The Discarded Luna

Chosen

The moment that word left my mouth, it was like I had woken something up in every pack member standing there. Even the young wolves, the ones who were not even born when the event happened years ago, started to whisper about me. Voices rose from every side of the crowd.

"She's a runt."

"Traitor's daughter."

"She should go to hell."

"She does not deserve to be Luna."

"I'm sure Alpha Rhydian won't accept her anymore."

The words hit me one after another, like small stones thrown from every direction. I could not tell who was speaking anymore. It felt like the whole pack had turned into one angry mouth, and every word coming out of it was aimed at me.

While the crowd kept shouting, Alpha Rhydian was still in his wolf form, his massive body pressing Kade down into the dirt. Kade did not fight back. He just lay there, pinned, but even from where I stood, I could see his eyes were not afraid. They were amused.

The murmuring from the pack kept growing louder, until Rhydian let out a roar that shook the ground under my feet. It was not just loud. It was final, “silence.”

Every voice in the clearing went silent at once, as if the sound itself had reached into each throat and closed it.

Then, right there in front of everyone, Rhydian changed back into his human form. His body straightened, his shoulders squared, and for a moment he stood over Kade in complete silence, breathing hard.

Kade changed too. He got up slowly, brushing dirt from his arms, and looked straight at me. Then he laughed.

It was a short laugh, not loud, but it cut through me anyway. I remembered the Kade I grew up with. That Kade would have stepped in front of me the second the pack started talking. That Kade would have snapped at anyone who dared call me a runt or a traitor's daughter. He would have stood beside me, not across from me.

But this Kade was not doing that. This Kade was watching me get torn apart by words, and he looked like he was enjoying every second of it.

I felt my knees weaken. My whole body was still shaking from the shouting, from the names, from the memory of everything those words brought back. I bent forward slightly, trying to hold myself together, trying not to let anyone see me break down completely in front of the entire pack.

That was when Alpha Rhydian walked toward me.

I did not look up right away. Part of me was bracing myself, waiting for him to say the words I feared most. I thought this was the moment my past would finally catch up to me for good. I thought he would look at me the same way the rest of the pack was looking at me, like I was something dirty, something that did not belong among them.

He reached me and gently took my arm, lifting me up from where I was bent over. His hand was warm, steady, nothing like the storm that had just passed through him only seconds ago.

I finally looked up at his face, ready for rejection.

Instead, he asked me something I never expected.

He asked if I was still willing to be his mate. He said it clearly, in front of everyone, with no hesitation in his voice.

He was not taking back the bond request. He was not turning away from me because of what the pack believed about my father, or about me. He was standing there, offering me his hand and his mate bond all over again, telling me that my past did not decide who I was to him.

Tears filled my eyes before I could stop them. I did not care anymore who saw me cry. After everything the pack had thrown at me, after every insult, after Kade's laughter ringing in my ears, this one question from Rhydian felt like the only true thing in that entire clearing.

"Yes," I said. My voice came out shaky, but there was no doubt in it. "Yes, I'm still willing."

The moment I said it, something in his eyes softened. He pulled me closer, and for a second, it felt like the noise of the pack disappeared completely. It was just the two of us standing there, his hand holding mine, while everyone else faded into the background.

But the world did not stay quiet for long. I could still feel the stares from every side. Some pack members looked away, uncomfortable now that Alpha Rhydian had made his choice so clearly. Others kept glaring, their faces twisted with disgust, as if my answer had somehow insulted them personally.

I did not let it stop me.

With my hand still in Rhydian's, I lifted my chin and started walking. I walked past every single pack member who had spat insults at me only minutes before. I walked past the ones who called me a runt. I walked past the ones who called me a traitor's daughter. I walked past every wolf who believed I did not deserve to stand beside their Alpha.

I did not look back at Kade. I did not need to see his face again to know what expression he was wearing. I could still feel his eyes on me, but for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I did not care what he thought.

The crowd slowly parted as we walked through it, some stepping aside out of respect for Rhydian, others simply too shocked to move. Nobody dared to say another word out loud, not with Alpha Rhydian standing so close to me, his grip firm and protective around my hand.

My tears had not stopped, but they no longer felt like tears of shame. They felt different now, lighter somehow, like something heavy had finally been lifted off my chest after years of carrying it alone.

I did not know what tomorrow would bring. I did not know if Alpha Rhydian pack would accept me, or if Kade would try something else to tear me and Rhydian apart. But right there, in that moment, walking hand in hand with the Alpha who had just chosen me in front of everyone who doubted me, I felt something I had not felt in

a very long time.

I felt like I finally belonged somewhere.