I stood alone at the marble altar, the silence of the temple pressing against my eardrums.
It was my Mating Ceremony, but the groom was missing.
My phone buzzed with a notification: a livestream of my mate, Alpha Cain, skipping our union to welcome my sister, Eris, home.
In the video, he held her like she was fragile glass, captioning it: “True power recognizes true power.”
When I returned to the Pack House, humiliated, I wasn’t met with an apology.
I was met with a slap from my mother.
Eris, feigning a powerful “Alpha Aura,” claimed my mere scent was poisoning her.
To “save” her, my family locked me in my room.
But the true betrayal came when I overheard their hushed whispers through the door.
“Use Vera,” my mother said, her voice chillingly practical.
“She recovers fast. We can drain her blood weekly for Eris. She can stay as a servant to raise Cain and Eris’s pups.”
My blood ran cold.
They didn’t just neglect me; they planned to harvest me like livestock.
They thought I was the weak Omega they exiled to the North years ago to peel potatoes.
They had no idea that in the North, I wasn’t a servant.
I was Commander V, a warrior forged in ice and blood.
I reached under my bed and pulled out my black tactical duffel.
“Screw the meatloaf,” I whispered.
I wasn’t just leaving. I was going to war.
Beyond The Empty Altar, My Reign Chapter 1 The Empty Altar
Vera POV:
The Moon Temple was silent. Not the peaceful kind of silence, but the heavy, suffocating kind that presses against your eardrums.
I stood alone in the center of the marble altar. Moonlight streamed through the high glass dome, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. They were the only company I had.
Today was the Mating Ceremony. No big deal, just the moment my soul was supposed to be irrevocably tied to another for eternity. The ceremony is a formality, a public declaration before the pack that the Alpha has accepted his Luna.
But the Alpha was missing in action.
I looked down at my hands. They were trembling. I was wearing the ceremonial robe, a heavy garment embroidered with silver threads depicting the Asheville Pack’s history. Three seamstresses, one month of labor.
Now, it felt like a shroud.
My phone buzzed against my hip like an angry hornet.
I shouldn’t have checked it. A Luna should be poised. Patient. But I was done with patience.
I pulled the screen out. A notification from the pack’s official social media account popped up.
“LIVE: Alpha Cain welcomes Eris Darkthorne home! #PowerCouple”
My thumb hovered over the screen. I pressed play.
The video was shaky, filmed at the private airfield. But the betrayal was in 4K.
There was my father, beaming with a pride he’d never wasted on me. There was my mother, wiping tears of joy. There was Dax, my brother, holding a bouquet of white lilies.
And there was Cain.
Cain Blackfang. My mate. The future Alpha.
He looked magnificent, dark hair swept back, jawline sharp enough to cut glass. But he wasn’t looking at the camera. He was looking at the girl descending the jet stairs.
Eris. My sister.
She looked frail, leaning heavily on the railing, but her smile was triumphant. Cain rushed forward, bypassing the guards, and offered her his arm. She took it, leaning into him as if she owned him.
The caption read: “True power recognizes true power. Welcome home, our future.”
A cold hollowness expanded in my chest. They were all there. My entire family. My mate. Welcoming the sister who abandoned the pack three years ago for the “prestigious” Wolfsbane Academy.
Meanwhile, I was standing at the altar, looking like an idiot.
I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind. The mate bond is supposed to be a private sanctuary. Right now, it felt like a busy signal.
Cain, I projected. Where are you? The High Priestess is staring at me.
The silence stretched. Then, his voice echoed in my head. Irritated. Distracted.
Not now, Vera. Eris just landed. She’s exhausted. The flight was rough on her constitution.
Today is our ceremony, I replied, keeping my mental voice steady. The pack elders are watching.
Send them home, Cain snapped. Don’t be selfish, Vera. Your sister has returned with the gift of an Alpha Aura. This is a historic day. The ceremony can wait. It’s just a formality anyway.
The connection severed. Blocked.
Just a formality.
I looked at the empty pews. I looked at the High Priestess, who was pretending to polish a chalice to avoid my gaze. She pitied me. The Omega who thought she could be Luna.
“The ceremony is cancelled,” I said. My voice sounded flat. Dead.
“Child,” the Priestess started, “Alpha Cain is surely just detained…”
“He is not detained. He is occupied.”
