The Wolf-Less Luna Is the Lycan Queen

Seven years ago, Damon Veyr promised that one day I would stand beside him as Luna of Greymere. Tonight, he was supposed to keep that promise. I fastened the silver clasp around my neck and touched the moonstone pendant resting against my chest. Damon had given it to me on my nineteenth birthday, the night we discovered we were mates. I still remembered the shock of his scent filling my lungs, cedar and rain, and the way he had caught me when the bond nearly knocked me off my feet. “It’s you,” he had whispered. Three words had shaped the next seven years of my life. “You’re going to wear a hole through that necklace.” I met Mara’s eyes in the mirror. My best friend leaned against the bedroom doorway, arms crossed over her blue dress. “I’m nervous.” “You shouldn’t be. Damon loves you.” I looked at my reflection. My dark hair fell in curls over a deep green gown chosen carefully enough that no one could accuse me of assuming tonight’s outcome. Damon would become Alpha. Everyone expected him to name me Luna. Everyone also knew I had no wolf. At twenty six, I had endured every explanation Greymere could invent. Late bloomer. Weak blood. Curse. Punishment. Abomination. My father had taken me to healers across the territory, but they had found no dormant wolf and no second soul. Most wolves shifted between sixteen and eighteen. By twenty, even the most worried families stopped waiting. I had waited six years beyond that, smiling through every sympathetic glance and cruel whisper while the hope inside me slowly hardened into something quieter. I was simply Elara Vale, the wolfless daughter of Greymere’s Beta. “Don’t do that,” Mara said. “Do what?” “Decide you aren’t worthy before anyone else gets the chance.” She stepped behind me and squeezed my shoulders. “You organized food deliveries after the eastern settlement flooded. You found housing for every displaced family. You fixed the education budget after Councilman Orin spent money that did not exist.” “That was almost impressive.” “My point is that you have been doing a Luna’s work for years. A wolf does not make someone a leader.” Damon had always said the same thing. That was supposed to be enough. A knock sounded downstairs. Mara smiled, but the expression did not reach her eyes. “That will be your future Alpha.” I reached for my bag. She caught my wrist before I passed. “Elara.” Her sudden seriousness tightened my stomach. “What?” For a moment, she looked almost frightened. Then she released me. “Nothing. You look beautiful.” “You’ve been strange all day.” “It is an Alpha ascension. Everyone is strange today.” She kissed my cheek and hurried away before I could question her. The pressure beneath my ribs returned. It had followed me since morning, a restless sensation that no amount of breathing could settle. Nerves, I told myself. My father waited near the front door. Gareth Vale had served as Greymere’s Beta for almost twenty years. He was not easily shaken, yet when he looked at me, anger and helplessness moved across his face. “You look like your mother,” he said. He rarely mentioned her. She had died when I was six, leaving me with fragments. Lavender in her hair. Strange lullabies. Silver eyes identical to mine. “She would have liked the dress,” Dad said. “You think?” “I know.” His expression hardened. “If anything happens tonight, remember who you are.” “What is going to happen?” “Nothing.” Mara had given me the same answer. A car horn sounded outside. Through the window, I saw a pack guard beside a black sedan. “Damon said he was coming for me.” “Plans changed.” “What aren’t you telling me?” Dad touched my cheek. “You are a Vale. Do not forget it.” There had been a time when those words would have steadied me. That night they sounded like a warning meant for a battle I had not been told I was fighting. Then he walked away. Every instinct told me to follow him. Instead, I entered the waiting car and tried not to wonder why the people I loved looked as though they were preparing for a funeral. * * * Greymere Hall glittered beneath hundreds of lights strung through ancient trees. Long tables filled the courtyard, and nearly every member of the territory had gathered to witness Damon inherit the title his father had held for thirty two years. People turned when I arrived. No one approached. A woman near the entrance avoided my gaze. Two young wolves stopped whispering when I passed. I told myself they were wondering whether Damon would truly name a wolfless woman as Luna. I recognized nearly every face. I had delivered meals to their sick parents, balanced their settlement requests, and stood beside them at weddings and funerals. Tonight, they watched me as if I were already a stranger. After tonight, they would have their answer. “Elara!” Damon’s younger sister, Livia, hurried toward me in a pale blue gown. Her eyes were red. “Have you been crying?” I asked as she