his comments about me seemed to. I did my best to not let it get to me. It didn’t matter, anyway. I knew that if my father had asked me to come see him, it was just to let me know of the arrangement.
Still, I was tempted to say something more. At the very least, I wanted to know what was expected of me as Alpha Savage’s mate. But I didn’t get the chance. A knock sounded at the door, and my father instantly lost interest in me. “Yes?”
Ellery opened the door and stepped into the room, his expression serious and concerned. “Alpha, there’s an issue that needs your urgent attention. We’ve received word that rogues may have been spotted close to pack lands.”
Alarm coursed through me. Since we lived so close to the Badlands, it wasn’t that unusual for rogue wolves to wander into our territory. But it hadn’t happened in a while, and even when it did, Ellery was never this worried about it.
Could it have something to do with Sam and Nate? I wanted to ask, even if I knew it was just wishful thinking. But my father had no intention of discussing the topic in front of me. “I see. We’ll handle it at once.” He threw me one last dismissive glance. “Luna, that’ll be all for today. Make sure you’re prepared to leave. The Firewolves are expecting us, and we have to go through with the ceremony as soon as possible. Maybe tomorrow.”
After my father told me that, I couldn’t have possibly focused on the mysterious rogues who’d risked their lives by venturing nearby. Tomorrow? How was I supposed to mentally prepare for leaving my pack in only twenty-four hours? The separation would be difficult to handle, and I’d just found out about it. Besides, I couldn’t imagine the Firewolves would be kind to me. My father at least put up an effort, but my new pack wouldn’t bother.
Feeling dazed, I stumbled out of my father’s hut. He’d chosen to place it in a more secluded area of the settlement and encouraged people to stay away unless they had actual business with him. I was so grateful for that. If I’d had to face the entire pack right now, I might have collapsed to my knees crying.
There were several of my pack mates around, but they didn’t pay attention to me. They must have known about the arranged mating, or at least expected it. Apparently, I was the last person in the pack to find out about my own fate.
Torn between fury and dread, I ran toward my den. I shared the single females’ den with several of my pack mates, but today, only Ivy was around. As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened in alarm. “Luna? What’s wrong? Are you sick? Do you want me to get Andrea?”
I shook my head. In the past, I’d have been irritated at her insistence to always believe I was seconds away from falling apart. But as an Omega, I was the weakest wolf in the pack. Really, Ivy’s reaction wasn’t so bad. Other people might have sneered or laughed at me.
It didn’t matter that I’d ended up this way because my brother had hurt me when I’d been fourteen. I was still weak. It would be worse with the Firewolves. I’d heard that, in their pack, people like me weren’t even allowed to live, since I dragged everyone else down. I wanted to believe it was a lie. If it had been true, Alpha Savage would have surely not agreed to mate me. But somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to be optimistic.
I stumbled to my bed and dropped onto the mattress. Ivy made her way to my side and sat down next to me. “Luna? Please, talk to me. You’re scaring me.”
“Father just told me I have to marry Alpha Savage,” I told my friend.
Ivy didn’t immediately answer. She just stared at me with an inscrutable expression, and that more or less told me everything I needed to know. “You knew,” I spat accusingly.
“Father mentioned it, yes,” Ivy answered. “But when we spoke about it, it wasn’t set in stone. I had hoped it would fall through.”
Ivy was Ellery’s daughter, and unlike me, she was treasured by her family. She wasn’t an Alpha female or anything like that, but she was very beautiful and a lot of males were interested in her. I’d never been jealous of her many suitors—it wasn’t something I was interested in—but what frustrated me was that she had the freedom to choose, while I was a captive of my past.
But taking it out on Ivy wouldn’t help me, so instead, I decided to explain. “It didn’t fall through. I’m supposed to leave tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Ivy repeated in disbelief. “But that’s so soon.”
