The Medina Pack house was a sea of red, every corner adorned with the trappings of an impending **Mark Ceremony**. Louise Bennett, the Alpha's chosen Luna, was to be celebrated, and the entire pack buzzed with excitement. **Omegas** hurried in and out, carrying crimson robes, silk ribbons, and the finest decorations. I overheard whispers from the **deltas** as they passed:
"The Alpha has spared no expense for our future Luna. He ordered the most exquisite gown from the renowned designer, Celeste Barnes. He said Louise shouldn’t lift a finger for her own **marking**."
I paused, a pang of bitterness tightening in my chest. Memories of my own **marking ceremony** flooded back, unbidden. When Taylor Medina had claimed me as his mate, it had been rushed, almost an afterthought. I had spent weeks sewing my own gown, my fingers calloused and bleeding from the needlework. Meredith, his mother, had deliberately dimmed the lights in my room, forcing me to strain my eyes in the flickering candlelight. By the end, I could barely see.
Taylor had been remorseful when he saw the toll it had taken on me. "I was careless," he had said, his voice heavy with regret. "This was my fault, and I’ll make it up to you."
But he never did. Instead, he poured his attention into Louise, the woman who was now to be his Luna. He spared her every inconvenience, every hardship. He had never treated me with such care. Perhaps, I thought, leaving had been the right choice. There was no need to linger on what could have been.
Louise, with her **Alpha's aura**, wasted no time asserting her dominance. She ordered me around mercilessly in the days leading up to the ceremony—kneeling for hours, copying ancient texts, massaging her shoulders, serving her tea. I complied without protest, my head bowed in submission.
"Just endure it," I told myself. "A few more days, and Lawson will come to take me away."
But I hadn’t anticipated how far Louise would go. Her cruelty knew no bounds, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could bear it.
