Chapter 2 Awakening and Backlash

I ran from the banquet hall like I was escaping a plague. Behind me, glasses clinked and laughter echoed; in front of me, only cold, lonely moonlight. My wedding dress was a burden now, its heavy skirt tangling around my legs. I ripped off the veil and let it flutter to the muddy ground.

I didn’t stop until I reached the thick forest at the pack’s edge. I leaned against an old tree, gasping for air. My tears had dried, but my throat burned, and my chest felt like it was about to explode.

Carter and Dana’s faces, their cruel words—they gnawed at me like venomous snakes.

“Defective…”

“Just checking a box…”

“Useless…”

“AHHH!” I screamed—hoarse, not quite human, not quite a wolf’s howl. Just raw pain and rage.

Then something impossible happened.

Moonlight swarmed toward me, wrapping around my body. The heat under my skin spiked, hot like magma in my veins. I could hear my bones making soft, subtle sounds—not breaking, but waking up.

I looked down. Silver symbols snaked up my arms, glowing faintly, like they were alive. A wild, powerful energy surged inside me—strange, but familiar.

Was this… a bloodline awakening? I thought I was defective.

Meanwhile, the wedding hall had descended into chaos.

Not long after I left, Carter was toasting guests when his face went pale. He squeezed his crystal glass until it shattered.

“Aargh!” He dropped to one knee, weak as a newborn wolf. His Alpha pheromones—his pride and joy—leaked out like air from a punctured balloon.

“Lord Carter!”

“What’s wrong?!”

Guests swarmed him. Carter’s face was paper-white, soaked in sweat. He looked weaker than a low-rank Omega.

“My power… it’s gone!” He stared at his hands, terrified. He tried to summon his pheromones, but only felt emptiness and pain. It was like a bloodline awakening in reverse—collapsing, dying.

Dana screamed and ran to help, but Carter’s unstable energy threw her to the floor. She looked at him, disgust replacing her shock.

“Backlash… it’s the mate contract backlash!” the oldest pack elder said, trembling. “When a fated mate betrays the other, if the betrayed has a strong bloodline, the ancient laws punish the traitor—strip their power!”

Everyone froze. So Carter’s power was tied to me? The “defective” Omega he’d dumped?

Back in the forest, I felt the power inside me settle. Was Carter’s collapse my fault? Because of that stupid fated mate bond?

This pain, this rage—was it dragging me to destruction… or giving me a second chance?

I clenched my fist, watching the silver symbols fade from my arms. For the first time, even in despair, I felt a flicker of hope.