Episode 4
1124 Words
The mating ceremony had always terrified me.
Even as a child, when I’d watched from the edges of the clearing with dirt under my nails and borrowed cloaks slipping off my shoulders, I had felt it...the weight of the Moon Goddess’s gaze.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t warm. It was sharp, assessing, and undeniably ancient. Like she could peel you apart and decide whether you were worth keeping.
That night, standing at the center of the ceremonial grounds, her gaze felt heavier than ever.
Silver torches burned in a wide circle, their flames bending unnaturally toward the altar as if drawn by the moonlight itself.
The pack had gathered in ceremonial whites and greys, their murmurs low and restless. I could feel their eyes on me like fingers pressing into my spine.
Luna to be.
The words tasted foreign. Wrong.
My ceremonial dress clung to me, pale blue and embroidered with moon sigils that I hadn’t earned.
The fabric felt too fine for my skin, like it belonged to someone else. Maybe it did.
Maybe everyone here was waiting for the moment they could finally rip it off me and admit the mistake.
Evelyn stood two places away, radiant and calm, her blonde hair braided with silver thread. She didn’t look at me. She didn’t have to.
Her presence pressed in on me all the same
And Thomas…
Thomas stood at the foot of the altar, tall and impossibly still, his ceremonial cloak falling perfectly over his shoulders.
The Alpha King. My mate.
Ever since the bond had snapped into place, it had been like living with a second heartbeat that wasn’t quite in sync with my own.
We hadn’t spoken since that night.
Not really.
The bond pulsed between us now, faint but unmistakable, like a silver thread tugging at my chest.
It should have been stronger tonight. The moon ceremony was meant to deepen it, to formalize what fate had already decided.
That was how it had always worked.
I stepped forward when called, my bare feet cold against the stone etched with ancient runes. The pack fell silent. Even the night seemed to hold its breath.
The High Priest raised his hands. “Under the witness of the Moon Goddess, we gather to honor the bond chosen by fate.”
A familiar warmth should have bloomed in my chest.
Instead, dread curled there.
Thomas stepped forward.
The moment his foot crossed the inner ring, something shifted.
It wasn’t subtle.
The air snapped tight, like a wire pulled too far. My breath caught painfully in my throat as the bond inside me flared...then twisted. Not toward me.
Away.
My gaze flew to Thomas, my heart pounding so hard it hurt. His jaw had gone rigid, his eyes darkening...not with confusion, but with something sharper. Hunger. Recognition.
And then his wolf surged.
I felt it before I understood it.
The bond didn’t just weaken...it recoiled, like it had been burned.
Thomas’s head turned slowly, toward Evelyn.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
“No,” I whispered, the word tearing out of me before I could stop it.
Evelyn looked up then, startled...beautifully so. Her eyes widened, lips parting as Thomas’s wolf pressed forward beneath his skin, drawn to her like gravity.
Silver light flared between them.
Not between us.
The ceremonial markings on the ground glowed brighter, reacting to the surge of energy...but the pull wasn’t aligned with me. It was wrong. Twisted. Unnatural.
“This isn’t possible,” someone murmured.
“The bond...”
“Is that...?”
The whispers grew louder. I stood frozen, my chest burning like something vital had been ripped out and left bleeding.
Thomas took another step.
Toward Evelyn.
The bond inside me screamed.
I staggered back, clutching my chest as pain lanced through me, sharp and humiliating. The Moon Goddess’s light felt cold now, distant.
Evelyn’s scent...soft, floral, laced with something metallic…
My scent.
The word hit me like a blade.
“No,” I said again, louder this time. “This is wrong.”
The High Priest hesitated, his hands shaking. “Alpha King, the ceremony...”
“Silence,” Magnus snapped from the council tier.
I turned toward them, my vision blurring. “She’s interfering with the bond.”
A hush fell.
Evelyn looked at me then, true surprise flickering across her face. “Liana, what are you talking about?”
“You,” I said, my voice trembling but loud enough to carry. “You did something. You stole my scent. You tampered with the bond.”
The words poured out of me. “It’s forbidden. Everyone knows it is.”
The council erupted.
“That’s a serious accusation.”
“She’s hysterical.”
“Rejected wolves often imagine slights where there are none.”
Rejected.
The word still cut, even now.
Magnus stood, his expression thunderous. “Enough. This ceremony has already been disrupted.”
I looked back at Thomas, pleading. “You feel it, don’t you? This isn’t right. You’re my mate.”
For a moment...just one...his eyes flickered toward me.
And then they hardened.
“I feel what the Moon Goddess has shown me,” he said coldly. “And I will not be accused of treachery by someone who cannot accept fate.”
The words struck deeper than any blade.
Evelyn stepped closer to him, tentative, as if offering comfort. His wolf calmed instantly.
That was all the proof the pack needed.
“Delusional,” one council member muttered.
“Grief-mad.”
“Remove her!”
“No,” I gasped as hands closed around my arms. “You can’t do this. I’m right. I know I am.”
Magnus descended the steps, his grip iron-hard as he seized me. “You will not spread poison among the pack.”
Before I said anything else, he dragged me away from the altar.
The moonlight blurred as tears spilled down my face. I struggled, but I was weak...physically and emotionally stripped bare.
The prison was cold.
Stone walls damp with old magic closed in around me as Magnus shoved me inside the cell.
The door slammed shut with a finality that echoed through my bones.
Silver bars flared to life, humming with suppression magic.
“No wolf,” Magnus said flatly. “Until the council decides what to do with you.”
“What you’re doing is wrong,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “She’s lying. She stole my bond.”
He paused, just for a second.
Then he turned away.
I slid down the wall, my knees giving out beneath me as the weight of it all crushed in.
The bond pulsed weakly inside my chest.
I pressed my hand over my heart, sobbing silently in the dark.
- Writer
