REJECTED BY THE ALPHA, CLAIMED BY HIS ENEMY

The pot in my hands was cracked at the rim, and I had been scrubbing the same spot for five minutes without realizing it. I blinked, looked down at my pruned fingers, and sighed. The water had gone cold an hour ago. My back ached from hunching over the basin. Outside the kitchen window, the moon hung low, so bright it spilled across the floor like spilled milk. Eighteen. I was eighteen today. Most wolves celebrated their eighteenth birthday with a party. Gifts. Family. The whole pack gathered around to watch them shift for the first time and howl at the moon. I celebrated mine by scrubbing pots. But that wasn't what bothered me. What bothered me was the silence in my chest. I pressed a soapy hand against my sternum and waited—the way I had been waiting all day for something to stir. A growl. A pulse. A whisper. Anything. Nothing. My wolf had been quiet for eighteen years. No howls. No instincts. No shift. Just a hollow space where she was supposed to be, like a room that had been walled off and forgotten. The other wolves in the pack had started shifting at fifteen. Sixteen, at the latest. Teresa had shifted at fourteen and never let anyone forget it. By the time I turned seventeen, the whispers had already started. "The Wolfless." "Maybe the Goddess forgot her." "Maybe she doesn't have a wolf at all." I'd learned to ignore them. I'd learned to look down, stay quiet, and survive. It was the only thing I was good at. But tonight was different. Tonight, I might meet my mate. The thought made my stomach twist. Every wolf dreamed about the moment the bond snapped into place, the moment the Moon Goddess looked down and said ‘Here. This one is yours.’ I had dreamed about it too. More than I wanted to admit. But I had also heard the stories. The dark ones. The ones the elders whispered about when they thought no one was listening. Some wolves never found their mates. Some waited their whole lives. And some—the unlucky ones, the broken ones, the ones like me had mates who took one look at them and walked away. "It happens” Hilda had told me once, when I was young and foolish and asked. "Not every bond is a blessing. Some are curses." I had never forgotten that. The kitchen door swung open, and Hilda herself walked in, wiping her hands on her apron. She was a big, broad-shouldered woman with grey streaked hair and eyes that had seen too much. She had raised me since I was a baby. She had never once called me daughter, but she had never once let me starve either. "Still scrubbing?" she asked. "Almost done." She snorted. “You finished those pots an hour ago, girl. You're just hiding." I didn't deny it. Hilda walked over and stood beside me, her eyes on the window. The moon was higher now, silver and endless. “Eighteen” she said quietly. "How does it feel?" "The same." "Liar." I almost smiled. Almost. "Your wolf” Hilda said. "Has she stirred at all?" "No." She was quiet for a long moment. Then: "The Alpha's called a gathering. Every wolf in the territory. Tonight." My hands stilled in the water. “A gathering? Why?" "Don't know. But he's been in meetings all day. And Mira's been at his side the whole time." Mira. Mira was beautiful. Powerful. A true wolf. She had been circling Alpha Kael for years, and everyone knew it. Everyone also knew he had never officially chosen her—because a wolf couldn't choose a Luna until his fated mate had been found or rejected. Rejected. The word echoed in my skull. Something in me suddenly shifted. Wait. My wolf? I can feel her. A shrill of excitement, fear and relief flooded through me. "Selene." Hilda's voice was softer now. Her eyes shone with recognition “Your wolf. You just felt her. How does she feel?” “Restless” I slowly placed my hand on my chest, feeling my heart beat. An uncomfortable feeling burning in the back of my throat. I swallowed. I told myself it was nothing. I told myself I was imagining it. But I wasn't. "She knows," Hilda said. "Your mate is near." My chest tightened. I looked up at her—the closest thing I had to a mother and for a second, I let myself hope. "Do you think…" My voice cracked. “Do you think the Goddess actually chose me? For someone?" Hilda didn't answer. She just looked at me with those tired eyes and said “Get cleaned up. You'll want to look presentable." I didn't know then that she meant presentable for my execution. •••• The great hall was packed. I had never seen so many wolves in one place. Warriors in black leathers. Elders draped in silver furs. Mothers with children on their hips. Torches lined the walls, casting long shadows across the stone floor. At the far end, on a raised dais, sat the Alpha's throne. Alpha Kael stood before it. He was everything a Silvercrest Alpha should be. Tall. Golden haired. Eyes the color of ice. His presence filled the room like a storm, and everyone in it bent toward him like grass in the wind. I had served him for eight years. Cleaned his floors. Mended his clothes. Never once met his eyes. Never once looked at him. Tonight, I felt him before I saw him. A pull. A yank. So powerful it nearly knocked me off my feet. I staggered. My wolf surged forward, howling with joy. Mate. Mate. That's him. That's ours. Kael is my mate. The thought was so enormous, so impossible, that I almost laughed. The Alpha of the Silvercrest Pack—the strongest wolf in the territory was fated to me. To the orphan. To the servant girl who had never shifted properly in her life. ‘He'll see me’ I thought. ‘He'll see me and he'll know. He'll feel what I feel.’ I pushed through the crowd, my heart hammering so loudly I could barely hear the whispers around me. My dress was plain grey wool. My hair was brushed until it shone. I had scrubbed my skin raw and pinched my cheeks for color. I reached the front of the crowd and lifted my eyes to Kael's face. He was already looking at me. For one breathless moment, the world stopped. His pale eyes met mine, and I felt the bond snap into place—a golden thread, bright and unbreakable, tying my soul to his. He feels it too, I thought. He must feel it too. And then Kael's lip curled. "What," he said, loud enough for the whole hall to hear “is that doing here?" The words hit me like a physical blow. I staggered back a step. Around me, the crowd went still. "Alpha?" I whispered. His gaze swept over me—my threadbare dress, my scuffed boots, my trembling hands and in the next second, his brows scrunched up, something ugly twisted his handsome face. "You," he said slowly, "are my mate?" The way he said it made the word sound like a curse. I opened my mouth. No words came. And then a woman stepped forward from the shadows beside the throne. She was beautiful. Dark hair. Silver gown. Wolf in her eyes. She slid her hand onto Kael's arm—a possessive, deliberate gesture—and smiled at me. It was not a kind smile. "Alpha," Mira purred. "Perhaps I should speak to the girl. She seems… confused." Kael didn't look at her. He didn't look away from me. "She's not confused," he said flatly. "She's delusional." The bond in my chest—the beautiful, golden thread that had sung to me all night—began to crack. "Kael," I breathed. "Please—" "You don't get to use my name." That wasn’t the end of it. •• I don't remember him grabbing my arm. I remember the pain—sharp and sudden, his fingers digging into my skin like claws. I remember being dragged forward, my feet stumbling over the stone floor, the crowd parting around us like water around a stone. I remember the whispers—hundreds of them, hissing like snakes. "Is that the Wolfless?" "She's his mate? Impossible." "Look at her. She's nothing." Kael dragged me to the center of the hall and stopped. The torches flickered. The moon poured through the high windows. Every eye in the room was on me—on us—and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I couldn't do anything but stand there, trembling, as the golden thread in my chest cracked and cracked and cracked. I looked up at Kael. At his cold, beautiful face. At his eyes, which held nothing but disgust. And I knew. I knew something horrible was about to happen. "Kael," I whispered. "Please—" He didn't answer. He just stood there, holding my arm like I was something he wanted to throw away. Then he flung me unto the ground, my sharp pain registered in my ankle. My butt hit the ground with a loud thud. And the crowd watched. And the moon watched. And I felt the first tear slip down my cheek.