THE ALPHA'S REJECTED LUNA

Chapter 5: Two Alphas, One Luna"

...White Wolf."

Jaxon's whisper was barely a breath, but in the dead silence of the Northern forest, it sounded like a gunshot.

Kade Blackwood couldn't breathe.

In front of him, where a broken, bleeding Omega girl had been kneeling seconds ago, now stood a wolf made of pure moonlight.

Small, yes. Smaller than his own grey-black Alpha wolf. Smaller than Rhys's monstrous cursed beast. But her fur was white — not dirty white, not cream — pure, untouched snow-white that glowed under the full moon. Every single hair sparkled like it had stardust trapped inside it. And her eyes... her eyes were molten silver, ancient and furious.

A White Wolf.

The legend every Alpha pup was told about. *Born once every hundred years. The Moon Goddess's own daughter. Whoever mates her will have the power to make all packs kneel.*

And he had rejected her. Publicly. Brutally.

Kade felt his own wolf inside his head howling in agony, tearing at his insides. *What have you done? What have you DONE? You rejected our Queen!*

But it wasn't just the wolf that had both Alphas frozen. It was the shadow behind her.

In the reflection of the moonlit creek, behind the small white wolf, stood a woman. Tall, regal, long white hair flowing like water, wearing a crown made of small bones and moonflowers. Her hands were resting on Aria's wolf shoulders. Protectively. Possessively.

Her face was blurred, but Kade would recognize that silhouette anywhere. Everyone in Silver Moon had her portrait in the pack hall.

Luna Layla Quinn. Aria's mother. Dead for ten years.

"No..." Kade choked out. "That's not possible. She died..."

Rhys Volkov didn't hear him. Rhys couldn't hear anything except the thundering of his own heart.

His red eyes were no longer glowing with rage. They were wide. Awestruck. Obsessed.

His mate wasn't an Omega. She wasn't weak. She was a f*****g miracle.

"Mine," he breathed. The word was ripped from his soul. "You are MINE."

He took a step forward, his hand outstretched, not afraid of the glowing wolf.

Aria's white wolf — Aria — bared her teeth at him. A low, warning snarl left her throat. It wasn't loud, but the power behind it made the Silver Moon warriors behind Kade drop to their knees, whimpering, their wolves submitting instantly.

Even Jaxon gasped and clutched his head. "Alpha... her aura..."

Kade was the only one who didn't fall. His own Alpha aura flared silver, fighting against hers. But even he felt his knees buckle.

Rhys, however, didn't flinch. His cursed bloodline made him immune to most Alpha commands. He smiled, a dark, proud smile.

"That's it, little mate," he murmured. "Show them who you are."

Aria's head snapped towards Kade. Those silver-white wolf eyes locked onto grey ones.

And Kade felt it — the bond. The bond he had ripped apart an hour ago with his own words.

It was not dead.

It was glowing. A faint, silver thread, frayed and bleeding, but still connecting his chest to hers. It was trying to heal. It was pulsing in time with her white fur.

Kade's breath hitched. Hope — desperate, pathetic hope — flooded his chest.

"Aria," he whispered, his voice broken. He fell to his knees in the moss, not from her power, but from his own guilt. He reached out a trembling hand. "Aria, please... I didn't know... I swear I didn't know you were—"

The white wolf flinched away from his hand like he was poison.

That tiny movement shattered Kade more than any war ever could.

*Aria's POV*

Pain. Heat. Power.

I can hear everything. I can smell everything. The blood of the dead Rogues ten feet away. The pine sap in the trees. The jealousy rotting off Kade. The possessive, burning obsession coming from Rhys.

And I can hear HER.

*We are awake, daughter. Finally.*

My wolf. Her voice is not the shy whimper from before. It is powerful. Royal. She is not just a wolf. She is something else.

*Who are you?* I ask inside my head.

*I am you. You are me. We are White Wolf. And we have been asleep too long because they drugged us. They made us weak.*

Images flash in my head — too fast. My mother braiding my hair. A bitter tea forced down my throat every morning by Luna Selene. "For your health, dear Omega." Elena laughing while pouring something into my food.

