THE REJECTED LUNA'S REVENGE

Untitled Episode3:THE ROUGE WOLF

MAYA WAKES IN SILVERFANG PACK AND LEARNS THE TRUTH ABOUT HER PAIN

The first thing I noticed was warmth.

After a night in the snow, warmth felt like a miracle.

The second thing I noticed was that I wasn’t dead.

I opened my eyes slowly. Wooden ceiling. Soft blankets. The smell of pine and... medicine.

"Maya?"

I turned my head. Kade was sitting in a chair beside the bed. He looked like he hadn’t slept. The scar over his eyebrow was more visible in the daylight.

"You’re in Silverfang territory," he said. "Safe. For now."

Safe. The word felt foreign. Blackwood hadn’t felt safe in months.

"How long?" I croaked. My throat was dry.

"Two days," Kade said. He handed me water. "You had a fever. The wound got infected."

I took the water with shaking hands. My ribs hurt when I breathed. "The rogues..."

"Dead," Kade said simply. "My wolves found you. Brought you here."

I remembered the fight. The blood. The way I’d killed with my bare hands.

"Did I..."

"You survived," Kade cut me off. "That’s what matters."

Silence fell between us. Heavy.

Finally I asked what I’d been too scared to ask before. "Why did you help me? Blackwood rogues don’t help Blackwood rejects."

Kade leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Because I know what rejection feels like."

He rolled up his sleeve. There was a scar there. Thin. Silver. Right over where a mate mark would be.

"My mate died 3 years ago," he said quietly. "Bond snapped. Felt like dying."

My chest tightened. "I’m sorry."

"Don’t be." He looked at me. "You walked out of Blackwood instead of begging. Most wolves would’ve broken. You didn’t."

I didn’t know what to say to that.

That night the pain came back.

It started at 2am. Like fire in my bones. Like claws in my chest.

I was screaming before I knew it.

Kade was there in seconds. "What’s happening?"

"Damian," I choked out. Sweat was pouring down my face. "He’s... he’s hurting. I can feel him."

Kade’s face went hard. "Rejected mates feel each other’s pain for 7 days. It’s the bond dying."

"Make it stop," I begged.

He couldn’t. So he did the next best thing.

He sat on the bed and took my hand. Held it until the wave passed.

When it was over, I was shaking and crying.

"I hate him," I whispered.

"I know," Kade said.

For the next 3 days, I healed.

Kade brought me food. Books. He didn’t ask about Damian. Didn’t pity me.

He treated me like a person. Not a Luna. Not a reject. Just Maya.

On the fourth day, I walked outside.

The Silverfang territory was beautiful. Mountains in the distance. Forest everywhere. Snow on the ground but the sun was out.

I shifted for the first time since the rejection.

It hurt. But then... it didn’t.

Mira came out stronger. Bigger. Her fur was silver-white now instead of gray.

I ran. Fast. Faster than I ever had at Blackwood.

The snow flew under my paws. The wind in my fur.

When I came back, Kade was waiting at the edge of the woods.

"You’re faster," he said.

"I’m free," I answered.

He studied me. "Your eyes."

I looked in the reflection of a frozen pond.

My eyes weren’t brown anymore. They were silver. Like moonlight.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

Kade’s expression was serious. "It means you’re not just any wolf, Maya.

It means the Moon Goddess marked you."

I laughed. It sounded bitter. "The Goddess marked me to be rejected?"

"Or," Kade said, "she marked you because you would be rejected.

And she knew you’d need the strength to survive it."

That night I made a decision.

I couldn’t go back to Blackwood. Not yet.

But I also couldn’t stay here forever as a guest.

"I want to train," I told Kade. "I want to get stronger."

He nodded. "Then we start tomorrow."

As I lay in bed that night, I thought about Damian.

About Selena.

About the five hundred wolves who watched me fall.

The pain was still there.

But under it was something new.

Fire.

The rogue wolf wasn’t running anymore.

She was learning how to hunt.

========== END CHAPTER 3 ==========