The Alpha Rejected the Moon's Last Heir

The night my mate rejected me, I was wearing the dress I'd saved three months to buy. The silver gown hugged my body, its delicate straps resting on my shoulders. I'd spent hours braiding my hair, hoping that when Alpha Kael saw me, he'd finally look at me the way I'd dreamed of for years. Instead, he stood before the entire Blackthorn Pack with another woman wrapped around his arm. And then he destroyed me with seven words. "I, Kael Blackthorn, reject you as my mate." For a moment, the world stopped breathing. The music died. Whispers spread through the grand hall, and hundreds of eyes turned toward me. My wolf whimpered inside my chest. No, Seraphina. Please, no. I stared at Kael, waiting for him to laugh, to tell me this was some cruel joke. We'd grown up together. I'd loved him since I was fifteen, and when the Moon Goddess revealed him as my mate on my eighteenth birthday, I'd believed my life was finally beginning. I was wrong. "Kael," I whispered, stepping toward him. "Please tell me you don't mean that." His expression remained cold. Beside him, Isabella, the daughter of a neighboring Alpha, tightened her grip on his arm. A small, satisfied smile played on her lips. "Don't embarrass yourself, Seraphina," Kael said. "This is already difficult enough." Difficult? He was the Alpha who'd held my hand when I was afraid of thunderstorms. The boy who'd promised to protect me when the other pack children mocked me for having a weak wolf. Now he looked at me as though I were a stranger who had wandered into his home. "Why?" My voice trembled. "What have I done to you?" "You have nothing to offer my pack." His words struck harder than any physical blow. "I'm your mate." "Not anymore." A sharp pain tore through my chest as the mate bond snapped. I fell to my knees. Someone gasped. Someone else laughed. I couldn't tell which hurt more. My wolf howled inside me, clawing at the invisible wound. I pressed a trembling hand against my chest, struggling to breathe as the bond that had connected me to Kael for years shattered into nothing. "Please," I whispered, tears blurring my vision. "Don't do this." Kael looked away. That was when I understood. He wasn't going to change his mind. "Guards," he ordered. "Take her to her room. She will leave the pack before sunrise." I lifted my head in disbelief. "You're banishing me?" "You heard me." "But this is my home!" "Not anymore." Isabella leaned close to him and whispered something I couldn't hear. Kael nodded, then turned his back on me. He didn't even watch as the guards dragged me out of the hall. By midnight, my entire life had been reduced to a small suitcase. I stood in the room I'd occupied since childhood, staring at the empty shelves and the faded photograph on my bedside table. It showed Kael and me as teenagers, laughing beside the lake behind the packhouse. Back then, he'd given me his jacket because I was cold. One day, you'll be my Luna, Sera, he'd promised. I picked up the photograph, my fingers trembling. Then I tore it in half. I hated myself for still loving him. A knock sounded at the door. For one foolish second, hope rose in my chest. "Kael?" The door opened, revealing my aunt, Maribel. She'd raised me after my parents died in a rogue attack when I was six. Her eyes were red. "Oh, my poor girl." I rushed into her arms and broke down. "Why does he hate me, Auntie? I never hurt him. I did everything he asked." She stroked my hair but said nothing. That silence frightened me more than Kael's rejection. "There's something you're not telling me," I whispered. She pulled away and glanced toward the corridor. "Listen carefully, Seraphina. You must leave tonight." "Why? Kael already said I should go before sunrise." "No." Her voice dropped to a frightened whisper. "You don't understand. If you remain here until morning, you may not survive." My blood turned cold. "What are you talking about?" She grabbed my shoulders. "Your parents didn't die in a rogue attack." I stopped breathing. "What?" "Someone wanted them dead. And now that Kael has rejected you, the people who have been searching for you will know you're vulnerable." Before I could demand an explanation, footsteps thundered through the corridor. Aunt Maribel's face drained of color. "They're here." The door burst open. Two guards entered, their expressions grim. Behind them stood Isabella, no longer wearing her sweet, innocent smile. "How touching," she said, looking between us. "A family reunion before the little orphan disappears." "Get out," I snapped. Her eyes narrowed. "You still think you have the right to speak to me like that?" "I have the right to speak wherever I stand." She laughed. "Not for much longer." She gestured toward the guards. "Search her belongings. The Alpha wants to make certain she takes nothing that belongs to this pack." One guard overturned my suitcase. Clothes scattered across the floor. The other reached for the necklace around my neck. I slapped his hand away. "Don't touch that!" The necklace had belonged to my mother. It was an old silver crescent moon with a tiny blue stone in its center. I'd worn it for as long as I could remember. Isabella's expression changed the moment she saw it. For the first time that night, she looked afraid. "Where did you get that?" "It's mine." She seized the chain and yanked. The necklace snapped. The instant the silver pendant struck the floor, a strange pulse of energy swept through the room. Every light exploded. The guards stumbled backward. A burning sensation spread across my chest, and I screamed as a symbol appeared beneath my skin: a crescent moon surrounded by three silver stars. Aunt Maribel dropped to her knees. "Oh, Goddess," she whispered. "It's awakened." Isabella stared at the glowing mark. "No. That's impossible." I looked down at my chest, terror gripping me. "What is happening to me?" Before anyone answered, a deafening howl echoed across the pack territory. It wasn't an ordinary wolf's howl. It sounded ancient. Powerful. Furious. Every wolf in the building dropped to their knees. Every wolf except me. Isabella backed toward the door, shaking her head. "The last heir is dead," she whispered. "The Moon Throne has no heir." Aunt Maribel looked up at me, tears streaming down her face. "Forgive me, Seraphina. I wanted to protect you, but I couldn't hide the truth forever." I stared at her. "What truth?" She took my trembling hands. "You are not wolfless, my child. Your wolf was sealed to protect you." A thunderous crash shook the building. Somewhere outside, the pack began to scream. Then a voice spoke inside my mind, deep and unmistakably female. My daughter. At last, I have found you. I froze. Aunt Maribel bowed her head. "The Moon Goddess." And then the voice whispered the words that changed everything. Run, Seraphina. The Alpha who rejected you is not your greatest enemy. He is the man who was ordered to kill you.