Chapter 1: The Silver Rejection
Chapter 1: The Silver Rejection
The scent of roasting wild boar and expensive champagne filled the Packhouse, but all I could smell was sulfur and betrayal.
Tonight was the Blood Moon Festival—the night every eighteen-year-old in the Crescent Wolf Pack shifted for the first time and found their fated mate.
For the past three years, as an Omega who couldn’t even summon a spark of wolf spirit, I had been the pack’s floor mat.
I cleaned their boots, washed their blood-stained training gear, and ate their leftovers.
But I survived it all because of Brandon.
Brandon was the Alpha’s son, the next in line to lead. And tonight, he was supposed to claim me.
We had whispered promises to each other in the shadows of the training grounds for months. He told me my lack of a wolf didn’t matter. He told me he loved me.
I smoothed down the cheap, faded white dress I’d bought from a thrift store, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
"Aria."
A voice boomed through the crowded hall, instantly silencing the chatter.
Brandon stood on the raised dais, looking every bit the future Alpha.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with golden hair that caught the candlelight. But his eyes—usually warm when he looked at me—were cold. Cold as ice.
Beside him stood Chloe, the Beta’s daughter. She was wearing a crimson silk dress that clung to her curves, a smirk playing on her glossy lips.
Her scent—a sickeningly sweet mix of vanilla and pheromones—was heavy in the air.
"Step forward," Brandon commanded.
My legs felt like lead, but I forced myself to walk through the parted crowd.
Hundreds of eyes bored into my back. Whispers broke out like wildfire.
*"Look at her. She didn't even shift tonight."*
*"An Omega trying to climb into the Alpha's bed? Pathetic."*
*"She doesn't have a wolf. She’s dead weight."*
I stopped at the edge of the platform, looking up at the boy I loved. "Brandon?" I whispered, my voice trembling.
Brandon didn’t look at my face. He looked at me like I was a stain on his clean floor.
He took a deep breath, his chest expanding under his leather jacket, and spoke in his Alpha-toned voice that made my knees want to buckle.
"I, Brandon Vance, future Alpha of the Crescent Pack, hereby reject you, Aria Hale, as my mate and future Luna."
The words hit me like a physical blow. A sharp, burning agony sliced through my chest, right where our bond should have snapped into place.
It felt like someone had reached into my ribs and torn a piece of my soul out.
I stumbled back, gasping for air. "Brandon... why? You promised..."
"Look at yourself, Aria," Brandon cut me off, his voice dripping with disgust. "The Moon Goddess made a mistake.
A future Alpha needs a strong Luna by his side. Chloe shifted into a fierce grey wolf tonight. And you? You are nothing but a broken human. A parasite."
Chloe stepped closer to him, wrapping her manicured hand around his arm.
She looked down at me, her eyes gleaming with malice. "Don't make this harder than it already is, Omega. You don't belong here."
"You lied to me," I whispered, the heartbreak fast turning into a cold, suffocating rage.
I looked at the man who had held me just last night, now looking at me like I was garbage. "You used me."
"Watch your tongue, Omega!" Brandon growled, his eyes flashing a dangerous amber.
The pressure of his Alpha aura slammed into me, forcing me down to my hands and knees on the cold wooden floor.
The crowd laughed. Someone threw a half-eaten chicken bone at my feet.
"Since you no longer have a place in this pack,"
Brandon sneered, looking down at me as I struggled to breathe under his pressure.
"I exile you. You have until midnight to leave the Crescent Pack territory. If you are found here tomorrow, you will be hunted down as a rogue."
He turned his back on me, pulling Chloe into his arms and kissing her deeply right in front of everyone. The hall erupted into cheers.
I pushed myself up, ignoring the tears stinging my eyes.
I didn't cry.
I wouldn't give them the satisfaction. I wiped the dirt from my knees, took one last look at the golden boy who had broken my heart, and turned around.
I walked out of the Packhouse, head held high, even as the wolves shouted insults at my back.
They thought they were sending me to my death. They thought the Blackwood Forest would swallow a wolf-less Omega whole.
They were wrong.
