THE ALPHA'S REJECTED LUNA

Chapter 1: Rejected On Her BirthdayThe pain started at midnight.Aria doubled over on the cold floor of the storage room she called a bedroom, her hands clutching her chest. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it would tear out of her ribs. Today was her eighteenth birthday. Tonight, she would finally shift. Tonight, she would finally meet her fated mate given by the Moon Goddess.And maybe, just maybe, the pain would stop.For eighteen years, she had been the wolfless omega of the Black Moon Pack. The daughter of a traitor. The girl with no wolf, no family, no one. The other omegas made her scrub floors until her knees bled. The pack warriors used her for target practice. She had endured it all because she believed the Goddess had a plan for her.She believed her mate would save her."Please," she whispered into the darkness, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Please let him love me."The pack house bell rang. Three loud knocks.It was time for the Mating Ceremony. Every unmated wolf aged eighteen and above had to be present in the Great Hall to find their mate under the full moon.Aria wiped her face and pulled on her only dress — a faded grey dress two sizes too big, patched at the edges. Her long black hair was messy, her face thin from hunger. But her eyes, silver-grey eyes, still held a small light of hope.The Great Hall was full. Hundreds of wolves in beautiful gowns and suits, the air thick with excitement and expensive perfume. And at the center of it all, on the Alpha's throne, sat him.Alpha Kael.He was twenty-five, tall, built like a god of war, with black hair and piercing ice-blue eyes that could freeze a soul. The most powerful Alpha in the northern territory. Ruthless. Cold. Untouched. Every unmated female wanted him. And Aria... Aria had loved him secretly since she was ten years old, when he once stopped two boys from beating her behind the kitchen.That one small kindness had kept her alive for eight years.Kael's eyes were closed, his powerful wolf restless inside him. The Moon Goddess was whispering to him too. Mate near.Then the doors opened and Aria walked in.The moment her scent hit him — wild roses and winter rain — his eyes snapped open. Gold flashed in his blue irises. His wolf howled inside him.Mate!Their eyes met across the hall. For one second, the whole world stopped. Aria felt it — the electric snap of the mate bond clicking into place, warm and beautiful and perfect. It was him. Her mate was Alpha Kael. The Moon Goddess had not abandoned her.Tears of joy filled her eyes. She took a step forward.Kael stood up slowly. Everyone in the hall gasped and turned to look at Aria.He stared at her. At her patched dress. At her bare feet. At the omega mark burned into her wrist. His face, which had shown shock for one second, twisted into disgust and rage.No. Not her. It could not be her. He was an Alpha. He needed a strong Luna, a daughter of an Alpha, not a wolfless, worthless omega slave.Aria smiled trembling. "Mate?" she whispered.The hall went dead silent.Kael's voice, when it came, was cold enough to shatter ice."I, Alpha Kael Blackwood of the Black Moon Pack," he said loudly, so every wolf could hear, "reject you, Aria, as my mate and my Luna."The bond snapped.It felt like someone had reached into her chest and ripped her soul in half. Aria screamed — a raw, broken sound that echoed off the stone walls — and fell to her knees. The pain was unbearable. White-hot agony shooting through every vein. Her bond, her only hope, was bleeding out in front of everyone.Blood trickled from her nose.Nobody moved to help her. Some girls laughed.Kael looked down at her, his jaw clenched, his hands in fists. His own chest was aching from the rejection, but his pride was stronger than the pain."You are wolfless. You are weak. You are nothing. An Alpha needs a Luna who can stand beside him, not behind him begging for scraps," he spat. "You were never meant to be mine."Aria looked up at him, her vision blurred by tears. The light in her silver eyes died.She forced herself to stand, even as her legs shook violently. She wiped the blood from her face."I, Aria... I accept your rejection," she said, her voice broken but clear.And with that, she turned and walked out of the Great Hall, out of the pack house, and into the freezing snow — leaving a trail of blood behind her.She did not know where she was going. She only knew she would never come back as the same girl.Not until the day they would all bow to her.