“So you are our destined mate,” Lucien spat, his voice tearing through the courtyard like a jagged blade.
The word mate dropped from his lips with no reverence, no awe, and no sacred grace.
It was soaked in raw, furious venom.
He slammed his foot down off the high dais, taking three heavy strides toward me, his terrifying golden eyes locked onto my bloody face with absolute revulsion—as if the very threads of our fate were an insult to his bloodline.
Before my lungs could even find air, Ronan let out a sharp, mocking bark.
“What a tragic joke,” he drawled, his lips curling into a vicious sneer.
“The Moon Goddess gifts us with this pathetic, scraped-up stray?” His eyes dragged slowly over my torn cardigan, my bruised chin, and the spit drying on my face.
He laughed, a harsh, echoing sound.
“Has the sky lost its mind?”
His glare held me down like a pin through a moth.
Every flaw, every tear, every stain I possessed was laid bare for the entire pack to feast on.
I frantically scanned their faces—Kael, Ronan, Lucien—searching for a single drop of warmth.
There was none.
Only cold disgust, profound disbelief, and deep, humiliating shame that they were bound to me.
My throat closed up.
My heart slammed frantically against my ribs, so hard I was certain the whole square could hear its desperate thudding.
This wasn’t how the bond was supposed to unfold.
This was supposed to be the moment a female was cherished.
Instead, a wave of sickening humilation washed over me, burning straight through my veins.
I wish the bird had fallen dead in the dirt, I thought bitterly, the realization hitting me like ice water.
I wish I had never been chosen.
A cold terror clutched my spine.
Are they going to reject me right here?
The mere thought sent violent shivers racing across my skin.
A pack rejection wasn’t just a harsh word; it was an eternal stain, a spiritual severing that left a wolf hollowed out and broken forever.
My hands shook violently at my sides as the dread settled deep into my bones.
That was when Kael stepped down.
He didn’t yell.
He just let out a low, amused chuckle that made my stomach drop into a dark abyss.
He glided forward, towering over me until his dangerous, intoxicating scent of ash and sandalwood swallowed me whole.
Before I could flinch, his large, rough hand snapped out, clamping around my jaw with crushing pressure.
He shoved my face back and forth, inspecting my bloody lip like a buyer checking cattle at a market, before violently flinging my head aside.
“Is this a comedy?” Kael declared, his voice cutting through the square like a whip.
“She isn’t fit to sweep the floors of our keep.”
The insult hung in the air for a single, agonizing second.
Then the courtyard erupted into cruel, deafening laughter.
The sound swelled around me like a dark tide, consuming the air in my lungs.
Dozens of eyes burned into my flesh, stripping away what little dignity I had left, feeding gluttonously on my public undoing.
I stood rooted to the flagstones, bleeding, shivering, unable to defend my honor and unable to fade into the shadows.
From the middle of the crowd, a shrill voice cut through the noise.
“Look at that!” a woman sneered loudly.
“From a ring thief to a discarded servant in ten seconds!”
The words jabbed straight into my chest, sharp as shattered glass.
I blinked rapidly, fighting back the hot, bitter tears that threatened to fall, praying to keep whatever shred of pride I had left.
The laughter grew louder, relentless and ringing inside my skull until my skin felt like it was on fire with shame.
I prayed for the cobblestones beneath my boots to split open and swallow me into the dark depths of the earth, anywhere to escape this cursed bond.
Before I could drag my numb legs backward, a heavy shadow rushed past me.
My father threw himself down at the base of the dais, bowing so low his forehead nearly touched the dust.
“Forgive this disgrace, Alphas!” his voice boomed across the court, laced with frantic desperation.
“I am ready to make amends for this mistake!”
A cold knife twisted in my gut.
Make amends?
I stared at the back of his ceremonial cloak, my mind spinning into chaos.
What was he saying?
What kind of mistake was I?
Was my very existence a crime that needed to be erased?
Was it my fault the ancient falcon had flown to me instead of someone else?
Kael looked down at my father, his dark eyes narrowing with lethal interest.
“And how, Beta Silas, do you propose to make amends for such a tragedy?”
The entire courtyard held its breath.
The silence was suffocating.
My father stood up, his spine rigid, his face completely devoid of doubt.
He had calculated this move long before the falcon ever took flight.
When he spoke, his voice didn’t waver for a fraction of a second.
“I offer you my true pride—my daughter Selene.”
The world tilted on its axis.
My heart shattered violently, blood roaring in my ears as panic tore through my chest.
I stared at his profile in pure, unadulterated shock.
Just like that, he threw me into the trash.
Just like that, he served my twin sister up on a golden platter to the three men fate had handed to me.
Then what becomes of me?
The question screamed inside my head, silent and terrifying.
Nobody looked at me.
Nobody cared.
I was instantly rendered invisible—a defective tool brushed off the table to make room for something better.
Cold fear wrapped around my lungs, suffocating me.
If Selene took my place on the altar, what was left for the unwanted twin?
Public rejection?
Banishment?
A life spent as an outcast, branded as the girl who was replaced?
Despite the agony blinding me, my eyes helplessly tracked toward the altar.
And my soul died a little more.
I watched the transformation sweep across the three Alphas.
Their rigid, disgust-filled faces softened instantly.
A slow, dark, satisfied smile bloomed across Kael’s lips, followed immediately by Ronan and Lucien.
It was a predatory, victorious expression.
My stomach churned.
They were going to take the trade.
Of course they were.
It was the outcome they had always wanted.
The beautiful, favored twin was finally theirs, handed over without a fight.
“I always lose to you, Selene,” I whispered to the wind, the words tasting like copper and ash on my tongue—a final, pitiful confession of a life spent in her shadow.
My father’s voice echoed out one last time, loud, formal, and devastatingly absolute.
“I, Beta Silas, formally declare my daughter, Selene, betrothed to the Alpha Triplets!”
The word betrothed slammed into my chest like an iron hammer.
I gasped for air, staggering backward a step as my strength gave out.
Through the mist of my unshed tears, I forced my head to turn.
Selene was standing just a few feet away, her eyes locked onto mine.
Her lips curved up into a sweet, sickening smile—her eyes burning not with surprise, but with pure, unadulterated triumph.
It was her victory smile.
The one she wore whenever she took something of mine.
The Alpha triplets didn’t wait another moment.
They stepped right past my trembling, bloodied frame as if I were nothing more than a ghost, closing the distance to Selene instead.
Their heavy hands reached for her—gentle, worshipful, and possessive—wrapping her in their warmth as if she were the most precious treasure in the pack.
And I was left behind in the cold.
They never spoke a word of rejection to me.
No official declaration.
No broken bond rite.
Nothing.
I was left standing alone in the blood-stained dust, trapped between a fate I was denied and a rejection I was never granted.
And in that deafening silence, I realized the cruelest truth of all: being completely forgotten was far worse than being rejected.