The healer he rejected

Chapter 1: The Rejection Ceremony* The pack square smelled of rain and smoke. Tonight was the Moon Ceremony. The night every 18-year-old prayed for. The night the Moon Goddess decided who you belonged to. I knelt in the center of the stone circle, head bowed, hands shaking. My bare knees stung against the cold stone, but I didn’t dare move. “Lyra Blackwood,” Alpha Dorian’s voice boomed across the square. “Step forward.” My heart slammed against my ribs. I stood. My legs felt like water. Around me, three hundred pairs of eyes watched. Some curious. Most cruel. Because I was wolf-less. In a pack of warriors and hunters, I was the one girl born without a wolf. No shifting. No strength. Just a gift for healing that no one respected unless they were dying. “Today,” Alpha Dorian said, “the Moon Goddess reveals your mate.” He gestured to my left. Kael. Kael Vorn. Alpha’s son. Future Alpha. The boy I’d loved in secret since I was twelve. He stepped forward, his golden eyes finding mine. For half a second, I thought—maybe. Maybe he felt it too. Then it happened. A silver light bloomed on the back of my hand. At the same time, the same glow appeared on Kael’s wrist. Gasps rippled through the crowd. The mate mark. The Moon Goddess had chosen. Kael and I were fated. Relief and terror warred in my chest. Fated mates couldn’t be denied. Could they? Kael stared at the mark on his skin like it had betrayed him. His jaw clenched. Then he looked up, and his eyes were cold. “I reject Lyra Blackwood,” he said, voice clear and loud enough for the whole pack to hear. The words hit me like a blade to the gut. Pain tore through me, sharp and physical. The bond snapped, but not cleanly. It tore, like flesh being ripped apart. I doubled over, gasping. My vision went white. Rejecting a fated mate was forbidden. It left both sides scarred. But Kael didn’t care. “I, Kael Vorn, son of Alpha Dorian, find no bond with Lyra Blackwood,” he continued. “She is weak. She is useless to this pack. I claim Princess Selene Ashford as my true mate.” Selene stepped forward, smirking. She was beautiful, powerful, with a silver wolf everyone admired. She’d been waiting for this moment. Kael turned to her. His eyes softened. He took her hand, lifted it, and bit down. Her mark bloomed red and gold on her wrist. The new mate mark. The crowd cheered. My chest caved in. “Useless healer.” “Waste of space.” “She should’ve left years ago.” The whispers cut deeper than the rejection. I forced myself to stand straight. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me break. Not here. Not now. Kael finally looked at me. His face was blank. No guilt. No regret. “Leave the pack grounds by sunrise,” he said quietly. Only I heard it. “If you stay, I can’t protect you from them.” Protect me? I almost laughed. I turned and walked away. My legs carried me through the crowd, past the staring faces, past the laughter. I didn’t run. I wouldn’t run. Not until I was out of sight. The moment the trees swallowed me, I collapsed. The pain hit harder now that I was alone. My chest felt hollow. My skin felt wrong, like it didn’t fit. The broken bond clawed at me, a constant ache that wouldn’t stop. I screamed. The sound tore from my throat, raw and broken, and echoed through the forest. “Why?” I whispered to the empty trees. “Why would you give me him, if he was never mine?” No answer. The Moon was hidden behind clouds. I pressed my hands to the dirt, grounding myself. Healing was the only thing I was good at. If I could heal others, maybe I could heal myself. Warmth spread from my palms into the earth. A cut on my knee stitched itself shut in seconds. Useless, they said. If I was useless, why did they come to me when they were bleeding out? Why did they beg me to save their pups when the pack healer was drunk again? Because I was convenient. Because I was quiet. Because I didn’t fight back. Not anymore. I stood. My legs still shook, but my spine didn’t. I wiped my face with the back of my hand. No more tears. Tears didn’t keep you alive out here. I had one pack left to me now. The rogues. The outcasts. The ones who knew what it was like to be thrown away. If the royal pack didn’t want me, fine. I’d make them remember my name. I took one last look at the lights of the pack house through the trees. At the cheering, at the dancing, at Kael and Selene celebrating their new bond. Then I turned and walked into the dark. Behind me, I thought I heard my name. “Lyra—” I didn’t stop. If you reject the Moon Goddess’s choice, don’t expect mercy when she comes for you .