Alpha, Your Omega Is Done Waiting For You

For seven years straight, Alpha Callum stood me up at our betrothal ceremony during the Moonlight Festival. The pack mocked me as a delusional she-wolf. “Since when did an Omega think she stood a chance with an Alpha? She must be delusional.” But it wasn't some fantasy I'd invented. Callum was the one who had promised me, time and again, that he would propose to me in a grand ceremony. At the eighth Moonlight Festival, Callum stood me up once again, leaving me alone beneath the Moon Goddess Tree. Meanwhile, he took his childhood sweetheart Isabella, the Beta’s daughter and the pack’s Saintess, to see the aurora. Later, he sent me an apologetic message. “Isabella was upset. I only went with her to take her mind off things. Don’t read too much into it.” “The elders still won’t allow me to take an Omega as my Luna, but they’re close to giving in. Give me one more year, and I promise I’ll make you my Luna.” At the ninth Moonlight Festival, he finally approached me in formal black attire. Right in front of him, I set fire to the dress I had worn for him eight times—and to the diagnosis of terminal Wolf-Soul Decay Syndrome hidden inside it. “Callum, there won’t be a ninth chance.” Because in a few days, I would be dead. Chapter 1 Callum stared at the dress as the flames consumed it. Without a thought for his own safety, he tore off his black cloak and beat out the fire. Then, with his eyes bloodshot, he seized my wrist in front of the entire pack and dragged me behind the Moon Goddess Tree. “What the heck is this supposed to mean, Charlotte? Is this some kind of game to you?” The elder presiding over the festival hurriedly ordered the crowd to disperse. I looked at Callum in silence. He stood so close that I could smell Isabella’s white-rose perfume lingering on him. Suddenly, I remembered the rogue attack in the border woods nine years ago. Callum had shifted into a black wolf and thrown himself between me and the rogue, tearing out its throat before it could kill me. What neither of us knew was that the rogue’s claws had been coated in silver poison. Callum saved my life that night, but the poison had already seeped into my wolf soul. He had not yet inherited the Alpha title then. Covered in blood, he had held out his hand and asked my name. We fell in love at that moment. Later, he took my hand and made me a solemn promise. “When I become Alpha, I’ll propose to you in front of the entire pack at the Moonlight Festival.” But once he finally became Alpha, he told me the elders couldn’t accept an Omega as their Luna. He asked me to wait one more year. That was all the time he needed to persuade them, he said. Yet year after year, I stood beneath the Moon Goddess Tree in the dress he had chosen for me, and year after year, some new excuse kept him away. Sometimes rogues appeared along the border. Sometimes the elders called an emergency council meeting. More often than not, Isabella happened to have a problem that only Callum could solve. The first time, I understood that an Alpha carried responsibilities he could not ignore. The second time, he rejected an arranged match in front of me, so I agreed to give him more time. After that, he brought me a fresh promise every year and assured me that the council was finally beginning to relent. Then last year, he abandoned me to face the pack’s ridicule alone just so he could take Isabella north to see the aurora. That was when I finally understood. Everything I had spent years longing for was simply handed to Isabella without her ever having to ask. A bitter smile touched my lips. “There won’t be another betrothal ceremony, Callum. I’m tired. Whatever we had is over.” He stared at me for two full seconds, disbelief written across his face. Then, as if he had figured me out, he let out a derisive laugh. “So this is revenge because I didn’t show up last year? You burned the dress to punish me?” “I already told you I was going through with the ceremony tonight, and now you’ve humiliated me in front of the whole pack. Did you ever stop to think about how that would make me feel?” I couldn’t understand him. I was the one he had stood up beneath the Moon Goddess Tree year after year. So why was he the one demanding sympathy now? In the past, I would have patiently explained that I had never tried to pressure him or asked him to give up his pack for me. I had only ever wanted him to take responsibility for the promises he made. But now, as he stood there self-righteously demanding my understanding, I found him almost laughable. I had no intention