THE ALPHA'S REJECTED MATE

THE ALPHA COMES BEGGING

The stench of death was everywhere.

I stood on the balcony of the Silver Moon Pack house and watched the yard below. Three bodies. All pups. All under 5 years old.

Wrapped in white sheets because we didn’t even have coffins left.

"Alpha!" Beta Marcus skidded to a stop beside me. His eyes were red. He hadn’t slept in days. "The healer just quit. She said there’s nothing more she can do. The herbs are all dead."

I gripped the railing until my knuckles turned white. "And the water?"

"The river’s black, Alpha. The crops turned to ash last night. If this keeps up, we won’t make it through winter."

Winter was 2 months away.

Three years.

For three years I’d watched my pack rot.

And I knew exactly why.

The pack elder, Old Garrick, appeared behind us. He leaned heavily on his cane. His fur, once black and proud, was now completely gray.

"You feel it yet, boy?" he asked quietly.

I didn’t answer.

"The Moon Goddess’s curse," he continued. "For rejecting your true mate. The bond is broken, and the earth is rejecting us too."

"Don’t," I snapped. "Don’t say her name."

"Why not? Luna Carter?" He said it anyway. "She was your mate, Damien. And you threw her away in front of the whole pack."

Thor, my wolf, snarled inside me. _Mate. We hurt mate._

"She was weak!" I turned on him. "An omega with no family, no power, no—"

"She was yours," Garrick cut me off. "And now she’s the only one who can save us."

The words hit like a blade.

Luna Carter.

The girl with trembling hands and hopeful eyes. The girl I humiliated on her 18th birthday.

"I would rather die than be mated to a weak omega."

I remembered saying it. Remembered the way her face crumpled. Remembered walking away while she cried.

I hadn’t thought about her in 3 years.

Liar.

I thought about her every full moon.

"Where is she?" My voice came out rough.

"No one knows," Garrick said. "She ran that night and never came back. But the seer had a vision last week. She said the Moon Goddess’s blood survived. That the rejected omega now leads her own territory."

I laughed. It was ugly. "Luna? An Alpha?"

"Find her," Garrick said. "Beg on your knees if you have to. Our people are dying, Damien. Is your pride worth more than their lives?"

I didn’t answer.

But that night, I gave the order.

Find Luna Carter.

---

*TWO WEEKS LATER*

Tracking her was a nightmare.

Every pack we asked shut the door in our faces. "We don’t harbor traitors." "She’s cursed." "Ask the Alpha who rejected her."

Thor was going insane. He could smell her. Somewhere. Faint. Like moonlight and rain.

_Mate is close. Mate is hurt._

"Shut up," I growled.

Then we found it.

A small territory on the eastern border. No name on the maps. But the wolves guarding the gate wore black and silver.

And the flag flying over the main house? A crescent moon.

Moon Crest Territory.

The guard at the gate looked me up and down. "State your business."

"I’m Alpha Damien Blackwood of the Silver Moon Pack. I need to speak to your Alpha."

The guard’s eyes widened. He whispered to the other guard. Then he nodded. "Wait here."

Ten minutes. Twenty.

My pride was screaming at me to leave.

Then the gates opened.

And I saw her.

Luna.

Gods.

She wasn’t the girl I remembered.

Her hair was down to her waist now, silver-black in the afternoon sun. She wore black training pants, a fitted top, and a sword strapped to her back. There was a faint glow around her skin, like moonlight had gotten under it.

She stood on the steps of the main house with two other wolves behind her. Strong wolves. Her wolves.

She’d become an Alpha.

The realization hit me like ice water.

"Luna," I said before I could stop myself.

Her eyes snapped to mine. Silver. Cold.

"Alpha Damien Blackwood," she said. Her voice had no warmth. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Thor was whining, clawing to get out. _Mate. Please. Mate._

"Don’t," she said, holding up a hand. "You lost the right to say my name three years ago."

Marcus shifted behind me.

I forced myself to meet her eyes. "My pack is dying."

"Is it?" She tilted her head. "How sad."

"Children are dying, Luna. The curse—"

"The curse," she interrupted. "The one you earned when you rejected your mate?"

My jaw clenched. "The elders say only you can break it."

"And why would I do that?" She took a step down. Then another. Until she was standing 5 feet from me. "Why would I save the people who watched you humiliate me? Who called me trash? Who did nothing while you broke me?"

"I don’t know," I admitted. "But I’m asking."

She laughed. It was sharp. "Asking? That’s not what it sounds like."

"What do you want?" I snapped. "Money? Land? Say it!"

"I don’t want your money, Damien."

Hearing my name from her mouth hurt.

"I don’t want your land," she continued. "And I definitely don’t want you."

Thor growled. _Liar. She wants us._

Luna’s eyes flickered to my chest, like she could hear him too. For a second, something softened.

Then it was gone.

She turned and started walking back toward the house.

"Wait!" I called.

She stopped but didn’t turn around.

"Please," I said. The word tasted like poison. "Help us."

Silence.

The wind moved through the trees.

Finally, she turned. Slowly.

"Fine," she said. "I’ll help you."

Relief hit me so hard my knees almost buckled.

"But," she added, and my stomach dropped, "on my terms."

"Anything," I said quickly. Too quickly.

She smiled. It wasn’t nice.

"First: You and your wolves stay here. In Moon Crest. Until the curse is broken."

"That’s—"

"Second," she cut me off. "You answer to me. Not the other way around. You do what I say, when I say it."

I stared at her. "You want me to be your subordinate?"

"I want you to remember what it feels like to have no power," she said softly. "Third: You don’t touch me. You don’t talk to me unless I talk to you first. And you don’t ever, ever call me weak again."

My pride was screaming.

But outside the gate, Marcus was holding a pup that couldn’t stop shaking.

I dropped to one knee.

"Agreed," I said.

Luna looked down at me for a long time.

Then she nodded once. "Good. Beta Marcus, take your men to the east barracks. Damien, you’re with me."

She walked past me without another glance.

I followed.

The house was bigger on the inside. Clean. Warm. Full of light. Nothing like the rot back home.

She led me to a small room with a single bed and a window.

"This is yours," she said. "You leave this territory without permission, I’ll hunt you down myself. Understood?"

"Understood."

She was at the door when she paused.

"Oh, and Damien?"

My name. Again.

"Don’t call me Luna. It’s Alpha Carter to you."

The door closed.

I stood there in the empty room and realized something terrifying.

The most powerful Alpha in the region... was now begging the omega he rejected to save him.

And she was enjoying 😘 every second of it.

Outside, I heard Marcus: "Alpha? What now?"

I looked at the closed door. At the silver light still faintly glowing under the c***k.

"Now," I whispered, "we beg."

---