I reached up and unclasped the silver brooch. The heavy fabric slid off my shoulders, pooling on the dusty floor—a pile of expensive silk and broken dreams.
Underneath, I wore a simple black dress. Fitting.
“I’m going home.”
I walked out of the temple. The night air was cool, but it didn’t sting as much as the humiliation burning under my skin.
My wolf, Vespa, stirred. She had been suppressed for years by the drugs my parents forced on me to keep me “docile.” But tonight, she was pacing.
He is not worthy, Vespa growled, her voice like grinding stones. We do not beg.
No, I agreed. We do not beg.
I drove back to the Pack House. Usually quiet, tonight it was blazing with light. Bass thumped through the walls.
I walked through the front door. The grand foyer was a nightmare of balloons and gold glitter: “WELCOME HOME ERIS.”
Waiters circulated with champagne. The pack’s elite were laughing, drinking, celebrating.
No one noticed me. I was the invisible daughter. The placeholder.
I headed for the stairs.
“Vera!”
Dax.
My brother was flushed, wine glass in hand. He looked at me with a mixture of annoyance and command.
“Where have you been?” he demanded. “Mom has been looking for you. The kitchen staff is overwhelmed.”
“I was at the temple,” I said quietly.
Dax rolled his eyes. “Still on about that? Look, Eris is hungry. She wants her favorite meatloaf. The one you make. Get to the kitchen. We need it ready in an hour.”
He didn’t ask. He ordered. To him, I wasn’t his sister. I was a glorified servant who shared his blood.
“I am tired, Dax.”
His expression darkened. “Don’t start with the attitude. Eris is fragile. She needs protein to maintain her new Alpha Aura. Do you want her to get sick? Are you that jealous?”
Jealous.
I looked across the room. Cain was laughing at something Eris whispered, his hand resting on the small of her back. My spot.
He hadn’t even looked for me.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go to the kitchen.”
Dax nodded, satisfied. “Good. And wash up first. You smell like… dust.”
I went upstairs, but not to wash up. I went to my bathroom.
On the sink sat a bar of soap. A gift from Eris, sent a week ago. “Lavender and Honey,” the note said. “I know you love cheap scents.”
I picked it up. My skin tingled painfully.
I used it once, and my skin broke out in a rash so severe I couldn’t shift for two days. I thought it was an allergy.
But now, with Vespa awake, I smelled the truth underneath the lavender.
Wolfsbane. Trace amounts. Just enough to weaken a wolf over time. Just enough to keep an Omega looking sickly.
Eris hadn’t just ignored me. She had been poisoning me.
I looked at the mirror. The girl staring back was pale, but her eyes… flecks of gold were eating the dull brown.
They think we are weak, Vespa whispered. Show them.
I dropped the soap into the trash.
I walked to my desk, opened my leather-bound journal, and picked up a pen.
On the page marked with today’s date, I wrote a single line.
“Mating Ceremony: Mate absent.”
It was an obituary for my love.
I looked out the window toward the north. Far beyond the manicured lawns and political games lay the Northern Outpost.
Ice and blood. A place where I had spent my childhood exiled because my parents couldn’t afford to feed a “useless” Omega during the famine years.
They thought I peeled potatoes there. They didn’t know what I really did in the snow.
I closed the journal. Screw the meatloaf.
I was going to pack.
Beyond The Empty Altar, My Reign Chapter 2 Dinner Theater
Vera POV:
The dining room was suffocating.
Crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow, but the atmosphere was colder than a winter grave.
I hadn’t packed yet. I needed to survive this dinner first. If I tried to leave now, amidst the celebration, Dax would physically stop me. He was a Beta, stronger than my human form, and he loved a scene.
So I sat.
I sat at the far end of the table, the spot reserved for children or disgraced relatives.
Eris sat at the head, to my father’s right. Cain sat beside her.
“The Elders at the Academy were astounded,” Eris was saying, her voice thick like syrup. “They said they hadn’t seen an Alpha Aura this potent in a female for three generations.”
“Incredible,” my father breathed, looking at her like she was a winning lottery ticket. “A female Alpha in the Darkthorne line. This changes everything for our standing in the Council.”
“It was hard,” Eris sighed, leaning onto Cain’s shoulder. “The transformation… the power… it takes a toll on my body. That’s why I’m so frail.”
