THE MOON'S FORGOTTEN CHILD

The stone floor of the Great Hall was always cold, but tonight, it felt like ice pressing against Evangeline’s skin. She knelt in the shadows near the servant’s entrance, her hands raw and bleeding from scrubbing the blood of the pack’s latest conquest from the courtyard stones. Around her, the Iron Blood Pack roared in drunken revelry. Banners of crimson and black hung from the high rafters, shaking with every cheered toast. They were celebrating another victory. They were celebrating *him*. Alpha Kaelen. The Undefeated. He sat upon a throne carved from the bones of vanquished Alphas, his posture dripping with the casual, dangerous arrogance of a man who had never known a master. He was beautiful in the way a storm was beautiful—all sharp angles, dark eyes, and a predatory aura so suffocatingly heavy that even his highest-ranking warriors bowed their heads when he looked their way. He was entitled to the world, and he knew it. Evangeline pulled her tattered shawl tighter around her frail shoulders, squeezing her eyes shut. *Just a few more minutes,* she whispered to her fractured, silent wolf spirit. *Midnight is coming. We turn eighteen. The torment ends.* For years, the pack had used her as a punching bag, a useless omega born with a broken spirit. But the laws of the Moon Goddess were absolute. Everyone had a mate. Even a forgotten child like her. Her mate would rescue her. He would take her away from the Iron Blood, heal her wounds, and love her. He had to. Suddenly, the clock began to chime. Midnight. A violent spark ignited in Evangeline’s chest. It wasn’t a spark—it was a roaring wildfire. Her gasp was cut short as a scent flooded her senses, cutting through the stench of roasted meat and spilled ale. It smelled of winter ozone, fresh pine, and absolute, crushing power. Her wolf, usually a terrified whisper in her mind, threw its head back and howled. *MATE.* Evangeline’s eyes snapped open. The invisible tug of the cosmic bond wrapped around her soul, pulling her gaze toward the high dais. At the exact same moment, Kaelen froze. The goblet of wine stayed halfway to his lips. His dark eyes narrowed, flashing a lethal, glowing gold as his head snapped toward the shadows. Toward *her*. The hall went dead silent. The music died. The warriors stopped laughing. A heavy, suffocating tension filled the room as the undefeated Alpha slowly stood up, his gaze locked onto the shivering, bruised omega in the corner. Evangeline stood on trembling legs, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. Hope, blinding and desperate, flared in her chest. She took a step forward, her voice a breathless whisper. "Kaelen..." Kaelen walked down the steps of the dais, each step heavy and deliberate. As he stopped a mere three feet from her, Evangeline looked up, waiting for the warmth of the bond to soften his harsh features. Instead, she found a face carved of pure, unadulterated disgust. There was no recognition in his eyes. There was no love. There was only the insulted pride of a tyrant who had just found a speck of dirt on his polished armor. "You?" Kaelen’s voice rumbled through the hall, laced with a cruelty that made the air freeze. He looked at her tattered clothes, her scarred skin, and the frail frame that practically broadcasted weakness. A mocking sneer curled his lips. "The Moon Goddess dares to insult me with *this*?" "Kaelen, please..." Evangeline whimpered, the bond screaming at her to touch him, to heal the rift. "Silence, omega," he commanded, his Alpha aura slamming into her like a physical blow. Evangeline dropped to her knees, coughing as the sheer pressure compressed her lungs. Kaelen looked down at her, his expression turning cold, detached, and utterly ruthless. He didn't care about fate. He cared about power. And a weak mate was a weakness he would not tolerate. He raised his voice so it echoed into every corner of the silent hall, ensuring every warrior witnessed her execution. "I, Alpha Kaelen of the Iron Blood Pack, reject you, Evangeline, as my mate and Luna. You are nothing to me. You are a mistake." The moment the words left his mouth, a metaphysical blade sliced through Evangeline’s soul. An agonizing shriek tore from her throat as the rejection bond shattered inside her. It felt as though her veins were filling with liquid fire, her fractured wolf screaming in a death agony as it was forcibly ripped away from its counterpart. She collapsed onto the stone floor, clutching her chest, coughing up a spatter of dark blood as her body began to reject its own life force. Above her, Kaelen didn't even flinch. He turned his back on her, his cape swirling as he walked back to his throne. "Clean up this mess," he ordered carelessly to the guards, not bothering to look back at the girl dying in the dark. "And make sure she survives. A weakling doesn't get the mercy of a quick death in my pack." As the darkness rushed in to claim Evangeline, and the laughter of the pack slowly resumed, a tiny, ancient spark deep within her soul—buried far beneath her broken wolf—stubbornly refused to go out. The Alpha was undefeated. But the Moon Goddess had not forgotten her child.