Throne Of The Broken Bond

Elara’s POV

Birthdays in the Highborn Pack always felt like loud storms, chaotic, and full of energy that didn’t belong to someone like me. Tonight was no different. The hall glittered with lanterns and golden streamers, laughter echoing beneath the high ceilings as pack members celebrated the future Alpha’s twenty-first birthday.

Aiden Varyn.

Everywhere I looked, someone was calling his name, raising a drink, or shifting briefly into their wolves to howl in celebration. The air smelled of wine, roasted meats, and too many perfumes mixing together. It made my head spin, but Omegas like me didn’t have the luxury of stepping outside until our work was done.

I tightened my grip on the tray of drinks and tried to ignore the flutter in my stomach. I had spent years trying to make myself invisible around Aiden, but the universe never made it easy. Even now, I felt his presence like a warm flame I shouldn’t get close to.

“Elara,” Mira, the head of the servants, whispered sharply from beside me, “You will get in trouble, move faster. The elders at the head table are waiting.”

“Sorry.” I murmured, forcing my legs forward.

As I crossed the hall, my eyes rose instinctively, stupidly, toward the raised platform. Aiden stood in the center of it, surrounded by admirers. Taller than most, broad shoulders, dark hair falling messily over his forehead, he looked like the moon had carved him with too much attention. And he hated every second of tonight.

His jaw was tight. His smile forced. His glass barely touched.

“He looks miserable,” I whispered under my breath.

“Who wouldn’t?” Mira muttered. “When the entire Pack is waiting for your mate's bond to activate on your birthday… again.”

She wasn’t wrong.

At twenty-one, every Highborn wolf should’ve sensed the spark of their mate. Some got it earlier. Some exactly on their birthday.

Another year. Another failure in the eyes of the Pack.

I lowered my head quickly when his gaze unexpectedly swept over the crowd. But for a brief heartbeat, I felt it, his eyes lingering on me.

Aiden Varyn didn’t see Omegas unless they were in his way. He was taught to acknowledge that we were below him.

But Aiden was different, he was nicer than any highborn I had ever seen.

I made my way toward the side corridor to drop off the empty tray. My hands were shaking by the time I slipped through the doorway into the quiet, empty hall. The sound of the celebration dulled behind me, replaced with silence.

I pressed a hand to my chest. “Just breathe Elara,”

“Running away already?”

I turned slowly. Aiden stood halfway down the corridor, slightly unsteady on his feet. The buttons of his shirt were undone at the top, revealing the hard lines of his chest. His eyes were darker than usual, darker than I’d ever seen.

“I wasn’t running,” I said quietly. “Just working.”

He scoffed. “You always say that.”

My brows pulled together. “Because it’s true?”

He walked closer. The smell of wine clung to him, but beneath it was his scent, something that caught my attention. Which was strange.

“Everyone’s looking for you,” I said carefully.

“Let them.” His jaw clenched. “I needed air. And quiet. And… not them.”

Ah. So he had escaped. Just like I did whenever I could.

“You should be in there,” I whispered. “They’ll expect a speech soon.”

“Why?” His voice cracked with bitterness. “So they can pretend they still believe in me? So they can wonder why the moon keeps denying me what every Alpha gets?”

The pain in his voice hit deeper than I expected.

“Alpha Aiden…” I hesitated. “Your mate will come. Maybe not tonight. But—”

“Don’t.” He stepped closer until my back gently pressed against the wall. “Don’t say what everyone else says.”

My breath caught. His nearness did things to my body I’d spent years suppressing.

He raked a hand through his hair. “I’m tired of pretending I’m fine. I’m tired of smiling for them. I’m tired of feeling like the moon made a mistake when it made me.”

He looked broken.

And that was more dangerous than anger.

“Alpha,” I whispered, “you’re not a mistake.”

His eyes snapped to mine.

“Then why does it feel like everything about me is wrong?”

Because he was hurting. Because he was lonely. Because his destiny was crushing him. Because even an Alpha could bleed inside without showing it.

I touched his arm gently. “It’s not wrong to feel lost.”

For a moment, neither of us moved. His breathing slowed. His eyes softened.

“Why are you always here, Who are you? " he whispered, almost surprised.

“I..I am Elara Fighlo,”I whispered back.

Something shifted then, with him, with me, with the air between us. A fragile thread pulling tight.

He reached up, brushing a loose strand of hair from my cheek. His fingers lingered. My heart hammered so loudly I was sure he could hear it.

“I’m drunk,” he murmured.

“I know.”

“I’m hurting.”

“I know.”

“And you’re the only person here who feels real.”

My throat tightened. “Aiden, maybe you should—”

He cut me off by leaning in, his forehead resting against mine. “Tell me to stop.”

I should have but I didn't.

“Aiden…”

His lips brushed mine gently and every part of me ignited like it had been waiting for this exact touch since the day I learned his name.

His hand slid to my waist, drawing me closer, and his kiss deepened, desperate.

The world outside faded. There was only his breath against my skin, my trembling hands on his chest, and the raw ache in his kiss.

“Aiden…” I whispered against his lips, “this isn’t right. Kissing an Omega is–”

“Forbidden? Says who?” he murmured, “but I want this. I want… you.”

My heart broke and bloomed at the same time.

I shouldn’t have let it happen. But it felt too good.

And when he pushed the door to the empty storeroom open behind me pushing me in slowly, I didn’t say no. Not even once.

Just when he placed his hands on my boobs, we heard a sharp gasp from the hallway.

But when we broke away from each other's lips, no one was there.

Aiden stood up slowly, his eyes still filled with desire.

“Someone had seen us,”

Elara's POV

"We shouldn't still be here," I whispered.

Aiden didn't look particularly concerned. That was the thing about Alphas, consequences had a way of landing on everyone else first.

"Whoever it was is gone," he said simply.

"Gone isn't safe," I murmured, keeping my eyes low. "Alpha, please. If someone saw us—"

"They saw me speaking to a servant," he said. "That's all."

I said nothing. Because he was right, for him, that was all it was. For me, it was a different story entirely. But it wasn't my place to explain that, and it certainly wasn't my place to make my fear his problem.

"You're still shaking," he observed.

I pressed my hands against my dress. "I'm fine, Alpha."

He studied me for a moment with curiosity. It made me want to disappear into the wall.

"How long have you served here?" he asked.

The question was so ordinary it almost startled me.

"A few years, Alpha."

"And in