The brutal crack of his palm against my cheek echoed off the stone arches a full second before the blinding heat tore through my skin.
My head snapped violently sideways, the world blurring into a nauseating streak of gray slate and harsh morning light.
Hot tears spilled instantly down my cheeks, burning against the torn flesh.
The metallic taste of copper flooded my tongue as blood welled from the split corner of my lip.
I forced myself to lift my head, but the sight waiting for me made me wish I were dead.
My father’s eyes burned down at me—wild, unyielding, and utterly devoid of mercy.
It was the same cold, sharp hatred I had grown up hiding from, the rage that had defined my entire childhood.
He didn’t look for proof.
He didn’t look for a flicker of truth in my eyes.
There was no fatherly doubt, no second-guessing.
Just raw, unadulterated disgust.
I had always been the castaway.
The forgotten sister.
The mistake.
In our family, the hierarchy was absolute.
Selene was the sun brilliant, adored, incapable of doing wrong.
The angel whose lightest tear could bend the entire pack to her will.
And I was the dirt beneath her boots, a stain on the family legacy, an annoyance simply for taking up breath in the same room.
Born of Beta blood, but treated like the dirtiest Omega in the realm.
“You shameless thief,” Selene sobbed out, her voice a breathless, theatrical quiver, though I caught the wicked spark of triumph behind her wet eyelashes.
“Why can’t you just confess?
You stole my heirloom ring—the one Dad gave me to wear for the inauguration!”
Her words slashed deeper into my chest than the heavy blow ever could.
“I…
I didn’t…” I rasped out, my chest heaving, every breath pulling like broken glass.
“I swear to you…
I never touched—”
Smack.
The second strike exploded across my jaw with bone-rattling force, knocking me off my knees entirely.
I crashed onto the jagged flagstones, my hands scraping raw against the sharp slate as pain shot up my arms.
My ears rang with a sharp, deafening whine while gasps rippled outward through the gathered crowd.
This time, it was my brother.
Derick towered over my collapsed form, his lip curled back in a sneer of pure venom.
“You filthy snake,” he spat out, his voice dripping with spite.
“I always knew you were sick with jealousy over Selene, but stealing from her right before the ceremony?” He took a heavy step toward my trembling body, chuckling darkly.
“You really are a pathetic piece of garbage.”
He leaned down and spat right onto my blood-stained cheek.
The saliva was warm, disgusting, and utterly degrading, mixing with the tears and blood streaming down my face.
Quiet laughter bubbled up from the surrounding crowd.
Whispers slithered over me like snakes.
The weight of their collective judgment bore down until I could barely draw air.
I stayed buried in the cold dust, shivering, feeling the last remaining pieces of my spirit fracture and shatter.
No matter how loudly I screamed the truth, no matter how much my heart broke…
They had already decided who was the saint and who was the villain.
And I would never be worth saving.
“She will answer for her crimes after the Alphas take their oaths,” my father declared coldly, his voice booming across the courtyard.
He reached down and swept Selene effortlessly into his arms as if she were made of fragile glass.
She leaned limply against his shoulder, her eyes closed in a delicate, fake swoon.
Derick instantly stepped into place beside them as a protective guard, ignoring my bleeding hands on the ground without a single glance back.
Their heavy boots echoed away into the grand pavilion, leaving behind a wake of snickers, scandalized gasps, and suffocating shame.
And once again, I was left bleeding in the dirt.
The strength drained out of my limbs entirely.
The courtyard threatened to spin into blackness until a pair of warm, frantic arms hooked beneath my shoulders.
Lily pulled me upward with desperate strength, holding me steady as my knees buckled.
“I’ve got you…
Stand up, Lyra, stand up,” she whispered frantically, her voice trembling with rage and heartbreak for me.
I offered a weak, hollow nod, my mind numb with agony.
All I wanted was to run away—to strip off this ruined cardigan, wash the blood from my face, and crawl into a dark corner where nobody could ever look at me again.
Then, the heavy courtyard doors burst open.
The Alpha triplets strode into the sunlight.
They moved as one terrifying, lethal unit, identical in their breathtaking, terrifying majesty.
Their faces were carved from hardened granite, completely unreadable, radiating a thick, suffocating aura of absolute dominance that instantly brought the entire square to its knees.
My heart violently slammed against my ribs.
Instinct took over before my brain could stop it.
I flinched back and squeezed behind Lily, gripping the back of her cloak like a terrified child hiding behind a wall.
My blood roared in my ears as their polished black boots marched past our spot, each heavy step shaking the very ground beneath us.
They ascended the high marble steps to the grand altar.
An absolute, heavy silence fell over the court—reverent and thick with tension.
The pack elders stepped out from the shadows of the high pillars, initiating the ancient rites.
The air grew dense with the smell of burning sage and sacred embers as low, rhythmic chants filled the high rafters.
Every ancient gesture was calculated, sacred, and absolute.
I peered cautiously over Lily’s shoulder, watching through a haze of pain as the ancient obsidian crowns were raised into the sun.
One after the other, the crowns were placed upon the heads of the three brothers.
The decree was sealed.
They were crowned Alphas of the Realm.
The crowd erupted into a deafening roar of cheers and applause, but to me, the noise felt miles away—muffled and hollow under the weight of my thumping pulse.
My heart hammered wildly against my ribs, panic creeping up my throat.
The final, terrifying moment had arrived.
The Mate Call.
My breath locked in my throat as the elders unveiled the sacred silver falcon—an ancient, magical creature bound to the bloodline.
Its feathers gleamed like liquid moonlight, its sharp, golden eyes sweeping over the massive crowd.
According to centuries of law, the beast would take flight and seek out the soul destined for the Alphas.
Whoever it chose would be bound to all three of them by the decree of the Moon Goddess.
My fingers dug white-knuckled into Lily’s cloak.
I tried to tell myself to stop dreaming.
It wouldn’t be me.
It couldn’t be me.
I was a broken, bleeding outcast in a torn jacket, cowering behind her friend, praying for the earth to swallow her whole.
I was still drowning in my own despair, barely registering the sharp cry of the falcon as it took to the sky, when Lily suddenly went rigid beneath my grip.
She let out a sharp, choked gasp.
“Lyra!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice ringing out like a thunderclap across the silent, waiting arena.
“LYRA, LOOK!
IT’S YOU!
IT’S LANDED ON YOU!”
The universe ground to a halt.
Every single breath in the courtyard evaporated.
Hundreds of heads snapped toward our corner in a terrifying unison.
I froze, the air trapped in my lungs as every eye in the pack pinned me to the spot.
A sudden, wild bolt of sheer shock surged through my blood—a sudden, blinding flare of hope fluttering wildly against my fractured ribcage.
The Goddess answered.
My eyes slowly tracked upward, following the weight of the heavy silver talons resting gently on my bruised shoulder, before turning my gaze toward the high altar.
Toward my mates.
The tiny spark of hope inside me died instantly, turning to cold ash.
Standing on the high dais, looking down at my bloodied face and broken posture, the triplet Alphas showed no joy, no awe, and no warmth.
Their eyes burned with something far more