Daemon's POV
I couldn't stop shaking.
My hands trembled as I stood in the garden, surrounded by congratulating friends and approving pack leaders. Everyone was celebrating my "smart decision" to reject the unsuitable Omega. Vivienne had her arm wrapped around me like a victory trophy. My father nodded from across the crowd, finally looking proud.
And I felt like I was dying.
The corrupted mate bond was poison in my veins, burning through my body with every heartbeat. My wolf was howling so loud I could barely hear the conversations around me. Every instinct screamed at me to run after her, to take it back, to fix the terrible thing I'd just done.
But I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Could only stand there and pretend I was fine while my world collapsed.
"That was perfect, darling." Vivienne pressed closer, her voice sickeningly sweet. "Everyone saw you choose me over that pathetic little Omega. Your father must be so proud."
I wanted to shove her away. Wanted to scream that she wasn't my mate, would never be my mate, that every cell in my body was screaming for the girl who just collapsed bleeding in Professor Nightshade's arms.
Instead, I smiled. "I need a drink."
I pulled away from Vivienne and walked back into the Ball, heading straight for the bar. My friends followed, slapping my back and making jokes about "dodging bullets" and "knowing my place in the hierarchy."
They had no idea. None of them understood what I'd just done. What I'd just lost.
"You okay, man?" Marcus appeared beside me, the only one who looked concerned instead of celebratory. "You look like you're about to pass out."
"I'm fine," I lied, downing a shot of whiskey that did nothing to stop the burning in my chest. "Just tired."
"Daemon—"
"I said I'm fine!" The words came out sharper than I meant. Several people turned to stare. I forced my expression back to neutral, back to the perfect mask I'd worn my entire life. "Sorry. Long night."
Marcus studied my face, then lowered his voice. "That was your mate, wasn't it? The Omega girl. I saw your face when the bond snapped. You felt it."
My hands clenched around the empty glass. "Doesn't matter what I felt. It matters what I did. I rejected her. It's done."
"But the bond—"
"Is corrupted now. Poisoned. Exactly what happens when you reject your true mate." I grabbed another drink, suddenly desperate to feel something other than this agony. "My father was right. Bloodline purity matters more than some random biological connection. I'll marry Vivienne. I'll lead my pack. Everything will be exactly how it's supposed to be."
Even saying the words made me feel sick.
Marcus opened his mouth to argue, but a commotion near the entrance cut him off. Campus security was escorting someone out—a Beta with bright red hair who was yelling and trying to fight his way back in.
Red. The Omega girl's friend.
"You're a coward, Blackthorn!" Red shouted across the ballroom. Everyone stopped talking. Stopped dancing. All eyes turned to watch the scene. "She's worth a hundred of you! And when you realize what you threw away, it'll be too late!"
Security dragged him out. The doors slammed shut. Silence filled the room.
Then Vivienne laughed—high and mocking. "How dramatic. As if that little Omega was special in any way."
Something in me snapped.
I turned to look at Vivienne—really look at her—and saw what I'd been too blind to notice before. The cruel twist of her smile. The cold calculation in her eyes. The way she'd enjoyed watching another woman suffer.
This was who I'd chosen. This was who my father wanted me to marry. This was the "perfect" mate I was supposed to spend my life with.
And she was nothing compared to the girl whose name I didn't even know.
"Excuse me," I said, setting down my glass. "I need air."
I walked out before anyone could follow, heading away from the Ball, away from the crowd, away from everything. My wolf was tearing me apart from the inside, furious and agonized and completely out of control.
I'd made the biggest mistake of my life, and I knew it.
But it was too late. The rejection was public. My father expected me to follow through. The entire territory had watched me choose duty over my mate.
I couldn't take it back without looking weak. Without destroying my reputation. Without admitting I'd been wrong in front of everyone who mattered.
Unless...
My phone buzzed. A text from Marcus: Dude, you need to see this.
He'd sent a link to a social media post. Someone had uploaded the rejection video from multiple angles, and it was already going viral. Thousands of views. Hundreds of comments.
