Five years ago.
The air in the clearing smelled of pine needles, damp earth, and the electric tension of 200 wolves gathered for the annual Mating Ceremony. For eighteen-year-old Elara, clutching the soft velvet of her borrowed dress, the scent was intoxicating—it was the smell of home, of belonging, and, most powerfully, of him.
Ryan Lycan.
He stood on the raised stone dais, already radiating the dense power of a true Alpha, ready to take over the Shadow Moon Pack. He was handsome in a brutal, perfect way, his ceremonial tunic fitting his shoulders like a king's armor.
Elara had loved him since she was twelve. She was the only human in the pack, a ward taken in after her parents' accident. She knew the bond, if it chose her, would be miraculous—a human mate was rare, but not unheard of. She was already so intertwined with the pack, so devoted to Ryan. Today was the day destiny would reward her devotion.
Please, please let the Moon Goddess make me worthy.
The ceremony began. Names were called. Pairs found each other, their joyous howls echoing through the woods. Then, it was time for the final, most anticipated announcement: Ryan, the future Alpha.
He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, searching. Elara held her breath, her heart a frantic butterfly trying to escape her chest. The air near her felt charged, pulling taut.
Ryan's eyes snapped open. They were pure, intense amber—the color of command. His gaze cut straight through the crowd, past the powerful shifters, past the beautiful Beta daughters, and landed on Elara.
She felt it then: the sharp, white-hot snap of the mate bond connecting them. It wasn't gentle; it was a violent surge of belonging, of pure, agonizing completeness that momentarily stole her breath.
Joy, blinding and overwhelming, erupted inside her. She took a step forward, tears of relief and love streaming down her face.
The crowd gasped. A human? The next Luna? Whispers instantly turned into a dull roar of disbelief.
Ryan didn't move. He stared at her, not with the tenderness of a new mate, but with a look of utter, consuming disgust.
The surge of love inside Elara curdled into agonizing shame. The bond connection was instant and brutal, but Ryan's rejection of it was faster.
"It's a mistake," he stated, his voice ringing out, cold and final, cutting through the entire clearing. Every eye was on Elara. "The bond is corrupted."
"Ryan, no," Elara whispered, the fragile hope dying in her chest.
He descended the dais, walking with slow, deliberate steps toward her. The Alpha authority in his stride made the air pressure drop. He stopped directly in front of her, close enough for her breath to hitch, but the scent he radiated was not desire—it was contempt.
"The next Luna must be a wolf," he dictated, his voice now lower, dangerous, meant only for her. "She must be strong enough to command and to bear powerful heirs. You are human. You are weak. You are an embarrassment."
He raised his hand, placing it flat on her chest, right over her breaking heart. He didn't push, but the weight of his rejection was crushing.
"I, Ryan Lycan, future Alpha of the Shadow Moon Pack," he declared, ensuring the entire pack heard the irreversible truth, "reject Elara Thorne as my mate. I sever this bond and renounce all claim to her."
The spiritual pain was physical. It felt like her sternum splintered, like her soul was forcibly ripped from her body. She cried out, a sound that was lost in the subsequent wave of wolf howls and gasps. She sank to her knees, clutching her chest, unable to breathe.
Ryan looked down at her—at her human weakness, at the tears flooding her face—and felt nothing but relief. He had averted disaster.
"Leave the territory, Elara," he ordered, already turning away to address his council. "By sunrise, you will be gone. You are no longer welcome here."
Elara didn't wait for sunrise. She crawled to her feet, the weight of the rejection so heavy she could barely stand. She found her small bag of meager possessions and walked out of the forest territory and onto the asphalt road, leaving behind the only family, the only life, and the only love she had ever known.
She walked until her feet bled, the searing, hollow pain of the broken mate bond her only company.
It was three weeks later, huddled in a damp motel room, alone and staring blankly at the wall, when the subtle, sweet scent of wolf pup—two pups—hit her for the first time.
The Goddess had cursed Ryan's rejection, binding them together with the strongest link possible: his children.
And Elara, newly hardened by hatred and ruin, knew exactly what she had to do: disappear forever, and raise her Alpha twins in a world where she was the Alpha.