Scarlet Chains of the Moon

POV: Liana I didn't want to come. If I had a choice, I would've stayed locked in my tiny attic room, hidden under a blanket, pretending the world didn't exist. But today was the Crescent Hollow Rejection Ceremony, and if you didn't show up… they'd drag you. So here I am…walking into the ceremony hall with legs that don't feel like mine. The walls shimmer with silver light. The Moonfire altar stands tall at the front, glowing softly. Elders and Alphas sit in rows like royalty, their gazes cold and sharp. Everyone is here. Everyone. My heart pounds like war drums as I walk down the center aisle. They whisper. "She looks pathetic." "Why's she even here?" "Who would want her?" Laughter follows me like a shadow. I try not to listen. I keep my head down. I'm used to it. The cruelty. The names. The constant reminder that I'm an omega, the lowest of the low. But this… this is worse. This is final. I reach the front and step onto the small circular platform under the altar. The Moonfire flickers. My hands are trembling. I'm supposed to wait for my mate to approach. The Moon Goddess reveals the bond during this ceremony. The mate's pulls…stronger than anything…guides you. It's sacred. I wait. Seconds feel like hours. Then, I feel it. A heat in my chest. A tug. My wolf howls in my mind, waking up for the first time in so long. My heart leaps with wild, stupid hope. He's here, I feel him. Then he steps forward. Alpha Kael. The future ruler of Crescent Hollow. Tall, broad-shouldered, carved from power and rage. Jet black hair. Stormy-gray eyes. The whole room shifts when he moves. He's terrifying and magnetic all at once. And he's mine. I don't know how. I don't understand why. But the bond is real. I feel it. He must feel it too. Please, Moon Goddess, let him feel it too. He stops in front of me. His scent hits me…smoky pine and steel. My wolf whimpers. Then he says it. "You?" His voice echoes through the hall like a death sentence. "The Moon Goddess gave me you? An omega?" I freeze. No. He's not supposed to say that. I open my mouth, but no sound comes out. He sneers. His eyes look at me like I'm some dirt on his boots. "This is a joke. A sick, cruel joke." The crowd shifts. Gasps. Whispers. Kael steps closer. His voice grows louder. "I reject you, Liana Crestmoor." His words hit harder than a punch. My wolf screams in agony. I feel something break inside me. Shatter. Like glass under a boot. I stumbled back. It hurts. Goddess, it hurts. He turns his back on me like I never mattered. "You don't even deserve pity," he mutters before walking away. Laughter explodes around me. Cruel. Mocking. Loud. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. My legs collapsed, and I hit the floor hard. No one helped me. No one cares. I stood to my feet, humiliated and broken, and run. Outside the hall. Past the stares. Through the cold night air. The forest blurs around me. I run until I can't anymore. Until my knees give out and I collapse near the riverbank. I curl up in the grass, shaking, crying, and choking on sobs I can't stop. He rejected me. My mate has rejected me in front of everyone. My only chance at love. At being seen. At finally being worth something. Gone. My wolf is silent now. Broken like me. When I finally drag myself home, you can call it that…the front door is locked. I knock, hoping someone, anyone, will let me in. The door slams open, and there she is. Cassandra. My stepmother is wearing her favorite velvet robe, her nails painted blood-red, a glass of wine in her hand. "You dare show your face here?" she hisses. "I… I had nowhere else to go…" Her eyes narrowed. "You brought shame to this house. You embarrassed me in front of the Elders." "I didn't ask for this…" She throws the wine in my face. My stepsister, Bianca, appears behind her. Tall. Perfect. Smirking like the devil. "Did you think you'd end up with Alpha Kael?" she giggles. "He wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole." "Please," I whisper. "Just let me get my things…" "You don't have things," Cassandra snaps. Then she yanks me by the arm and drags me upstairs. My door is open. My room… destroyed. Clothes shredded. My little mattress ripped open. Books torn apart. Pictures burned. "No daughter of mine will shame this family," Cassandra snarls. "You think a weak, dirty omega like you deserves a mate? You deserve nothing." She shoves me, and I hit the floor. Pain explodes through my ribs. Bianca tips a bucket of cold water over my head. It soaks my clothes, my hair, everything. "Oops," she sings. "You looked thirsty." I cough, choking on water and humiliation. "Get out," Cassandra says. "You're not welcome here." "I… I have nowhere else…" She slaps me. The sound echoes. My cheek burns. "I said get out!" So I do I leave. Dripping wet. Shivering. Humiliated. Alone. I find a patch of grass under the porch and curl into a ball. The stars are cold tonight. I stared up at them, wondering why the Moon Goddess would do this to me. What did I do wrong? Why wasn't I enough? My body aches. My soul aches worse. I pressed my hand to my chest, where the bond was. It's gone now. Just a hollow space. My wolf is silent. She hasn't spoken since the rejection. She's grieving too. Tears roll down my cheeks. I don't bother wiping them away. I lay there all night. Freezing. Shaking. Praying for morning…or death. Whichever comes first. When the sun rises, I'm still outside. Still broken. I sneak around, hoping to steal a blanket or a bite of food. The kitchen window is cracked open. I tiptoe toward it. But I stop. I hear voices inside. Cassandra and Bianca. "She's still alive?" Cassandra says, annoyed. "Barely," Bianca replies. "You know what I heard? That the Moonfire rejected her soul. That she's cursed." "She's not cursed," Cassandra hisses. "She's just weak." There's silence, then Bianca laughs. "Do you think she'll run away?" "I hope so. Less work for us." I backed away slowly. The words sting. I know they mean them. By nightfall, the cold is worse. I'm starving. Dizzy. My lips are cracked. My fingers are numb. I hear footsteps in the snow. A shadow. Someone's coming. I scrambled up, my heart racing. "Hello?" I whispered. The figure steps closer. It's not Cassandra. Not Bianca. Not anyone I know. They're cloaked in black. The hood pulled low. I can't see their faces. My wolf stirs faintly…just a twitch. Danger. I try to run. But I'm too slow. The figure reaches out and grabs me. I scream… And everything goes black.