"That's enough!" my mate thundered. I realized he was watching my reaction to whatever Delta was saying.

If Alpha Ashford also wanted me to shrink back at whatever his Delta was saying, he wasn't going to get to see that. Waking up today, something had changed in me. I wasn't sure if it was because I had found my mate or I was free from the daily assault I was put through in Red Moon, but I was fighting against the instincts of an Omega.

Goddess knew if this was going to speed up me getting kicked out of the pack, but even if that did happen, this time I would maintain my dignity.

It had been trampled on enough the last three years.

"The issue isn't your Omega status," Beta Andrews started, his tone pacifying. "Silver Crescent has a tradition."

I shifted my gaze towards him a little skeptically. I really hoped the tradition was not going to be some freaky thing that mates were supposed to do.

A lot of packs had certain traditions that were sacred to them. Most of those traditions were established during the creation of the packs and had been influenced by their ideologies.

The Red Moon pack held a ritual meant to worship the powerful males in the pack. All the mated females taught the unmated ones how to be the perfect mate to their partners. It was a sight to see when all the males celebrated while getting piss-drunk and the females were left to serve them all night.

It was like they took pride in being misogynistic, male-chauvinist pigs.

As pathetic as their tradition was, it wasn't worse than Blue Creek pack. Their pack's tradition was having new mates complete their bond and mark each other in front of the pack. They claimed that the blessing of the Goddess was a privilege to witness and watching a pure bond purified their souls.

No wonder rejections were the lowest in that pack. It was almost as if they weren't allowed to.

"What is the tradition?" I asked, speaking for the first time.

I felt Alpha Ashford's eyes on me, but I kept mine on the Beta. That didn't stop the heat from crawling up my body, though.

"Silver Crescent prides itself on having the strongest leadership in the territory. For someone to be chosen as Luna, they need to fight the strongest warriors in the pack, and win," Gamma Miller explained.

I could already feel where this was going, and the dread that pooled in my stomach made me feel uneasy. "What happens if they don't win?"

Gamma Miller frowned, and I knew it wasn't going to be good.

"The Alpha is the leader of the pack, and per the tradition, whoever is declared the winner is chosen as the Luna. In your case, if you don't win..." she trailed off, clearly hesitating. Her eyes shifted briefly to my mate and I knew that the answer wasn't going to be favorable. "If you don't win, there might be a chance that it could drive an internal war within the pack. In the history of Silver Crescent, the pack hasn't responded kindly to a Luna who hadn't won the competition."

I let it all sink in, reality weighing heavy on my shoulders.

There was no way I was going to win; I'd never won anything during my whole life in Red Moon. Doubt snuck in. Alpha Ashford would reject me and take a Luna who would do infinitely better than I ever could.

I didn't want to be Luna in the first place, so it was going to be a win-win for us. He would get a strong warrior partner and I would stay a lowly Omega. Maybe I could persuade him to at least let me stay in the pack with our mate bond.

The sinking feeling in my stomach grew twofold at the thought of a woman other than me standing by Alpha Ashford's side.

No, Sere. You know why you can't fight. You don't even have your wolf.

Everyone watched for my reaction.

"I-I can't," I finally said, bowing my head as shame flooded me.

"I knew it," the Delta mocked.

I stole a glance at Alpha Ashford and wished I didn't. I caught a flicker of disappointment in his eyes before he hid it. That didn't help the sickly feeling that was slowly taking over my body.

"The fights are in three months; you still have time. Maybe if we train you—" Gamma Miller began.

"With a dormant wolf? Good luck with that," the Delta interrupted.

I slumped further in defeat.

"Ben, can you try to be a little more understanding towards the situation?" Gamma Miller glared at him, clearly not appreciating his input.

The Delta snorted. "Be understanding of what exactly?"

I tried to tune him out as he started listing out every possible thing wrong with me, but something stirred inside me. The more hurtful words he tossed out, the stronger the feeling became.

I had an overwhelming urge to fight.

