Kyra's POV.
I woke up before the sun, my heart already moving too fast. For a moment, I didn't know why then I remembered that the Moon Match was tonight.The thought sat heavy in my chest,not excitement exactly,something closer to fear the kind that makes your stomach tight.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the house breathe around me. I shouldn't care this much, because girls like me didn't get miracles. But I had waited for this night for years, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop myself from wanting it. this was the first year omegas were allowed to attend tge moon match.
They never let us before, like we did not deserve mates or the Moon's blessing, but the pack was losing numbers and the elders started caring about pups again, so suddenly they remembered omegas existed, and they called it a "new tradition," as if they were doing us a favor.
I did not care about what their actual intentions were, I only cared that I could stand in that hall tonight and maybe, for the first time, someone would look at me and not see me as the wolfless girl but as their fated mate, yes my wolf never came.
In Silver Fang, most people shifted before they were eighteen. When it happened, they said you could feel your wolf all the time, pressing against your skin, guiding you but I felt nothing , just silence and that silence followed me everywhere. I was slower, weaker, always guessing instead of sensing. When others smelled danger or lies, I had to read faces and hope I wasn't wrong and because of that they lowered my rank.
My father was the pack Beta, that should have protected me. Instead, it made me a disappointment people liked to talk about, the Beta's daughter who couldn't shift.
"Omega."
That word followed me like a shadow.
I swung my feet onto the floor and dressed quickly, because if I stayed in bed too long the house would wake, and I would have to face my stepmother and Laura and all the small ways they reminded me I did not belong.
Laura was my twin sister, same face, same hair, same eyes. When we were little, people mixed up our names and laughed. Now no one mixed us up, Laura's wolf was strong, her rank safe, her future bright. Mine was chores , silence and side eyes. Some days it felt like the Moon had made one good twin and one leftover twin.
I slipped out of my quarters with a laundry basket at hand while it was still quiet and headed for the river.
The air was cold, and the ground damp under my feet. This was where omegas washed things that weren't worth dirtying the pack house with.
The water moved slow and dark, quiet except for the soft sound of it hitting the rocks. I knelt and dipped the clothes in, rubbing fabric together until my fingers went numb.
I kept thinking about tonight and about my mate.people said mates didn't care about rank and that they saw what others didn't. I didn't need a perfect future I just wanted out of this life. if my mate wanted me, maybe I could leave this place and maybe I could breathe.
Footsteps crunched behind me and I froze,
I knew that walk, since I had no wolf I had mastered the walks of people around the pack.
Laura stopped close enough that I could feel her presence before I even turned. A bundle of clothes hit my back and slid into the water. " Wash these," she said. "They're for tonight," she said. "Make sure to rinse them well, I don't want them smelling like you."
I looked at the fine fabric floating beside me, I wished I had such dresses too. "I'm already busy," I said, my voice low. She laughed softly and stepped closer. "You're always busy. That's your job."I reached for the clothes, trying to keep them out of the mud. "Find someone else."
I went back to scrubbing, hoping she would get bored and leave sadly she didn't.Her hand shoved into my shoulder without warning, the world tilted and coldness hit me all at once as I fell into the river. Water rushed into my mouth and nose, my body panicked before my mind did. I kicked and flailed, coughing, my dress dragging me down.
I scrambled back to the edge, soaked and shaking, my chest burning as I dragged air in.
My teeth chattered, I could feel my tears build up but I couldn't cry, crying only made things worse.
Laura stood above me, " Awwww look at you shaking like the dog you are. I thought you learnt a few lessons from the swimming lessons I gave you." She yanked my hair and made me face her. "Don't get brave," she whispered. "It doesn't suit you."
My stomach tightened, because of those words.I remembered too many things, this wasn't the first time she did something like this and she had done worse more. She always called it a lesson, I called it hatred.
And worst of all since people failed to tell the difference between her and I, she'd frame me and get away with her evil deeds, while I got punished and locked up. I prayed we did not share the same mate, I did not even know if that could happen, but I prayed anyway, because the idea of being tied to anything Lyra touched made my skin crawl.
By afternoon, I finished chores with hands that stung. Sage found me near the storage rooms with a piece of bread hidden in her sleeve. "Eat," she said softly, pushing it into my palm. Sage was the only person who acted like I was still a girl and not a rank. If she wasn't here, I think I would have gone hollow a long time ago. "I'm nervous," I admitted.
"You should be excited," she said. "This is your chance." I nodded, because I wanted to believe it. When the sun fell, the pack house shifted into a different kind of energy. Wolves moved faster, voices louder. Females braided hair and pinned shiny pieces into place. Males cleaned weapons even though no fight was coming, like their hands needed something to do while they waited for fate.
I dressed alone, I wore the dress I made myself, stitched from leftover cloth I'd saved from mending work. It wasn't ugly, but it was plain, and everyone would know I was an omega the moment I walked in. I smoothed it anyway, because it mattered to me.
In the hall, torches lit the walls, and the air was thick with all kinds of wolf scents warm and sharp. The Alpha sat at the front with the Luna beside him, and on the right stood Sean Valen, the future Alpha of silver fang pack. tall and deliciously handsome. His presence pulling attention without effort.
I had seen Sean before, from a distance most of the time we barely crossed paths. Tonight, something about him made my stomach dip and I couldn't comprehend why.
Sage squeezed my hand once, then let go as the shaman stepped into the circle.
The shaman spoke the rites, calling on the Moon Goddess, calling on the bond that tied mates together. The crowd quieted, but not fully, because everyone was restless, waiting to hear names and pairs began to form. A warrior male and a healer girl. Two mid-ranks who had always looked at each other anyway. Even an omega pair, both crying in shock, clinging like they couldn't believe they were chosen.
My heart beat faster with every name, then the shaman's voice rang out again,"Laura."Laura stepped forward, chin high, already shining like she expected the Moon to hand her the best. The second name came, and the hall went quiet, it was a regular wolf, a low-ranked male, good enough but not special, not someone worthy of Lyra's dreams and demands. I saw Laura's smile freeze.
For one second, relief flooded me so hard my knees felt weak, we didn't share the same mate. Thank the Moon, we didn't share.
Laura's eyes flashed, and she turned her head slowly, scanning the crowd like she was hunting for someone to blame. When her gaze landed on me, something shifted in her expression, like she'd found a new plan.
The shaman lifted his hands again," Kyra." The hairs on my back stood and my heart pounded hard against my rib cage. The whispers started right away, I stepped forward anyway, because I had wanted this day too long to run from it. My palms were sweatier than usual and my chest felt tight, I stood in the ash circle trying to breathe. The shaman's next words dropped into the silence like a rock.
"Sean Valen."
And the hall went still, my mind stumbled, like it couldn't catch up. I looked at Sean his face changed, not with wonder, not with that soft look I'd seen other mates give each other, but with hard disbelief, like the Moon Goddess had just insulted him in front of everyone he ruled. His eyes locked onto mine and in that look, before he even spoke, I understood. Tonight was not going to save me, it was going to break me