The Alpha's Mate

CHAPTER ONE: THE AUCTION HOUSE

~EVERLY

Today was the day.

The day I'd be sent to the auction house. I'd known it was coming, but that didn't make it any easier. The weight of it was unbearable.

I had been hoping, for just a little while longer, that maybe, just maybe, something would change. That I could escape this fate, the one that marked me as nothing more than an Omega. I thought—no, I was certain—that Rhys would save me.

He was my fiancé. Or at least, he was supposed to be.

Rhys was the Alpha of our pack, Silverpine Pack, a man with power, a future. He was my future.

At least, that's what I thought until last night.

It was supposed to be a celebration, a night for our families to come together and toast to the beginning of our lives together. But that night, the one I had been dreaming of for so long, turned into a cruel joke. It wasn't my future that was being celebrated. It was Evelyn's.

Evelyn. My perfect sister.

Last night, they celebrated her fated bond to Rhys. The one who could have saved me. The one who was supposed to be mine. They were the ones destined to be together. Not me.

I should have been happy for her, I know. But how could I be when everything I had ever wanted, everything I had ever dreamed of, was ripped away in an instant?

Evelyn had always been the golden child—the one with everything. The beauty, the strength, the grace. She was destined for greatness, while I… I was left behind, an Omega. The lowest of the low. The one with no power, no freedom, no future. And now, she would be the Luna, the Alpha's mate, while I would be stuck in this miserable life. A life where I was nothing but a servant.

I stood in front of the mirror now, not recognizing the reflection staring back at me. My brown eyes, usually warm and full of life, looked dull, empty. My chestnut hair, usually smooth and soft, was tangled and wild, as if even it had given up on me. I barely even remembered the last time I had cared enough to fix it.

I didn't recognize myself anymore. I didn't even know who I was.

The woman in the mirror—she wasn't me. She was a ghost. A shadow of who I used to be.

I wiped at my face, pushing down the sobs that were threatening to escape. Crying never helped. It didn't change anything. Nothing mattered anymore. My fate had already been decided for me.

The knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts.

"Everly," my mother's voice came from the other side, flat and uninterested. It wasn't even an attempt at comfort anymore. "It's time."

I froze, staring at my reflection. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to face the reality of what was happening. I thought maybe, somehow, I could hide in this room forever. But there was no escape.

With a deep breath, I opened the door. My mother stood there, her expression distant, like she wasn't sure if she should even look at me. Her grey eyes were cold, distant. The smile she wore didn't reach her eyes—hadn't in years. She wasn't here to comfort me, just to make sure I followed the script.

"You look fine," she said, her voice almost mechanical. There was no warmth in it, no affection. Just a statement.

Fine. That's all I was to her. Fine.

I didn't say anything. What was there to say?

We walked down the narrow hallway, and every step felt like it pulled me further into the darkness. The house had never really felt like home to me. The house where Evelyn had always been the star, and I was just... there. In the shadows. Forgotten.

As we reached the front door, I could see Evelyn standing there, looking radiant as ever. Her smile was so bright it nearly blinded me, her perfect white teeth gleaming in the morning sun. Her blonde hair, soft curls falling around her face, seemed to glow. She was everything I could never be. She didn't even look at me. She didn't need to. She had everything.

I was invisible to her. It didn't matter.

I walked past her, my gaze lowered. There was nothing to say. What could I say? She was the one who would be with Rhys. She was the one who would rule beside him as his Luna. And I was the one who was being thrown away.

We stepped outside into the cold morning air, and I barely felt the chill. There was no warmth left in me. There hadn't been for days. I could hardly feel anything at all anymore.

Ahead of me stood the auction house. The place where Omegas like me were sold, subjected to s*****y, and auctioned off to men willing to pay to use them for their s****l desires. Where people like me disappeared, erased from life. And I was being sent there like a sheep to the s*******r.

"You'll be fine," my mother said again, but her voice was hollow this time. She didn't believe it any more than I did. It was just a line.

I didn't speak. I couldn't. Words had become useless to me. Nothing mattered anymore.

My mother stopped walking then, standing still at the gate. Her gaze didn't follow me as I walked forward. She didn't say anything else.

The man at the gate looked up as I approached. His eyes were cold, indifferent. He didn't care who I was. He didn't care how I felt. To him, I was just another Omega. Another girl to be sold.

"Inside," he muttered, voice flat as stone.

I moved past him, my feet heavy as I stepped into the auction house.

The air inside was cold and thick, filled with a strange, sour smell. The space was huge, but the darkness and flickering lights made it feel like a prison.

There were other Omegas lined up along the walls—silent, still, like mannequins in a store display. Some of them were younger, their faces full of the same hopelessness I felt, while others were older, their once-pristine appearances now faded by the years of being sold, traded, and discarded. We didn't make eye contact. No one spoke. We just stood there, trying to make ourselves as invisible as possible, waiting for whatever was next.

In the center of the room, a few men stood, dressed in fine clothes, their eyes scanning us with detached interest. Their faces were blank, but I could feel their gaze pierce through me, stripping away what little dignity I had left. A few masters milled around the edges of the room, watching us closely, their expressions hard, calculating.

They didn't care who we were or what we felt. To them, we were commodities. Property to be bought, sold, and discarded. Nothing more.

I stood there, barely able to breathe, my hands shaking. There was no point in thinking about anything else. No point in hoping, in wishing, in wondering if this could somehow be different. This was it. This was my life now.

And then, I felt it. A presence. A pull, deep inside my chest—like a magnet drawing me in. My heart started to race.

I looked up.

Across the room, standing near the entrance, was a man. He was tall, his posture commanding, with dark eyes that seemed to lock onto mine from across the space. The room felt like it paused, like everything slowed down as our gazes met.

It wasn't just his physical presence—there was something more. Something undeniable that I couldn't explain. An energy between us, like a bond forming that I couldn't resist.

He moved, stepping forward, and the room seemed to part for him. The masters, the men, they all watched him, but no one made a sound. His eyes never left mine, and I felt a strange pull, a weightless feeling in my chest that told me something was shifting.

He stopped in front of me, so close I could feel the intensity of his gaze. It was like everything else faded away. The rest of the room, the cold air, the fear—I didn't feel any of it. All I could feel was him.

He didn't speak, but his presence said everything.

The word slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. My breath hitched, and my chest tightened.

"Mate."