The Luna’s Last Rejection

The moon was too bright for a night meant to break me. Every eye in Nightbane was on me as I stood in the clearing, silk dress clinging to my legs, the cold biting through the thin fabric. I could hear the whispers ripple through the crowd, see the glint of curiosity in every gaze. They’d never seen a Luna ceremony like this—an orphan girl from the forgotten Vale line, chosen by the heir himself. It should’ve been a miracle. Instead, it felt like the air was holding its breath. Kael stood at the altar, tall, flawless, and carved from the kind of confidence that made people bow without being told. The torches threw shadows across his face, turning him into something both beautiful and dangerous. My heart tripped over itself just looking at him. He was my mate. My fated one. The bond between us hummed like a secret no one else could hear. And tonight, he was supposed to claim me as his Luna. When the drums stopped, all I could hear was the rush of my pulse. My hands were cold. My throat felt too tight to breathe. I’d imagined this moment a thousand times—Kael’s hand taking mine, the warmth in his eyes when he said my name, the way the pack would cheer when the Moonfire sealed our bond. I wanted to believe in that version of us. I needed to. But the longer I stood there, the more wrong it felt. He didn’t smile. Didn’t move. His jaw flexed once, hard, like he was swallowing something bitter. Then he spoke. “Seraphina Vale,” Kael said, voice steady, echoing through the clearing, “I, Kael Draven, reject you.” At first, I didn’t react. I thought I misheard him. The firelight swayed, someone coughed, and I waited for him to laugh, to tell the crowd this was some twisted joke. He didn’t. The silence that followed pressed against my chest until I couldn’t breathe. My mark flared hot against my skin, burning where his name was written by fate. “What… what did you say?” My voice barely carried. Kael’s expression didn’t change. “I reject you as my mate,” he repeated, louder this time. “You are unfit to be Luna of this pack.” Laughter broke somewhere in the back—uneasy, cruel. Someone gasped. And me? I just stood there, my heart cracking open one heartbeat at a time. The mark on my neck sizzled, the pain searing down to bone. I staggered, clutching at it, but Kael didn’t reach for me. He didn’t even blink. He turned instead—and that’s when I saw her. Lady Korrin stepped out from behind him, wrapped in red silk that glowed like spilled blood under the moonlight. Her hand slid into his. My knees almost gave out. “I name Lady Korrin as my Luna,” Kael said. The crowd erupted, shock, confusion, murmurs that sounded like blades scraping stone. I heard my name whispered, felt pity mix with disgust in their eyes. And through it all, Kael stood there, looking at me like I was a mistake he couldn’t wait to erase. The pain hit harder. My vision blurred. The bond between us, the sacred thread the Moon tied herself—snapped inside me with a sound only I could feel. It tore something from my soul, and when it was gone, I was hollow. I dropped to my knees. No one came to help. The fire crackled. The drums started again, slow and unsure. And the man who was supposed to be mine looked away. “Kael,” I choked out, blood on my tongue. “Why?” His voice came back cold. “Because mercy would’ve been a lie.” I think that was the moment something in me died. Or maybe something woke up. The mark on my skin burned hotter until it wasn’t pain anymore—it was heat, light, fury. The kind that doesn’t beg; it warns. For a second, I saw him flinch. Just barely. But I turned before the tears could fall. I walked. I don’t remember how. My legs were shaking, the ground spinning, the cheers for Korrin echoing in my ears like thunder. By the time I reached the tree line, my white dress was ruined, and my breath came in sharp, broken gasps. The forest waited ahead—dark, endless, alive. I stepped in. Every branch looked sharper, every sound louder. Fog crawled between the roots like it was watching me. The Moon followed overhead, too bright, too close. I stumbled over stones, tripping on my hem, my lungs burning. It wasn’t just heartbreak now—it was something else, something ancient crawling beneath my skin. The same curse my mother whispered about when I was a child. The same one that made the pack whisper Moon-touched. When the first growl came from the dark, I froze. Yellow eyes blinked open between the trees. Then another. Then more. The beasts that stepped out weren’t wolves. They were wrong—twisted shapes with bone where fur should be, their breath misting like smoke. I backed away slowly. “No…” The biggest one lunged. I didn’t even have time to scream before claws slashed across my shoulder. The force threw me into the dirt. Pain exploded, sharp and electric. I tried to crawl, but another shadow pinned me down. Hot breath scorched my neck. This was it. The Moon’s chosen, dying in the dirt, rejected and forgotten. But before the bite came, the air changed. The wind stopped. The forest glowed. A silver light spread across the ground, thin as smoke, then blinding. The creatures screamed, dissolving into ash. The air vibrated, heavy with power that didn’t feel like mine but somehow was. I tried to move. Couldn’t. My body felt weightless, my blood burning from the inside out. The light crawled up my skin, seeping into the veins where the mark used to be. A voice whispered through the brightness—soft, endless, ancient. You are not done yet. My heartbeat slowed. The world tilted. And then everything went white. When I woke, I wasn’t on the forest floor. I was lying on stone, surrounded by firelight that didn’t burn. A ceiling carved with lunar sigils arched above me. The air smelled of smoke and frost. A shadow moved nearby. tall, broad-shouldered, eyes like molten gold. His voice was low, rough, almost human. “You shouldn’t be alive.” I tried to speak, but no sound came. He crouched beside me, studying the mark that had reappeared on my skin—only now it wasn’t Kael’s bond. It glowed faint silver, shaped like a crescent that pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat. “The Moon chose again,” he murmured. “And this time, she chose vengeance.” The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me again was his face… strange, beautiful, unfamiliar. And the small, dangerous smile that said he knew what I was about to become. That night, the Blood Moon didn’t end a love story. It created a warning. The rejected Luna didn’t die. She was reborn.