of yielding to him again. “You stood me up eight times. Now you’ve been humiliated once and you already can’t take it, my beloved Alpha?” “As for you and me, we’re done.” Callum visibly faltered. He searched my face in stunned confusion, as though he could not understand why the woman who had always accommodated him had suddenly grown a spine. He held my gaze for several seconds before finally backing down, his voice softening. “Stop this, Charlotte. We’ve been together for nine years. Do you really think you can just walk away?” “I mean it this time. I’ll go through with our betrothal, and I’ll give you the Marking Ceremony you deserve.” I said nothing. I removed the moonstone necklace he had once made for me and tossed it into the dying fire right in front of him. Then I turned and walked away. Gamma hesitated before speaking. “Alpha, what if she’s serious this time?” Callum watched me leave, utterly certain of himself. “Give her three days. She’ll come back crying and beg me to marry her.” ? Chapter 2 ? “It’s always the same. She can’t live without me.” Gamma nodded. “Of course. How could Charlotte ever bring herself to leave you? The whole pack knows she waited eight years to become your Luna.” He wasn’t wrong about what everyone believed. They all remembered that I had waited eight years. No one remembered that the waiting had never been one-sided. Callum had been the first to take my hand, and every year, he had been the one asking me to keep believing in him. But there would be no next time. I gave a bitter smile and quickened my pace as I left Moon Goddess Square. The next day, Callum brought Isabella to the pack infirmary. My colleagues watched me with concern while I calmly handed my resignation to the head healer. She stared at me in surprise. “Charlotte, you’re the best healer we have. Why would you leave so suddenly?” “Is this because the Alpha stood you up at the festival again?” I pressed my lips together wearily. Everyone seemed to think that every choice I made—whether I stayed or left—had to be about Callum. As though I had no life of my own. “This has nothing to do with him. I’ve simply decided to leave the Blackstone Pack.” The head healer tried to change my mind. Once she realized I would not budge, she finally approved my resignation. At last, I was free. When I returned to my treatment room, Callum and Isabella were walking toward me. There was barely a scratch on Isabella’s arm, yet Callum had personally escorted her to the infirmary. He stopped in front of me and watched my face intently. “Charlotte, what do you think of Isabella’s new cloak?” I glanced at the woman beside him. “It suits her.” Callum’s expression darkened at once. “You’ve changed, Charlotte.” He was right. Whenever he broke a promise because of Isabella, I used to ask when he would return. I used to ask whether he still remembered what he had promised me. But in Callum’s version of events, those perfectly reasonable questions gradually became the jealousy and possessiveness of an overly sensitive Omega. Eventually, I stopped asking. Callum told Isabella to have her wound treated elsewhere, then followed me into the treatment room and shut the door behind him. “It’s been one night, Charlotte. Aren’t you done throwing your tantrum yet?” “I missed one proposal. Does that really justify all this? You didn’t even come home last night.” “I told you, the elders are close to giving in. I’ll give you a proper ceremony as their Luna. Why can’t you trust me?” I had been unwell for days and could keep down little more than liquids. The Wolf-Soul Decay Syndrome had weakened my wolf spirit so badly that even standing for too long left me exhausted. A sharp pain suddenly tore through my chest, and my knees nearly gave way beneath me. The anger vanished from Callum’s face. He immediately stepped forward and reached for me. “Charlotte, what’s wrong?” I steadied myself against the desk and moved out of his reach. “Don’t touch me.” His hand froze in midair. Embarrassment flickered across his face at my rejection before quickly giving way to anger. “Fine. Take some time to calm down.” With that, he turned and walked out. The door slammed behind him. This time, I felt no pain at all. ? Chapter 3 ? I spent the rest of the day handing over my work. Near dusk, the Gamma came into my treatment room and placed two tickets to the Moonlight Theater on my desk. “You know the Alpha. He isn’t good at apologizing, and sometimes he acts without thinking, but he does care about you.” “You’ve wanted to see The Moon Goddess’s Daughter for ages. The moment he heard