Zeva’s POV
The hall was too bright. That was my first thought as the guards dragged me forward—two on each side, their grips bruising, their steps impatient. I had been stripped of everything familiar, wrapped in silk that didn’t belong to me, painted and adorned like a doll meant for auction. The gown felt cold against my skin, the colors too loud for someone who had spent her life fading into the background.
And as I crossed the threshold of the Eastern hall, my bare feet brushing the cold stone, I felt every pair of eyes burning into me—mocking, curious, satisfied.
Darian stood at the center, posturing like giving me away was some honorable gesture instead of the cowardice it was. He didn’t look at me as a mate. He didn’t even look at me as a person.
Just an inconvenience finally being removed.
A guard nudged me forward, and I nearly stumbled. My heart thudded against my ribs, my wolf curling deep within me, frightened and silent. The rejection still pulsed in my chest like a wound refusing to close. I shouldn’t have looked up, but some stubborn part of me—the part that refused to die—raised my head.
That was when I saw him.
The Alpha of the North.
Aric Veylor.
His presence hit me first—tall, broad, carved from winter and war. His cloak looked like it was stitched from storm clouds, his eyes cold enough to freeze blood. He didn’t blink when he looked at me. He didn’t soften. His face didn’t shift the way normal wolves’ did when recognizing their mate.
He simply stared.
And then it struck.
A snap, like a lightning bolt through my ribs. A pull so sharp my breath vanished. My knees weakened. My vision blurred. My wolf lunged, claws scraping at my insides.
Mate.
No. No, no—goddess, no.
My fingers curled against the silk, fighting the instinct to fall toward him. My wolf keened in my chest, but I forced her down with every ounce of strength left in me. I couldn’t let anyone see. Not Darian. Not Aric. And certainly not the watching pack members who would relish my struggle.
I swallowed hard and kept my chin up, refusing to show the tremor crawling down my spine.
He shouldn’t have affected me. Not after everything. Not after the rejection, the humiliation, the bruises hidden beneath the fabric. I should have felt nothing.
Yet here I was—breathless, trapped in his gaze, unable to move.
Aric’s jaw tightened, just slightly, like he felt something he didn’t want to acknowledge. The air crackled. His wolf pressed against the edge of his control, visible in the way his fingers twitched.
He felt it.
But instead of accepting it—he rejected the bond without words.
His expression hardened into disdain. Ice replaced instinct. Power replaced connection.
His silence was a blow sharper than Darian’s rejection.
Darian cleared his throat loudly. “As agreed, Alpha Aric, this omega—”
“Omega?” Aric cut in, voice flat, cold. “She looks like she’s been starved.”
Heat flushed across my cheeks. Darian stiffened a fraction, but his fake smile returned.
“She is fragile, but she will serve her purpose.”
Purpose.
As if I were livestock.
A ripple of humiliation tightened my throat, but I kept my expression neutral. I had already cried enough in Darian’s hall. I wouldn’t let these wolves—him—see me break again.
Aric stepped closer, and every part of me tensed. I felt him before I saw him—the coldness rolling off him, the dominance, the raw power in each step.
He circled me once, assessing like a general inspecting spoils of war.
My hands trembled, barely noticeable, but he noticed. He noticed everything.
When he finally spoke, his voice sounded like frost crawling across glass.
“Thin. Underslept. Scars from punishments. Bruises from discipline. Darian, what exactly were you sending me? A breeder bride or a corpse?”
Shame pooled in my stomach. I wanted to shrink, to disappear—but I refused. I kept my spine straight. I forced my eyes to stay ahead, refusing to look at him again.
Darian laughed lightly. “She will improve under your pack’s care.”
Aric made a sound low in his throat, something between annoyance and contempt. Then he turned away from me entirely.
“Prepare her for travel. We leave immediately.”
Travel?
So there would be no farewell, no gathering of my things, no last moment in the pack I grew up in.
No last glance at the home that had rejected me.
I was simply… gone.
The guards grabbed my arms again. I didn’t resist—not because I was broken, but because resistance only gave them a reason to hurt me.
But as they dragged me past Aric, he spoke without looking at me.
“Keep her quiet. I don’t want her crying on the ride.”
“I’m not crying,” I muttered before I could stop myself.
His head turned a fraction. A tiny fraction.
Those icy eyes landed on me again, colder than before.
“Then don’t start.”
Heat prickled behind my eyes, but I forced the tears back. I refused to give him the satisfaction.
**
The journey north felt endless. I was placed on a separate horse, flanked by guards, not trusted enough to ride near the Alpha. Snow replaced the green of the Eastern forests, the air tightening with cold. My breath puffed out in pale clouds.
The Northern border loomed like a wall of white and shadow.
When we crossed it, everything changed.
The land felt alive—wild energy pulsing through the mountains and forests. Wolves howled in the distance, answering Aric’s approach. The cold bit deeper, harsher than I expected, but clearer, cleaner. I straightened as the winds wrapped around me.
My wolf stirred weakly, sensing the ancient magic of the north.
The packhouse rose like a fortress carved into frost and stone. Tall, hardened wolves lined the path, watching me as if they were waiting for me to fall.
“Welcome home, Alpha,” one of them called.
Aric dismounted, barely acknowledging the greeting. “Where is Roxie?”
A woman pushed through the crowd—tall, sharp-faced, with dark eyes that assessed me instantly. Her smirk appeared before she even bowed to Aric.
“Right here, Alpha.”
“Good. This is the breeder bride.”
Breeder.
My stomach clenched.
Roxie stepped closer, her gaze raking over me from head to toe with obvious distaste.
“So this is the little omega from the East?” she said, voice dripping sweetness that tasted like poison. “She looks like a breeze could blow her over.”
My throat tightened. Before I could respond, Aric’s voice cut through.
“Keep her out of my sight until the wedding. Feed her. Clean her. Make sure she doesn’t get lost.”
Lost?
I met his eyes, anger crackling beneath my skin.
I wasn’t helpless.
I wasn’t weak.
I wasn’t owned.
But he wasn’t looking at me anymore. He was already turning away, cloak sweeping through frost, attention shifting to his warriors.
I was nothing but an obligation.
Roxie grabbed my arm. “Come on, little omega,” she sneered. “Let’s get you settled. You have no idea what kind of place you’ve been dragged into.”
I swallowed, lifting my chin.
She could pull me. She could insult me. Aric could ignore me. Darian could throw me away.
But I would not break.
Not here.
Not again.
As Roxie dragged me into the cold stone halls of the Northern fortress, I whispered to myself—
“I will survive this.”
