My Alpha Rejected Our Bond, I Built My Own Pack

Chapter 4

I stood locked outside while they celebrated within.

Beneath the witness of the full moon, Father spoke loud enough for every clan member to hear. "The winner of the annual clan great hunt is Freya! Blessed by the Moon Goddess herself, we've found our new leader among us at last."

It's always been this way, year after year. Titles and honors that should have been mine were handed straight to Freya. Only this time, I wasn't even allowed to stand there and watch them take what belonged to me.

Then Lucan's voice carried through the open doors, ringing clear and proud. "I, Lucan, Alpha of the Mooncrest Clan, choose you, Freya, to be my mate and my future Luna," he declared. "I choose you. I pledge to you that you'll be my one and only, my Luna. From the very first moment I saw you, my wolf knew you. Your scent is etched into my very soul. I can never belong to anyone else," Lucan vowed.

Cheers rose all around them, and then Freya spoke in her turn. "I, Freya of the Frostbourne Clan, accept you as my intended mate."

Beneath the glowing moon, they kissed one another.

Everyone knew Freya had never been able to call forth her inner wolf. It weighed heavily on all their hearts. I, on the other hand, had summoned mine successfully on the night I turned eighteen. Yet I rarely let her show herself around anyone else.

I'd always held back, afraid of hurting Freya and our parents. Only in the quiet of the night, when all were asleep, did I ever speak to her.

"Take this moonstone as a gift," Lucan said. "From this day forward, you're my fated mate."

When the ceremony ended and the crowd had drifted away, the great doors opened. Lucan stepped outside and found me right where he left me. He looked down at me from a height, his expression calm and unapologetic.

"Freya needs my help to awaken her inner wolf. That's why I must stand beside her. You're her sister. Surely you want nothing more than to see her succeed at last," Lucan said.

Everyone knew Freya's body was too frail to withstand the shift. To force her wolf to rise might kill her. But once Freya and Lucan were joined as one, once they had mated, perhaps her strength would grow. She might be strong enough to shift and call her wolf forth at last.

I stood there covered in wounds and barely able to hold my human form. I felt stripped bare before him, broken and weak.

"If you had only admitted your fault today, we might still have found a place for you here," he said.

I let out a cold, bitter laugh. "You are the future Alpha. And Freya is your future Luna, blessed by the Moon. I've offended you both. This clan will never welcome me again."

Lucan opened his mouth as if to say something more. In the end, all he said was, "You are strong. You will survive anywhere." And then he turned and walked away.

I watched him go. And to my surprise, my heart didn't hurt anymore. It had stopped hurting the moment he stood before everyone and rejected me completely.

Everything I ever had was given away to Freya. Fine then. I wouldn't fight her for a single thing.

I turned my back on the camp and walked the other way. Beyond the borders, I caught a scent I didn't recognize. It didn't belong to any wolf of our clans. It came from the Northern Rogue Pack.

Winter was coming. Their supplies were too few to survive the cold months ahead, so they'd set their hungry eyes upon lands that belonged to others. There was a stretch of wild land that belonged to no one. I'd studied those lands thoroughly long ago while I still served the Frostbourne Clan. That was where I would go.

"From this day forward I shall be my own Alpha," I whispered to the wind. "And I shall never again bow to any of you."

Lucan didn't understand. By casting me aside, he'd left himself and Freya far too weak to hold and protect both clans.

The Moon Goddess had been right all along. Only, I didn't love him anymore.

And when the Northern Rogue Pack came, the two of them would learn exactly what they had thrown away. They would regret every single thing they'd done to me.

I lifted my head and howled long and loud toward the moon. It was my final farewell to the life I left behind.