From Wolfless Omega To The Rival Alpha's Queen

Kay POV:

Three years.

Today marked three years since I'd become the official project lead for Blackwood Group's expansion, and unofficially, three years since Alec and I had started acting like the mates we were destined to be.

Actually, we've known each other for seven years now.

Yet seven years of effort seem like a joke. I really need to wake up.

After Breanne, Alec's long-lost love from his youth, returned from abroad with her degree, he first forgot to go with me to try on wedding dresses. Then, without hesitation, he gave Breanne the position of vice president of the company.

Everyone knows what I've sacrificed for this company. That position should have been mine.

Right now, I'm standing outside Alec's office, wanting to find out exactly what's going on with him.

The two vanilla lattes were still hot.

The steam ghosted against my knuckles. One was for me, one for him. His favorite. Extra vanilla syrup, just how he liked it. A small, stupid detail that felt incredibly important today.

As I neared his office, I saw the door was ajar. Just a crack. A sliver of light and sound escaped into the hallway. I slowed my steps, my ears, sharper than a human's, picking up the low murmur of voices.

I recognized them instantly.

Alec. And his Beta, Ethan Hayes.

I stopped. I shouldn't listen. It was a breach of trust. But something in their tone held me there, a cold knot tightening in my stomach. It wasn't a business discussion. It was serious. Personal.

"Are the preparations for the bonding ceremony finalized?" Ethan's voice was low, laced with a tension I couldn't place.

A sharp, impatient sound. A scoff from Alec.

"It's a formality, Ethan. A show for the elders. You know that."

The cardboard tray in my hands suddenly felt flimsy. My fingers, which had been steady, tightened. The paper cups groaned under the pressure. Hot coffee sloshed, scalding the rim. I barely felt it.

My breath hitched. A formality?

"But Alec," Ethan pressed, his voice dropping even lower, "Kay has been by your side for seven years. She's earned this."

"Earned what?" Alec's voice was laced with a chilling amusement. "The privilege of being my Luna? She's a wolfless Omega, Ethan. She should be grateful I even look at her. Her devotion is expected. It's the least she can do to prove her worth."

The words hit me like a physical blow. A punch to the gut that stole all the air from my lungs. My stomach clenched so violently I thought I might be sick. Wolfless. He'd never said it to my face, not with that kind of venom. It was the pack's dirty little secret about me, the reason I was both pitied and scorned. I had no inner wolf, no ability to shift. A broken thing.

"Her work on the acquisition strategy was brilliant," Ethan argued, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Her work was adequate," Alec corrected him coldly. "It was a good way for her to contribute, to make up for... other deficiencies."

The world tilted. The vanilla scent of the lattes turned sickly sweet, clogging my throat. My vision swam. For a dizzying moment, all I could see were the endless nights I'd spent poring over financial models, the weekends sacrificed, the dinners with my mother cancelled-all for him. All to make him proud. All to be worthy.

"And now that Breanne is back..." Ethan's voice trailed off.

Breanne Weiss. The name was a whisper of silk and old money. A true-blooded Omega from a European noble line, just returned to the States. I'd seen pictures. She was everything I wasn't: confident, pedigreed, and undoubtedly, whole.

"Breanne is who I want." Alec's voice was raw, stripped of all pretense. It was a confession. "She is the Luna this pack deserves. Her bloodline, her grace... she is my equal."

My equal. The words echoed in the sudden, roaring silence of my mind. If she was his equal, what was I?

A placeholder. A tool. A seven-year-long convenience.

"So, the plan is still to reject Kay after the merger is finalized?" Ethan asked.

"I can't risk the instability now." Alec said, his voice hardening again, becoming the Alpha. "We'll go through with the ceremony. It will appease the elders and secure the final votes. Once everything is settled, I'll handle it. She's weak, Ethan. She'll cry, but she won't fight it. Where would she even go?"

A wave of nausea washed over me. My fingers were ice. The coffee felt like it was burning through the cup, through my skin, but the pain was distant. The real pain was a cold, sharp thing twisting in my chest, making it hard to breathe. It felt like my soul was being ripped in two. The mate bond, the one-sided bond I cherished, was screaming in agony.

"And her project? The Phoenix Initiative?"

"I'm giving it to Breanne." Alec said, the casual cruelty of it knocking me back a step. "A welcome home present. Let her put her stamp on it."

