REJECTED LUNA, BILLIONAIRE ALPHA

The Moonlight Ball was supposed to be the night that changed my life. Instead, it was the night my life ended in front of five hundred wolves. I stood in the center of the Blackstone Pack’s grand hall, my hands shaking so badly I had to hide them in the folds of my silver dress. It was borrowed. Everything about me was borrowed. My dress. My hope. My courage. “Ella Moore,” Alpha Darius’s voice boomed across the hall. “Step forward.” I did. My flats made no sound on the marble floor. I was eighteen today. A full adult wolf. Or… I should have been. Marcus Blackwood was waiting for me on the raised dais. He was everything I was not. Tall. Broad-shouldered. His black tuxedo fit like it was made for a king, because it was. He was the Alpha’s son. The future Alpha. And by Pack law, he was supposed to choose his mate tonight. My heart was beating so loud I was sure the whole Pack could hear it. Please, Moon Goddess. Please let him see me. Please let me have a wolf. Because the truth was, I didn’t. At seventeen, every wolf in our Pack had their first shift. I didn’t. At eighteen, the Moon Goddess was supposed to bless you with your wolf spirit during the Moonlight Ball. I had been praying for a year. Marcus’s silver eyes scanned me from head to toe. His jaw tightened. I knew that look. It was the same look my classmates gave me in school. Pity. Disgust. “Do you have something to say to me, Ella?” he asked. His voice was cold. Polite, but cold. I lifted my chin. “I… I hope you’ll give me a chance, Alpha Marcus. I may be late, but I know I have a wolf inside me. I can feel her.” That was a lie. I couldn’t feel anything. Just emptiness where a wolf should be. Murmurs spread through the crowd. My mother, standing near the back, pressed her lips together. My father looked at the floor. Marcus took one step down. The hall went silent. “I, Marcus Blackwood,” he said, and his voice echoed off the walls, “do not feel a mate bond with you, Ella Moore.” My breath left my body. “Under Pack law,” he continued, “I, Marcus, reject you, Ella Moore, as my mate. You are wolfless. You bring no strength to this Pack.” Gasps. Then laughter. “Wolfless!” someone hissed. “An omega with no wolf? Useless,” another said. “Alpha should have chosen Ivy,” I heard. Ivy. His childhood friend. The perfect she-wolf with gold fur and a pedigree longer than mine. My mother’s face went pale. My father stood up. “That’s enough,” he muttered, but he didn’t defend me. He never did. A daughter without a wolf was a shame to the Moore family. Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of them. “Please,” I whispered, but only Marcus could hear me. “Just one chance.” He didn’t blink. “The Moon Goddess has spoken. You are rejected.” The bond-snapping pain hit me like a knife, even though we were never mated. It was the public shame. The finality. I turned and ran. I tore through the hall, past shocked faces and pointing fingers. I shoved open the heavy oak doors and burst into the cold night air. The forest was behind the Pack house. If I could just reach the trees, I could hide. I could disappear. My borrowed dress ripped as I ran through bushes. My feet were bleeding on the stones. I didn’t care. “Worthless omega!” a voice called from behind. “No wolf, no future!” another laughed. I collapsed at the edge of the forest, sobbing. “Why?” I cried to the sky. “Moon Goddess, why did you leave me empty?” The moon was full above me. Silver light poured through the trees and landed right on my neck. It burned. I screamed and clutched my throat. Fire raced under my skin. When I pulled my hand away, my fingers were glowing faintly. On my collarbone, a mark was forming. It looked like a crescent moon wrapped in vines. I had never seen a mark like that. No one had. “What… what is this?” I whispered. A low growl answered me. I scrambled back. From the shadows stepped a wolf. Black as night. Bigger than any wolf I’d ever seen. His eyes were not yellow like a normal wolf. They were silver. Like moonlight. He didn’t attack. He just watched me. I should have been terrified. Omegas were prey. But the burning on my neck stopped. The pain was gone. In its place was… warmth. Safety. “You’re not wolfless, little one,” a deep voice said in my head. I froze. Wolves could speak mind-link. But only to their pack. Only to their mate. “Who… who are you?” I thought back, terrified. The black wolf took a step closer. His silver eyes never left mine. “You’re not wolfless,” he said again. “You’re the one they’ll fear.” He turned his head toward the Pack house, where the lights and laughter were still going on without me. “They rejected a Luna.” My blood ran cold. Luna? That was impossible. Lunas were born, not made. And they were never wolfless. The black wolf met my eyes one last time. “Run, Ella Moore. Because when they find out what you are, they will come for you.” And then he vanished into the trees, leaving me alone with a burning mark and a secret that could get me killed. I pressed my hand to my neck. The mark was still there. Glowing faintly under my skin. They called me wolfless. They were wrong.