it was being performed, he reserved the best seats.” “Nine tonight, outside the Moonlight Theater. Please be there, Charlotte.” I studied the tickets thoughtfully. I knew they were Callum’s way of extending an olive branch, and I understood that the show was his attempt to make amends. I had no intention of going until the Gamma told me Callum also wanted to discuss our Marking Ceremony. There were things that needed to be said face-to-face. At nine, I arrived outside the Moonlight Theater. Callum appeared in a long black coat. But he was not alone. Isabella was right behind him. When he saw me looking at her, he immediately explained. “The envoys from the Silver Ridge Pack are still here. Isabella is not only the Beta’s daughter but also our Saintess. She needs to help me maintain relations between the two packs.” The moment I saw them standing side by side, I suddenly had nothing left to say to the man in front of me. I calmly entered the theater and took my seat. During our nine years together, I had often wanted to enjoy the Moonlight Festival with Callum like any ordinary couple and see a performance at the theater together. He would take my hand and coax me gently. “Once I’ve persuaded the elders, we’ll be able to sit together openly.” “I’m only trying to protect you. If I push them now, they’ll direct all their anger at you.” Yet all these years, he had taken Isabella to every pack banquet and stood beside her while welcoming every visitor from Silver Ridge. As the Saintess chosen to serve the Moon Goddess, she even presided over the Moonlight Festival and Marking Ceremonies. The excuses Callum had once dressed up as protection echoed in my head, mocking the trust I had placed in him. Halfway through the performance, Isabella suddenly leaned close to his ear. “The Silver Ridge envoys were attacked by rogues at the border. The Beta needs us in the council chamber immediately.” For years, Isabella had used her dual status as the Beta’s daughter and the pack’s Saintess to stand openly at Callum’s side. She attended council meetings with him and helped him handle pack affairs. Everyone believed she belonged beside the Alpha. Only I—the woman he had personally promised to make his Luna—was expected to wait in the shadows, unacknowledged. “We have to go,” Callum told me. “You can make your own way home after the show.” He did not ask what I wanted. He simply left with her. I remained in my seat and quietly watched the performance to the end. I would not suffer over a man who refused to keep his promises anymore. I would not be anxious every time he walked away. Whatever time and love I had left would belong to me. After the performance, I went to the pack hospital alone. The pain from my failing wolf spirit made sleep impossible. Only injections of powerful painkillers could offer temporary relief. I breathed in the hospital’s harsh medicinal scent while the television on the wall aired a report on the attack against the Silver Ridge envoys. Callum and Isabella had handled the attack on the Silver Ridge envoys together. Standing side by side beneath the moonlight, they looked perfectly matched. I fell asleep before the report ended, dimly aware of the phone in my pocket vibrating again and again. It was late at night by the time I returned home. From a distance, I saw a tall figure standing outside my door. It was Callum. Whenever he returned wounded from a dangerous border patrol, I had waited at the infirmary to treat him. He was the Alpha. There were always too many people and too many responsibilities demanding his attention. He had never had time to wait for me. I never imagined there would come a day when he would be the one waiting for me to come home. ? Chapter 4 ? The moment Callum saw me, he strode forward and pulled me into his arms. “The show ended hours ago. Where have you been? Why didn’t you come home? Didn’t you realize I’d be worried?” “And don’t read anything into what you saw on TV. Isabella and I were only handling the attack on the Silver Ridge envoys. There’s nothing between us.” It took me a moment to remember what footage he meant. “It’s fine. I’m used to it.” My indifference seemed to remind him of everything he had done over the years. For once, guilt flickered across his face. Then he held out a black velvet box. Inside was a ring set with a large moonstone. I went still. I had dreamed of this moment more times than I could count. I had imagined Callum sliding a ring onto my finger and finally giving our nine years together the promise they deserved. But now, the sight of it stirred nothing