The night smelled like smoke and wet earth.
Wolves packed the clearing, shoulders pressed tight,
bodies heat-warm under the cold moon. The air buzzed with whispers, low and
sharp, like they were afraid to speak too loud in front of him.
In front of Kade Blackthorn.
He stood on the stone platform at the center, tall
and still, like the whole damn forest belonged to him. Maybe it did. He wore
black, of course. Black shirt, black pants, black boots. No tie. No softness.
Just sharp lines and that cold, carved face.
He didn't look at me.
Not once.
I stood at the very edge of the crowd, near the
treeline, where the scent of pine needles tried to fight the stink of nerves
and sweat. My hands were shaking so hard the metal tray rattled. Empty glasses
clinked together. I pressed them tighter against my stomach.
"Stop shaking, omega," someone muttered behind me. A
warrior. I didn't turn to see which one. Their laughter brushed over the back
of my neck like claws.
Omega. Not Mira. Never Mira.
I kept my eyes on Kade.
The Moon hung full and white above him, bright
enough to turn his black hair almost blue at the edges. Packs from nearby
territories had come tonight. I could feel their eyes. Their curiosity. Their
judgment.
This was supposed to be a big night.
Alpha ceremony. Luna announcement.
Everyone already knew who she would be.
Lena Voss stood near the steps, not far from Kade.
Her long dark hair was braided back from her face, her body wrapped in silver
silk that hugged every strong line. She looked powerful just standing still.
Confident. Her smile was small but sharp, like the edge of a knife.
She looked at him like he was everything.
He should have been. He was their Alpha.
I shouldn't have come.
But omegas did not "not come" when the Alpha called the whole pack.
"Quiet," someone hissed. The crowd hushed.
Kade lifted his chin. The muscles in his jaw flexed,
just once. He was so still he barely seemed human. Just power and control in
skin.
When he spoke, his voice carried over everyone.
"BloodMoon."
The sound rolled through the clearing, low and
rough. My wolf shivered. People bowed their heads. Some dropped to their knees.
I didn't. Not because I was brave. Because my legs
were locked.
"We stand under the Moon," he said. "We stand as one
pack. One blood. One law."
His eyes moved slowly across them. Row by row.
Family by family. Warriors. Elders. The pups at the back, squirming between
their parents' legs until a growl snapped them still.
His gaze slid past me without stopping.
It felt like being erased.
"You know why you're here," he said. "Your Alpha
needs a Luna."
Murmurs rose, fast and hungry. I heard Lena's mother
suck in a happy breath.
I shouldn't look at her.
I looked anyway.
Lena's cheeks were flush with color. Her wolf glowed
just under her skin, a strong, steady heat that even I could feel from across
the clearing. She looked like everything I wasn't.
Confident. Sure. Strong.
"Come forward," Kade said.
Then Lena stepped up onto the stone.
Of course.
Of course it was her.
The pack exploded into cheers as she took her place
at his side. Her hand brushed his arm like it belonged there. Kade didn't
flinch.
The cheering hurt. It was too loud. Too bright. The
sounds stabbed at my ears.
I told myself to breathe. Just breathe. Just stand
here, hold the damn tray, and breathe.
Then the scent hit me.
Smoke. Alpha.
Strong. Sharp. Like it was walking
straight toward me.
My wolf went insane.
I didn't have time to turn before it slammed into my
senses.
Mate.
Pain shot through my chest, hot and aching, making
it hard to see. The world narrowed. The cheering faded. I could feel him. Not
his eyes yet—his presence. His power pressed against my skin, heavy and cold.
Then it clicked.
My wolf didn't just feel him.
He felt me.
It was like someone grabbed a live wire and shoved
it into my spine. The bond flared. Bright. Violent.
Kade went still.
Dead still.
The cheers around us broke off one by one as people
noticed. The air changed. The background noise dropped into a thick, heavy
quiet.
His head turned.
