The Omega who became Queen

CHAPTER ONE: The Luna That Never Was

Aria's POV

The wind was cold that morning, sharper than usual, like the world itself was warning me. I stood by the gatehouse, fingers aching as I gripped the tray of herbs I'd collected from the eastern gardens before dawn. Elina Rivers, my childhood friend was on the other side, plucking the herbs from the tree. "Can you be fast about it, you know my alpha would soon be back, I can't miss it for anything," I shouted at her. "You know it's so difficult to do this, you didn't wake me when you plucked yours so stop complaining already, I'm only helping you, or else your soon to be mother in law would make sure your life becomes a living hell today" She responded. I sighed and looked at the sky, she was right, Luna Mira Darius does not like her and always finds a chance to frustrate her everytime. The air was still, unnaturally as if the pack was holding its breath. Something was wrong. I could feel it, a tremor in the bond, a chill in my bones that had nothing to do with the weather. Kael was returning today. My mate. My Alpha. He'd been away for six months on some diplomatic conquest, a merger of packs, a claim over disputed territory, whatever excuse he'd given the elders to vanish without a word of farewell. I waited every day for a message, a whisper through the bond, something... anything. But silence was my only companion. That, and the stares. The pack had changed in his absence. Without Kael to remind them of my place beside him, the werewolves began to forget or pretend to forget that I would be their Luna. They called me "omega" again, made me clean their boots, barked at me like I was nothing. I held my head high, reminded myself of the promise he'd made to me beneath the moonlight all those years ago. "You're mine, Aria. Fated or not, I choose you." I had carved those words into my heart. So why did they now feel like lies? The horns sounded near midday, three sharp blasts that made my heart thunder. The Alpha had returned. I dropped the tray, not caring as glass shattered across stone. I ran, feet flying over the cobbled paths, hope screaming through me. "Hey wait for me," I heard Elina shouting behind me, but I ignored her. He was back. Everything would be okay now. He'd put them all in their place. He'd see how they treated me. He'd pull me into his arms, and the bond would sing again. The pack had congregated at the main hall entrance. A sea of werewolves, all in their best clothes, even those who hadn't bothered with decency in months. I made my way through them. Ignored the glares, the muttered curses. Luna Mira Darius, Kael's mother hissed at me, she wanted to say something but she shifted her attention to her son. And then... I saw him. Kael dismounted from his black horse like a vision from my dreams. Tall, powerful, every inch the Alpha. My heart squeezed tight at the sight of him. Gods, he hadn't changed a bit, those ice-blu eyes solid as stone, the arched brow slashed across his face giving him an arrogant look that would've made any other man ugly... dark blond hair windswept and tousled. But something was different. The way he held himself. The way he didn't look for me. He didn't even notice me. Because his arm was around another woman. She stepped down beside him like a queen claiming her throne. Blonde hair fell like liquid silk to her back, violet eyes glowing unnaturally in the light of the midday sun. She was perfection, looks just like a goddess carved from ice. Kael turned to the pack. "This," he said, voice strong, "is Seraphina Vale. My fated mate." My world stopped. I didn't breathe. I couldn't. His words were nails in my lungs, razors down my spine. I think my vision blurred then; I thought I might faint. But I didn't. I just stood there like a statue, frozen as the crowd went wild. The fated mate. Not me. He met my eyes, just once, and I saw the apology in them. The guilt. But he said nothing. He didn't explain. Didn't acknowledge what we had, what I'd sacrificed, how I'd waited and endured. Instead, he walked past me, past his Luna with the witch on his arm, to his mother, like I was a servant beneath his notice. And that's when I knew. I was no longer Aria Quinn, the woman he promised forever. I was an omega again. A mistake. I stumbled away, hands shaking, vision swimming with tears I refused to let fall in public. I made it to the healer's hut before the sobs ripped from my throat. Elina followed me and didn't say anything, she just comforted me, telling everything would be okay. I gave this pack everything. And they gave me nothing. The days that followed were worse than death. My room in the Alpha's wing was taken. The new "Luna" no, I couldn't say it. Seraphina, moved in like she'd owned the place all along. The pack openly laughed at me now. Some spit in my path. Others called me a fraud, a liar. They said the Moon Goddess had chosen a real Luna now. Kael? He said nothing. Not even when I was reassigned to the kitchens. Not even when his warriors made me scrub the floors where I once dined as their equal. Every day I saw him with her. The way she clung to him, like she knew I was watching. The way he let her. It broke something inside me. One night, I walked to the Moonstone Altar, high above the cliffs. The stars were bright, uncaring in their brilliance. I fell to my knees before the stone where our ancestors prayed, and I screamed. "Why? Why was I not enough?!" The wind howled in reply. I cried until my body shook with it. Until I had nothing left inside me but a hollow ache. And then I felt it, snap. The bond. It severed. Not by his words, not by a formal rejection. By abandonment. Kael had chosen someone else in his heart, and the Moon had listened. It was over. I collapsed into the snow, the cold seeping into my bones, wishing it would take me. But it didn't. Because death would have been too kind. They came for me at dawn. Two guards, eyes cold and cruel. They accused me of theft, treason, conspiring against the new Luna. Lies. All of it. I screamed, I fought, but no one believed me. They dragged me before the council. Kael, his mother, Luna Mira Darius, seraphina was there. He didn't look at me. "This is a mistake!" I shouted. "You know me. I've done nothing!" "Silence, omega," one of the elders barked. "She's a danger," Seraphina said sweetly, her voice like poisoned honey. "She tried to attack me in my sleep." I gaped. "You're lying!" Her smile widened. "And now, she resists judgment. How... unfortunate." They sentenced me to exile by moonfall. A polite term for what it truly was. An execution. They would leave me in the Frostfang woods. No supplies. No defense. Just wolves. Rogues. Death. I was thrown into the dungeons to await the moonrise. I didn't cry. Not this time. I sat there in the cold stone cell, back straight, heart numb. And that's when he came. Not Kael. A stranger. Tall, cloaked in black and with eyes like pools of molten gold - everyone stared at him as if he was some sort of god. "Aria Quinn," he said, his voice like thunder if it were wrapped in silk. I didn't answer. I stared. "You don't belong here," he continued, stepping forward. "You are not meant to die in chains." I laughed bitterly. "That's all I've ever been. An omega in chains." He knelt before the bars. "You are more. So much more. And I have come to collect what the Moon tried to bury." I swallowed. "Who are you?" The man smiled, slow and dangerous. "King Ronan Thorne," he said. "And I do not bow to fate. I rewrite it." The door shattered. And the world I knew, burned behind me.