I scrolled through them, my stomach twisting with each one I read.
Poor girl. She looked terrified.
That Alpha is trash. Who rejects their mate for politics?
I go to CMU. That Omega works three jobs and maintains a 4.0. She's amazing and he's an idiot.
But one comment made me stop cold:
Look at her eyes in the third video angle. Right before she collapses. They flash GOLD. Omegas don't have gold eyes. What is she really?
I clicked on the third video link, my hands shaking again. The angle was from someone standing to the side, capturing the moment right before the rejection fully hit her. I watched her face as the pain started—watched her eyes go wide with agony—and saw it.
Just for a split second, her storm-gray eyes flashed brilliant gold. Alpha gold.
That was impossible. Omegas had gray or blue eyes. Betas had brown or green. Only Alphas had gold.
But she wasn't an Alpha. Everyone knew she was Omega. She had Omega scent, Omega status, Omega everything.
Unless she was hiding.
My phone rang. My father's name flashed on the screen. I answered immediately, years of training making it automatic.
"We need to talk," he said, voice tight. "Get to my office. Now."
"What's wrong?"
"Just get here. This is urgent."
The line went dead. I stared at my phone, then at the frozen image of the Omega girl—my mate—with impossible gold eyes.
Something was wrong. Something bigger than just a rejected mate bond.
I ran to my car and drove to my father's office building in the pack territory, breaking every speed limit. The lights were on when I arrived. My father stood at his desk, staring at papers spread across the surface. When he looked up, his expression was thunderous.
"Do you know what you just did?" he demanded.
"I rejected an unsuitable mate. Exactly what you told me to do."
"Unsuitable?" My father's laugh was harsh, bitter. "That 'unsuitable Omega' just became the most valuable unmated wolf in this territory. And you humiliated her in front of everyone."
My blood went cold. "What are you talking about?"
He shoved a paper across the desk. I picked it up, scanning the words, not understanding at first. Then I saw the name. The pack lineage. The DNA confirmation.
The Omega girl wasn't an Omega at all.
She was Isla Silvermoon. The lost heir to the Silvermoon Pack. The most powerful Alpha bloodline in history, thought to be extinct for eight years.
And she'd been hiding right under everyone's noses, living as a fake Omega to stay safe.
The paper crumpled in my fist.
"How long have you known?" I whispered.
"I found out thirty minutes ago. Someone sent me proof anonymously." My father's voice was ice. "But it doesn't matter. The damage is done. You publicly rejected the Silvermoon heir, Daemon. Do you understand what that means?"
I couldn't speak. Couldn't think. Could only stare at the paper proving that my mate—the girl I'd thrown away like garbage—was actually the most powerful, most valuable, most politically important wolf I could have possibly found.
And I'd destroyed her in front of the entire world.
"Every unmated Alpha in five territories will pursue her now," my father continued. "They'll offer her everything we can't anymore. Protection. Respect. A mate who won't reject her." He leaned forward, eyes burning. "You threw away a Silvermoon, boy. You just made the worst political mistake in our pack's history."
The room spun. I gripped the desk to stay upright.
"I didn't know," I said weakly.
"Of course you didn't know. She was hiding. But that doesn't change what you did." My father stood, walking to the window. "There might be one way to fix this. The rejection can be reversed if she accepts your apology before the corrupted bond kills you both. You have maybe a month before the poison becomes fatal. Maybe less."
"She'll never forgive me," I said. Truth settled in my gut like lead. "I humiliated her. Hurt her. Chose status over her. Why would she ever give me a second chance?"
"Then you'll die," my father said simply. "And our pack will lose the alliance with the Silvermoon bloodline forever. So I suggest you figure out a way to make her forgive you, Daemon. Because your life—and our pack's future—depends on it."
He walked out, leaving me alone with the paper that proved I'd just rejected the one person I should have protected above all others.
My mate. My Silvermoon. My future.
And somewhere out there, she was probably planning exactly how to destroy me.
I couldn't even blame her.