Sienna's POV
The study was darker than I expected.
Floor to ceiling shelves held books that probably cost more than my aunt's entire house. A massive desk sat in the corner and Alpha Kade gestured for me to sit in the chair across from it. I did, keeping my back straight but my head slightly bowed. The perfect balance between respectful and submissive.
I'd practiced this my whole life. Being exactly what people wanted to see.
"Tell me about your family," Kade said, settling into his own chair like he had all the time in the world to study me.
I felt his eyes on my face and my stomach twisted. This was where the lying started. This was where I became the girl Evangeline had promised him.
"My mother died when I was young," I said softly. "My aunt Evangeline raised me. She has two daughters, my cousins. They're older." I kept my voice gentle. Sad in a way that made people feel sorry for you. "Growing up without a mother was hard but my aunt was kind."
The word kind felt like poison on my tongue.
"Your aunt was very eager to have you married off," Kade observed. Not a question. A statement.
"She wanted what was best for me," I lied. "A chance at a good life. A position of respect."
Kade leaned back in his chair and something flickered across his face. Something that made me think he didn't believe a single word I was saying. But he just nodded like he accepted it.
"And what are your expectations for this marriage?" he asked.
This one I knew how to answer. Evangeline had drilled it into me for weeks before the carriage ride. The perfect words. The perfect tone. The perfect Omega bride.
"I'm here to serve you, Alpha. To give you heirs. To help your pack in whatever way you need." I kept my eyes down, focused on my hands folded in my lap. "I don't expect anything except the honor of being your mate."
"Interesting," Kade said, and something in that single word made my pulse spike. "That's exactly what your aunt told the Council you'd say."
I didn't know how to respond to that so I stayed silent. Stayed small. Stayed exactly where I was supposed to be.
Kade stood up and walked around his desk. My body went rigid. Every instinct I had was screaming at me to run. To get away. To protect myself from whatever was about to happen.
But I couldn't run. Omegas don't run from their Alphas.
"Look at me," he said, and it was an order wrapped in velvet.
I lifted my eyes to his face and felt like I'd been hit with something physical.
He was close now. Close enough that I could feel his power radiating off him like heat from a fire. It pressed against my skin and made breathing difficult. It made every nerve in my body sit up and scream that I was in the presence of something dangerous.
Something that could destroy me if it wanted to.
"Your aunt said you were compliant," Kade continued, stepping closer. "That you understood your place."
"I do," I whispered.
He reached out and touched my arm. His fingers wrapped around my wrist and the moment his skin made contact with mine, I felt it.
The crack.
It was like ice breaking under pressure. Like something solid splintering into pieces. The false Omega scent that had been layered on my skin my entire life suddenly flickered. Weakened. For just a second I felt my real scent trying to push through.
I yanked my arm back and stood up so fast the chair scraped loudly against the stone floor.
"Forgive me, Alpha. I'm so tired from the journey." The words tumbled out of me in a rush. "I think I need to rest. Would that be alright?"
Kade's expression changed. His eyes narrowed like he'd caught me in something and was trying to figure out what it was.
"Of course," he said finally. "Jasper will show you to your room."
I practically ran out of that study.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs. My arm where he'd touched me was still burning. I could feel my real scent underneath the mask like it was trying to claw its way out.
Jasper was waiting in the hallway like he'd known I'd need to escape. He didn't ask questions, just led me up the stairs to a room that was bigger than my aunt's entire kitchen.
The moment he left, I locked the door and pressed my back against it.
What was happening to me?
I'd worn the false Omega scent my entire life. It was supposed to be permanent. My aunt had said it was magic. Old magic that would hold forever. That would keep me hidden and safe and exactly where I needed to be.
But it wasn't holding.
I touched my neck where the mark was and felt it. The crack was spreading like a spiderweb. The scent that had defined me since birth was deteriorating.
And the man downstairs had felt it.
Alpha Kade Ravenswood had put his hand on me and immediately sensed that something was wrong. That I wasn't what I pretended to be.
I walked to the mirror and stared at my reflection. Same dark hair. Same pale skin. Same green eyes that looked terrified.
But when I really looked, when I paid attention to the details, I could see the change starting. My eyes were getting brighter. Less afraid. More like something else was waking up underneath the scared girl.
I lifted my hair away from my neck and examined the scent mark. It was still there but it looked faded now. Like a stain that was finally washing away.
How long before it completely disappeared?
How long before the real mark, the one I was supposed to have, the one I couldn't even imagine yet, started showing?
How long before Kade figured out that his Omega bride wasn't an Omega at all?
I sat on the bed and my hands started shaking. Not from fear. From something else. Something that felt almost like anticipation.
When Evangeline had warned me about what would happen if my power woke up, I'd believed her. I'd believed that war would come. That people would die. That Kade would turn on me the moment he understood what I was.
But as I sat there alone in this room that was bigger than anything I'd ever owned, feeling the mask crack further with each breath, I realized something.
I didn't want to keep the mask anymore.
I didn't want to be the small, broken girl. The servant who faded into the background. The Omega who was supposed to submit to everything.
Something inside me was done with that.
Something inside me wanted to stop pretending.
And the scary part was that Alpha Kade Ravenswood seemed like he wanted that too.
I could see it in the way he'd looked at me when the scent cracked. Not disgust. Not fear. Interest. Hunger. Like he was looking at a puzzle he wanted to solve.
Like he wanted to know what I really was just as much as I was starting to want to become it.
The realization hit me like a physical blow.
I was falling for him.
Or something was happening that felt like falling anyway. Some pull toward him that didn't make sense. Some connection that had nothing to do with the marriage my aunt had forced and everything to do with the fact that he'd touched me and immediately understood there was something underneath the lie.
That he'd wanted to know what it was.
I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. My neck was still burning where he'd touched me. My arm was still tingling.
And somewhere inside me, the real Sienna was waking up.
The one I'd buried under years of pain and submission. The one my aunt had tried so hard to keep hidden. The one that didn't belong in this world at all.
It was only a matter of time before she pushed through completely.
Only a matter of time before everyone in this territory felt what I really was.
And when that happened, when the mask finally shattered completely, Alpha Kade Ravenswood was going to have to make a choice.
He could either try to control what I was becoming.
Or he could stand beside me while I became it.
And as I lay there in the dark, feeling my power hum underneath my skin like a second heartbeat, I realized I was terrified and hopeful in equal measure.
Because I had no idea which choice he would make.
And somehow that uncertainty was the most thrilling thing that had ever happened to me.