Chapter 2

Elara Foster POV

After an hour, the door to my room was thrown open.

Rough hands dragged me off the floor, shoving me into a cheap, scratchy white lace dress.

Without a single blessing, I was dragged out of the estate and practically tossed into the Blackwood Pack's carriage like a bag of unwanted trash.

By nightfall, the heavy oak doors of the Blackwood Pack House's Luna Suite closed behind me.

The room was vast and beautifully decorated in shades of grey and pearl, but utterly devoid of warmth.

The large fireplace remained unlit.

On a side table, an unopened bottle of champagne sat in a crystal ice bucket, the melting ice a stark symbol of my uncelebrated arrival.

Dusk turned into late night.

"He isn't coming," Nia, my loyal servant, paced the sterile room, wringing her hands. "It's your first night, my lady! The whole pack will think you're a laughingstock. They say the Alpha is an insane monster, consumed with a Rogue incursion, but to ignore his mate..."

"Breathe, Nia," I said softly, moving toward the small kitchenette attached to the suite.

I didn't have an inner wolf to howl for my mate, but I had my memories.

I knew Kaelen wasn't just a volatile monster; he was drowning in the agony of his curse, his inner wolf agitated and violent.

I pulled a small pouch of dried herbs from my bag—a specific blend I had prepared.

I brewed a steaming mug of the infusion, the air filling with my natural scent of wild hyacinths mixed with a powerful, calming valerian root.

"Take this to the command center," I instructed, handing the mug to Nia. "Give it to Beta Marcus. Tell him it's for the Alpha's headache. Do not take no for an answer."

Nia looked doubtful but hurried out.

I sat on the edge of the pristine, untouched bed and waited.

I knew the moment Marcus brought that mug into the high-tech command center, the scent would cut through Kaelen's haze.

It would speak directly to his tormented beast, offering a sliver of the peace he hadn't felt in years.

Twenty minutes passed.

The sterile smell of new linen in my room suddenly shifted.

The air pressure dropped violently, making the hairs on my arms stand up.

A powerful, frosty scent of Siberian cedar and snow bled under the doorframe, heavy and suffocatingly dominant.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the silent hallway, stopping right outside my door.

The brass handle clicked.

The heavy oak door swung open, and the temperature in the room plummeted instantly.

Kaelen stepped over the threshold.

He was a mountain of a man, his broad shoulders filling the doorframe.

His piercing ice-blue eyes swept over me—cold, detached, and entirely devoid of affection.

Behind him, the senior Omega servant, Hattie, trembled so violently that the fresh towels in her arms nearly fell.

The other maids kept their eyes glued to the floor, terrified of the lethal predator that had just entered their midst.

"Out," Kaelen commanded.

His voice was a low, gravelly rumble that vibrated right through my chest.

Hattie and the maids scrambled out without a word, pulling the heavy door shut behind them.

The click of the latch sounded like a gunshot in the suffocating silence.

Kaelen didn't look at the massive bed.

He didn't spare a glance at the champagne chilling in the corner.

He paced toward the unlit fireplace, keeping a deliberate, rigid distance between us.

"The tea bought you this conversation, Elara," he began, his tone entirely devoid of warmth. "But do not mistake my presence for a consummation of this farce."

I kept my gaze lowered, wrapping my arms around myself to play the part of the intimidated bride.

"I know why your family sent you," Kaelen continued, his voice hard. "A wolfless Omega to fulfill a broken pact. Let me make this completely clear. I do not need a mate. I do not want a mate. I need a mother for my late Beta's three orphaned pups—Jaxon, Asher, and Leo. They need stability."

He turned to face me, his jaw clenched. "Here are my terms. You will have the title of Luna. You will have the absolute protection of the Blackwood Pack. In exchange, you will raise those boys as your own. But I will never touch you. And I will never mark you. Do not harbor any foolish, romantic fantasies about this arrangement."

He waited, his muscles coiled tight.

He was expecting the hysterics.

He was waiting for the tears, the begging, the shattered dreams of a young bride realizing she was trapped in a loveless, un-Marked union with a so-called monster.

I dug my fingernails into my palms, forcing a sheen of unshed tears to my eyes.

I let my shoulders slump, shrinking into myself until I looked utterly defeated.

"I understand, Alpha," I whispered, my voice trembling perfectly. I slowly sank into a deep, submissive curtsy. "I am just a wolfless Omega. To be granted your protection and not be beaten... I am grateful to the Moon Goddess. I will protect Jaxon, Asher, and Leo with my life."

Silence stretched across the room, heavy and thick.

I peeked through my lashes.

Kaelen was staring at me, his brow furrowed in deep confusion.

My sheer compliance baffled him.

He searched my face for any sign of deceit, anger, or hidden ambition, but all I offered him was the hollow resignation of a girl who had been bullied her entire life.

"See that you do," he finally muttered, his voice tight with unresolved suspicion.

Believing he had successfully established the boundaries of our sterile arrangement, Kaelen gave me one last, unreadable look.

Then, he turned his broad back to me, his hand reaching for the brass doorknob to leave the suite.

"Alpha, wait," I called out.