Buried Alive, Reborn to Rule: The Wolfless Omega's Ruthless Revenge

Clara POV:

I finally stumbled out of the woods, my body screaming in protest. The first light of dawn painted the sky in shades of grey and pale pink. The town was just beginning to stir.

My legs gave out, and I slumped against the cold brick wall of a closed bakery, the rough texture scraping against my back. I was a nightmare made real. Caked in mud and blood, my dress in tatters, my hair a wild, tangled mess. I looked like something the earth had tried and failed to keep.

The few early risers on the street gave me a wide berth, their faces a mixture of fear and disgust. I didn't care. I just needed to breathe.

A carriage, far too ornate for this early hour, thundered down the street, its wheels sending a spray of muddy water from a puddle directly onto me. The cold shock of it was just another misery.

The carriage door swung open. A young man stepped out, dressed in fine, tailored clothes. He was handsome, in a polished, arrogant way that set my teeth on edge. Two guards flanked him.

He took one look at me and recoiled, pinching his nose dramatically. "Gods, is that the Adkins' disgrace? What have you been rolling in now, Clara?"

Butler Gregory. The Alpha King's son, and the man the original Clara had once adored. She had given him every scrap of sincerity she possessed, only for him to mock her devotion and turn it into the Pack's favorite joke.

I felt nothing but a profound, weary disgust.

He chuckled, a cruel, condescending sound. "Trying a new tactic to get my attention? Playing the damsel in distress? Save it. I'm only interested in a true jewel, like Annabella."

A small crowd was beginning to gather, drawn by the spectacle. Their whispers were like the hissing of snakes.

"Look, it's the wolfless Omega."

"I heard she'd do anything to get Prince Butler's attention."

I pushed myself off the wall, my body trembling with weakness, not fear. I slowly lifted my head. My violet eyes, once filled with fawning adoration for him, were now as cold and empty as a winter sky.

My voice was a raw, hoarse whisper, but it cut through the morning air. "I think you're mistaken, Your Highness."

Butler blinked, taken aback. I had never spoken to him with anything but a stuttering blush.

I forced myself to stand straighter, my spine a rod of defiance despite the filth and ruin of my appearance.

"I was blind," I said, each word deliberate and clear. "But now I see. My heart... belongs to another."

A stunned ripple passed through the crowd. The Pack's most persistent fool had moved on?

Butler's face flushed a deep, ugly red. His pride, the only thing he truly possessed, had been wounded. "You? Who would possibly want damaged goods like you?"

I didn't answer him. To make the lie believable, to sell the performance, I let my gaze drift past him, over the heads of the gawking crowd, as if searching for someone.

My eyes scanned the street and then lifted, snagging on a figure in the second-story window of a restaurant across the way.

He was tall, cloaked in the shadows of the room, but the morning light caught the glint of his eyes. They were the color of dark gold, like molten amber, and they held an unnerving intensity. He wasn't just looking; he was dissecting. Assessing.

A jolt went through me, not of attraction, but of pure, primal alarm. It was the feeling of a mouse realizing it had caught the attention of a hawk.

I tore my gaze away, my heart pounding a new, more dangerous rhythm. I couldn't tell how much he had heard, but the steady focus of those golden eyes made me suspect he had noticed my lie—and exactly where I had looked.

Butler, following my gaze, saw nothing but the glare of the sun on the windowpane. His failure to see the powerful figure only fueled his rage. He thought I was mocking him.

"You're making things up!" he spat, his face contorted with fury. He gestured to his guards. "Get this lunatic out of my sight! Throw her in the trash where she belongs!"

The crowd murmured, their gossip already sharpening around me. "Did you see where she was looking? That high-end restaurant..." "Could the 'another' she mentioned be... someone important up there?" The rumor had already begun to spread before either of Butler's guards even touched me.

The guards advanced, their faces set in cruel sneers.

My body tensed. I was weak, but I wouldn't go down without a fight. I prepared to use what little strength I had left, consequences be damned.

Just as their hands were about to grab me, a voice drifted down from the second floor. It was low, lazy, yet it carried an absolute, chilling authority.

"Stop."

Every person on the street froze, including Butler's guards. It was as if the single word had wrapped an invisible chain around their throats.

I snapped my head up, my eyes locking again with the shadowy figure in the window.