in me. I placed it casually on the table. Callum’s expression changed. Frowning, he followed me inside. “You really have changed, Charlotte. How can you not be even a little…” I knew exactly what he meant. In his mind, I should have gazed at the ring in delight, thrown myself into his arms, and forgotten every disappointment he had ever caused me. The thought pulled a perfunctory smile from me. “It’s a beautiful ring.” “Do you like it?” He watched me expectantly. “I suppose.” I had never cared how valuable the moonstone was. I had only wanted the ring because it would prove that Callum finally meant to keep his promise. Now, it had come far too late. Callum visibly relaxed and smiled. “As long as you like it. I keep my word, Charlotte.” “Tomorrow night, we’ll complete our betrothal before the entire pack. I’ll handle everything. All you need to do is put on the new dress and meet me beneath the Moon Goddess Tree.” “And you’re not going to throw another fit over this.” I looked at his earnest face. “You won’t need to explain yourself to me again.” He failed to understand what I meant and finally relaxed completely. He reached for my hand. Before he could touch me, his phone rang sharply. After listening for only a few seconds, he gave me an apologetic look. “Isabella’s wolf is losing control. I need to go check on her.” I neither questioned nor stopped him. “I understand. Go.” My calm response made uncertainty flicker through his eyes. He pressed his lips together and hesitated before speaking again. “I’ll be there in full ceremonial attire tomorrow night. I’m going to give you a betrothal ceremony worthy of the future Luna.” “After tomorrow, no one will ever laugh at you for thinking you could become Luna again.” With that, he hurried away. He still did not know that I had resigned from the infirmary. He did not know I had decided to leave the Blackstone Pack for good. If he had paid so little attention to me, what exactly was I supposed to look forward to? I gave a quiet laugh, left the moonstone ring on the table, washed up, and went to bed. The next day, someone rang my doorbell. To my surprise, it was Isabella. I raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?” “I heard Callum is finally going through with your betrothal beneath the Moon Goddess Tree tonight.” Then she asked softly, “Charlotte, all it took was one message from me last night, and he abandoned you to come running. If he truly loved you, why would he choose me over you again and again?” Isabella’s lips curved in smug satisfaction. Her smile looked so much like mine had all those years ago, back when I still believed Callum would always choose me. I answered evenly. “If you were truly certain he loved you, you wouldn’t need to come here and prove it to me.” Her smile stiffened. Then she raised her chin. “You’ve been using the fact that Callum once saved you to make him feel responsible for you.” “I’m the Beta’s daughter and the Saintess chosen by the Moon Goddess. What could a lowborn Omega like you possibly have that compares to me?” I did not have the strength to argue with her. I picked up the moonstone ring from the table and held it out. “This is the ring Callum intends to propose with.” “If you want it, take it.” Isabella stared at me in disbelief. “What do you mean?” “You can have my place beneath the Moon Goddess Tree tonight too. Whether Callum proposes to you is between the two of you.” She studied my face, searching for some sign of jealousy or reluctance. She found nothing. “As you wish.” She snatched the ring from my hand and stormed off. I let out a breath, packed my suitcase, and left the home where I had spent the last nine years. Before nightfall, I boarded a train bound for the edge of Blackstone territory. Just before the doors closed, a message from Callum appeared on my phone. “For eight years, you were always the one waiting for me. Tonight, I’ll be the one waiting beneath the Moon Goddess Tree.” “Charlotte, you have to come.” I smiled, blocked every number connected to him, and switched off my phone as the train carried me out of his territory. At eight that evening, the betrothal ceremony Callum had arranged began. The pack members who had come expecting to laugh at me were stunned to find Alpha Callum himself standing beneath the Moon Goddess Tree. Dressed in formal black and holding a bouquet of moonlight blossoms, Callum waited for his future Luna to walk toward him. Footsteps drew closer. A confident smile touched his lips as he turned to greet me. Then his pupils contracted, and his face went cold. “Why is it you?”