I woke up with my body burning. Not with fever, not with sickness—but with something deeper, something primal.
A heat coiled in my belly, sharp and insistent, like a whisper against my skin. My heart pounded in uneven beats, my breaths coming fast as I gripped the sheets beneath me.
This wasn't normal.
I had spent the last few days convincing myself that I was over Elias. That his betrayal, his rejection, his entire existence meant nothing to me. And yet, here I was—sweating, shaking, feeling him despite the miles between us.
A cruel joke. A sick, twisted reminder of what I had lost.
I buried my face in my hands. Why now? Why him?
The door creaked open.
Dante.
His scent, rich and grounding, filled the space between us. "You look pale," he said, his voice thick with concern. "Is it the rejection? Or…" His dark eyes narrowed. "Something else?"
I flinched.
I had been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize my body had reacted to Elias in a way that it shouldn't have. A rejected Omega didn't just crave the Alpha who cast them aside.
Unless…
No. Impossible.
"I'm fine," I lied, avoiding Dante's gaze.
He wasn't convinced. His jaw clenched, his muscles tensing as he took a step closer. "You smell different."
I stiffened.
His hand came up to cup my cheek, fingers brushing against my damp skin. "You're hiding something from me," he murmured, his voice lower now, edged with something dangerous.
The room felt smaller. His touch was too much, too heavy, pressing into the parts of me that were already breaking.
I jerked away. "I said I'm fine."
Silence stretched between us.
Dante's expression darkened, but he said nothing. He didn't push—not yet. But I knew him well enough to know that he wasn't going to let this go.
He turned toward the door, voice flat. "Get some rest."
The moment he left, I exhaled shakily. I couldn't keep this up.
Something was wrong.
And I had a sinking feeling that Elias had something to do with it.
Tobi's Breaking Point
Across the village, Tobi sat curled up in the small storeroom behind the healer's hut, his hands shaking. The vial of suppression serum lay empty beside him, its contents already burning through his veins.
Too much. He had taken too much.
His body revolted, his breath coming in short gasps as his scent—thick, honey-sweet, undeniably Omega—began to leak from his pores.
No. No. No.
He pressed a hand to his mouth, willing himself to stop the small, desperate sounds that threatened to slip out. He had spent years hiding, pretending to be Beta, keeping his secret locked behind thick walls of control.
And now, it was falling apart.
The door swung open.
Dante.
His face twisted in shock, then something deeper—something possessive.
"Tobi?"
Tobi tried to run—tried to push past him, to escape before anyone else could realize what was happening. But the suppression drugs had made him weak, and his knees buckled beneath him.
Dante caught him before he hit the ground.
And the moment their skin touched, the scent of milk and honey exploded into the room.
A Beta would never smell like this.
Dante's grip on him tightened.
"You…" His voice was hoarse, his pupils blown wide as the truth crashed over him.
Tobi trembled. "D-Don't…"
Dante's fingers curled around his wrist, his Alpha instincts roaring to life. "How long?" His voice was low, dangerous.
Tobi squeezed his eyes shut, ashamed, terrified.
"Since always."
And then, everything changed.
Elias's Revelation
Far beyond the village, Elias stood beneath the glow of the moon, a smirk playing on his lips.
He had felt it.
The shift. The pull. The tiny, invisible thread that should have been severed when Arielle rejected him.
But it was still there.
Faint, fragile—but there.
He lifted his fingers to his lips, his golden eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "You can reject fate, little Omega," he whispered, the night wind carrying his voice into the darkness.
"But fate never rejects you."