After My Mate Drugged Me, I Ran with His Beta

The forest floor was cold beneath my knees, damp earth seeping through my torn jeans. My hands trembled as I pressed them against the ground, trying to steady myself, trying to find that spark inside me that everyone said should be there.

"Shift, Norah." Cassius's voice cut through the clearing, sharp and impatient. "We don't have all day."

I closed my eyes, reaching inward for the hundredth time today, searching for my wolf. For Sasha. The name had come to me in a dream years ago, whispered like a promise I couldn't quite grasp. But now, like always, there was only silence where she should be.

The Rogue wolf circled me, its lips pulled back in a snarl. The pack warriors had captured it three days ago, and now it was my test. My tenth trial. Take it down in wolf form, prove I could protect the pack, prove I deserved to stand beside an Alpha.

Prove I wasn't worthless.

"I'm trying," I whispered, hating how small my voice sounded.

A searing pain ripped through my gut, so sudden and vicious that I gasped. It felt like my insides were twisting, like something was clawing at me from within. Anxiety, I told myself. Just anxiety. I'd felt it before every trial, this crippling sensation that made my body betray me at the worst possible moment.

The Rogue lunged.

I threw my arms up instinctively, a pathetic human gesture against supernatural teeth. Time slowed. I could see the yellowed fangs, smell the rancid breath, feel the certainty of failure crushing down on me like a physical weight.

Then Gamma Ryan was there, his massive gray wolf slamming into the Rogue mid-leap. The crack of bone echoed through the trees as two other warriors joined him, tearing into the threat with practiced efficiency. Within seconds, it was over.

I was still on my knees, arms raised, frozen in my uselessness.

"Pathetic." Bria's voice drifted from where she stood beside Cassius, just loud enough for me to hear. "Ten times, and she still can't shift. What kind of wolf can't even find their animal?"

The kind that's broken, I thought. The kind that doesn't deserve to be here.

Cassius said nothing, but I felt his disappointment like a physical blow. After seven years, I'd learned to read every micro-expression, every subtle shift in his posture. Right now, he was disgusted.

The walk back to the pack house was a blur of whispers and pitying glances. By the time we reached the main clearing, the entire pack had gathered. Word traveled fast when the Alpha's promised mate failed. Again.

Cassius mounted the dais with Bria trailing behind him like a shadow. She wore a fitted black dress that hugged every curve, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders. Everything about her screamed confidence, power, worthiness. Everything I wasn't.

"Norah Carter." Cassius's Alpha Tone rolled over the crowd, and every wolf present straightened instinctively. "Step forward."

My legs moved without my permission, carrying me through the parted crowd until I stood at the base of the dais, looking up at the man the Moon Goddess had chosen for me. His jaw was set, his golden eyes cold.

"Kneel."

The command slammed into me like a physical force, and my knees buckled. I hit the ground hard, the impact jarring through my bones. Around me, I heard the collective intake of breath from the pack. An Alpha could command any wolf to kneel, but to do it to your fated mate, in public, was a deliberate humiliation.

"For seven years," Cassius began, his voice carrying across the silent clearing, "I have given you chance after chance to prove yourself worthy of standing beside me. Seven years of patience, of waiting for you to awaken the strength that should be your birthright as my mate."

Birthright. The word tasted like ash in my mouth.

"But you remain weak. Useless." He paused, letting the words sink in. "An Omega who cannot shift is no Luna. You will remain in this pack as my companion, but you will never bear my mark. You will never lead beside me."

Bria's hand rested on his shoulder, a possessive gesture that made my stomach turn. Her smile was small, satisfied.

"Do you understand?" Cassius demanded.

"Yes, Alpha." The words scraped out of my throat.

He dismissed me with a wave, and I stumbled to my feet, keeping my head down as I fled through the crowd. Behind me, I heard him begin discussing pack business as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn't just shattered what little dignity I had left.

That evening, I found myself outside his study. I don't know what I was thinking—maybe that I could apologize, promise to try harder, beg for one more chance. The door was slightly ajar, warm light spilling into the darkened hallway.

"The dosage was perfect today." Cassius's voice, relaxed and amused. "Did you see how she clutched her stomach? The wolfsbane paralysis looked exactly like a panic attack."

My hand froze on the doorframe.

"You're brilliant," Bria purred. "Seven years and she still hasn't figured it out. How much longer are you going to keep this up?"

"As long as it takes. She's too useful to let go, but too weak to actually make Luna. This way, I keep my fated mate close—which satisfies the traditionalists—while you and I can build the real power alliance this pack needs."

They laughed together, the sound of it drilling into my skull like broken glass.

Wolfsbane. In my morning tea. For seven years.

My failures weren't mine at all. They were manufactured. Orchestrated. Every humiliation, every moment I'd hated myself for being weak, every time I'd wondered what was wrong with me—it was him. It had always been him.

I backed away from the door on numb legs, my heart hammering so hard I thought it might break through my ribs. The hallway tilted, and I pressed my hand against the wall to steady myself.

Seven years of poison. Seven years of lies.

And I'd believed every single one.