*THEY MADE US WEAK.*

Rage — pure, ancient rage — explodes inside me. My white fur stands on end. I throw my head back and howl.

It is not a normal howl. The entire forest trembles. Birds fly away screaming from miles away. The water in the creek ripples.

Both Alphas cover their ears.

When the howl ends, I feel my bones cracking again. I am shifting back.

I fall onto the moss, naked, shivering, human again. But different. My brown hair now has a single, thick streak of pure white at the front. My brown eyes, when I look at my reflection in the water, flash silver for a second.

Rhys's huge jacket is thrown over me instantly. He is kneeling, wrapping me, hiding me from Kade's eyes. His red eyes are scanning my face like I am something holy.

"Don't look at her!" he roars at Kade, his voice murderous. "You don't get to look at her!"

Kade is still on his knees. His face is pale. He looks destroyed. "Aria... your mother... that shadow..."

I freeze. "What shadow?"

"The woman behind you in the water," Jaxon says from behind, his voice shaking. "White hair... bone crown... it looked like... like Luna Layla."

My mother.

My mother died when I was eight. They said it was a Rogue attack. They found her body in this very forest.

My hands start to shake. "What?"

Rhys gently pulls me to my feet. His hands are so warm. "You are freezing. You need to come with me. Now. To my packhouse. You are in no condition—"

"No."

We both turn.

Kade has stood up. His grey eyes are no longer cold. They are burning with a dangerous, desperate possessiveness that matches Rhys's.

"She is coming back to Silver Moon," Kade says, his Alpha voice low and lethal. "She is Silver Moon. She is MY... she is my mate. My responsibility. You can't take her."

Rhys laughs, and this time it is truly terrifying. He pulls me flush against his chest, my back to his front, his arms locked around my waist. He buries his nose in my neck and inhales deeply, right in front of Kade.

"Your responsibility? You rejected her, Blackwood. You broke her. The Moon Goddess gave her to ME now. Second chance mate. Do you know what that means? It means fate itself says you f****d up and I get to keep her."

He licks a drop of blood from my cheek — from where a branch had cut me earlier — and growls against my skin. "And I am going to keep her. I am going to take her back to my bed, to my territory, and I am going to mark her so deep that even your pathetic silver thread will burn away."

Kade's wolf SNAPS.

"LET HER GO!"

He lunges.

He doesn't shift — if he shifts here, he'll kill Rhys or die trying. He lunges in human form, his claws out, aiming for Rhys's throat.

Rhys shoves me behind him and meets him mid-air. Two Alphas colliding like titans.

PUNCH. The sound echoes.

They fall into the creek, rolling, snarling, fists flying. No powers, just pure, male, animalistic jealousy. Two Alphas fighting over a mate.

"She is MINE! You threw her away!"

"She was MINE FIRST!"

Jaxon and the other warriors try to pull them apart but are thrown back by a wave of black and silver Alpha power.

I am screaming. "STOP! STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!"

No one listens.

My chest — the spot where Kade's rejected bond is — suddenly sears with white-hot pain. And the new spark where Rhys touched me — burns too. Two bonds pulling me in opposite directions, literally tearing my soul apart.

I clutch my chest and collapse.

And that's when I see it.

In the mud, where the Rogues died, half-buried under leaves, is a small, rusted silver locket. My mother's locket. The one she was wearing the day she died. The one they said was lost with her body.

It is open. Inside is not a photo. Inside is a tiny folded piece of paper, stained with old blood.

With shaking hands, I reach for it.

On the paper, in my mother's hurried handwriting, are four words that make my blood freeze solid.

**"ELENA KILLED ME. RUN."**

My head snaps up. I look at Kade. At the warriors behind him. Elena wants to be Luna. Elena would do anything.

And I realize — my mother didn't die in a Rogue attack.

She was murdered. By my own sister.

Before I can scream, a gloved hand comes from behind the trees and clamps over my mouth, and a needle pricks my neck.

The last thing I see before the darkness takes me is Rhys and Kade still fighting, not noticing that I am being dragged backward into the shadows.

And the last thing I hear is a familiar, cruel, sweet voice whispering in my ear.

"Found you, little White Wolf. Elder Magnus has been waiting for you."