“You are a warrior, my love,” Cain murmured. He cut a piece of steak and fed it to her.
My stomach rolled.
“My love.” He had never called me that.
“Oh, Vera!” Eris suddenly looked at me, eyes widening in mock surprise. “I didn’t see you there. You’re so… quiet. Like a little mouse.”
The table went silent.
“Welcome home, Eris,” I said steadily. I sliced into the rare steak on my plate. Blood pooled on the white porcelain.
“How was your little ceremony?” Eris tilted her head. “Cain was so worried about me, he just couldn’t tear himself away. You aren’t mad, are you?”
She released a scent then. It was supposed to be an Alpha command, a wave of dominance.
But to me, it smelled like burnt rubber and cheap perfume. Chemical. Artificial.
“Of course not,” I said, not looking up. “Why would I be mad? Cain made his priorities very clear.”
My mother chimed in, voice shrill. “Vera is a sensible girl. She knows family comes first. And Eris is the future of this family.”
“Exactly,” Dax grunted, stuffing his face with bread. “Vera is happy to serve. Aren’t you, V?”
I looked at Dax. Then Cain.
Cain was frowning, watching me. Usually, when Eris exerted dominance, I would flinch. Tonight, I was staring him down.
“I am not angry,” I repeated. “I am clarified.”
“Clarified?” Cain asked. “What does that mean?”
“It means I understand my position. And yours.”
A shiver seemed to pass through Cain. He rubbed his arms.
“Well, good,” my mother clapped her hands nervously. She picked up a piece of meatloaf—the dry, overcooked brick the staff made—and dropped it onto my plate.
“Eat up, Vera. You look thin. We can’t have people thinking we don’t feed you.”
A scrap for the dog.
I stared at the meat.
Suddenly, Eris gasped.
Hands flew to her throat. Face turning a violent purple.
“I… I can’t…” she choked.
“Eris!” Cain jumped up, chair clattering. “What is it?”
“The air…” Eris wheezed, pointing a trembling finger at me. “Her scent… it’s… it’s attacking me!”
“What?” Dax roared, slamming his fist on the table.
“It burns!” Eris screamed, throwing herself into Cain’s arms. “She’s doing something! Her Omega stench… it’s reacting with my Alpha Aura!”
Bullshit. Omegas are calming. Neutral. We don’t have offensive scents.
But logic didn’t matter here. Only Eris mattered.
“Vera!” My father stood up, face red. “Stop it! Whatever you are doing, stop it now!”
“I am doing nothing,” I said calmly, putting down my knife.
“She’s turning blue!” my mother shrieked. “Call the doctor! Get the suppressants!”
Chaos erupted. Servants ran. Dax shouted orders. Cain swept Eris up, looking at her with terrified devotion.
As he rushed past me toward the medical wing, Cain shot me a look of pure venom.
“If anything happens to her,” he snarled, “I will make you regret you were ever born.”
They ran out. The dining room was empty again.
I sat alone among the half-eaten food and overturned wine glasses.
That wasn’t a reaction to you, Vespa said, her tone dry. That was a side effect. She overdosed.
Overdosed on what?
Steroids, Vespa replied. Synthetic hormones. She isn’t an Alpha, Vera. She can’t even shift. She’s juicing to mimic the pheromones. And right now, her body is rejecting the poison.
I looked at the empty chair where the “Alpha Female” had sat.
It was all a lie. Her power, her aura, her fragility. A performance.
And my mate had fallen for the act, hook, line, and sinker.
I stood up. I didn’t clear the table.
I headed for the stairs. I had packing to do. And this time, no one was stopping me.
Beyond The Empty Altar, My Reign Chapter 3 The Harvest
Vera POV:
I was halfway up the stairs when I heard the slap.
It wasn’t physical, but the sound of my mother’s voice from the hallway felt like a blow.
“You poisoned her!”
I turned. My mother stood at the bottom of the stairs, chest heaving.
“I did no such thing.”
“Don’t lie to me!” She rushed up, face twisted. Smack.
My head snapped to the side. The sting was sharp, hot.
“Eris is covered in hives!” my mother screamed. “The doctor says it’s an allergic reaction to a foreign contaminant. You put something in her food! You were jealous!”
I touched my throbbing cheek. “I didn’t make the food, Mother. The kitchen staff did. Ask them.”
“You were in the kitchen!” Dax appeared behind her. “I told you to go there. You must have slipped something in.”
