"THE REBELS!"

A blood-curdling scream echoed through the quiet hall, instantly drowned out by the heavy thuds of clashing steel and the sharp crack of gunpowder.

My eyes immediately snap open as my body lurches forward in my bed, my chest heaving as a violent cough tears through my throat. My limbs feel soft and completely useless, as if I am still trapped by the weakness of the chronic childhood illness that kept me locked away in this tower until my eighteenth birthday.

For twenty years, I have been the hidden, fragile shame of the Royal Alpha family. I am an Alpha prince with zero knowledge of politics, zero self-defense training, and zero understanding of how the court works. I don't know why the kingdom runs the way it does, nor do I understand why these Omegas are rioting or what they are even fighting for.

The only thing my father ever drilled into my head is a single terrifying truth. The rebels are wicked Omegas, and they want to kill me and my family.

"Rebels." The word leaves a bad taste on my tongue.

This is not the first time they have attacked, but this is the first time they have managed to reach the inside of the palace itself.

"Hide the prince!"

Another shriek echoes right outside my door. My blood runs cold, chills rattling down my spine. I scramble across the mattress, but my weak legs buckle immediately. I fall hard against the floor, while the silk sheets tangled around my ankles like a trap.

But dtill, forcing myself up on trembling knees, I drag my body to the door and press my ear against the wood. The air filtering beneath the crack is thick and dizzying.

The scents mingling in the air are a mixture of intense emotions. Terror, fury, and blood. So much blood. But beneath it all is a strange, blended aroma of hope.

'Hope for what?'

There is no doubt that the guards assigned to my door are already dead. My teeth grit in absolute frustration at my own uselessness. If only I could fight like a true Alpha.

Hurriedly, I pull a decorative ceremonial sword down from the wall display. It is far too heavy for my hands, but its cold weight is the only shield I have.

I throw the door open and peer into the dark corridor.

'I am a true alpha. I won't hide anymore.' I screamed in my mind. But the sight outside my room makes me freeze.

Bodies littered on the hallway. The carpet feels sickeningly wet beneath my bare feet. I stop, tremblingly trailing the blunt edge of my sword up the face of a corpse.

My face gone pale. It is one of our new Beta recruits, the one who had once clumsily spilled a juice on my hair, his throat completely torn open, blood pooling across the floor.

But right next to him lie other bodies dressed in tattered, non-imperial gear. A bitter sound leaves my lips as my eyes well with tears. Some of them are those rebel Omegas. They risked their own lives just to hunt us down. 'Why? What did we ever do to them?'

Realizing how vulnerable I am out here, I scramble backward into my chamber to lock the door. If those assigned to protect me are already dead, I am next.

'Don't be a reckless idiot now. You can't even lift this simple sword without struggling.' I scolded myself for being so reckless earlier.

My hands tremble as I lock the door, but as soon as it is done, a heavy, unfamiliar metallic scent fills the room. My body freezes as I realize that I am not alone. There is someone else here.

From the corner of my eye, I see a shadow moves from the darkness behind my bed.

Before I can even raise my heavy weapon to defend myself, a pair of ice cold strong hands lock around my throat. The grip is a vice. With terrifying ease, the intruder slams me backward against the wall, knocking the remaining breath completely out of my lungs.

My ceremonial sword clatters uselessly to the floor. I am entirely pinned, unable to move a single muscle against his suffocating, dominant strength.

"Don't move," a low, dangerously voice commands.

The sharp, freezing edge of a silver dagger presses directly against my throat. I look up through the dim light, my heart pounding like a trapped bird.

The assassin wears a stark white veil, obscuring the lower half of his face, but his scent gives him away instantly.

A male Omega. But he doesn't smell like the weak, submissive Omegas my fathet always told me about. His scent is different, predatory, and something dangerous.

My breathing becomes even more labored as I realized my situation. I am going to die tonight. At the hands of a rebel Omega.

And not just any rebel, but their leader, judging by the tattoo on his dagger.

Tears stream from the corners of my eyes. His grip is tight and strong. Desperately, I carefully writhe against him. Since I cannot move recklessly because, aside from his strength and my lack of skill, he has a blade pressed against my neck.

But as I writhe against his hold, my hand suddenly slips, brushing directly against the exposed skin of his wrist.

Pain.

A sudden, blinding flash of white-hot pain shoots through my body. It doesn't strike my neck or my hands, but instead, it pierces directly into my lower right ribs, searing into my flesh just above my waist like a branding iron.

Pinned against the wall, I let out a painful, breathless gasp.

Across from me, the dominant Omega rebel violently stiffens. His strong grip on my throat vanishes as he stumbles backward, his own hand flying to his back.

A sharp hiss escapes from behind his veil. He clutches his spine, his eyes wide with an emotion I never expected to see in a rebel.

Shock and disbelief. Neither of us moves. The air between us shifts, charged with the sudden heat throbbing inside our skin. He looks down at me, his knuckles trembling as he stares at the fragile Alpha he just pinned to the wall.

He could kill me right now to end whatever this pain is. He should kill me right now.

Instead, he slowly lowers the dagger.

My throats tightened. "W-wait," I try to stop him, carefully and nervously as I realizes his plan.

But he ignored me. Without a single word, he steps back into the shadows, he throws open the balcony doors, and vanishes into the chaotic bloody night.

'He just left...'

I collapsed to the floor, my waist searing with the fire of his brand. I had spent my life praying for strength, but the universe had a sick sense of humor.

I had finally found my mate.

And he was the man who had come here tonight to kill me.