Tomorrow was supposed to be my mating ceremony.

My mate is about to become the Beta of the pack. He's tall and handsome — even though everyone in the pack believes the Moon Goddess made a mistake, binding a wolf of such noble blood to a lowly Omega like me.

Luke was the only one who never cared about my blood. He promised me he would acknowledge me publicly, in front of everyone, at the ceremony.

Tomorrow.The thought of how the pack would look at me now — the thought of my father finally being forced to admit that I was worthy of standing as his equal — and for the first time, all of it grew lighter: the weight that had pressed down on me for twenty whole years, the humiliation that never once let up.

I stood outside his apartment, a cup of hot cocoa in my hands.

The whole way there I'd been planning dinner — I'd make that lamb stew, the one Luke loved best, the one you had to simmer low for a whole afternoon until the meat fell apart on your tongue. He'd once said he hoped that one day it would become our family's Thanksgiving tradition.

He was so sweet, wasn't he? He was already planning our future.

The night was bitterly cold. I rubbed my hands together, wanting nothing more than to hurry inside and get warm.

That was when I heard it — a woman's moan, drifting out through the half-open bedroom door.

I pushed the door open, gently.

My blood froze in an instant.

My mate, Luke, naked, pinning a woman beneath him.

"I really don't understand you," the woman panted, her voice soft and coy. "Why can't you just reject that Omega?"

I went rigid. It was her — my stepsister, Lily. The person who hates me most in this world.

"Pack tradition," Luke's voice was low and rough. "To become Beta, I have to father a child with my mate first. I don't have a choice."

He let out a laugh, thick with mockery. "That stupid girl insisted on waiting until the ceremony before she'd let me touch her."

I clenched my fists, nails digging deep into my palms. The sting spread through me in waves — almost as if to remind me this wasn't a nightmare.

"Ugh, you're actually going to mark that filthy thing?" Lily said, disgusted. "She'll ruin your name. Omegas are like cockroaches. Once they crawl in, you'll never be rid of them."

"Mark her?" Luke scoffed. "I would never mark an Omega. She's just here to breed my pup. The moment the child is born, I'm throwing her out."

"God." Lily laughed, delighted, climbing back on top of him. "She's probably in front of a mirror right now, dressing herself up, dreaming of wearing the Beta's crown. When really, she's only fit to kneel on the ground and kiss my toes — just like her pathetic mother, who was only ever good for kissing my mother's."

I leaned against the doorframe, barely able to stand.

My mother was an Omega too — my father's fated mate. But I was born branded with this mark. In this pack, no matter how sincere, how obedient I am, I will always be a criminal. I have to lower my head for being an Omega. I have to be ashamed of it. And even then, my father always finds some new reason to raise his whip.

Only Luke was different.

When I was fourteen, he came to the Blue Ridge pack for warrior training, and I was the one who led him through the territory. He said he wanted to thank me, and after that, every time he came he brought me food.

That was all I'd ever wanted. After my stepmother arrived, my life was nothing but beatings and hunger, and the pain that came with them. But Luke would bandage my wounds, would bring me meals that still steamed with warmth. He told me that once he became Beta, he'd never let anyone treat me that way again.

Then, at last, the Goddess seemed to remember me. When I was eighteen, at the mating feast between our two packs, we recognized each other as fated mates. I can't describe how ecstatic I was in that moment — I thought the suffering was finally over. I thought the light had finally reached me.

For him, I stayed. For him, I kept swallowing the humiliation my father and the whole pack heaped on me.

And now, the truth came flooding up like sewage backing out of a drain, choking me until I couldn't breathe.

Every promise, every scrap of hope I'd used to hold myself together — all of it was a lie.

I pushed the door open.

"Lena?!" Luke shot upright.

Lily turned to look at me, not a flicker of panic on her face. She slid off him, calm as anything. "Oh, Lena, don't look so shocked." She sneered. "An Omega like you never really believes anyone could love her, does she? You should feel honored — to share a man with a noble princess like me."

"I wasn't aware princesses were willing to work as mistresses." I shot back. "Then again, maybe you know you're a fake. You know how much my mother gave to this pack."

"So it's the fake blood in your veins that makes you creep around stealing things like a sewer rat."

"You little bitch!" She raised her hand in fury — then suddenly pulled it back. "Whatever. Oh, by the way — that little room of yours at the Alpha manor? I've already started planning to turn it into my walk-in closet. Just giving you a heads-up."

That room was the only place I had in this world. A bed one meter long, a space too cramped to even turn around in. And now she wanted to take even that from me.

I clenched my fists, aching to smash that pretty face of hers. But I held back. There was only one thing I wanted to do now — sever the bond between me and Luke.

