The rejected Luna

Alpha Eric

I was escorted back to my room in silence.

The moment the door opened, my maid rushed toward me. Her eyes widened in horror as they took in the state of my body the claw marks, the bruises, the dried blood that still clung to my skin in places.

“Miss Elara… you’re back.” Her voice shook. “How are you? Are you okay?”

I only nodded.

She carefully helped me into the bathing chamber. The water stung every open wound, but I barely reacted. When I stepped out, clean but still marked, I finally asked the only question that mattered.

“How is my mother?”

The maid’s hands paused on the towel.

“Alpha Riven confined her to her chambers to… reflect. He also ordered that you are not allowed to see her for now.”

My fingers slowly curled into fists. I said nothing.

A short while later, the same guards returned.

They escorted me down to the hot spring.

As we walked through the open corridors, the nobles already gathered for the evening did not bother lowering their voices.

“I heard Alpha Riven rejected their mate bond…”

“She still has the nerve to show her face?”

“If I were her, I would have stayed hidden out of shame.”

I kept my eyes forward.

Just as I reached an empty seat near the edge of the spring, Clarissa appeared.

She was dressed in deep red and gold the colors of a Luna. The pendant my father had given me hung openly around her neck.

She smiled sweetly as she approached.

“Elara, you’re finally here.”

Then she leaned in close, her voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.

“I just wanted to show you a little show.”

Before I could react, she deliberately lifted the pendant so I would see it clearly… then yanked the chain hard. The clasp snapped. The silver pendant hit the stone floor with a sharp sound and skidded a few steps away.

“No!”

I shoved her back without thinking and dropped to my knees, frantically gathering the broken pieces. My hands trembled as I tried to hold the two halves together. A broken sound escaped my throat.

Clarissa stumbled dramatically into a nearby table. Plates and glasses crashed to the floor in a loud, messy explosion. She fell with them, then immediately began crying soft, pitiful, and loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Elara… why?” she sobbed. “I was only trying to be kind…”

I barely had time to look up before Riven was there.

He ripped the broken pieces of the pendant from my hands.

“You want to hurt my future Luna over this stupid thing?” His voice was cold and carrying. Every noble around the hot spring had gone quiet.

I opened my mouth.

He didn’t let me speak.

With a single motion, he turned and threw the shattered pendant into the steaming water of the hot spring.

The silver disappeared beneath the surface with a soft splash.

I watched the two broken halves of the pendant sink into the steaming water.

Something inside my chest tore open all over again.

Clarissa immediately pressed herself against Riven’s side, making sure her voice carried across the entire hot spring.

“I was only telling her that the necklace helped me sleep,” she cried. “But she yelled at me, ripped it off, and destroyed it… and now she’s acting like the victim. Riven, why does Elara despise me so much? I know I used to be her handmaid, but you’re the one who chose me. Why is she acting like this? She even pushed me…”

Riven’s eyes bled black.

His voice exploded across the open courtyard.

“If that stupid pendant is so important to you,” he roared, “then why don’t you jump in and go retrieve it?! My father has spoiled you for far too long. You have no consideration for anyone else’s feelings!”

I didn’t answer.

Tears slipped down my face, but I didn’t wipe them away. I simply turned toward the steaming water… and jumped.

The heat slammed into me the moment I hit the surface. It burned, but not enough to kill. Gasps erupted from the nobles above.

“She really jumped into the hot spring for a pendant…”

“Is it that important to her?”

Someone else answered in a low voice, “Yes. If my knowledge is correct, that pendant is not ordinary. It helps calm terrible nightmares.”

Another guest murmured, “Then what was it doing around Clarissa’s neck if it belongs to Elara?”

I barely heard them.

I dove deeper, eyes open despite the scalding water, hands searching blindly along the stone bottom. The heat seared my already wounded skin, but I felt almost nothing. Four full minutes passed. My lungs screamed. Above the surface, I later learned Riven had begun to panic and ordered men to go in after me.

Then my fingers closed around the two broken halves.

I emerged from the water, gasping, water streaming down my face and hair In my clenched fists, the shattered pieces of my father’s pendant glinted under the light.

I dragged myself to the edge of the spring and climbed out, dripping and burned, the two halves still locked tightly in my hands.

A sudden, booming voice shattered the stunned silence.

“What is happening here?!”

Every head turned at once.

Alpha Eric stood at the top of the stone steps, dressed entirely in black. His mere presence seemed to drain the warmth from the courtyard. The nobles instinctively lowered their heads, and even the servants held their breath.

His gaze swept slowly across the scene.

He took in the overturned tables and shattered dishes scattered across the ground.

He saw the silent crowd standing in uneasy circles.

His eyes lingered briefly on Clarissa clinging to Riven’s arm.

Then his gaze found me.

I stood trembling at the edge of the hot spring, soaked from head to toe. My skin was red from the scalding water. Fresh blood seeped through the reopened wounds on my arms and shoulders. My hair hung in tangled, dripping strands around my face, and in my tightly clenched hands were the broken halves of my father’s pendant.

For a long moment, Alpha Eric did not move.

Something dark and terrifying settled over his features.

The warmth vanished from his eyes, replaced by a fury so deep that the entire courtyard seemed to grow colder.