My Alpha’s Mistress Tried to Burn Me Alive

I stood in the crowd wearing the dress he bought me. Midnight blue silk that caught the light just right. I'd spent hours getting ready, my hands shaking as I pinned my hair up the way I thought a Luna should wear it.

The Mate Ceremony was everything I'd dreamed of for weeks. Candles everywhere. The whole Blood Moon Pack gathered in the clearing behind the Pack House. I was Alice Parker, the Omega who somehow caught an Alpha's eye, and tonight he would claim me in front of everyone.

Xander took the stage in a black suit that made him look like he owned the world. Maybe he did. His dark hair was perfect, his jaw sharp enough to cut glass. When his eyes swept the crowd, I held my breath, waiting for them to land on me.

They didn't.

"Tonight," his voice carried that Alpha command that made everyone go quiet, "I claim my mate."

My heart hammered. This was it.

"Tiffany Crawford, come forward."

The world tilted. Tiffany glided through the crowd in a white dress that probably cost more than I'd earn in a year. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back like she was in a shampoo commercial. She smiled at Xander like she'd already won something.

I stepped forward without thinking. "Xander?"

His eyes finally found me. Cold. Amused.

Tiffany turned, and her laugh was like breaking glass. "Oh, sweetie. You actually thought—" She pressed a hand to her mouth, but the laughter kept spilling out. "Xander, she really believed it!"

The crowd went silent. I felt every eye on me.

"It was a bet," Tiffany said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "We wanted to see if the useless Omega would actually think she could be Luna. And look—" She gestured at my dress, my hair. "She dressed up and everything."

Xander's mouth curved into a smile. Not the soft one he'd given me in private. This one was sharp. Mean.

"An Omega's delusion," he said, and the words hit like a slap. "You should know your place, Alice."

Someone in the crowd laughed. Then another. The sound built until it felt like the whole pack was laughing at me.

I ran.

Two days later, they made me serve drinks at the gala. Punishment for making a scene, they said. I carried a tray of champagne through the Pack House in a server's uniform, keeping my head down, trying to be invisible.

I was good at being invisible.

The balcony doors were open. Cool night air drifted in, carrying voices.

"—ate off the floor," Tiffany was saying. I froze behind a marble column. "Remember? We told her it was a Luna test. Traditional training."

Xander's laugh was low and rich. The same laugh that used to make my stomach flip. "She actually did it. Didn't even question it."

"Pathetic," Tiffany said. "Easy prey."

"The easiest."

The tray slipped from my hands. Crystal shattered on marble. Champagne spread across the floor like spilled gold.

No one came to check on the noise. They were too busy laughing.

I left the mess and walked out. No one stopped me. No one ever stopped me.

My car was a rusted piece of junk that barely started. It coughed to life on the third try, and I drove. No destination. Just away.

The road to Shadow Cliff was dark and winding. Everyone knew about Shadow Cliff. The place where wolves went when they couldn't take it anymore. The river below was famous for never giving up its dead.

I parked at the edge and got out. Wind whipped my hair around my face, carrying the scent of pine and water. The cliff dropped away into darkness, and far below, I could hear the river raging.

I took off my coat—the one that smelled like me, like the Omega they'd broken—and draped it over the railing. Found a scrap of paper in the glove box and wrote two words: I'm sorry.

Sorry to who? Myself, maybe. For believing. For hoping.

The edge was closer than I expected. Gravel crunched under my shoes. The river roared its invitation.

I thought about my grandmother, Elena, who taught me about herbs and flowers before she died. She used to say that some plants only bloomed after fire destroyed everything around them.

Maybe I needed to burn first.

I jumped.

The water hit like a thousand knives. Cold stole my breath, my thoughts, everything. The current grabbed me and pulled me under, and I let it.

Somewhere far away, in a warm room full of important wolves making important decisions, Xander fell to his knees. His hand clutched his chest like something inside had just torn in half.

But I didn't know that yet.

I only knew the water, and the dark, and the strange relief of finally letting go.