The Rejected Luna CH25 - CH30
1590 Words
*CHAPTER 25: WAR WITHOUT HIM*
The infirmary door slammed behind me.
"2 miles?" I repeated. My voice didn’t shake. It couldn’t.
Kade nodded, jaw tight. "Scouts counted at least 400. Maybe more. They’re moving fast."
Behind me, Damien’s heart monitor beeped. Steady. Unconscious.
"How long until they reach the gates?"
"45 minutes. Maybe an hour."
I looked back at Damien. Pale. 8 stitches in his side. My handprint still on his chest from where I’d tried to stop the bleeding.
"I’m not leaving him," I said.
"You don’t have to," Kade said. "But Luna... we need you at the wall."
Right. Luna.
I squeezed Damien’s hand once. "Don’t you dare die while I’m gone."
The war room was chaos. Maps, shouting, wolves shifting.
"Positions!" I yelled. The room went silent. "Archers to the east wall. Betas to the gates. Healers in the cellars with the pups and elders. No one fights alone."
"Where’s Alpha Damien?" someone asked.
"Down," I said. "Which means I’m leading."
My wolf snarled. _Good._
We had 20 minutes.
I was on the wall when I saw them. Black flags. Rouge King’s sigil. A red crown dripping blood.
And at the front, on a massive black wolf, a man with a crown of bone.
The Rouge King.
He didn’t attack right away. He stopped 100 yards out.
"LUNA KIARA!" His voice carried. "Come down! Surrender your pack and I’ll make your death quick!"
I stepped to the edge of the wall. "My pack doesn’t surrender!"
"Then they die!"
He raised his hand.
And the ground shook.
*[CLIFFHANGER]*
The gates didn’t break.
The ground did.
A tunnel. Right under the east wall.
And 50 rogues poured out behind us.
---
*CHAPTER 26: BLOOD AND PROMISES*
"Behind us!" I screamed.
Chaos.
Wolves shifted mid-air. Claws out. Teeth. Screams.
I jumped from the wall, 20 feet down, and landed in a roll. My first kill was over before the rogue hit the ground.
But there were too many.
"Kade! Seal the tunnel!"
"I’m trying!"
A blade came for my back. I spun, caught the wrist, broke it.
Then I saw him. The Rouge King, walking through the gate like he owned it.
"Where’s your Alpha?" he sneered. "Hiding?"
"He’s bleeding because of you," I snarled.
"Good."
He lunged.
We clashed. He was fast. Older. Stronger. But I was angry.
For 5 minutes it was claws and blood and bone.
Then I felt it. A pull.
Damien.
He was awake.
And he was in pain.
The Rouge King’s blade came down. I dodged, but it sliced my arm.
"Yield," he said.
"No."
"Then die."
The infirmary doors burst open.
Damien. Shirtless. Bandages soaked red. Sword in hand.
"Touch her and I’ll end you," he growled.
*[CLIFFHANGER]*
The Rouge King smiled. "Two Alphas. How generous."
He whistled.
And from the treeline, 2 witches stepped out.
Both holding glowing orbs.
Both aimed at Damien.
---
*CHAPTER 27: THE WITCHES’ PRICE*
"Damien, no!"
The orbs flew.
I moved without thinking. Tackled him. We hit the ground as magic screamed over us.
It hit the wall instead. Stone melted.
"Are you insane?" I yelled, straddling him. "You’re hurt!"
"So are you," he gritted out, looking at my arm. "Kiara, get off me."
"Make me."
The Rouge King laughed. "Touching. Really."
The witches raised their hands again.
Damien shoved me aside and stood. Wobbling. "Focus on me."
"Both of you!" one witch cackled. "The Alpha and the Luna. The King will pay well."
Then Kade’s voice: "Now!"
From the rooftops, 10 of my archers fired.
Silver arrows.
One witch went down screaming. The other managed a shield before a second arrow took her in the throat.
The Rouge King’s face twisted. "Retreat!"
But it was too late.
Damien was already moving. He crossed the distance in 3 strides and drove his sword through the King’s chest.
The King gurgled. "This... isn’t over..."
"It is for you," Damien said.
He fell.
Silence.
Then cheering.
I ran to Damien. "You i***t. You’re bleeding out."
"Had to," he said, swaying. "Couldn’t let him hurt you."
He collapsed.
*[CLIFFHANGER]*
In the infirmary, Mara looked at me. "He lost too much blood, Luna. If he doesn’t wake in 24 hours..."
She didn’t finish.
She didn’t need to.
And on his nightstand, a note I hadn’t seen before: _"If anything happens to me, the real traitor is in your pack."_
---
*CHAPTER 28: TRAITOR*
24 hours.
I didn’t leave his side.
I fed him water. Changed his bandages. Talked to him even though he couldn’t hear me.
