Rejected By Mate, Contracted As A Chosen Mate

CHAPTER 7 : THE CIRCLE OF THE WOLVES

I woke up to the soft crack of firewood and the scent of pine smoke. For a moment, I couldn’t move, just laid there beneath the thick wool blanket, watching the morning light slip through the cracks in the wooden shutters.’ My body ached from the tension of the night before, but my mind was calm.

Sebastian was already awake. He sat on the edge of his bed , elbows resting on his knees, shirt half- buttoned and hair still damp from a quick wash. He didn’t notice me yet. His gaze was fixed on the portraits in the room, face unreadable but heavy with thought.

I cleared my throat . He turned to me immediately, his face softening. “You slept,” he said.

“A little,” I replied. “You?”

“Enough.” There was a long beat of silence between us, comfortable but a bit strange. Sebastian rose and walked over to my side of the room.

“I owe you everything,” he said.

“You don’t.” I replied.

“Yes, I do.” His jaw tightened. “You stood before the Council and made them believe this marriage was real. You convinced them you weren’t forced. You put yourself through trials no Luna should have to face. And you did it all while they waited for you to fall apart.”

I sat up, pulling the blankets with me. My voice was low and steady, “I didn’t do it for them or for tradition. I did it so they couldn’t strip you of your place. So they couldn’t call you weak for choosing me.”

His eyes softened, a rare thing in him. “Still, you didn’t have to and you did.”

He looked like he wanted to say more but the moment was broken by a knock at the door.

The young beta didn’t wait for permission. He stepped inside, his coat dusted with wind and his expression grim.

“Pack Council’s been called,” he said. “You’re both expected.”

“What is it now?” Sebastian asked.

“Amelia didn’t say, only that it’s urgent and the whole council will be there.”

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, already reaching for my boots. “Guess they didn’t waste time.”

“They never do,” Sebastian muttered, already moving to dress. “You proved them wrong yesterday, that doesn’t mean they’ll forgive it.”

******

Our footsteps echoed through the grand corridor leading to the heart of the pack hall, a slow, deliberate rhythm that spoke of defiance and strength. The thick oak doors creaked open before them, revealing rows of seated wolves, betas, councillors, and warriors all rising to their feet, not out of respect, but curiosity and judgment.

Sebastian didn’t touch me, but the heat of his presence burned beside me like a flame. He wore his Alpha presence like a second skin, composed, powerful and regal but I could feel the subtle shift in his energy. He was proud, tense as well. And he was watching everything. The moment we stepped inside, all eyes turned on me but I didn’t flinch.

I kept my pace steady, spine straight, the memory of the trials still burning behind my eyes.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the meeting hall was how quiet the room was. Not respectful silence. This was the silence of wolves bristling under their fur, unsure whether to bare their teeth or turn their backs.

The great hall of the Killian Pack was nothing like i had imagined. Rows of heavy wooden benches formed a half circle around a raised platform at the front, where the Alpha always stood to speak. Banners hung from the vaulted ceiling, each bearing a silver fang split across a red field, the pack’s sigil.

Whispers broke out like static.

“She doesn’t smell like us.”

“That’s the one from the city. The human-raised mutt.”

“She passed the trial, but how do we know it wasn’t rigged?”

Sebastian stepped in front of me, his voice slicing through the murmur. “Enough.” The room became quiet. He turned to face the pack, his Alpha presence radiating through every corner of the hall. “She stood before the Mirror. She saw her deepest fears and walked away whole. That’s more than half of you would manage.”

The challenge in his tone dared anyone to speak against him. No one did. But the air remained thick with discontent. “She earned her place here,and tonight, she will take her seat among us.”

My throat tightened. I didn’t want Sebastian to speak for me, I wanted to prove myself. But judging from the eyes trained on me, no speech would change their minds. Not yet.

He took me to the central bench, the one traditionally reserved for the Luna. When I sat, the weight of a hundred stares settled like iron on my shoulders.

The meeting began. Reports were given, border patrols, trade arrangements, minor issues with a rival pack that had strayed too close to the territory. I tried to focus, but my skin crawled with the heat of scrutiny.

The worst came when Councillor Marius spoke.

“And what of Luna's duties?” he asked. “She’s yet to attend the rituals, the moon offerings, the seasonal hunts. When does she begin to serve the pack?”

The question wasn’t directed at me, but everyone turned to watch my answer.

I stood up. My voice was calm. “When I understand what the pack needs from me.”

A few scoffed. Someone laughed under their breath. Sebastian frowned. “She means……”

“I speak for myself,” I said firmly, then looked back at the crowd. “I didn’t grow up with your customs. But I’m not here to play Luna. I’m here to be Luna. So if you expect obedience without explanation, you’re in for a disappointment.”

The air crackled. For a moment, nothing moved. Then Selena rose slowly, arms folded, her voice calm but cutting. “We bleed to protect this pack, and you walk in like the rules don’t apply to you?”

I met her gaze and blinked. “I didn’t ask for an exception. I asked to understand.”

