Omega Overcomes Mate's Plot

The bass pounded through my bones as I balanced a tray of drinks, weaving through the crowded floor of The Midnight Den. Friday nights were always the worst—the night when wolves came to forget their troubles and create new ones.

"Omega! Another round for table seven!" A burly Delta wolf shouted, not bothering to look at me as he snapped his fingers.

I kept my eyes downcast, my wolf whimpering inside me. *We shouldn't have to serve them. We're above this.*

*Quiet,* I told her silently. *We do what we must.*

My mother's dying words echoed in my mind: "Find someone without power, Adele. Someone who will cherish you, not discard you when something better comes along."

I'd found that someone in Carter. Or so I thought.

"Smile, little omega," the Delta sneered as I placed his drinks down. "Maybe if you're lucky, one of us might take you home tonight."

I forced my lips upward, though my wolf snarled in protest. "Thank you, sir, but I'm working."

From across the room, I felt eyes on me. My gaze drifted involuntarily to the VIP section where Carter sat with his friends—wolves I'd never been introduced to properly despite being his mate for over a year.

He wore his usual expensive suit, looking every bit the successful businessman rather than the struggling rogue he'd claimed to be when we met. His dark hair was perfectly styled, his smile wide as he leaned close to a stunning blonde woman beside him.

Felicity Young. The daughter of Shadowridge Pack's Gamma.

I'd seen them together before, but something about their body language tonight sent a chill down my spine. The way she touched his arm possessively, the way he didn't pull away.

"Hey, you!" A Beta wolf snapped his fingers at me. "Clean up this mess."

I hurried over, my knees bending automatically as I picked up the scattered glasses. My wolf howled in protest at the humiliation, but I silenced her. This was temporary. Carter had promised. Once his debts were settled...

"Did you hear what happened to that rogue girl?" A voice drifted from the VIP section as I collected glass shards nearby.

"The one Martinez found?" Another voice—Felicity's—replied with a laugh. "The one who thought she was special because she had Alpha blood?"

I froze, my fingers tightening around a glass.

"Please tell me you're recording this," Felicity said, her voice dropping lower. "When Victor takes her, I want to see her face when she realizes her precious mate sold her out."

"Patience," Carter replied, his voice smooth as silk. "The loyalty test isn't complete until she signs over her mother's territory tomorrow. Then Victor gets his payment."

My blood turned to ice.

"You really think she'll do it?" Someone else asked. "Give up the last thing she has of her mother?"

"She'll do anything for me," Carter said confidently. "That's what makes this so perfect. The daughter of an Alpha, reduced to nothing. Broken completely."

Their laughter cut through me like claws.

"And if she doesn't?" Felicity asked.

"Then Victor gets her anyway," Carter replied coldly. "Either way, she'll learn her place."

I stumbled backward, nearly dropping my tray. The glass slipped from my fingers, shattering on the floor.

Carter's eyes met mine across the room. For a moment, something flickered there—not guilt, but annoyance at being observed.

I fled to the back room, my heart hammering against my ribs.

---

Morning light filtered through my apartment window as I stared at the official documents in my hands. The Shadowridge Pack emblem stamped at the top made my stomach twist.

"Miss Wallace," the messenger had said with barely concealed disdain, "these require your immediate attention."

I scanned the legal jargon, my vision blurring with each word:

"...immediate sale of territory..."

"...outstanding debts to rogue clans..."

"...failure to comply will result in pack court action..."

At the bottom was a figure that made my blood boil—a fraction of what my mother's land was worth.

I fumbled for my phone, dialing Carter's number for the tenth time that morning.

"Unavailable."

Always unavailable when I needed him most.

My fingers trembled as I opened our text messages. The last one from him was two days ago: "Need you to do something important for me. Trust me."

Trust him. After what I'd heard last night?

My wolf stirred, no longer whimpering but growling low in my chest.

*We've been fools,* she whispered. *But no more.*

I stared at the documents again, seeing them clearly now. Not just papers, but chains. Chains Carter had been forging link by link while I blindly helped him secure them around my own neck.

The mate bond between us pulsed painfully, a reminder of what I'd given him—everything.

And what he'd given me in return—nothing but lies.

Outside my window, a black SUV pulled up. Through the tinted windows, I could make out the silhouette of a large man with a scar across his face.

Victor Crane.

He'd come for his payment.

I clutched the documents tighter, my decision crystallizing like ice in my veins. Carter thought he knew me—thought I would break.

He was about to learn how wrong he was.