The Lycan King's Cursed Luna

The night my life ended was supposed to be the night I became Luna. Instead, I was rejected in front of the entire pack. The moon hung above Blackthorn Pack like a silver eye, watching everything that happened beneath it. Hundreds of wolves had gathered in the ceremonial courtyard, their voices blending into a low murmur as they waited for the announcement. I stood at the center of them all, my hands trembling beneath the sleeves of my white dress. Tonight was supposed to be perfect. I had imagined this moment since I was a little girl. I imagined Damon standing beside me, his hand wrapped around mine while the elders placed the Luna crown on my head. I imagined my mother crying with pride. I imagined my father finally looking at me like I was worth something. Most of all, I imagined hearing those three words from the man I had loved for years. You are my mate. But none of that happened. Instead, Damon Cross stood before me with a woman beside him. Seraphina. She wore a silver dress that glittered beneath the moonlight, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders. Her hand was wrapped around Damon's arm. And she was smiling. Not nervously. Not sadly. She was smiling like she had already won. My stomach twisted. I looked at Damon. "What's happening?" He didn't answer. The Alpha Elder stepped forward. His expression was unusually serious. "Tonight, the Moon Goddess has revealed the future of our pack." A wave of excitement moved through the crowd. I swallowed hard. This was it. The moment. I looked at Damon again. His eyes met mine. For one brief second, I saw something that looked almost like regret. Then his expression hardened. "Elena." My name sounded strange coming from his lips. "Yes?" He took a breath. "I, Damon Cross, Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack, reject you as my mate." The world stopped. I couldn't breathe. For a few seconds, I couldn't even understand the words. Reject. Mate. Me. My wolf whimpered inside my mind. No. No, no, no. I stared at him. "You... rejected me?" Damon looked away. "I did." A few people gasped. Others began whispering. My face burned. I could hear everything. "She's wolf-less anyway." "Of course he wouldn't choose her." "She's not worthy of being Luna." "Imagine being rejected on the ceremony night." Each word cut deeper than the last. I looked toward my mother. She was standing among the elders. She wasn't crying. She wasn't angry. She simply looked disappointed. As if I had embarrassed her. I felt something inside me break. "Damon," I whispered. "Why?" His jaw tightened. "Because I have found my true Luna." He reached for Seraphina's hand. She stepped forward. The crowd erupted in whispers. I stared at her. She looked at me with pity. Fake pity. Then she leaned closer to Damon. "Tell her." Damon's expression became cold. "Seraphina is my true mate." My heart shattered. The pain wasn't just emotional. It was physical. It felt as though someone had reached into my chest and squeezed my heart with their bare hand. My wolf cried out. I nearly collapsed. But I refused to fall. Not in front of them. Not in front of the people who had spent my entire life waiting for me to fail. I lifted my chin. "Fine." Damon looked surprised. "Fine?" I nodded even though tears were burning my eyes. "You don't want me. I understand." My voice shook. "But don't expect me to beg." Seraphina smiled. "You should be grateful Alpha Damon is rejecting you peacefully." I looked at her. "For someone who just stole my mate, you sound very proud." Her smile disappeared. Damon stepped between us. "Enough." I laughed bitterly. "Of course." I turned away. I wanted to leave. I wanted to disappear. But before I could take a step, the Alpha Elder spoke again. "Elena." I stopped. His voice was different. There was something dark in it. "Your punishment has not been decided." I slowly turned around. "Punishment?" The courtyard became silent. The elder looked at the other council members. One by one, they nodded. My heart began racing. "What did I do?" The elder's eyes settled on me. "You were born without a wolf." The words were spoken like an accusation. I clenched my fists. I had heard it my entire life. Wolf-less. Broken. Useless. A disgrace. "Because of your condition, you have never contributed to the strength of this pack." My mother's eyes dropped. I stared at her. She still said nothing. The elder continued. "Now that