“Understanding comes after loyalty,” Selena shot back.

Sebastian growled low in his throat. “Enough, Selena.”

Selena met his gaze, then dropped her eyes. “Yes, Alpha.”

I sat slowly, my hands clenched beneath the table. My heartbeat roared in my ears. The meeting moved on, but the tension didn’t fade. Every comment felt like a test. I wasn’t just a new Luna, I was an outsider, a symbol of change they hadn’t asked for. When the final announcement was made that the Council had approved a ceremonial coronation for me at the end of the week, I almost laughed. A party? Now? When the pack barely tolerated me? The meeting adjourned.

Sebastian waited until the hall emptied, then turned to me. “You handled that better than most would’ve.”

I laughed bitterly. “I nearly told that Selena girl to go choke on her own tail.”

“She would’ve deserved it and she would’ve also used it as proof that I don’t belong here.”

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re stubborn and proud. Change scares them. But trust me, they’ll come around.”

“I’m not trying to change them.” I replied.

“You don’t have to. You just being here does.”

I looked around the empty hall. “They hate me.”

“They fear you. It’s not the same.”

I tilted my head. “You sound like you’ve done this before.”

He hesitated, then said, “I know what it’s like to be the wolf no one trusts.” I searched his face. For once, his walls had cracked just enough to let that truth slip through. It hit me harder than I expected.

“I didn’t think you’d stand up for me like that,” I said softly.

Sebastian looked at me. “You stood in front of the Mirror for me. When you didn’t have to.” I didn’t say a word. We stood in silence, something deeper and more dangerous pulling between us.

Then Sebastian cleared his throat. “The council insisted on this coronation.”

“I figured.”

“They want to test you again. Publicly. You’ll wear Luna's crest, take the oath, stand before the bloodstones.”

I frowned. “And if I say no?”

“They’ll never accept you. And neither will the wolves watching from the shadows.”

I let out a slow breath. “Fine. Then I’ll do it.”

Sebastian nodded. “I’ll be with you.”

I met his gaze. “Not because you owe me. Right?”

He didn’t answer right away. Then, quietly: “No. Not because I owe you.”

******

The coronation was held under the moonlight, in the sacred glade behind the estate. Wolves gathered in a wide circle, their breath misting in the crisp night air. At the center stood a stone dais carved with ancient runes, and at the top of it, a silver circlet bearing the mark of the Luna.

I approached in silence, flanked by two elder she-wolves in ceremonial cloaks. My dress was simple, white, sleeveless, cinched at the waist with a cord of silver. My dark curls were woven with thin threads of moonstone. I looked nothing like the girl from the city. Nothing like the mutt they’d mocked.

I looked like a queen made of moonlight and iron.

The council stood behind the dais. Marius again led the rites. “Natasha, of no born house, raised beyond the bloodlines of the pack, you come before us now to be bound to the Killians. Do you accept this bond?”

“I do,” I said clearly.

“Do you vow to guard the lives beneath the Alpha’s rule? To guide with patience, to rule with mercy, to bleed when they bleed?”

“I do.”

“Do you swear yourself to this pack, even when it turns from you?”

My voice didn’t waver. “I do.”

Marius lifted the circlet and placed it gently on my brow. “Then rise, Natasha, Luna of Killian Pack.”

Before the first howl broke the silence, Councillor Helena stepped forward from the shadows of the dais. Her silver hair shimmered under the moonlight, her voice low but cutting through the still air like wind through pine.

“I know many of you carry doubts,” she said. “I have heard them whisper in these halls and speak loudly in some cases. She is not of our blood. She was not raised among us. But hear me now: blood and birth alone do not make a Luna.”

Murmurs rippled through the circle, uneasy.“She crossed the Mirror,” Helena continued. “Do any here doubt the magic that guards it? Do you think the spirits of our ancestors who bled for this land would allow a false Luna to pass unscathed?”

She let the silence answer. “Our ways are old, yes. But they are not stagnant. The Moon chooses whom it will. Sometimes it chooses someone unfamiliar, to remind us what strength truly looks like.”

She turned to me, her eyes softening. “She faced more than shadows in that trial. She faced herself. And what emerged was not weakness, but iron.”

Then she addressed the crowd once more. “If we turn our backs on her now, we do not dishonor her. We dishonor the very rites we hold sacred.”

Slowly, the tension in the clearing began to crack. Heads dipped. A low, mournful howl rose and then another. A chorus followed, building toward something ancient and collective.

I blinked, feeling very stunned. Sebastian stepped forward, eyes fixed on me like I was the only thing he saw. He took my hand, not as Alpha and Luna, not as a pact of duty, but as two people bound by something deeper than a ritual.

His fingers curled slightly around mine, rough palms brushing against my skin in a way that made my heart stutter. He leaned in, just close enough for his voice to reach only me. “You were incredible,” he said under his breath.

“So were you,” I replied, smiling despite the chill. I don't know if the pack loved me. But deep down I knew they'll get used to me. But tonight, they saw me not as an outsider, but as their Luna. And that was enough.