The Luna He Erased

Chapter 2

Rejection

Kade

My fist smashed straight through the door panel, wood splintering and tearing open my knuckles until hot blood dripped onto the floorboards.

"Control yourself, boy," my father growled, his heavy hand slamming down on my shoulder. "Tonight you take the crown. You do not need to bleed on the threshold like a stray pup."

I jerked away from his grip, my chest heaving as the anticipation burned a hole straight through my ribs. The ceremonial armor strapped across my chest felt too tight, heavy as lead, but every single breath tasted like victory because tonight Lyra would finally stand beside me.

The moon was climbing high outside, calling out to the wolf beneath my skin, demanding our mate.

"She is waiting for me," I snapped, my hand reaching for the latch. "The ceremony starts in five minutes."

"Step back, Kade," High Chancellor Magnus's voice cut through the room, cold and sharp as a blade dropped on the tile.

I froze, my fingers hovering over the iron handle. Magnus stood by the hearth, flanked by two armed council guards whose faces stayed locked in stone.

My father shut the door behind them with a slow, heavy thud that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"What is this?" I turned to face them, my jaw tight. "If this is another lecture about pack borders or trade routes, save it. I have somewhere to be."

"You have an obligation to your bloodline," Magnus said, stepping closer with his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes scanned my armor with icy disapproval. "Word reached the high council about your little human healer. Rumors travel fast when an Alpha starts parading a weakling through the pack."

"She is not a weakling," I snarled, taking a step forward. "She saved more lives than you think in the lower quadrant last week alone. She heals better than any healer we have."

My father stepped right into my path, his chest almost pressing against mine. "She has no wolf, Kade. She bleeds, she breaks, and she carries zero ancestral power. The Silver Ridge pack cannot be led by a frail human who will wither away before winter hits. The elders will riot and our bloodlines will weaken."

"I don't give a damn about the elders," I shouted, my voice cracking with rising panic. "I want her. The moon goddess bond chose her. You felt it flare across the whole territory this morning."

"The bond can be severed," Magnus whispered, the words dropping like ice water down my spine.

"No," I shook my head, backing away until my spine hit the splintered door. "No, I won't do it. We swore oaths under the Moon Tree. I told her I would burn the territory down before I let anyone take her."

"And who is going to burn when the council strips your title and hands the throne to your cousin Royce?" My father’s face twisted in pure rage, veins bulging at his temples. "I built this pack from the mud. I secured our borders with blood. You think I will let you throw away fifty years of dominance for a soft-handed human girl who cannot even shift? If you tie yourself to her tonight, you walk out of here a common exile. You will watch Royce take your seat, and you will watch us cast her out into the wild to starve."

"You wouldn't," I choked out, my hands trembling at my sides.

"Try me," my father hissed, leaning in close. "Choose your little healer, and I swear to every ancestor we honor tonight that I will personally drag her out to the borderlands before the moon reaches its peak. Save her the humiliation and do it yourself, or watch us destroy everything she is, while you go down with her.

"My stomach dropped into a bottomless pit. The air rushed out of my lungs, leaving me suffocated, dizzy, and sick. Every drop of excitement vanished, replaced by a blinding, suffocating terror.

If I fought them, Royce would take over, and they would kill her anyway. If I gave in, I had to murder the only good thing inside me with my own bare hands.

"Time is up," Magnus checked his pocket watch, his voice devoid of any human warmth. "The pack is waiting in the clearing. Walk out there, say the words, and secure your crown. Refuse, and your father exiles her right now.

"My knees felt hollow. I stared at the blood still dripping from my knuckles onto the floor, tasting the copper in my mouth.

"Fine," I whispered, the word tasting like ash and poison. "I'll do it."

The torches burned in a massive, blinding circle, casting wild orange shadows across the packed dirt of the Silver Ridge gathering grounds.

Thousands of pack members stood shoulder-to-shoulder in absolute silence, their eyes fixed on the center platform.

I stepped forward in my dark Alpha armor, the scar across my eyebrow throbbing with every beat of my racing heart.

And then I saw her.

Lyra stood in the middle of the ring wearing simple healer’s robes, her dark hair catching the silver moonlight. Her eyes were wide, shining with absolute trust, and a small, soft smile touched her lips—the same smile she gave me under the Moon Tree.

The mate bond flared instantly, hot and bright as a lightning strike, shooting straight through my veins and screaming at me to pull her into my arms.

My wolf, Jack, howled in pain inside my head, clawing at the walls of my consciousness, begging me to run.

‘Don't do this,’ Jack screamed through our shared link. ‘Look at her. She loves us.’

I forced my jaw to lock shut. I couldn't look away, but I couldn't move toward her either.

A heavy hush fell over the thousands of people gathered around us. You could hear the wind rustling through the pine trees in the distance.

I waited for my voice to work, praying for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. My hands shook at my sides, the torn knuckles stinging in the cold night air.

I took one step closer to her. The bond screamed louder, burning my chest like acid.

"I reject you," I said.

The words came out cold, sharp, and loud enough to echo off the distant canyon walls.

Lyra flinched as if I had driven a dagger straight through her stomach. She stood frozen, her lips parting in a silent gasp, her eyes wide with total disbelief. A collective gasp rippled through the front rows of the pack.

The invisible thread connecting our souls began to snap, fiber by fiber, tearing open a raw, bleeding chasm right down the center of my chest. Pain so violent exploded through every vein that my vision went black at the edges.

I staggered, fighting the urge to drop to my knees and scream. "Kade…," she breathed out, a broken, helpless sound that shattered the last remaining pieces of my sanity.

"I reject the bond," I forced out again, my voice trembling despite my best efforts. "Lyra Ashwood."

Silence crashed down over the clearing, heavy enough to crush bone. She stared up at me, her eyes pooling with sudden, devastating tears, her hands twitching uselessly at her sides.

She looked like her entire world had just dissolved into dust right in front of her face.

Before I could take a single step to fix it, High Chancellor Magnus stepped out from the shadows of the dais, his robes sweeping the dirt.

"By the authority of the High Council,"Magnus’s amplified voice boomed across the clearing, silencing any whispers from the crowd. "This female is hereby declared a powerless hybrid human, unworthy of pack blood or protection. For her intrusion into the royal lineage, she is stripped of all status and banished from Silver Ridge territory effective immediately."

"No!" Lyra finally found her voice, a high, desperate cry that ripped straight through my heart. She lunged forward, reaching out for me. "Kade, tell them! Tell them it's a joke!"

I stood frozen like a stone statue, my feet glued to the dirt. I was too stunned to speak. This was not what we bargained for. She was meant to be saved.

"Take her away," my father’s voice rang out from behind me, cold and absolute.

Two council guards lunged forward, grabbing Lyra roughly by both arms before she could take another step toward me.

"Get your hands off me!" she screamed, thrashing against them, her eyes locked desperately onto mine. "Kade! Please! Look at me! You promised! You swore on your life….Kade, please!"

"Silence the prisoner," Magnus ordered coldly.

The guards yanked her backward, dragging her heels through the dirt as she fought them with everything she had, her face stained with tears.

Kade! Don't let them do this! Please!"

Her voice cracked, echoing off the silent trees as they dragged her past the torchlight and toward the dark, freezing boundary line.

The mate bond gave one final, violent shudder inside my chest, and then it snapped completely, plunging my soul into absolute, freezing darkness.

I stood there on the platform, surrounded by pack members and my smiling father, watching the space where the only person who ever truly loved me had just been ripped away, knowing I was the monster who handed her over.