Chapter 2: The Moon’s Cruel Gift
510 Words
The forest was silent except for the sound of Aria’s boots crunching through fallen leaves. She hadn’t spoken to anyone in three weeks. Since the night Lucien rejected her, she’d vanished into the wild, too ashamed to face anyone from the pack, even her mother.
The rejection had shattered her.
Not just emotionally — physically.
For three nights afterward, she had screamed into the dirt, the mate bond ripping her soul apart piece by piece. The pain of being rejected by your fated mate was a torment only wolves understood — a burning in your chest, a howl in your bones. Her wolf, once vibrant and fierce, had gone quiet inside her. Like she was grieving too.
Now, Aria was alone. Homeless. Rankless. Unclaimed.
But not helpless.
She had survived in the woods on instinct, drinking from creeks, setting traps, fighting off rogue wolves. And still, a deeper ache gnawed at her. Something she couldn’t explain. Not grief. Not pain.
Nausea.
Every morning like clockwork, she was sick. Dizzy. Exhausted. The kind of tired that seeped into her bones and didn’t leave.
At first, she thought it was from the rejection. Then, maybe poison. Stress. A weakened wolf.
But as the days passed, her body told her the truth.
It was when she nearly fainted after killing a hare that she knew.
She sat down by a stream, shaking, hands pressed to her flat stomach.
“No… no, please no…”
Her voice cracked with disbelief. She couldn’t even say the word yet.
But the signs were clear.
She was pregnant.
With his child.
Her vision blurred. Not from tears — not yet — but from the storm of emotion that slammed into her all at once.
Lucien had rejected her.
But his child lived inside her.
The Moon Goddess had marked them as mates — and while Lucien had denied it, the bond had already done its work. She had been chosen, even if he didn’t want her.
Now, fate had its final say.
“Why would the Goddess be so cruel?” she whispered. “Why give me a child from a man who wants nothing to do with me?”
Her wolf stirred faintly, almost like she was trying to comfort her. But she remained silent.
Aria cradled her abdomen with both hands. It was flat still — no bump, no sign of life — but she could feel the spark. A warmth that didn’t belong to her.
A spark that gave her a reason to live.
“I’ll protect you,” she said quietly, voice trembling. “I don’t need a mate. I don’t need a pack. I’ll raise you on my own. You won’t ever feel rejected… I swear it.”
She closed her eyes and let the wind carry her vow to the stars.
From that moment on, Aria Storm was no longer just a broken, rejected she-wolf.
She was a mother.
And she would become a warrior, a shield, and a storm — for the child that carried Alpha blood in their veins.
- Writer