Lily paused at the door, giving me a smile so sweet it turned my stomach. "A friendly little tip — if Father finds out you refused to be with Luke, he'll turn you into the whole pack's favorite toy. I'd bet on it. He'll make sure of it."

My hand flew up.

Luke lunged forward and caught it. "Listen to me, Lena!"

Lily flipped her hair and left.

I forced my eyes back to his face — the face I'd once believed would be my home. Now, looking at it, all I felt was nausea.

"I, Lena, hereby reject —"

"No! Lena, let me finish!" He seized my arm and slammed me hard against the wall.

"Finish what?" I was shaking all over, my voice hoarse. "I heard everything. I'm nothing but a stepping stone for you to climb into the Beta's seat."

"And what's wrong with that?" He crushed my wrist in his grip, that self-righteous look on his face making my scalp crawl. "Lena, you're just an Omega. I'm giving you a chance — to be the mother of a Beta's pup. I'll provide for you, feed you, give you a clean place to live —"

I wrenched free and slapped him hard across the face.

"Clean?" My voice trembled, but every word came out crisp and clear. "This place reeks worse than a sewer, and you dare use that word? Listen to me, Luke — I reject you. Forever."

His face went white, then flushed red. "You wouldn't dare," he ground out through his teeth. "Lena, if you dare sever this bond — I'm telling you, don't you ever think about putting that Irish lamb stew on the table as your Thanksgiving tradition. Or I'll sue you."

I froze for a second.

I thought I would cry. Instead, I nearly laughed.

So this was what it came down to — the thing this man couldn't bear to lose was a pot of stew.

"Sue me?" I could hardly believe my own ears. Absurdity, fury, and something else all surged up my throat at once. "You bastard — that dish? You will never taste a single bite of it again as long as you live."

"I, Lena, hereby reject Luke, and sever the bond between us."

The instant the words left my mouth, the bond detonated in my chest, as if an invisible hand had torn my soul clean in two. My vision blurred. I clenched my jaw and forced myself to stay standing.

Then I turned and ran.

I couldn't fall apart in front of him. Never.

Only once I'd burst out of the building did the tears finally break loose. I walked fast, dragging the back of my hand roughly across my eyes.

I headed toward the Alpha manor. Tonight, I would leave the Blue Ridge pack. I still had one best friend, and her pack would take me in. As for my father — he'd always considered my existence a mistake. If I disappeared, he'd probably just breathe a sigh of relief.

The moment I stepped inside, I saw my stepmother, Celia, sitting quietly on the living room sofa, relaxed, as if waiting for a play whose ending she already knew.

She knew.

Of course she knew.

From beginning to end, this had all been an act they'd staged.

"Hmph. And here I thought the little parasite would be too ashamed to show her face. Yet here you are." She sneered.

Little parasite. She'd never given me a single cent, and in twenty years she had never once called me by my name. But none of that mattered now. I didn't have to endure it any longer.

"Celia, I want to see my father." I fought to keep my voice level. "Now. It's important."

"Oh? Are you going to go running to him, crying about some unforgivable thing Lily did to you?" Her voice was full of contempt. "Save your breath. The Moon Goddess simply made a small error when she paired you with a Beta. Now the ones who truly love each other are correcting that mistake. This is fate."

"Celia." I looked at her and said it clearly. "Don't dress up your family's filth as some gift from fate. It's embarrassing."

"Why, you little —" She shot to her feet, hand already raised, but my father's voice came down from the top of the stairs.

"Lena. You've come back at just the right time."

I froze. He hated me. He should have wanted me gone forever. I didn't want to guess at his intentions, so I spoke first.

"Father." I lifted my head and looked at him, my voice calm. "I need your permission to sever my ties with the Blue Ridge pack."

My father stopped on the stairs, looking down at me. "Leave the pack? And where exactly do you think you'd go?"

"I didn't think you'd care."

"Care?" he roared. "I will never care about an Omega who brought shame to my bloodline!"

"Then sever the contract, Alpha Theodore." I looked him dead in the eye. "That's my only request."

"God, this house is finally going to be rid of the Omega stench!" Celia cried out at his side. "Alpha, just grant it! She's disgraced our name long enough!"

"No." My father's voice was ironclad. "I will never let an Omega wander around out there, tainting our pack."

"Then where do you intend to throw me?" I asked, though I already had a feeling I knew the answer.

He cast me a single glance, his eyes cold, as if looking at some object to be discarded.

"The Blood Moon pack. Alpha Dominic needs a breeder."

My blood froze solid.

Alpha Dominic. A name used to frighten children in every pack. They said no she-wolf had ever walked out of his tower alive.

My own father was about to sell me to that devil.