My sobs were swallowed by those hollow praises. I reached out for the bridal bouquet on the table, a cluster of white roses and dried herbs. I whispered to the stranger in the marble mirror.
"I am Vespera... stolen from a human mother's arms, marked by a vampire's venom, raised by the cold walls of orphanages. I am the hidden key kept in a porcelain vase. I am Kael's secret ambition, Varg's bloody trophy... a freak bruised between two worlds, crushed between two hates. "
"A freak walking to her own wedding as if it were her funeral—where the crown is a shroud and the perfume is the scent of grave flowers. Where did I come from, and where am I going? What prophecy am I the price for? Into whose Alpha-ambition am I being thrown as fuel? "
"Fate brought me to this manor not as a queen, but as a sacrifice. I would have sacrificed my entire life just to live a simple romance novel. But the only thing being sacrificed is my soul—the only thing that is precious to me, even if it means nothing to anyone else."
The moment my fingers gripped the stem of the bouquet, a roar from outside shook the marble foundations of the manor. First came the sound of an explosion, a massive glass wall shattered into a million shards, mingling with the high-pitched screams of the Omegas. Alberta's freezing wind rushed in, tearing away the heavy scent of perfumes.
But it wasn't just the wind that entered.
Varg's roar echoed through the top floor, right into my room.
"Treachery against my borders!"
The drums went silent. The savage howls of wolves bled into one another. The guttural death-rattles of the guards at the door reached my ears. The bouquet slipped from my hand, the white roses staining red in the blood on the floor.
The Ancient Wolf Council had gathered in haste. The massive bonfire burning in the center heralded not a fragile peace between packs, but an approaching war.
That was the way of wolves. They swore oaths with blood. Peace could last for centuries—wolves were men of their word. Yet, they waited for the breaking of those oaths like a hidden dream. They craved it like the meat of a deer churning in their bellies. Even when full, they were hungry. Even in peace, they searched for "war." They were loyal to their vows, but at the slightest border violation, they knew how to spill blood with a thousand-year-old hatred.
They did not speak much. To them, more than a few words were unnecessary. Reasons did not matter. They lay in ambush, claws unsheathed, waiting for the war orders of the Alphas.
Varg strode through the corridors of his manor, past shattered glass and pools of blood. I was in his arms. Facing him were the seven oldest and most cruel Alpha leaders of the realm. Among them were Kael, carrying the scent of mint and snow like an ambush, and my father, Alpha Kraz, who knew nothing of regret. They wore bear pelts over their shoulders—a display of the strength of the beasts they had hunted. They stood with their shoulders squared, defiant.
I searched my father's gaze for a tiny flicker of affection. I looked for a father who would gaze with tenderness at his little girl, not an Alpha looking at an Omega who was a disgrace to the pack's honor. There was nothing. Could a raindrop not seep through the walls of this man's soul? If I were a raindrop, he would have covered the cracked bricks with his own hands. If I were a puddle to be trampled underfoot, perhaps he wouldn't spit and say, "You have fallen beneath feet." But he would not let me seep through his cracks; he would not let me lean against his wall to catch my breath.
He was here. As always, with his massive frame and graying yellow hair. The silver eyes he had bequeathed to me leaned toward blue. He never looked directly into my eyes. He still didn't. He only looked at the silvery wedding dress I wore. Perhaps if he saw a corpse in a shroud instead of a bride, his stone heart would soften...
The eldest of the Council stood up, his voice cracking the ice with its rasp. When he struck his bone staff against the ground, the entire forest went silent. He wore a bear pelt and held a manuscript bound in deerskin. He ran his fingers over the symbols on the book, which was clearly ancient. He stood there with milk-white, blinded eyes and a heavy scent of damp rot.
"Alpha Varg!" the old wolf roared. "The ink of the ancient laws is written in blood, and today, you have dried that ink! A border violation is an assault on a pack's honor. But your crime is deeper than the soil."
The ancient laws of the Council spilled into the night like a series of curses.
"An Omega cannot be stolen from her pack! This is an insult to the balance of nature. Especially if that Omega belongs to a pack with a bachelor Alpha who has chosen her, this is not a kidnapping—it is a declaration of war!"
Kael stepped forward, an icy blue hatred in his eyes. The mask of the "porcelain prince" was gone; in that moment, he was nothing but an ambitious hunter. It was almost impossible to see him with such a hateful face.