Slow.
He looked over the crowd.
Looked past his warriors. Past the ranked wolves.
Past Lena standing frozen at his side.
And looked straight at me.
Our eyes locked.
Everything else disappeared.
His eyes were dark. Almost black. Hard and flat like
stone… until the moment they hit mine. Then something flickered. Shock. Fury.
Something deeper I couldn't read.
The tray slipped in my hands.
A glass tipped over, clinking sideways. I grabbed
for it, fingers fumbling, heart beating so hard it hurt.
"Mira," someone whispered behind me. Not kind. Not
friendly. Just my name, like it was a bad word.
He smelled like storm air right before lightning
struck. My body knew him. My wolf howled with relief and terror at the same
time.
Mate.
I couldn't move. Couldn't blink.
Kade's lip curled.
"Oh," Lena said softly beside him. Her voice
carried, sweet and poisonous. "Oh."
The whole clearing felt like it was breathing with
us. Waiting.
Kade stepped down off the stone platform.
Each boot hit the ground with a dull, heavy thud. My
knees wobbled. Wolves shifted aside without needing to be told. A path opened
straight between us.
For a second, I was stupid enough to hope.
Maybe—
He stopped in front of me.
Close enough that his scent poured over me, flooding
every inch of my skin. My hands shook so badly the tray rattled again.
He looked down at me like I was something stuck to
his boot.
My throat worked. Nothing came out.
"Don't," he said.
Just that. One word. Flat and low.
I swallowed. "A–Alpha, I—"
"Shut up."
The words hit like a slap. Short. Cold. No softness
anywhere.
I shut up.
His gaze dragged over my face. My messy hair. The
cheap, too-big servant dress hanging off my bones. The empty tray clutched in
my hands.
His nostrils flared.
"You feel it, don't you?" he said, voice even
quieter. I could barely hear him over the pounding in my ears. "Say it."
I shook my head before I could stop myself. "No, I—
I don't—"
His hand shot out and grabbed my jaw. Fingers
digging into my cheeks, forcing my chin up. Pain sparked through my face. My
heart jumped into my throat.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Kade leaned down, bringing his face close to mine.
His eyes were furious. Not wild. Not out of control. Just… disgusted.
"Mira," he said, like my name tasted bad. "Say it."
My eyes burned. Tears pricked hot. My wolf
whimpered.
"I…" My voice cracked. I swallowed hard, tried
again. "You're… my mate."
The word felt too big for my mouth.
His jaw tightened.
"Wrong," he said.
The word dropped between us like a stone into dark
water.
He let go of my face. I stumbled back a step, my
heel catching on a root. The tray slipped. Glass crashed to the dirt,
shattering into glittering pieces around my feet.
I flinched at the sound.
The pack watched.
Every face. Every pair of eyes. On me.
Kade turned away from me like I already bored him.
He walked back to the stone platform, each step slow and controlled.
He faced the pack again.
"As your Alpha," he said, voice loud and clear now,
"I reject her."
The clearing sucked in a breath all at once.
Heat shot up my neck. My vision blurred. I couldn't
think. I couldn't breathe.
"Mira Hale." He didn't even look at me. "Lowest
omega. Weak. Unfit. I reject the bond the Moon tried to give me."
The words burned.
Tears spilled over. I hated that I couldn't stop
them. Hated that everyone could see.
Lena's smile stretched wider.
"Your Luna," Kade said, "will be Lena Voss."
The crowd erupted.
Cheers. Howls. Stomps on the ground. Someone
whistled. The sound crashed over me like a wave full of rocks.
I stood in the middle of it, glass around my shoes,
heart cracked open in my chest, while my mate announced to the whole world that
he'd rather take anyone else.
My wolf made a broken sound inside me.
Kade, she whispered.
My legs finally gave out.
The last thing I saw before my knees hit the dirt
was Kade's profile in the moonlight.
He didn't look back.