hugged me. “No.” “You’re a terrible liar.” Her arms tightened. “I’m sorry.” I went still. “For what?” Color vanished from her face. Before she could answer, her mother called her name. Celeste Veyr watched me from several feet away, satisfaction gleaming in her cold eyes. Livia squeezed my hand and left. The pressure beneath my ribs sharpened. I headed toward the hall, but a guard blocked the doors. “No one is permitted inside before the ceremony, Miss Vale.” “I’m not no one.” “I have orders.” “From whom?” His gaze dropped. “Alpha Veyr.” Damon had ordered them to keep me out. I reached through the mate bond for the familiar warmth of his presence and found nothing. Not anger. Not excitement. Not even distance. Only silence. The ceremonial bell rang three times. The courtyard quieted as Damon took his place beside his father beneath the Greymere crest. He wore black with the silver pack insignia pinned above his heart. He looked powerful and certain, every inch the Alpha he had trained his entire life to become. His eyes found mine. I smiled. He did not. Ancient oaths followed. Damon cut his palm and pressed it against the crest stone. “Rise, Damon Veyr,” his father commanded. “Alpha of Greymere.” Cheers thundered through the courtyard. Despite my unease, tears filled my eyes. The boy who had held me when my first shift never came was now Alpha. I remembered him sitting outside every healer’s office, promising that a wolf would never determine my worth. I remembered the home we had planned and the children we had named during late nights beside the lake. Every future I had imagined began with Damon standing exactly where he stood now. He raised one hand, and the crowd fell silent. “An Alpha does not lead alone,” Damon said. People turned toward me. I straightened my shoulders. Then Damon looked at me with regret instead of love. “Greymere deserves strength, stability, and a Luna capable of protecting its future.” A woman stepped onto the platform. Seraphina Cross. She was beautiful, blonde, powerful, and not supposed to be standing beside my mate. Damon offered his hand. She took it. Then I saw the curve beneath her fitted dress. One hand rested over her stomach. Damon placed his hand over hers. Over his child. “Seraphina carries my heir,” he announced. “Tonight, she will become Luna of Greymere.” The courtyard blurred. Seven years of promises collapsed beneath one sentence. “Elara.” Hundreds of faces turned toward me. Please do not do this here. Damon’s voice carried through the silence. “Greymere cannot survive with a Luna who does not even have a wolf.” Pain tore through my chest as the mate bond recoiled. Damon descended the steps and stopped before me. Cedar and rain surrounded me, the scent that had meant home for seven years. Now it made me sick. “Do not make this harder,” he whispered. A broken laugh escaped me. “I am making this harder?” “As Alpha, I have to put the pack first.” “Then you should have told me.” I looked past him at Seraphina. “How far along?” Damon said nothing. “Five months,” she answered. Five months ago, Damon had kissed me beneath the willow tree and promised we would start a family after his ascension. My eyes burned, but I refused to cry for them. Damon drew a breath. “Elara Vale, I, Damon Veyr, Alpha of Greymere, reject you as my mate.” Agony exploded through me. My knees struck the stone. The bond twisted through my chest, tearing seven years of memories apart. Every kiss. Every promise. Every whispered declaration of love. The pain was not confined to my heart. It burned through bone and blood, stealing the air from my lungs until the lights above the courtyard smeared into stars. Somewhere nearby, Mara shouted my name. I could not answer her. Hands reached for me. I pushed them away. If Damon wanted to humiliate me before the entire pack, he would watch me stand. I forced myself upright. Blood filled my mouth where I had bitten my lip. “Say it,” he whispered. Without my acceptance, the rejection would not be complete. I looked at the people I had served for years. No one defended me. Finally, I faced the man I had loved since I was nineteen. “I, Elara Vale, accept your rejection.” The bond snapped. For one heartbeat, there was agony. Then nothing. I froze. Rejected bonds were supposed to leave an ache that lasted for months, sometimes forever. Mine had not been torn out. It had simply vanished. Damon pressed a hand to his chest. Confusion replaced the certainty on his face. “What the hell?” Heat erupted beneath my ribs. My pendant burned against my skin as a woman’s voice filled my mind. Ancient. Furious. Awake. Finally. I stumbled backward. Damon reached for me. The voice snarled. Do not let that wolf touch us. For twenty six years, every healer in Greymere had sworn there was nothing inside me. No wolf. No beast. No second soul. Yet something had just spoken from inside my mind. And whatever it was, it hated Damon Veyr.