CHAPTER ONE : OPENING
The night smelled of silver and expectation.
The entire Blackthorn Pack stood beneath the full moon, eyes fixed on the ceremonial platform where I stood beside my mate.
Alpha Darius Blackthorn.
My heart pounded — not from fear, but from destiny. Tonight, he would mark me as his Luna. Tonight, I would belong.
He reached for my hand.
The crowd fell silent.
“I, Alpha Darius Blackthorn,” his voice carried across the clearing.
My wolf stirred inside me, nervous but eager.
“I reject you, Kaela Nightshade, as my mate.”
The world didn’t shatter. It detonated.
Gasps rippled through the pack. My breath stopped. My mind refused to process the words.
He was still holding my hand. Still looking at me. But there was no warmth in his eyes. Only calculation.
“W-what?” My voice barely formed.
He released me as if my skin burned him.
“You are not fit to stand beside me as Luna,” he continued.
“Your blood is unstable. Weak. A risk to this pack.”
Murmurs spread like wildfire. Weak? My wolf whimpered.
He didn’t stop.
“You carry no dominant traits. No visible strength. And I will not gamble the future of my heirs on uncertainty. I never wanted this match.”
Someone laughed. Then another. The laughter rang like knives.
He stepped closer, gripping my shoulders. With one motion, he shoved me to my knees before the crowd. My knees scraped the wooden platform.
“Remove her ceremonial cloak,” he ordered. His fingers lingered briefly on the silver fabric before flinging it to the ground. The symbol of my acceptance as Luna was discarded like trash.
Shocks of pain tore through my chest as the bond between us snapped violently. My wolf howled in agony, then fell silent.
Tears stung my eyes. I refused to beg. Refused to plead. But I couldn’t hide the humiliation burning in my veins.
And then… the air shifted.
The silver moon above us began turning crimson. Red. A Blood Moon.A tremor moved through the earth. My wolf did not whimper this time. She growled. Low. Ancient. Terrifying.
And deep inside my chest… another heartbeat answered.
Two heartbeats.
I stayed on my knees, chest heaving, feeling every eye in the pack pierce me like daggers.
Darius didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. He simply watched, as if measuring every shred of my pain.
“Is this really how you want to treat me?” I whispered to no one, my voice trembling.
A smirk crossed his face, cold and unreadable. “I am protecting this pack… and you,” he said, his tone icy. “Sometimes protection requires breaking what could threaten everything.”
But it wasn’t protection. I knew it.
The pack laughed again, louder this time. Some wolves whispered, pointing, sneering. My shame multiplied with each glance.
And then, without warning, my wolf howled—not in grief, but in defiance. The sound rose, raw and primal, echoing through the clearing.
The Blood Moon gleamed above us, turning the world crimson. The red light kissed my skin and ignited something inside me, deep and terrifying.
Two heartbeats now pulsed in my chest. Not just mine. Another, ancient and foreign, calling out.
I tried to stand. My legs shook violently. Pain lanced through me—physical and emotional. But I forced myself upright. My hands gripped my shaking knees.
Then came a ripple in the air. Not wind. Not movement.
Something else. Powerful. Watching. Waiting.
I looked up. The crowd’s laughter faltered, fear rippling through them.
A shadow appeared at the edge of the clearing. Tall. Dominant. Radiating authority. Every hair on my body rose.
He was calm… terrifying.
My pulse skipped. My wolf growled.
I didn’t know his name yet. I didn’t know if he was friend or foe. But I felt it instinctively: he had come for me.
Darius finally spoke again, voice low but firm. “Get her out.”
The pack parted. I stumbled forward, cloak gone, knees raw, head held high despite the humiliation.
The shadow stepped closer. Calm, measured. My wolf bristled at the scent, ancient and commanding.
A single thought consumed me as my legs carried me toward the forest:
I am not weak. They made a mistake.
And somewhere far beyond my territory, the Lycan King opened his eyes.
