Chapter 1: Not Yet

Selene woke up slowly. The first thing she attempted was moving only to realize one of her hands was chained to the priest’s podium before her.

"What the!—"

She looked around.

Bodyguards in suits stood, surrounding the chapel hall. Every face was unrecognizable, except one person.

"Papa?!"

"Selene." A middle-aged man, with grayish hair and a guilty smile on his face, stared at her.

"What is this? Why am I here and why am I chained to this thing?" she asked.

The middle-aged man, Mr. Tobias, glanced around. He approached her. "Selene, this is really all you have to do. For the sake of our pack, please—"

"I’m not marrying him!" she snapped. "I told you I wouldn’t do it!"

"Lower your voice."

"I told you I won’t marry him! That man has a mate, and I don’t want anything to do with him. Give my sister to him, she was the deal sealer, not me. Why are you doing this to me?"

"Your sister refused. She won’t do it. And don’t forget he is a supreme alpha. Your sister cannot handle him, Selene. She’s a regular omega and without a mate yet. Staying around an alpha for so long will leave his pheromones and scent on her, and you have to understand she can’t resist it."

"Papa—"

"Only you can do this, Selene." Mr. Tobias whispered, "You’re a wild omega."

"So what?"

Wild omegas were rare and different from regular omegas. They were often deemed unfit to mate as they held the mental strength to resist alphas, whether supreme or not. This left them unfavored by Alphas as Alphas preferred regular omegas, and so, the wild omegas were often always mateless without lovers.

"I am not marrying him!"

"You have to, Selene, please. Your sister is a regular omega. She can’t handle Dante Baris like you will be able to."

"So you’re giving me away as a substitute bride?"

"Selene—"

"Papa, you even knocked me out and brought me here against my will."

"I had to," Mr. Tobias pleaded. "You’re very stubborn."

"PAPA!"

Mr. Tobias grabbed her hand that was free of the chain. He said, "One month is all you need to spend with him. Just a single month, and after that, you will return home safely. Going to war with his pack is only going to cause unnecessary deaths."

Selene frowned hatefully. "So you are giving me to him for a month as a trust deal?"

"Yes. Giving you to him means I trust him enough to hand my own daughter over. And in return, he will be giving back the same level of trust by keeping you safe and sending you back to me, sound and well. So you see, you will be fine. Otherwise I wouldn’t do this."

"Papa..."

"Please, Selene... For the sake of our pack, do this for me. I’ll even compensate you very nicely when you return. Anything you want, I’ll give and do for you."

She stared at her father for a long while. "Anything?"

"Anything!"

"Better keep to your word." Begrudgingly, she rose to her feet, her hand still chained to the podium. "And get this chain off me."

"Of course!" Mr. Tobias walked forward to unlock the chain. He took it off.

As she rubbed her bruised wrist, she asked, "So where is he?"

"We’re all waiting for him," he said.

She glanced at the beta priest, who completely avoided making eye contact with her. He seemed nervous. Mr. Tobias was a supreme alpha, carrying a naturally dominating and threatening aura. The man of the hour being waited on was also a supreme alpha.

The moment he arrives, there will be two supreme alphas within the room. And betas, regular alphas, and omegas reacted strongly to their dominance. Well, except...

...The wild omegas.

"Will you do it, Selene?" Mr. Tobias asked.

"One month," she said.

"One month," he repeated. "And you will return home."

The double doors opened. Selene didn’t even need to turn her head to know who’d just walked in. The air in the room had dropped by several degrees. Tension grew. No one dared to breathe loudly, now in the presence of two Supreme Alphas.

"What is this?" the voice, deep and throaty, questioned.

"Mr. Dante Baris." Mr. Tobias walked away from Selene towards the new presence. He reached out for a handshake. "You finally arrived."

The man, Dante, accepted the handshake, however, there was no sense of friendship between the two men.

"Why is she a wild omega?" he questioned.

Mr. Tobias shrugged. "Mr. Baris, I don’t think we ever specified what sort of an omega she would be. We agreed I would hand over my daughter to you. It is no fault of mine if you expected my oldest daughter."

Dante’s jaw ticked. Both men crushed each other’s hands. He took his hand off and approached the podium to stand before Selene. He looked her up and down, from her beautifully straight, long black hair that fell down to her bottom to the white dress she wore.

He cocked a brow, lifted his gaze, and locked into her black eyes. "You’re barefoot."

Selene looked at him, tilting her head up.

At the height of 6 foot 5, Dante Baris stood taller than she, who was merely 5 foot 6. His shoulders were straight, swatted in a three-piece matte black suit. As expected of a Supreme Alpha, his presence alone was in fact so imposing that even for a wild omega such as her, she found it hard to breathe, her lungs blocked and pressured out of breath.

But even then, she was able to withstand the pressure with head held high, a little smile playing on her lips as she finally met his eyes.

They were cold and gray in color.

"So?" she asked. "What if I’m barefoot?"

Dante narrowed his gaze vehemently. "Don’t provoke me."

She ignored him and turned her attention to the priest, saying, "Go ahead."

"Um." The priest looked between the both of them. "Well, do you... Dante Baris, take Selene Tobias as your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Dante said.

"And do you, Selen Tobias, take Mr. Dante Baris as your lawfully wedded husband?"

The surrounding guests waited.

"Hmmmm." Selene thoughtfully ran her tongue over her teeth. Her gaze never wavered from the man before her. And equally so, he gazed back at her, his jaw twitching at the wait.

"Don’t waste my time." He demanded, "Say I do."

"No." She shook her head.

"Meaning what?"

"I don’t." Her lips curled. "Not yet."