Chapter 1: The Shattered Moon
613 Words
POV: Elena
The silk of my dress felt like a shroud.
It was the night of the Lunar Union, the most sacred event for the Silver Moon Pack. The grand ballroom was a sea of shimmering gowns, expensive champagne, and the suffocating scent of powerful Alphas. I stood in the corner, my hands trembling as I smoothed the fabric of a dress that had cost me three months of laundry wages.
I didn't care about the money. Tonight, my fated mate, the man I had loved from a distance since I was a child would finally claim me.
"Look at her," a voice hissed nearby. It was one of the High-Ranking She-Wolves. "The Null thinks a pretty dress will hide the fact that she has no wolf. She’s a disgrace to the bloodline."
I swallowed the lump in my throat, clutching my stomach. They didn't know. They didn't know that for the last week, a strange, golden warmth had been blooming inside me. I wasn't just a Null anymore. I was carrying the next generation.
The music stopped.
Alpha Cassian Blackwood stepped onto the dais. He was breathtaking. His silver eyes swept over the crowd, landing on me for a fraction of a second. My heart leaped. The bond, I thought. He feels it.
"Members of the Silver Moon," Cassian’s voice boomed, vibrating in my very bones. "Tonight, I fulfill my duty to the ancestors. A King needs a Queen who can lead. A King needs a mate whose strength matches his own."
He looked toward me. I took a step forward, a smile forming on my lips.
"Therefore," Cassian continued, his voice turning ice-cold, "I, Alpha Cassian Blackwood, hereby reject the fated bond with Elena Moon. You are too weak to lead this pack. You are a Null, and the Silver Moon cannot be led by a void."
The room went silent. Then, the titters started. The cruel laughter of five hundred wolves echoed against the marble walls.
"Cassian?" I whispered, my voice breaking. "Please... you don't understand. I have something to tell you."
He didn't even look at me. Instead, he reached out his hand to Lady Selene, who stepped forward with a triumphant smirk.
"My choice for Luna is Lady Selene of the Northern Reach. Her power is the blessing we need."
I felt it then the snap. The invisible golden thread that connected my soul to his suddenly charred and broke. It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest through my throat. I fell to my knees, gasping for air, clutching the floorboards as the world spun.
"Guards," Cassian said, his back still turned to me. "The rejection is complete. Remove the girl from the territory. She is no longer one of us."
"Wait!" I screamed, but the guards were already grabbing my arms. "Cassian, I'm pregnant! I’m carrying your children!"
But the music had started again. The drums were too loud. The laughter was too deafening. He didn't hear me. He didn't even turn around as they dragged me out into the pouring rain, throwing me into the mud outside the pack gates.
I lay there, the freezing rain washing away my tears. I looked up at the moon, which was obscured by black clouds.
"You want a Null?"
I whispered into the dirt, feeling a new, dark power stir deep within my womb, a power that felt like a black hole, ready to swallow everything.
"Fine. You’ll have one. But you’ll never have them."
I stood up, my cheap silk dress ruined, and walked into the Forbidden Forest. Elena Moon died that night. And someone much more dangerous was about to be born.
- Writer
