The Sins of an Omega who has no Mate

~ZARIA~

The blood hadn't dried on my skin yet.

I could still feel the weight of Darius's eyes on my back, even as I disappeared into the trees. His breath had smelled like copper and arrogance. His touch had been desperate. And that look in his eyes when I walked away?

That wasn’t fear.

It was hunger.

Let them starve.

I didn’t have a destination. Only a pulse. A rhythm. A calling in my bones that told me I wasn’t meant to kneel in any man’s den. The wind tugged at my torn dress, whispering secrets through the branches. The moon was still watching, higher now, like it wanted to see what I’d become next.

A howl echoed behind me.

Darius.

He’d shifted. Calling the others. Rallying them like I was some escaped pup instead of the storm that just ripped their Beta’s throat open.

Fools.

They think this was over?

I wasn’t running. I was hunting.

My old den reeked of silence.

Abandoned long ago burned, rebuilt, and burned again. The stone walls were cracked. The floor was covered in soot and ash. My scent had faded, but not enough. Any wolf who knew me could tell I’d once curled up here like some stupid little girl waiting for her mate to show up.

I stepped into the hollow, inhaled, and spat.

I wasn't that girl anymore.

The silence here wasn’t peace. It was betrayal. It was the sound of packmates who’d looked away while they tore the collar off my neck and tossed me into the cold. My so-called sisters had giggled behind palms, whispering things like “What if she never goes into heat?” and “Maybe she’s not even Omega.”

But I went into heat.

Oh, I went into blistering, sickening, savage heat.

And the Alphas who’d tried to answer it? They didn’t survive the burn.

Not all fires are for warmth. Some are just made to consume.

I walked to the old hearth, fingers brushing a jagged scratch in the stone. I remembered this mark clawed there by me, the night I realized I’d never be claimed. The night I stopped waiting.

I was about to walk away when I heard it.

A low growl.

Deep. Male. Hungry.

I turned slowly, blade already in my hand.

And there he stood.

Levi.

The rogue.

The Beta.

Not part of any pack. Not bound by rules. Not held by heat. Just wild. Dangerous. Dripping chaos.

He leaned in the doorway like he belonged there. Shirt open. Chest heaving. Boots bloodied. That smirk?

Sin incarnate.

“You’re a hard b*tch to track, Zaria.”

I didn’t move. “Try harder.”

He laughed. Gods, that sound. It rolled through the room like smoke.

“You cut down Darius's Beta like he was wet tissue.”

“I gave him the death he deserved.”

Levi stepped forward, boot pressing into scorched dirt. “And what about Darius? Did he deserve to live?”

“I let him.”

“That’s not like you.”

“I’m evolving.”

“Mm.” He tilted his head. “Or playing with your food.”

His gaze dipped. Not subtle. Not ashamed. My dress was still torn, stained with blood and wetness. His eyes tracked my thighs, my hips, the sharp curve of my blade.

“You planning to use that on me, too?” he asked, voice low.

“Depends,” I said, stepping into the moonlight slanting through the cracks. “You planning to use your mouth on me first?”

That got him.

For a breath, everything stopped. The world held its breath. Even the d*mn wolves in the woods went silent.

Then he moved.

Fast.

Too fast.

I was slammed against the stone wall before I could blink, steel and heat coiling around me. His forearm was braced by my neck not choking, but close. His scent was wild berries and thunder. His lips were an inch from mine.

“You’re poison,” he growled.

“You’re addicted.”

His free hand gripped my waist, pulled me against the hard ridge of him. I could feel it throbbing, thick, ready. And yet…

He didn’t move.

Didn’t f*ck.

Didn’t kiss.

He just stared at me like I was a d*mn miracle he wasn’t sure he deserved.

“You’re not in heat,” he whispered.

“No.”

“Then what is this?”

I dragged my hand down his chest, slow, teasing. “This is want, Levi. No bond. No heat. Just raw f*ck*ng need.”

His breath hitched. “You’d let a rogue touch you like this?”

“I’d let a goddamn ghost touch me like this if it meant I stayed free.”

And that did it.

His mouth crushed into mine hot, furious, filthy. Not soft. Not sweet. Just teeth and tongue and heat. His hands gripped my thighs, lifted me, slammed me against the stone. I wrapped my legs around his waist, grinding into him like I was starving.

Maybe I was.

Starving for something real. Starving to remind the world I didn’t need a f*ck*ng mate to feel alive.

Levi kissed like he was trying to brand me.

I bit his lip until he bled.

He groaned. “F*ck, I forgot how insane you are.”

I licked the blood from his mouth. “You love it.”

His hands slid down my *ss, gripping tight. My dress was hiked to my hips now, but he didn’t shove inside me. He just held me there, forehead to forehead, sweat glistening on both of us.

“What are you doing, Zaria?” he asked, voice ragged.

I smiled.

“Starting a war.”

When he left, I didn’t ask him to stay.

I lay back in the soot of my old den, arms folded behind my head, chest rising slow.

The fire between my thighs still burned.

But I’d gotten what I needed.

Not release.

Not pleasure.

Information.

Levi was the first to come. But he wouldn’t be the last.

The Alpha King was watching.

The same one who’d exiled me, years ago.

And now, with his enemies sniffing at his borders and his pack fracturing from the inside...

He wanted his secret weapon back.

Me.

But I wasn’t coming back.

I was coming for his throne.