I Wore a Collar to Save My Ungrateful Mate

The third day was supposed to be the easiest. It was the finish line. The promise of freedom. My knees were raw against the cold earth of the Shadowclaw garden, and the heavy collar chafed against my neck, but I held my head up.

*Just a few more hours,* I told myself. *Then I get the money. Then Zyon is safe.*

I pictured his face when I would hand him the check. I imagined the relief in his eyes, the way he would finally hug me in public, no longer ashamed. I was saving his life. Surely, that was worth a little dirt on my skin.

"Did you hear something?" A voice floated over the manicured hedges. It was high, melodic, and sickeningly familiar.

My heart stopped.

"Probably just a stray," a male voice answered. A voice that made my soul ache. Zyon.

I tried to shrink back into the shadows of the statue I was chained to, but the chains clinked, betraying me. Two figures rounded the corner, stepping off the stone path and onto the grass. They weren't supposed to be here. This was restricted territory.

Nadia stopped first. She was wearing a tight red dress that hugged her curves, looking every inch the Beta she was born to be. Zyon was right behind her, his hand resting casually, possessively, on the small of her back. Seeing his hand there hurt more than the metal collar.

"Oh my Goddess," Nadia gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. But her eyes weren't filled with horror. They were dancing with amusement. "Zyon, look. It’s the family pet."

Zyon stepped forward. His eyes landed on me—on the collar, the leash, the dirt smudged on my cheek. I waited for him to rush forward. I waited for him to demand my release, to ask why I was doing this. I waited for him to realize I was doing this for *him*.

Instead, his lip curled.

"Disgusting," he spat. The word was a physical blow. "I knew she was desperate, Nadia, but this? Selling herself like a common whore?"

"Zyon," I whispered, my voice raspy from disuse. "Please... the debt..."

"Don't speak to me," he hissed, stepping back as if I were contagious. He looked at Nadia, panic flickering in his eyes. He needed to prove he had no connection to me. He needed to protect his reputation.

I felt the static before I heard it. The pack link.

It wasn't a private message. It was a broadcast. Zyon opened his mind to the entire Silver Moon Pack, dragging them into this garden through his eyes. He projected the image of me kneeling in the dirt, framed by his own revulsion.

*"Look at the slut,"* Zyon’s mental voice boomed in my head, echoing in the minds of hundreds of our pack members. *"Carmen Castillo, selling herself like a dog to the Shadowclaw Alpha. She has no dignity. She is no packmate of mine."*

Silence followed for a heartbeat. Then, the laughter started.

It wasn't audible, but it was louder than a scream. I could feel their mockery vibrating in my skull. My mother’s shame. The warriors' jeers. The Omegas' pity. They were all laughing at me.

My spirit, which had survived years of abuse, finally cracked. I wasn't breaking because of the collar. I was breaking because the man I had sold my soul to save was the one holding the whip.

Nadia laughed out loud, a cruel, tinkling sound. "Come on, Zyon. Let's leave her to her master. She clearly enjoys it."

She leaned into him, and he kissed her hair, smirking down at me.

Suddenly, the air in the garden vanished.

The temperature plummeted, and a crushing weight slammed into the earth. It wasn't wind; it was pure, unadulterated power. An Alpha Aura so potent it felt like gravity had doubled.

Zyon’s smirk vanished. His knees buckled, and he hit the grass hard. Nadia gasped, falling beside him, clutching her throat as she struggled to breathe.

Alpha Holden stepped out from the shadows of the terrace. He wasn't wearing a tuxedo today. He was in black tactical gear, and he looked like the God of Death. His grey eyes were churning storms, fixed solely on the two intruders.

He didn't yell. He didn't even raise his voice.

"You are trespassing," Holden said. His voice was a low rumble that shook the ground beneath us. "And you are boring me."

Zyon whimpered. A warrior of the Silver Moon Pack, whimpering like a pup. Holden took one step forward, and the pressure intensified. I could hear Zyon’s bones creaking.

"Leave," Holden commanded. "Before I decide to fertilize my roses with your corpses."

The pressure lifted just enough for them to move. Zyon didn't look at me. He didn't try to help Nadia up. He scrambled to his feet and ran, abandoning his dignity, his lover, and his mate. Nadia followed seconds later, her red dress a blur as she fled into the night.

Silence returned to the garden.

Holden turned to me. The terrifying aura retracted, pulling back into him until he was just a man again. He walked over to where I knelt.

I expected pity. I expected him to tell me time was up.

He reached down, grabbed the lock of my collar, and twisted. There was a sharp click. The heavy leather fell from my neck, hitting the grass with a thud.

"The contract is void," he said quietly. "You finished early."

He waited for the tears. I could feel him waiting for me to sob, to break down, to act like the broken Omega I was supposed to be.

But the tears didn't come.

I stared at the spot where Zyon had stood. The love I had held for him, the desperate need to protect him... it was gone. Burned away by the acid of his betrayal. In the empty space where my heart used to be, something else was waking up. Something cold. Something angry.

I slowly lifted my head to look at Alpha Holden.

He took a sharp breath, his eyes widening slightly.

"Carmen?" he asked, his voice uncertain for the first time.

I didn't answer. I could feel a strange heat flooding my veins, repairing the exhaustion, knitting together the cracks in my soul. A low growl rumbled in my chest—a sound that didn't belong to an Omega.

In the reflection of Holden’s storm-grey eyes, I saw it. My own eyes weren't brown anymore. For a split second, they flashed a blinding, terrifying silver.