His Hidden Omega Walked Away

Salveth Bloodmoor had two front-row tickets to the Blood Moon revel tucked neatly into the breast pocket of his tailored coat. I thought he had planned a surprise for me. I was giddy with anticipation, counting down the nights until the revel. But when the night finally came, I found out he had taken those tickets and gone off on Pack business instead.

With the help of a few connections and a ridiculous number of gold moons, I managed to get a ticket last minute. And that's when I saw it.

On the open ground beneath the moonfire and the pounding drums, he was kissing another girl, deeply, passionately, like they were in the middle of their own love story. Their kiss was so emotional, so raw, that the watchers caught it on a crystal orb and threw the image up across the great screen for thousands of wolves to see.

After the revel, I stumbled across the girl's post on the spirit network.

Sharing a kiss with the love of my life under the Blood Moon… Best Moon Blessing Day gift ever.

The comments were full of blessings and crescent-moon glyphs.

A hundred moons of joy to you both, they said, wishing them a bond that would hold for a hundred years.

Meanwhile, I got hit by a car. His car. When I woke up, I was in a bed in a private Healing Hall on the Pack's payroll, the kind of den where no one asks questions and the corridors smell of crushed wolfsbane and silence. Salveth was sitting beside me, thumbing through a crystal communicator, a soft smile playing on his lips. A smile I had never seen him wear when he was with me. His scent filled the room, obsidian and cold ash, dried clove, old leather gone faintly bitter. It was the same as always. He was not.

I asked, "Who is she?"

Without even lifting his eyes, he replied coldly, "I'm your Alpha. Now that you're awake, just focus on healing."

Then he walked away. No hesitation, no guilt. I turned my head away from the door and called my uncle through the sending-stone.

"Harkon, about that arranged mating bond you mentioned… I'll do it. I'll take him as my mate."

——

There was a long pause on the other end, so long that I almost thought the link had broken. Then came a quiet exhale, followed by an unmistakable sigh of relief.

"Selene, finally," the voice said, concern and satisfaction threading through the words. I could picture him in his den, the ember of his pipe glowing as he tapped the ash with his thumbnail. Three precise strokes, never two, never four. The old oak and pipe-smoke of him almost reached me through the stone. "That wolf kept you hidden in the dark for five whole years. Five years. A male like that doesn't even deserve to run under the open moon."

I didn't respond right away.

"When can you come back?" he continued, his tone shifting, becoming more urgent, more hopeful. "I just reached out to them. They're already asking to set the date for the mating ceremony."

Five years.

Five years with Salveth, and I was always the one tucked away, the one who couldn't exist in the open. No introductions, no acknowledgment, no place in his territory that anyone else could see. I was convenient when he wanted me, invisible when he didn't. In the Bloodmoor Pack, I had been kept off every gathering, absent from every feast night and full-moon run, an Omega who existed only behind closed doors in an Alpha's private rooms, my scent suppressed down to nothing so no one would ever catch the trace of me on him.

Now that he had made it so clear that I meant nothing to him, I didn't see a reason to hold on anymore. If I severed ties with the Pack, I doubted he would even try to stop me.

"The sooner the better," I said quietly, my voice steady despite everything. "I can handle it quickly."

I had barely finished speaking when the door of the Healing Hall opened again.

Salveth walked back in.

Apparently, he had forgotten something.

"Severing ties?" he echoed casually, as if the words had simply caught his attention in passing. His eyes moved around the room as he searched for something, completely unconcerned. A silver lighter turned over his knuckles in that idle, precise rhythm he carried everywhere. "Who's leaving the Pack?"

His tone was light, almost amused, like it was nothing important.

He would have to sign off on it anyway, so there was no point hiding it. I gave a small nod, but he didn't even notice. He didn't lift his head long enough to register my response.

After a moment, he found what he was looking for.

His car keys.

Picking them up, he let out a short, half-laugh. "The healer said you hit your head pretty hard. Might even have some memory loss." He paused briefly, glancing at me with a faint smirk. "Honestly, for a second there, I almost believed it."

My fingers tightened slightly under the blanket. Somewhere deep beneath my ribs, the part of me that had no name yet shrank back, low and silent, refusing even to growl.

"The car…" he added, almost as an afterthought, like it wasn't worth much attention. "It was mine. The lights along the run were dim, and you were staring at your communicator…"

I froze.

So that was it.

That was the explanation. The reason he had said nothing, offered nothing, and treated me like I was nothing more than an ordinary pack-wolf he barely knew.

Ten minutes ago, when he introduced himself as "just my Alpha," his expression had been flawless. Composed. Distant in exactly the right way. There had been just enough concern in his voice to make it believable.

But not even a trace of guilt.