ZARA'S POV
Twenty minutes earlier...
My hands shook as I reached for Clarissa's closet door.
This was crazy. If she caught me in her room, she'd make me pay for weeks. And if Marcus found out...
I pushed the thought away. My mate was upstairs. Right now. Waiting for me even if he didn't know it yet.
I had to take this chance.
I pulled open the closet and my jaw dropped. Dresses. Hundreds of them. Silk, satin, lace—colors I didn't even have names for. Some still had price tags on them. Dresses she'd never even worn.
While I had two outfits. Both had holes.
My throat tightened with old anger. We were the same age—she was only one year older than me. But we might as well have lived in different worlds.
I remembered the day she got her first designer dress. I was twelve. I'd been scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees, my fingers raw and bleeding from the harsh soap.
Clarissa had walked right over my wet floor in her muddy shoes, ruining an hour of work.
"Oops," she'd said, not sorry at all. "Guess you'll have to do it again, Omega."
Then she'd spun around in her new pink dress, showing it off to Helena.
"It's perfect, sweetheart," Helena had cooed. "You look like a princess."
I'd looked down at my ragged clothes and wished—just for a moment—that someone would call me sweetheart. That someone would think I looked pretty.
But Omegas didn't get to be pretty. We got to be useful.
I shook off the memory and grabbed a simple blue dress from the back of the closet. It was old, probably from two years ago. Clarissa wouldn't even remember she owned it.
I changed quickly, my heart pounding. The dress was a little loose—Clarissa ate three meals a day while I survived on scraps—but it would do.
I caught my reflection in her full-length mirror and froze.
I looked... different. The dress made my brown hair look less dull. It hid the bruises on my arms. For just a second, I didn't look like an Omega slave.
I looked almost normal.
Then I saw the scar on my shoulder peeking out from the dress. A burn mark from when Marcus had "accidentally" spilled hot coffee on me last month.
I adjusted the dress to cover it. Had to hide all the evidence of what they'd done to me. My mate couldn't see that. Not yet. First, I needed him to choose me. Then I'd tell him everything.
Then he'd save me.
My wolf stirred again, stronger this time.
Hurry, she urged. He's waiting. We need him.
I turned to leave Clarissa's room, but something caught my eye. Her makeup table. Covered in expensive products I'd never been allowed to touch.
I grabbed a brown eyeliner and smudged it under my eyes, trying to make them look less tired and hungry. My hands were clumsy—I'd never done this before—but it helped a little.
There. Not perfect, but better.
I headed for the door, my heart racing so fast I thought it might explode.
I was really doing this. I was going to meet my mate. Everything was about to change—
"What do you think you're doing?"
I spun around.
Helena stood in the doorway, her eyes blazing with fury. She looked at the dress I was wearing, then at Clarissa's open closet.
"You little thief," she hissed.
Time slowed down. I saw her hand rise, knew she was about to hit me. I'd taken so many hits from her over the years. Slaps, punches, once even a belt across my back.
But not tonight.
Tonight, I had something worth fighting for.
I ducked under her arm and ran.
"Get back here!" Helena screamed.
I sprinted down the hallway, my bare feet slapping against the wood floor. I heard her chasing me, her heels clicking fast behind me.
The ceremony hall was just ahead. If I could make it there, if I could get into the crowd, she couldn't grab me without making a scene.
"Marcus!" Helena shouted. "Marcus, stop her!"
No. No, no, no.
I pushed myself faster, my lungs burning. The pull toward my mate was like a rope dragging me forward. So close. He was so close.
I hit the double doors to the ceremony hall and they flew open.
And everything stopped.
Music cut off mid-note. Hundreds of wolves turned to stare at me. The smell hit me first—the mate bond activating, filling the room like electricity.
Every wolf could sense it. The Moon Goddess herself announcing that two souls had just found each other.
My eyes found him immediately.
Garrett Kane stood near the front of the room, and he was perfect. Tall, strong, with dark hair and the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. He wore a black suit that probably cost more than the entire house I'd been locked in.
He was looking right at me.
And for one perfect, beautiful moment, I saw recognition flash in his eyes. He felt it too. The bond. The pull. The certainty that we were meant for each other.
My wolf howled in joy.
Mate! Our mate!
I took a step forward, my legs shaking. This was it. This was the moment I'd been waiting for my entire life.
Garrett started walking toward me. The crowd parted for him like he was a king.
He stopped three feet away from me. Close enough that I could smell him—pine and winter and power. The mate bond pulled so hard I almost reached for him.
"You," he said quietly. Just that one word.
I nodded, unable to speak. Tears filled my eyes. Happy tears. Finally, finally, someone who would see me. Choose me. Love me.
Then Garrett's nose wrinkled. He'd caught my scent. Omega. Weak. Lowest of the low.
His perfect face twisted with something I'd seen too many times before.
Disgust.
"No," he said, louder now. "This is wrong. This has to be a mistake."
Behind him, I saw Clarissa push through the crowd. She wasn't supposed to be here—she should have been in her room—but there she was, wearing a golden dress that sparkled under the lights.
She saw me in her old blue dress. Saw Garrett staring at me with horror.
And she smiled.
Not a nice smile. A cruel one.
"Oh, Garrett," she purred, sliding up next to him and putting her hand on his arm. "You can't possibly be matched with her. She's nobody. She's nothing."
Garrett looked at Clarissa. Then at me. Then back at Clarissa.
I saw the exact moment he made
his choice.
And my whole world shattered before he even said the words.