Chapter 1 : The Forbidden Night
“Drink up, omega. You look like you don’t even know what fun is.”
Freda Anderson's fingers trembled. Cassandra Monroe shoved a crystal glass toward her face. The amber liquid nearly spilled over the rim. Cassandra's perfectly painted lips curled into a smile that didn't reach her cold blue eyes.
"I'm working," Freda said. Her voice came out smaller than she wanted. She gripped her serving tray with both hands and held it close like a shield. All around them, the Harvest Moon Festival blazed with music and laughter. Everyone seemed to belong there except her.
"Oh, come on." Delta Rachel giggled from behind Cassandra. "Even omegas get to have a little fun at festivals. Or are you too good for us now?"
Heat crept up Freda's neck. She wasn't too good for anyone. That was the problem. At twenty-three, she sat at the very bottom of the pack. Most people looked right past her.
Others made her a target. Cassandra was the worst of them. She had been tormenting Freda since they were children, whispering in her ear again and again that omegas didn't get to want things. That certain things simply weren't for her kind.
"One drink won't kill you," Cassandra said, her voice going soft and sweet. She pressed the glass into Freda's hand. "Unless you're planning to spend all night staring at him like a lovesick puppy."
Freda's heart lurched. She followed Cassandra's gaze across the clearing to the raised platform, where Alpha Lucian Langford sat alone.
Even from that distance, her chest pulled toward him. Tight and aching, without her permission. That was the cruelest thing about Lucian. He didn't have to do anything. He just existed, and her wolf knew.
Two months. It had only been two months since his father died. Since the whole pack mourned their beloved Alpha and watched his son take over far too young. Since Freda's quiet, secret feelings had grown heavier and sadder. Grief had hollowed him out, and somehow that made it worse.
"I wasn't..." she started, but Cassandra cut her off with a sharp laugh.
"Please. Everyone knows you moon over him. It's pathetic." Cassandra leaned in close. Her breath was hot against Freda's ear. "He would never look at something like you. You know that, right?"
She did know. Of course she knew. Cassandra had made sure of it, year after grinding year. Omegas didn't get Alphas. That wasn't bitterness talking. It was law. Old and absolute, carved into every corner of life in Silverpine. Freda had learned to swallow it the way she swallowed everything else. Quietly. Where no one could see.
"Just drink," Rachel urged. Her voice dripped with false sweetness. "Consider it a gift."
Freda's wolf stirred uneasily inside her. But she was tired. So tired of being pushed around. Tired of being nothing. Maybe one drink wouldn't hurt. Maybe it would help her get through the rest of this long night.
She brought the glass to her lips and drank.
The liquid burned sharper than any wine she had ever tasted. Cassandra and Rachel exchanged a look. Something sly and satisfied passed between them. Before Freda could question it, the world tilted sideways.
"There we go," Cassandra said, her voice already pulling away. "Have fun, little omega."
Heat exploded through Freda's veins. The serving tray clattered from her hands. Her vision blurred. The festival lights smeared into streaks of color. Her skin felt too tight, burning from the inside out. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
She stumbled backward, away from Cassandra's laughter, away from the stares turning her way. Her wolf thrashed in panic, confused and frightened by whatever was now moving through them both.
Get away. Hide. Now.
Freda crashed into the tree line. Branches caught at her dress and hair. The forest swallowed her whole. Moonlight fell through the canopy in silver shafts and made everything look dreamlike and strange.
She didn't know how long she walked. Time had stopped making sense. Her wolf whimpered, searching for comfort, for safety… for something it couldn’t name
Then a scent hit her like a wave.
Pine and cedar. Something wild underneath it. Her wolf surged forward with sudden, desperate purpose. She knew that scent. Had memorized it from years of stolen moments. From serving him drinks. From passing him in hallways. From every single time she had told herself to stop noticing.
Alpha Lucian.
Her wolf wouldn't listen to reason. It pulled her forward, drawn to that scent the way a moth is drawn to a flame. For once, she didn't have the strength to fight it.
The clearing came into view. A small open space where moonlight pooled like liquid silver. And there, slumped against an ancient oak, was Lucian Langford.
He looked up as she stumbled through the brush. Their eyes met.
Everything stopped.
The forest went silent. The whole world shrank down to just the two of them, bathed in moonlight, the Harvest Moon hanging fat and golden overhead. Lucian's storm-gray eyes widened. Recognition. Shock. And something that looked dangerously like hunger.
"Omega," he growled. The word was barely human. His wolf was in his voice, threading through every syllable. "What are you doing here?"
Freda tried to answer. She tried to form words. But the heat was eating her alive. Whatever they had given her had torn down every wall she had ever built. Her wolf was screaming.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
No. That was impossible. It was forbidden. The law existed for exactly this reason. To make sure a moment like this never meant anything at all.
Lucian pushed to his feet. A whiskey bottle slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground. He didn't look away from her. His gaze locked onto hers, dark and dangerous, like something inside him had just broken loose.
He took a step toward her.
Freda's breath caught.
"Don't," she whispered. She wasn't sure if she was warning him or herself.
His jaw tightened. His hands curled into fists at his sides. He was fighting something under his own skin.
"This shouldn't..." he started, but the words died in his throat.
The air between them snapped.
Heat. Light. Pain.
The bond tore through Freda's chest and wrapped around her heart like living fire. Her knees nearly gave out. Something ancient and impossible locked into place.
Lucian's eyes burned molten gold.
He groaned against her mouth. His hands tangled in her hair and pulled her closer.
"Mate," he breathed. His wolf was fully present now, golden light blazing in his eyes. "Mine."
"Yours," Freda heard herself say. Then they were falling together into the soft grass.
The moon watched overhead as something forbidden became inevitable.