The Luna's Revenge

The Burning Bond

Ayla's POV

The Harvest Moon Gathering took place in the Great Clearing, a vast open area in the middle of the territory where old trees formed a natural amphitheater. When we arrived from Thornridge, the clearing was already filled with wolves from every settlement and pack.

I had never seen so many of our kind in my life.

The big packs arrived in tidy clusters. Their members were healthy-looking and clad in fine linen. They arrived with confidence, their wolves just below the surface, radiating power. The biggest of the packs was Draven, with their black and silver pennants streaming from the trees and announcing their dominance.

We from Thornridge stood around on the edges, setting up tables and cooking. Nobody suspected that we would be joining in on the celebration proper. We were servants.

"Get moving! Stop staring and move along," Elder Rosewood growled at me when I paused to watch the throngs.

I ducked my head and went back to putting out supplies. My hands shook a little. Something was wrong tonight. The air crackled with something that I couldn't quite define, and my skin felt prickly with sensitivity.

The ceremony began as the entire moon rose above the trees. Pack leaders stood up to address, re-swearing vows of unity and declaring their continued commitment to the peace of the land. It was all staid and tedious, the same words every year but spoken in varying voices.

Then Alpha Kael Draven stood up.

I had heard stories about him while growing up. The youngest Alpha our territory's history had ever known, he had taken over his pack at the age of twenty-one when his father was murdered. In five years, he had built the Draven Pack into an empire, doubling their hunting grounds and establishing alliances through diplomacy and war.

I had never laid eyes on him.

He was tall, easily the largest wolf in the clearing, with wide shoulders and a fighting physique. His black hair was swept back from a face that looked as if it were carved out of stone with hard features and sharp angles. Even from a distance, I could feel the power that radiated from him.

They all stopped talking when he did.

"The Draven Pack is committed to peace and prosperity for all wolves in this world," he stated, his voice low and commanding. "We will continue to defend our friends and remove threats to our way of life."

Typical Alpha propaganda. I stepped away to obtain additional supplies.

That's when things happened.

Something in my chest tightened, like an unseen string had wrapped around my heart and stabbed me with pain. I was breathing in shudders, and my basket fell from my fingers. The world turned over on its side, and I was grabbing at a tree to keep myself upright.

What was happening?

The tug came back, this time stronger, pulling my attention across the clearing. My eyes landed on him unintentionally; Alpha Kael, who remained in the center of the crowd. And he was gazing at me.

Our eyes met.

The connection snapped into place with such force that I stumbled backward. It was as though nothing I had ever experienced before; a line of pure energy between us, shortening by the second. I could feel him in it: his shock and confusion, and something else. Something that seemed utterly like horror.

No. This was not possible.

The Moon Goddess had not gifted a girl like me with fated mates. She hadn't given the most powerful Alpha in the pack to a wolfless nothing like me from the lowest-down settlement. This must have been a mistake.

But the mate bond did not lie.

I watched Kael's expression shift from shock through recognition to something cold and cutting. He knew it too. He understood what this was.

Elder Rosewood grasped my arm, her claws digging into my flesh. "What have you done?"

"I. I didn't."

But she was already dragging me along, to the center of the clearing where the pack leaders stood waiting. Thornridge wolves followed behind, their faces a mix of confusion and anticipation. They did not yet know. They thought this was good news.

The people parted as we pushed through. Dozens of faces turned to regard me, and I longed to melt into the ground. This was all bad. Everything about this was bad.

"Alpha Kael," Elder Rosewood nudged me forward. "It would appear the Moon Goddess has blessed you with a destined mate."

Silence fell over the clearing. Wolves crowded in, trying to look. I had my gaze cast to the ground, shivering. The bond pulled at me, begging me to go to him, to close the distance between us.

"Look at me," Kael commanded.

I raised my head slowly. Up close, he was even more intimidating. His winter storm-gray eyes gleamed with fury, and his expression was totally inscrutable. But through the bond, I felt everything: his anger, his disgust, and his utter rejection of what fate had ordained.

"What is your name?" he snarled.

"Ayla Thorn, Alpha." My voice is just above a breath.

"And you have a wolf?"

I shook my head. Whispers began to swirl up around us. Someone laughed.

Kael's mouth hardened. He looked at me like I was something unclean he had stumbled in on, something to be scraped off and forgotten. Through the bond, I felt his decision before he spoke it.

"No," he said flatly. "This is a mistake."

Hope and fear wrestled in my chest. "Alpha, I."

"I, Kael Draven, Alpha of the Draven Pack, reject you, Ayla Thorn, as my mate." His voice thundered in the clearing, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You are not worthy to stand beside me. You are weak, powerless, and an embarrassment to what a luna should be."

Each sentence hit me like a body punch. The connection, instead of breaking, splintered into sharp, cutting pieces that ripped through my chest. Pain exploded behind my ribs, so intense I couldn't breathe. I fell to my knees, gasping.

"I choose Lyra Ashford as my mate and future Luna," Kael continued, gesturing to a beautiful blonde woman standing among his pack. "She is everything that a luna must be: strong, capable, and worthy of her position."

Lyra smiled triumphantly.

The clearing erupted into uproar. Some wolves yelled, pledging their Alpha's choice. Others complained in disgust. I knelt there on the earth, rejection burning its way through my veins like poison.

I looked up at Kael for the last time.

He was already gone.