My Mate Traded Me to Rogues for His Mistress

I couldn't do this.

The Elder was still talking, his voice droning on about sacred bonds and Moon Goddess blessings, but all I could hear was the pounding of my own heart. Alexander's hand was ice in mine. The rot-smell wrapped around us both, thick enough to choke on.

This wasn't right. None of this was right.

The words came before I could stop them. "I, Camilla Wells—"

Alexander's head snapped toward me. His eyes flashed that sickly yellow again.

"—reject you—"

"STOP."

The command hit me like a physical force. Not his voice. Something deeper. Older. The Alpha Tone.

My throat seized. The words died on my tongue, trapped behind teeth that wouldn't open. I tried to force them out, tried to finish the rejection, but my vocal cords had turned to stone.

My knees buckled.

I hit the floor hard, the white ceremonial robes pooling around me. The impact jarred my bones, but I couldn't cry out. Couldn't make a sound. My body wasn't mine anymore. It belonged to the command, to the supernatural weight of his authority pressing down on every muscle, every nerve.

I looked up at him through tears I couldn't blink away.

Alexander stared down at me, his expression cold. "You will not embarrass me," he said quietly. "You will not reject this bond. You will accept your place."

I couldn't even shake my head.

The hall had gone silent. I felt their eyes on me—hundreds of them—watching me kneel at his feet like a dog. Like an Omega. Like nothing.

"Continue," Alexander said to the Elder.

The old man hesitated. "Alpha, perhaps we should—"

"I said continue."

The Elder's face went pale, but he nodded. "By the ancient rites, we seal this bond through the mark of claiming..."

No. No, no, no.

Alexander reached down and grabbed my arm, hauling me to my feet. My legs barely held me. The Alpha command still had me locked tight, a puppet with cut strings.

He turned me roughly, exposing my neck to the crowd. His fingers dug into my shoulder, holding me in place.

"This is for your own good," he murmured against my ear. "You'll understand eventually."

Then he bit down.

Pain exploded through my neck. Not the euphoric rush the legends promised. Not the warm, golden connection of true mates recognizing each other. This was fire and acid, burning through my veins like poison.

Because it was poison.

The dark magic in his blood poured into me through the wound, twisting the mate bond into something wrong. Something broken. I felt it trying to take root, trying to bind us together, but it was all jagged edges and corruption.

Tears streamed down my face. I couldn't scream. Couldn't move. Could only stand there while he marked me, while the bond settled into place like shackles.

When he finally pulled back, his lips were stained with my blood.

The hall erupted in cheers.

"The bond is sealed!" the Elder announced, relief clear in his voice. "Alpha and Luna, joined under the Moon Goddess!"

Applause thundered around us. People were smiling, celebrating, raising glasses. They thought my tears were joy. They thought the way I swayed on my feet was overwhelming emotion.

They had no idea.

Alexander released the Alpha command slowly. Feeling returned to my limbs in painful tingles. My throat unlocked, but what was the point? The damage was done. The mark burned on my neck, a brand I'd carry forever.

"Smile," Alexander said under his breath. "You're Luna now. Act like it."

I couldn't smile. Could barely breathe. But I stood there as the pack celebrated, as servants brought out champagne and the Elder prepared for the next part of the ceremony.

The Luna Induction.

They led us to a smaller altar at the front of the hall. The Luna crown sat on a velvet cushion—silver and moonstone, beautiful and ancient. It should have been an honor. It should have meant something.

The Elder lifted the crown. "By the power vested in me, I present to the Silverfang Pack their new Luna—"

Alexander went rigid beside me.

His eyes unfocused, the way they did when someone was mind-linking him. His jaw tightened.

"What?" he said aloud, though the person on the other end couldn't hear him that way. "Now? Are you sure?"

A pause. His expression shifted to something like panic.

"I'm coming."

He turned to the Elder. "Stop. There's an emergency."

The old man blinked. "Alpha, we're in the middle of—"

"Jemma's pup is sick. I have to go." Alexander was already moving toward the side door, not even looking at me. "We'll finish this later."

"But the crown—"

"Later!"

He was gone. Just like that. Leaving me standing at the altar with the Elder holding the crown awkwardly, with the entire pack staring.

Whispers started immediately. Low and vicious.

"Did he just leave?"

"For the Omega?"

"On his mating night?"

"Poor thing. How humiliating."

The Elder cleared his throat. "Perhaps... perhaps the Luna would like to rest before we continue?"

He was trying to be kind. Trying to give me an escape.

But there was no escape. Not from the mark burning on my neck. Not from the twisted bond I could feel pulling at my chest. Not from the fact that my mate—my fated mate—had just abandoned me at the altar to run to another woman.

I reached out and took the crown from the Elder's hands.

It was heavier than I expected. Cold. The metal bit into my palms.

"No need," I said quietly. My voice came out steady somehow. "I can wait."

I stood there holding the crown I was supposed to wear, wearing a mark I never wanted, while the pack whispered and my mate chose someone else.

And I realized with perfect, terrible clarity that this was only the beginning.