Alpha Damon has found his true mate, you have no position here." My throat tightened. "So I'm being banished?" "No." The elder shook his head. "You will be given to the Lycan King." Silence. Absolute silence. Even the wind seemed to stop. I frowned. "The... Lycan King?" Someone behind me whispered, "She's going to die." Another voice answered, "Nobody survives the Lycan King's castle." I looked at the elder. "What does that mean?" He didn't answer immediately. Then he said, "You will be taken to the Blackthorn Castle before sunrise." My blood ran cold. "The castle in the northern mountains?" He nodded. The place everyone feared. The home of Adrian Blackthorn. The Lycan King. Stories about him had existed for generations. Some said he was not entirely wolf. Some said he could kill an Alpha with one hand. Others claimed he had once destroyed an entire rogue army alone. But the worst stories were about his curse. They said every woman who entered his castle eventually disappeared. I shook my head. "No." The elder stared at me. "That was not a request." I looked at Damon. Surely he would stop this. Surely the man I had loved for years would not allow them to send me to my death. "Damon." He looked at me. "Please." His eyes were cold. "I can't interfere." I stared at him in disbelief. "You rejected me." He said nothing. "And now you're sending me to a monster?" His expression hardened. "The Lycan King is not our concern." I laughed through my tears. "Of course." I turned away. That was when I realized something. I had been waiting my entire life for people to choose me. My parents. My pack. Damon. And every single time, they had chosen someone else. Maybe this was the moment I stopped waiting. Maybe this was the moment I chose myself. I wiped my tears. "Take me." The elder frowned. "What?" I faced him. "If I'm going to die, I'd rather die knowing I didn't beg any of you." Nobody spoke. I walked away. My legs barely carried me to my room. The moment the door closed behind me, I collapsed. The tears came instantly. I buried my face in my hands. My wolf whimpered. Why did he reject us? I couldn't answer. Why was I born like this? I couldn't answer that either. For years, I had wondered why I had never shifted. Every child in my pack received their wolf around eighteen. Except me. I had turned twenty-two. Nothing. No wolf. No mate. No power. Nothing. And now I was being sent to a king who supposedly hated weak wolves. I cried until my head hurt. Then someone knocked. I quickly wiped my face. "Come in." The door opened. My mother entered. She closed it behind her. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Then she walked toward me. I looked at her. "Are you happy?" She froze. "Elena..." "Are you happy that I'm leaving?" She sighed. "You don't understand." "Then explain it." She looked down. "I always knew this day would come." My heart stopped. "What?" She sat beside me. "When you were born, the elders told your father that you were different." "Different how?" She hesitated. "I don't know." "You're lying." Her eyes filled with tears. I had never seen my mother cry over me before. "Elena, there are things about your birth that you don't know." My heartbeat quickened. "What things?" She reached for my hand. I pulled away. "Elena, there are things about your birth that you don't know." Before she could answer, a loud horn sounded outside. My mother stood immediately. "They've come." I stared at her. "Who?" "The Lycan King's guards." Fear rushed through me. My mother looked at me one last time. "Whatever happens, don't let them see you as weak." I swallowed. "Why?" She opened the door. "Because the Lycan King destroys weakness." Then she walked away. I remained frozen. Minutes later, heavy footsteps approached. The door opened. Three men stood outside. They were dressed entirely in black. Their eyes glowed faintly gold. Lycan guards. The tallest one stepped forward. "Elena Vale?" I nodded. "You are to come with us." I looked around my room. It suddenly felt painfully small. I grabbed a small bag and followed them. Nobody came to say goodbye. Not my father. Not my friends. Not Damon. Nobody. As I walked through the pack gates, I looked back once. Damon was standing beside Seraphina. He didn't even look at me. I turned away. I would never look back again. The journey to the northern mountains took several hours. The farther we traveled, the colder it became. The trees grew taller. The roads