The moon watched me break.
It loomed above the Alpha hall—round, bright, merciless—its silver light spilling through the open roof like a witness that refused to turn away. Tonight was supposed to be sacred. The night a wolf met their fated mate. The night two souls were to be bounded by the moon goddess.
Instead, she bound mine to pain.
I stood alone in the center of the hall.
Barely breathing.
Barely existing.
Every step that led me there had felt unreal, like I was walking through a dream I couldn't wake from. Whispers followed me—soft at first, then sharper as I passed.
That's her?
The omega?
She's the Alpha's mate?
Impossible.
I kept my head down, shoulders drawn inward, hands trembling despite my effort to still them.
My heart pounded violently in my chest, reacting to his presence like it had always done—even before I knew why.
Alpha Kael Blackwood stood before me.
Tall.
Powerful.
Untouchable.
My mate.
The bond pulsed between us, raw and burning, pulling at my chest until it hurt to breathe.
Every instinct screamed for me to move closer, to kneel, to submit—to belong to him.
But Kael took a step back.
That single movement shattered something fragile inside me.
I've always experienced pain being an omega but his reaction, disgust, hatred, disappointment, were seen in his eyes.
"The Moon Seers have spoken," the Alpha Elder announced, his voice echoing through the vast hall. "The bond is true. This omega is your fated mate."
The word omega landed like an insult.
Heat rushed to my face as every gaze in the room sharpened. I felt naked under their judgment. Too small. Too plain. Too weak.
I dared to look up at Kael.
For just a heartbeat, hope betrayed me.
Then his eyes hardened.
"I reject her."
The words were calm. Controlled.
Deadly.
The world tilted.
My breath left me in a broken gasp, my legs giving out as if the ground itself had vanished.
Pain exploded in my chest—white-hot, blinding—tearing through the bond like claws ripping flesh from bone.
A cry tore from my throat before I could stop it.
"No…" I whispered, shaking my head. "Please—"
"I, Alpha Kael Blackwood," he said louder now, making sure every wolf heard, "reject Lyra Ashen as my fated mate."
The hall erupted.
Gasps. Murmurs. Laughter.
Someone scoffed.
Someone else whispered, As expected.
"I sever the bond," he continued coldly, "and deny her any claim to me, my title, or my pack."
Each word crushed me further into the floor.
I crawled to my knees, clutching my chest as the bond screamed in agony. Tears blurred my vision, but I forced myself to look at him—desperate, foolish, broken.
"I know I'm not strong," I said, my voice trembling. "I know I'm not important—but I'll try. I swear I'll try. I'll work harder than anyone. Just… don't do this to me."
For a moment, the hall was silent.
Then Kael laughed.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't cruel.
It was worse.
Amused.
"You?" he said, eyes flicking over me with open disdain. "You can barely stand upright, and you think you can be Luna?"
The elders didn't stop him.
The Moon Goddess didn't stop him.
"You are an embarrassment," he went on. "An omega born of nothing, offering nothing. Accepting you would weaken me—and a weakness will not rule beside me."
Something cracked completely.
The bond snapped.
Pain ripped through me so violently I screamed, collapsing fully onto the cold stone floor. I tasted blood. My wolf howled inside me, terrified and dying, curling into itself as if to disappear.
When the pain finally dulled, the hall was spinning.
Kael was already turning away.
"Remove her," he ordered. "She is no longer my concern."
Just like that.
Not a mate.
Not a wolf.
Not even a memory worth keeping.
As guards dragged me across the floor, my nails scraped helplessly against stone. I didn't fight. I couldn't. My heart had already been ripped out.
The moonlight followed me as I was thrown into the darkness outside.
And as I lay there—broken, rejected, forgotten—I made a silent promise to myself and to the moon goddess .
If I survived this…
If fate dared to give me a second chance in life…
I would never kneel again and would make them pay for what they've done.