“I never went to the kitchen. I went to my room.”
“Liar!” Dax spat. “You’ve always been jealous. That’s why we sent you North. To protect her from your toxic energy.”
I froze.
Is that the story they told themselves? That they sent a twelve-year-old to a frozen wasteland to protect the golden child?
I remembered the North. The biting wind. The Rogue wolves throwing themselves at the outpost fences. I remembered picking up a silver-plated dagger at fourteen because the perimeter was breached and I was the only thing standing between the mess hall and a massacre.
I had killed three Rogues that night. I hadn’t peeled potatoes. I survived.
“Think what you want.”
I turned my back and walked into my room, locking the door.
They pounded on it for a minute, shouting threats, but a scream from the medical wing drew them away.
I moved quickly.
I didn’t take the silk dresses or the jewelry.
I reached under my bed and pulled out a black tactical duffel. Inside was my gear from the Outpost.
Kevlar-lined combat suit. Silver-edged daggers. A first-aid kit tailored for wolfsbane poisoning. And a burner phone.
I changed out of my funeral dress into cargo pants and combat boots. They felt like a second skin.
I picked up the burner. Old tech, untraceable.
I dialed a number I hadn’t used in six months.
“Secure line,” a gruff voice answered. “Identify.”
“Designation V. Requesting reactivation.”
Pause. Then, the voice softened. “Commander V? We thought you retired to play house.”
“The house burned down,” I said. “I’m coming home, Rike.”
“Gate’s always open. We have a Rogue surge in Sector 4. Could use your blade.”
“ETA ten hours.”
I slung the bag over my shoulder.
Suddenly, a Mind-Link forced its way into my head. Cain. A roar of aggression.
If she dies, Vera, I will kill you myself. You are my mate, but I will reject you. I will make you a Rogue.
My heart didn’t even flutter. The bond felt like a rotting rope.
Save your breath, Cain. I didn’t send it.
I unlocked my door. The hallway was empty.
I walked silently down the corridor. As I passed my parents’ bedroom, the door was slightly ajar. Hushed voices.
I stopped.
“…doctor says her blood count is unstable,” my father whispered. “The synthetic boosters are destroying her marrow. She needs a transfusion. Compatible donor.”
“Use Vera,” my mother said. Her voice was calm. Chillingly practical. “She’s an Omega, she recovers fast. We can keep her here. Drain what we need weekly.”
“And the engagement?” my father asked. “Cain is furious.”
“Let him break it,” my mother hissed. “We petition the Council. Say Vera is unstable. Unfit. We propose a new union. Cain and Eris.”
“But they aren’t mates.”
“Who cares? Eris is an Alpha female! Think of the power! Vera can stay… she can be Eris’s lady-in-waiting. Take care of their pups. We tell the public Vera is sick, that she needs to stay home for treatment. It covers the blood draws.”
I stood in the shadows, gripping my bag until my knuckles turned white.
They weren’t just neglecting me. They were planning to harvest me. To turn me into livestock.
“You’re right,” my father sighed. “It’s for the good of the pack. Vera is… replaceable.”
Replaceable.
Something inside me snapped. Not a bone, but a chain.
I pushed the door open.
My parents jumped. My mother’s eyes widened at my combat gear.
“Vera?” she stammered. “What are you wearing?”
“I heard you,” I said, voice low, vibrating with a growl.
“Vera, listen,” my father stepped forward, Alpha posturing. “We are under stress…”
“You want my blood? You want me to raise her pups?”
“It is your duty!” my mother cried, pivoting to anger. “Your sister is sick!”
“She is not sick. She is withdrawing from drugs,” I said coldly.
My father paled. “What did you say?”
“Check her blood for synthetics. If you were a real Alpha, you would have smelled it.”
I turned around.
“Where are you going?” my mother shrieked. “You can’t leave! You are grounded!”
“I am not a child. And I am not yours.”
I walked toward the stairs.
“Vera!” my father bellowed, using his Alpha Command. “STOP!”
The command hit me like a physical wall. My muscles seized. My wolf whined.
But I wasn’t just a pack member. I was a warrior of the North. In the North, pain is just information.
I gritted my teeth. Forced my leg to move. Then the other.
I shattered the command.
My father gasped. An Omega breaking an Alpha Command? Impossible.
I didn’t look back.