Shattered Under the Moon
The full moon hung in the midnight sky, above the Blackthorn Pack’s ancient ceremonial casting silver light across the gathering. My hands intertwined and my heart hammered against my ribs as I stood at the center of the raised stone platform, the cool night breeze whispering through my simple white gown. Around me, hundreds of pack members watched in silence. Warriors. Elders. Families.
Everyone had come to witness the Alpha's mating ceremony. My mating ceremony.
Tonight Kael Voss, the most powerful Alpha in the northern territories and ruthless billionaire CEO of Voss Enterprises, would claim me as his fated mate.
I had always felt the pull since I was sixteen, the invisible thread tying my soul to his. Even though I was just a lowly omega, wolfless and weak in the eyes of the pack, I trusted the Moon Goddess, I trusted fate had chosen me for him. Or at least, that's what I believed.
Kael stood before me, towering and magnificent in his tailored black suit that did nothing to hide the lethal predator beneath. His sharp jaw was clenched, dark hair tousled by the wind, and those piercing amber eyes… they had haunted my dreams for years. He was power incarnate. Wealth. Danger. Everything a mate should be.
“Kael,” I whispered, my voice barely carrying over the pounding of my pulse. I reached for his hand, the mate bond singing in my veins like liquid fire. “I’ve waited so long.”
“Enough.” His voice sliced through the air, cold and final. He yanked his hand away as if my touch burned him.
Murmurs spread through the pack. My stomach twisted.
Kael’s gaze hardened, sweeping over the crowd before locking back on me with zero warmth. “Selene Vale,” he announced, his deep baritone echoing across the clearing, amplified by Alpha authority. “You are not fit to stand beside me. A wolfless omega? A defect? The Blackthorn Pack deserves a Luna who strengthens us, not one who weakens our bloodline.”
The words hit like physical blows. I staggered back a step, the world tilting.
“I, Kael Voss, Alpha of the Blackthorn Pack, reject you, Selene Vale, as my fated mate.”
Pain exploded through my chest, raw, searing, like my soul was being ripped in two. A scream tore from my throat as I collapsed to my knees on the cold stone. My wolf, already faint and fragile, let out a final, agonized howl before going completely silent. Dead. Gone.
Laughter. Whispers. Pitying stares from some, cruel satisfaction from others. My so-called best friend, Lila, smirked from the front row, her hand possessively on the arm of a beta. She’d always wanted him.
“Why?” I gasped, tears streaming down my face as I clutched my chest. The bond was shattering, with threads of golden light, visible only to me, snapping one by one. “Kael… please… the Goddess”
He stepped forward, his polished shoe stopping inches from my trembling fingers. For a split second, something flickered in his eyes: regret? Pain? But it vanished behind the ice wall of an Alpha who ruled empires.
“This is for the pack,” he said flatly. “Take her away. Banished until dawn. Let her reflect on her place.”
Strong hands grabbed my arms, hauling me up. The humiliation burned deeper than the rejection pain. Publicly discarded like trash on the most sacred night of my life.
As they dragged me toward the edge of the clearing, my vision blurred with agony. But then… something shifted.
A dark, ancient whisper slithered through the void where my wolf had been. Not broken. Awakened.
Black tendrils of shadow flickered at the edges of my sight, curling around my wrists like living smoke. Invisible to the others for now. Power, raw and forbidden, stirred in my veins. The kind of power that legends warned could topple Alphas and devour packs whole.
My head snapped up. Through the haze of pain, I locked eyes with Kael one last time. He was watching me, his jaw tight, fists clenched at his sides.
The shadows pulsed stronger. He will regret this.
A cruel smile tugged at my lips despite the tears. As they shoved me into the waiting darkness of the forest path, the whisper grew into a roar inside my skull:
The forsaken shadow rises.