My project. My baby. The one I'd built from the ground up. The one I was supposed to present to the board next week.

A bitter, metallic taste filled my mouth. It was the taste of betrayal. Of my own foolishness. I had given up a full scholarship to an Ivy League school for him. I had believed his promises, his whispered words in the dark, his assurances that my lack of a wolf didn't matter to him.

Lies. All of it.

"I'll pick Breanne up from the airport this weekend." Alec continued, his voice shifting, becoming lighter. "We'll have dinner."

This weekend. Saturday. My mother's birthday. The one I'd told him about for months, the one he'd promised we'd celebrate together.

My stomach cramped again, a sharp, searing pain. It was over. The perfect, fragile illusion I had built my entire adult life around had just been shattered into a million pieces.

I heard the scrape of a chair inside the office. Footsteps. Ethan was leaving.

My body moved before my mind could catch up. There was no conscious thought, only a primal instinct for survival. I couldn't let him see me. I couldn't let them know I'd heard.

I spun around, my movements swift and silent. The trash receptacle, a sleek stainless steel cylinder, was three feet away. In one fluid, decisive motion, I tipped the tray. The two vanilla lattes, the symbols of my pathetic, hopeful love, dropped into the bin with a soft, final thud.

Not a single drop spilled on the pristine carpet.

I didn't look back. I didn't wait to hear the office door open. I slipped into the adjacent doorway, pushing open the heavy metal door to the fire escape.

It slammed shut behind me, the boom echoing in the concrete stairwell, plunging me into dim, dusty silence.

The sound finally broke my paralysis.

I leaned back against the cold, rough wall, my legs shaking. A ragged gasp tore from my throat. Then another. I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the gritty steps, my professional suit jacket bunching around my waist. I buried my face in my hands, but no tears came. There was only a vast, cold emptiness.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out with a trembling hand. The screen lit up, showing my wallpaper: a smiling photo of Alec and me from last year's pack gala. His arm was around me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He looked so happy. He looked like he loved me.

A cold, hard fury, something I hadn't felt in years, began to burn through the shock. It started in my gut and spread through my veins, chasing away the ice.

My fingers moved with a new, chilling precision. I went into my settings and changed the wallpaper to the phone's default, a bland, abstract swirl of blue. The photo of us vanished.

I opened my notes app. I created a new, encrypted file. I titled it: "Extraction Protocol."

Another buzz. An email notification flashed across the top of the screen. It was from HR.

Subject: URGENT: Venue Confirmation for Collins-Silva Bonding Ceremony.

The email asked for my digital signature to confirm the booking.

A laugh escaped my lips. It was a harsh, ugly sound in the quiet stairwell.

I tapped the notification. The email opened. At the bottom were two buttons: "Approve" and "Reject."

My thumb hovered over the screen for a single, heartbeat. Then, I pressed "Reject." A confirmation box popped up. "Are you sure you want to reject this request?"

I pressed "Reject" again.

And then, for good measure, I deleted the email.

I closed my eyes. I didn't pray to the Moon Goddess for strength or guidance. I made her a promise. I would not be the weak, crying Omega Alec expected. I would not accept this sham of a bond. I would not be his fool.

After a few minutes, the shaking stopped. The cold fury settled into a block of ice in my chest. I stood up, brushing the dust from my skirt. I straightened my jacket, smoothing the wrinkles with methodical, detached movements.

I pushed the fire escape door open and stepped back into the plush, silent hallway. The air was no longer filled with promise. It was just recycled, sterile air.

I didn't go back to my desk. I didn't go to the restroom to fix my face.

I walked directly to the elevator bank and pressed the down button.

The polished steel doors slid open, and I stepped inside. My reflection stared back at me from the mirrored wall: pale, eyes a little too wide, but my jaw was set. The woman in the mirror was a stranger, but I knew, with absolute certainty, that I would get to know her very well.

The elevator descended. As it passed the lower floors, I made a decision. I wasn't just going to leave. I was going to erase myself from his life and his company so completely that it would be as if I had never existed.

The doors opened onto the lobby. The cold Chicago wind hit me as I pushed through the revolving doors, a blast of reality that felt like a baptism. It didn't make me shiver. It made me feel awake.

I didn't walk to my car. I walked to the curb, raised my hand, and hailed a cab.

As I slid into the back seat, giving the driver my address, I knew exactly what I had to do first.

I was going to draft my formal notice of mate rejection.

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