Was it because of the mate bond? I'd accepted being a quiet Omega in the Red Moon pack, so why did I suddenly feel like acting on my urges? Like the urge to punch Delta Ben Smithson's face?

I thought about my violet eyes in the bathroom.

No, it couldn't be that. I was just emotional, and it was a hallucination. I'd seen something that wasn't really there.

Something like my wolf's eyes.

Right?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to feel her presence. Anything that would confirm her existence in me. But just like I knew it would be, I was empty. There was no sign of my wolf anywhere inside me.

For the first time in three years, I let that fact crack my heart wide open.

For the first time in years, I let myself feel the pain of losing my wolf.

***

"Until the matches officially begin, you will be treated exactly like other people in the pack. Your basic training will start tomorrow morning. Alpha Kayden doesn't want you to stay in the guesthouse, so you'll stay here," Gamma Miller said as she walked me back to the room I had been staying in earlier.

She stalled at the doorway. "I'll take you around the pack grounds tomorrow. Alpha Ashford is two doors down the hall if you need anything,"

I nodded at her, still in a daze. "Thank you, Gamma Miller."

"Ava," she corrected.

"What?"

"Call me Ava. We don't need the formalities when we're going to be family soon." She winked and walked off, leaving me astonished.

I stepped into the room, feeling more tired than ever. I didn't know if it was the exhaustion of the past few days catching up or if it was my mental duress taking a toll, but my body felt heavy.

I was so used to being treated like trash the past few years that I didn't know how to react to this new world in the Silver Crescent pack.

I had not been ready for Alpha Ashfordthem to accept me. In fact, I thought that Alpha Ashford was just letting me recover so that he could reject me as soon as I woke up. I'd fully expected to receive looks of disgust and revulsion considering my rank and my lack of power, just like it had been in Red Moon.

Other than the obvious contempt Delta Smithson displayed, both Beta Andrews and Gamma Miller—Ava—had been relatively welcoming.

Their acceptance was throwing me off.

I climbed into the soft mattress and sank into the pillow, closing my eyes. A moment later, a heavy knock sounded against my door.

"Who is it?" I called out, not having enough energy to go open the door myself.

There was a pause. "It's me."

I immediately sat up straight when I heard his voice. I cleared my throat before responding."You can come in."

The door opened and revealed Alpha Ashford. He closed the door behind him and stood there, not coming any further. He didn't say anything for a couple of moments. I watched him contemplate something, which made me curious.

I didn't have to wait long to know what was on his mind.

"Would you be open to training for the matches?" he finally said, his words leaving me surprised.

Ava had already informed me that I was going to start the basic training from tomorrow. That was the kind of training that everyone in the pack received regardless of what their role was. It wasn't supposed to be hardcore, just something to enhance survival skills.

From what I had gathered after talking to both the Beta and Ava, was that Silver Crescent was built upon the values of strength, loyalty and equality. For the members of the pack, their mates were not just there to serve and breed pups but an equal half. This ideology had made it important for all the females in the pack to learn how to protect themselves and their families if need be.

So, it was clear to me that Alpha Ashford was not referring to that.

"Why? Do you really think I would be able to defeat your best warriors?"

Alpha Ashford moved his eyes to mine and my breath hitched. His eyes never failed to leave me amazed at how stunning they were. It was like Goddess decided that one blue wasn't enough and that his eyes deserved all the hues that existed.

"I'm just hoping that you would at least try."

His words tugged at my heart but I ignored that feeling. I could not let him control my emotions like that.

With how little was known about him other than his strength and stories of how he made Silver

Crescent the strongest pack in the kingdom, I expected a ruthless and a cold-blooded killer who would abandon his wolfless, weak mate without a second glance.

Him giving me a chance to take my place beside him was something I hadn't imagined in my wildest thoughts.

"Why?"

When he locked gazes with me, his eyes were steely blue, a fire hidden beneath them.

"Because I would rather have my mate with me as my partner than another woman as my Luna."