"She was a part of my pack, Varg!" Kael said, his voice echoing through the valley. "You tore her away from me, from the safe haven I built for her. The laws are clear: the penalty for stealing an Omega an Alpha is about to mark is the burning of all your clan's lands and the tearing of your High Alpha rank from your chest with our claws! Vespera is an Omega bound to my pack."
I was pressed against Varg's chest, which burned like an ember. With trembling eyes, I looked at my father, Alpha Kraz. The man watched his own daughter being held like a sacrificial lamb between two Alphas as a cold spectator.
Varg tightened his grip around my waist. His laughter shattered the somber laws of the council like glass.
"Borders?" Varg hissed, straightening his head. "Where I am, the border is where my claws end. You speak of a bachelor Alpha... what Kael kept in that glass vase wasn't a pack member, it was a stolen key! Were your laws written to protect a thief? I will not listen to sermons from senile wolves. Exile yourselves to the forest in honor and pray to the moonlight to let you die."
Varg tilted my chin up. He looked into the eyes of the entire council, and most of all, into Kael's.
"This girl does not fit into your made-up laws. She is neither an Omega nor a pack member. She is the rising of the Black Sun! And if you want to tear my rank from me for her..." Varg roared, his eyes turning completely black. "Then come and try those claws on my throat first!"
Varg was as unshakable as a piece of granite. In his gaze was an unbending honor forged in a harsh winter; on his lips was the mocking poison of a prisoner smiling at his executioner. To Varg, the laws the Council had decorated with century-old fears were nothing but dry sticks to be burned in a fireplace. He hadn't let go of me; instead, he stood before all those old wolves like a banner.
"Laws?" Varg said, his voice like a sword stroke splitting the valley in two. "While you were in your warm homes, philosophizing on deer pelts, we were at the border, guarding your fears. Your laws are nothing but fairy tales invented to protect the weak. You have all become dogs, cowards worse than humans. If you want to see a wolf, look closely at me."
He looked at the council members with mockery, as if scolding children. He took a few steps forward, every footprint he left in the snow was a challenge.
"Stealing an Omega? I stole nothing from her. An Alpha does not consult your rusty seals when choosing his mate. I took that girl from Kael because Kael smelled too much like porcelain to recognize the jewel in his hand. It would be a tragedy for him to delicately take her with a rubber, prosthetic cock. F-ck off,doggy."
Then he fixed his eyes on her father, Alpha Kraz. The intensity in his gaze was enough to make the man's bones ache.
"And you, Kraz... the pathetic shadow who abandoned his own blood to an orphanage, only to come here and speak of that blood's honor. Your honor froze and died long ago on that icy road you abandoned. Do not speak to me of border violations; you couldn't even protect the border you drew across your own daughter's soul."
Varg reached for the hilt of the ancient sword at his waist. This sword was not just a weapon; it was the mark of his pack's role as executioners.
"If your laws want blood, here I am. Whoever can take my head, be my guest," Varg said, without raising his voice but making the entire valley tremble. "But know this: if I declare war, the laws go silent and only the wolves speak. If there is a brave man who wants to take this girl from me, he must tear that 'law' from my chest. But beware—the honor of my pack is buried deeper than your council tables."
When my father, Alpha Kraz, waited for gratitude from Alpha Kael's young and sharp eyes for permission to speak, a small fire of hope burned within me.
"Vespera's wolf never woke up. The prophecy nonsense you seek is not my daughter. Furthermore, there is neither a mark of a seal nor a silver bond of light between you," Kraz stated.
Varg replied with a snarl. "You've gone senile, cowardly Kraz. I am not looking for a fated mate. I am not looking for a bride."
"If you are looking for a breeding Omega like some fucking vandal, she is not my candidate for a mate!" Kael shouted. His eyes reminded me of storms. Kael stood tall. He was looking into my eyes. He was somewhere in my deepest parts. His gaze was just as it was when we ran through the mountains on the edge of the cliff, back when he was a boy just a few years older than me. It was as if he wanted to protect me from all the cruelty and sorrow of the world. As if he wanted to hide my miserable human body somewhere between his ribs and stroke my hair with tenderness.
Varg turned to Kael and flashed that destructive grin from the corner of his lips. He could not tolerate me drifting into dreams while looking into Kael's eyes. He roared, clearly showing he wanted to tear Kael's mint-scented throat apart.
"Kael, are you hiding behind the council so your clean clothes don't get stained with blood? Come and claim this 'key' you say is yours personally from me. But remember, I don't cut penalties with paper—I cut them with steel."