Chapter 2
771words
It clawed at the clouds, perched atop an eternally frozen peak, glowering down at the vast sea of pine that stretched beneath it.
Two stone-faced guards "escorted" Ella from the black armored vehicle.
The mud and rain had frozen against her skin, turning each step into a thousand needle pricks.
They marched her straight into the great hall.
Inside, roaring hearths and thick fur carpets mocked the bitter cold outside. Dozens of predatory eyes locked onto her, blazing with undisguised contempt and hatred.
Karen Wolcoff stood at the hall's far end, his rain-soaked cloak replaced by a simple black shirt and pants. His aura remained overwhelming, but he kept his distance—as if she carried some deadly plague.
"Take her to the West Tower," he commanded without sparing her a glance. "She doesn't leave her room until she learns her place."
"Karen," a sharp female voice cut through the silence, "you're actually letting this thing live inside our walls?"
Ella turned to see a tall warrior woman striding forward. Flame-red hair framed her face, her lithe body wrapped in black combat leathers, twin daggers gleaming at her hips. Her aura radiated power—the strongest female Beta Ella had ever encountered.
"She's an Omega," the warrior purred, sliding to Karen's side with familiar ease. "She'll stink up the place. Throw her in with the other servants where she belongs."
Karen's golden eyes flicked coldly toward her: "Seraphina, the contract demands it. She must carry the Luna title."
"An Omega Luna?" Seraphina's laugh cut like glass, echoed by snickers throughout the hall. "Karen, we'll be the laughingstock of the entire North!"
"Enough." Karen's voice barely rose, yet all laughter died instantly. His command froze the very air in their lungs.
He turned to Ella, his eyes glacial: "I'll say this once, Omega. Your only duty is to be invisible. Cause me trouble, and I'll snap your neck myself—contract be damned."
Ella's heart plummeted. She lowered her head, every ounce of willpower focused on controlling her trembling limbs.
They dragged her through endless corridors—opulent yet suffocating—before shoving her into a chamber atop the West Tower.
The door slammed shut behind her, locks clicking into place.
Ella slid down against the cold door. Her "prison" was luxurious beyond imagination—velvet drapes, plush carpets, even a private bath. Yet everything felt as cold as a tomb.
Despair crashed over her like a tidal wave.
She'd fallen from the bottom of one pack into a far darker abyss. Here, she was the enemy, a contractual burden, and worst of all—a disgrace to her destined mate.
She curled into the corner as tears finally broke free. Why would the Moon Goddess be so cruel? To give her a fated mate who had every reason to despise her very existence?
Her inner wolf whimpered and howled, wounded to its core by her mate's rejection.
Yet amid this crushing despair, something strange stirred within her.
As hours passed, Karen's scent—blizzard winds and black pine—drifted faintly through the room. He was somewhere in this fortress, not far from her.
Her whimpering wolf gradually calmed at that scent. Just being near her Alpha brought a pathetic, twisted sense of peace.
Ella hated herself for it.
Meanwhile, in the Alpha's chambers within the main tower…
Karen Wolcoff's fist crashed into the solid oak desk. Wood splintered with a sickening crack.
"OUT!" he roared at his cowering Betas.
They fled like rabbits before a wolf.
Karen ripped at his collar, stalking the room like a caged beast. Since touching that Omega, his inner wolf had descended into maddening fury.
It couldn't understand.
Why was its other half—its MATE—so close, yet forbidden to claim and mark?
"OURS!" his wolf snarled, not in rage but with primal possessiveness. "Bring her here! She is OURS!"
"She is NOTHING!" Karen growled back. "A disgrace!"
"SHE—IS—MATE!"
The wolf's will hammered against his skull until pain exploded behind his eyes. Burning restlessness surged through his veins, his legendary control crumbling by the second.
The harder he fought to reject the bond, the more savagely that primal desire clawed back from the depths of his soul.
His vaunted power—for the first time in his life—began to fracture.
Karen stalked to the window, golden eyes cutting through snow and darkness toward the distant West Tower.
He knew she was there. That frail, pale creature who had somehow set fire to his sanity.
"Behave yourself, little mouse." He whispered into the darkness, threat dripping from every word. "Or I swear, you'll curse the day the Moon Goddess breathed life into you."