disappeared. Eventually, we reached a massive stone bridge. Beyond it stood a castle. Black towers reached toward the sky. Dark clouds surrounded the mountain peaks. Lightning flashed in the distance. I stared at the enormous gates. The Lycan King's castle. One of the guards opened the carriage door. "Get out." I stepped down. The gates opened. The sound echoed through the mountains. I walked inside. The castle was enormous. Dark corridors stretched in every direction. There were no servants laughing. No music. No warmth. Only silence. The guard led me through several corridors until we reached a large wooden door. He stopped. "Wait here." I looked at him. "Where is the king?" He stared at me. "Inside." My heart pounded. "Why am I here?" He didn't answer. The door opened. A voice came from the darkness. "Send her in." The guard stepped aside. I entered. The door closed behind me. I was alone. The room was enormous, illuminated only by a fireplace. A man stood beside the window with his back to me. Tall. Broad shoulders. Black hair. Dressed in a dark shirt. I could feel his power even from across the room. He slowly turned. Our eyes met. And something inside me screamed. My body froze. My heart slammed against my ribs. A strange warmth spread through my chest. Then a voice whispered inside my head. Mate. I couldn't breathe. No. It wasn't possible. The Lycan King stared at me. His eyes changed. Gold. Bright, terrifying gold. His expression went completely still. For several seconds, neither of us moved. Then he whispered a single word. "Luna." I stared at him. He took one step toward me. My legs trembled. Another step. The air around him seemed to grow heavier. Then his eyes darkened. "Who sent you here?" I swallowed. "My pack." "Why?" I forced myself to speak. "Because they rejected me." His jaw tightened. "Who?" "My Alpha." His eyes flashed. "And what is your name?" "Elena." He repeated it softly. "Elena." The way he said my name made my heart race. Then suddenly, he grabbed his chest. His face twisted in pain. I stepped forward. "Are you okay?" He dropped to one knee. A low growl escaped his throat. Dark veins appeared along his neck. The room shook. I froze. He looked at me. His eyes were wild. "Don't come closer." But I couldn't move. Something inside me pulled toward him. The closer I stepped, the calmer he became. His breathing slowly steadied. The dark veins disappeared. He stared at me in disbelief. I stared back. Neither of us understood what had just happened. Then the doors suddenly opened. An old woman rushed inside. "My King!" She stopped when she saw me. Her eyes widened. Then she looked at Adrian. "Impossible." Adrian stood slowly. "What?" The woman stared at me as though she had seen a ghost. "Your Majesty..." Her voice trembled. "She's the one." Adrian's expression darkened. "The one from the prophecy?" The woman nodded. "The lost Luna." My blood ran cold. Lost Luna? What were they talking about? I looked at Adrian. He was staring at me differently now. Not like a stranger. Not like a sacrifice. Like I was the answer to a question he had spent his entire life asking. He walked toward me. Slowly. Carefully. Then he stopped directly in front of me. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Elena Vale..." His fingers lifted toward my face but stopped before touching me. "Do you know what you are?" I shook my head. He looked into my eyes. "You are not wolf-less." My heart stopped. "What?" His gaze moved over me. "You were never weak." He leaned closer. "You were hidden." I stared at him, confused. "Hidden from who?" His eyes turned completely black. "From everyone." He stepped back. Then he looked toward the old woman. "Seal the castle." The woman immediately bowed. "Yes, Your Majesty." Adrian looked at me again. His voice was calm, but something terrifying lived beneath it. "No one leaves." I frowned. "Why?" His eyes locked onto mine. "Because if the prophecy is true..." He paused. "...the people who sent you here didn't send you to die." My heart pounded. "Then why did they send me?" Adrian's expression became cold. "They sent you here because they were afraid of what you would become." And for the first time that night, I realized something far more terrifying than being rejected. Maybe my greatest secret wasn't that I had no wolf. Maybe it was that everyone had been lying about me. And somewhere beyond those castle walls, someone already knew exactly what I was.