TRIPLE ALPHA’S FERAL GROOM

"Stop breathing like a winded horse, Kaelen," Vesper snapped.

KAELAN'S POV

The silk was too tight, and I stood like a statue in the center of the dressing room, my breath coming in shallow, ragged hitches. I was vibrating with a frantic, nervous energy I couldn't suppress. She was a wall of a woman, a Beta who had forgotten what it was to have a heart as she held a pair of silver shears, snipping a stray thread from my sleeve.

"I'll breathe however I want, Vesper," I hissed, my voice raspy from the suppressants. "Maybe if you hadn't cinched this corset so tight, I wouldn't have to struggle for air."

"It's not a corset. It's a ceremonial vest," she corrected, her voice flat. "And you'll wear it because the High Alpha doesn't like wrinkles and he wants you looking perfect when he claims you."

"He wants me looking like a doll," I spat, glancing at my reflection. I looked like a ghost draped in white silk. "Does he want me to keep the vacant stare, too? Or should I practice my 'grateful' face?"

Vesper stepped around to my front, her eyes hard. "Most Omegas would kill for a seat at Valerius's table. You're being mated to the most powerful Alpha in the Northern Quadrant, and you're acting like a bratty pup."

"A seat at his table?" I let out a jagged, bitter laugh. "I'm not a guest, Vesper. I'm the centrepiece. I'm the main course. Tell me, does he plan on seasoning me before he breaks me, or does he prefer his Omegas bland?"

"Keep talking like that, and I'll have Thorne increase the dosage," she threatened, moving to adjust the lace at my wrists. "You won't even remember your own name by the time you reach the altar. Is that what you want? To be a vegetable in a white suit?"

"I'd rather be a corpse," I whispered. "At least a corpse doesn't have to listen to your voice."

Vesper's jaw tightened. She stepped back, giving me a shove toward the mirror. "Check your hair. He'll be here any second."

"Which 'him'?" I mocked. "The man who thinks he bought me, or the monster who's going to use me as a breeding machine?"

"Kaelen—"

"No, really, Vesper. Do you ever get tired of it? Dressing up the sacrifices? Does it make you feel powerful to hold the leash for a man who wouldn't even look at you if you were on fire?"

The door clicked open before she could answer. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as the scent of Sandalwood and Expensive Wine flooded the space.

"Vesper," a deep, smooth voice commanded. "Leave us."

High Alpha Valerius stepped in and walked toward me, his footsteps silent on the plush carpet. He stopped inches away and reached out, his hand cupping my jaw with a grip that was just a fraction too hard.

"You look beautiful, my little wolf," he whispered. "Finally, I've put a leash on the sun."

"You haven't put a leash on anything," I snarled, trying to jerk my face away. "You've just bought a very expensive suit for a prisoner."

Valerius smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "A prisoner who will learn to love his cage. You're so full of fire, Kaelen. It's what I paid for, and I'm going to enjoy watching that spark die out in my bedroom."

"You're disgusting," I spat. "Do you think the council will still respect you when they find out you had to drug your mate just to keep him from clawing your eyes out?"

"The council will see a happy, submissive Omega," he said, his thumb tracing my lower lip. "Because by tonight, you'll be begging for my touch. You'll forget there was ever a world outside these walls. You'll be mine. Body, soul, and wolf."

"I will never be yours," I growled.

"We'll see," he murmured, his face moving toward my neck. "But first, a private mark. I want the scent of me to be the only thing the guests can smell on you."

My heart hammered against my ribs. My hand drifted toward the small of my back, touching the silver hilt of the ceremonial dagger hidden in my waistband. "Are you going to bite me now, Valerius?" I asked, my voice trembling with a mix of terror and lethal intent. "Right here in the dressing room like a common animal?"

"I'm going to do whatever I want with what I own," he growled against my skin.

He leaned in, his mouth opening, his fangs beginning to drop and revulsion surged through me, burning through the suppressant fog.

"I told you, Valerius," I whispered, my voice finally finding its bite. "I'm not a sun. I'm a wildfire."

I pulled the blade. "What—?" he started, but it was too late. I drove the silver upward and It sliced through his jacket and sank into his side. Valerius let out a choked, wet sound. He stumbled back, clutching his wound as the white silk of his suit bloomed with a deep, dark crimson.

"You..." he gasped, his eyes wide with shock. "You little... b*tch. You stabbed me."

"Happy wedding day," I spat, my eyes glowing gold. "I hope you bleed out on this expensive carpet."

"GUARDS!" Valerius bellowed, falling to one knee. "BRING ME HIS HEAD! VESPER! THORN!"

I sprinted for the French doors and burst onto the balcony and the cool mountain air hit me like a slap and I heard the doors behind me fly open.

"He's on the balcony!" Vesper's voice screamed. "Don't let him jump!"

"Try and stop me!" I yelled back, climbing onto the stone railing.

I looked down at the three-story drop. Below me was the forest the dark, jagged wall of pine.

"Kaelen, get down!" Thorne's voice joined the fray, sounding more annoyed than worried. "You're ruining the schedule!"

"F*ck your schedule!" I screamed, and I leaped.

The wind tore at my white coat as I plummeted. Branches slapped my face, needles tore at my skin, and the world became a blur of green and brown. I hit the forest floor with a sickening thump that knocked the air from my lungs. I lay there, staring at the moon.

Everything f*ck*ng hurt, but I was finally outside.

"Find him!" Vane's voice echoed from the balcony above. "I want him alive, but I don't care if he's broken!"

I scrambled to my feet, my ankle screaming in pain. I turned and ran into the dark. "Keep running, little wolf!" I heard Vane shout, followed by the terrifying sound of wolves shifting. "I love a hunt!"

I didn't look back. I ran until the white silk of my suit was brown with mud and stained with my own blood. I wasn't a prize anymore. I was prey, and I was going to make them bleed for every inch they gained.

"Don't stop," I wheezed, my voice barely a shadow of a sound against the roar of the wind. "Keep moving, your pathetic piece of—"

The rain wasn't just falling; it was punishing. It turned the mountain dirt into a treacherous slurry that swallowed my feet and threatened to snap my already throbbing ankle with every step. My lungs were burning, each breath a serrated blade of cold air that tasted of ozone and my own exhaustion.

“F*ck it” I cursed again, ripping, my face slamming into the mud. I stayed there for a heartbeat, the cold soaking through the shredded remains of my white silk wedding shirt. My wolf was clawing at the inside of my ribcage, begging to be let out, but the suppressants were still a heavy, oily sludge in my blood. I couldn't shift. I was stuck in this weak, bipedal form, wearing the uniform of a slave.

I forced myself up, wiping the muck from my eyes, and through the shifting veil of the storm, I spotted a cabin. It was a rugged, dark-timbered f