"Remember when we were 16 and you dared me to climb the oak tree?" I whispered. "I fell. You caught me. Said I was too stubborn to die."
His fingers twitched.
"Kiara."
My head snapped up. His eyes were open. Gray and tired but open.
"You’re awake," I breathed.
"Told you I wasn’t dying," he rasped.
I cried. Ugly, snotty crying. "Don’t ever do that again."
"Deal."
We sat like that until Mara kicked us out. "Rest, both of you."
But we had a problem.
The note.
"If anything happens to me, the real traitor is in your pack."
Damien read it. His face went hard. "Who knew I was coming here?"
"Kade. Mara. 3 guards."
"Who knew about the meeting at dawn?"
"Everyone in the war room."
Damien looked at me. "Kiara. It’s someone close."
I hated it. "We can’t just accuse—"
Another knock.
A young wolf. Shaking. "Luna. We found something in the armory. Weapons missing. And... this."
He held out a red ribbon.
The same as the raven’s.
*[CLIFFHANGER]*
Tied to the ribbon was a small pendant.
My pendant.
The one I lost 5 years ago.
The night Damien rejected me.
---
*CHAPTER 29: THE NIGHT OF THE REJECTION*
My hands shook.
"This was mine," I whispered. "From the mating ceremony."
Damien took it. Turned it over. "There’s writing on the back."
I looked. Small, scratched letters: _For D._
"I never saw this," I said.
"Because someone took it," Damien said. "Kiara... who had access to your room that night?"
My blood went cold.
"Kade," I said. "He was my beta then too. He helped me dress."
We found Kade in the training yard.
"Talk," Damien said. No preamble.
Kade went pale. "What’s wrong?"
"Did you take this from Kiara 5 years ago?" I held up the pendant.
His eyes widened. "No! Luna, I would never—"
"Then how did it end up in the armory with missing weapons?"
"I don’t know!"
Damien stepped forward. Alpha presence rolling off him. "Kade. Did you tell the Rouge King we were meeting?"
"No!"
"Did you lead them through the tunnel?"
"I didn’t even know about the tunnel!"
He was crying now.
I believed him.
But someone didn’t.
"Enough," I said. "We’ll figure this out. But not like this."
That night, I couldn’t sleep.
I kept thinking about 5 years ago. About the rejection. About how Damien had looked... not angry. Scared.
I went to his room.
"Kiara?"
"Why did you do it?" I asked. "Why did you reject me?"
He was quiet for a long time. "Because the Riverpack threatened to burn Nightfang if I didn’t mate their daughter. And my father was sick. And I thought... I thought if I was strong enough, I could protect everyone."
"By breaking me?"
"By breaking myself." He looked at me. "I’m sorry."
*[CLIFFHANGER]*
Before I could answer, the wards screamed again.
But this time it wasn’t outside.
It was from inside the pack house.
And a voice over the speakers, distorted:
_"Hello, Luna. Hello, Alpha. Thanks for finding the pendant. Now everyone will know who the real traitor is."_
---
*CHAPTER 30: EXPOSED*
"Who is that?" I yelled.
No answer. Just laughter.
Damien was already moving, pulling me toward the door. "Stay behind me."
We ran to the main hall.
Everyone was there. 400 wolves. Confused. Scared.
And in the middle, projected on the wall by witch magic, was a video.
Me. 18 years old. Crying in my room the night of the rejection.
And Kade. Talking to someone on the phone.
"...yes, she’s devastated. He rejected her. The Riverpack deal is sealed."
The voice on the other end: "Good. Keep her weak. We’ll need her pack later."
The video cut.
The hall exploded.
"Traitor!"
"It was Kade!"
"Kill him!"
Kade was on his knees, face white. "Luna, that’s not— I was—"
"Shut up!" I roared. My Alpha voice cracked through the hall. Silence.
"Play the rest," I said to the shadows.
The voice laughed. "You want the rest, Luna? Fine."
The video continued.
Me, after the rejection. In the garden.
And Damien. Following me.
"Kiara, wait. I didn’t want to—"
"Don’t!" I’d screamed. "Just leave me alone!"
Then another voice. Off camera. "Alpha Damien? The Riverpack is here."
And Damien looked at me. Gutted. Then left.
The video ended.
No one spoke.
The voice came back. "See? He didn’t want to. He was forced. And Kade? He was just reporting to his Alpha. Me."
The lights flickered.
And standing on the balcony above us was Mara.
Our healer.
With a dagger to her own throat.
"Surprised?" she smiled. "I’ve been waiting 20 years for this. The Rouge King promised me my own pack if I delivered yours."
*[CLIFFHANGER]*
She pressed the dagger in. Blood welled.
"If I die, the curse activates. Every wolf in this hall dies with me."
She looked at me. "Your choice, Luna Kiara.
Surrender... or watch them all burn."
---
- Writer
