The Luna He Rejected Is The Millennium Wolf

Chapter 009

Damien's POV

The gala hall air felt like a jagged blade, cold and static while every wolf in the room stood frozen with eyes glued to the girl bleeding into my shirt.

She'd been suffering, clamping down on her wolf for so long that it was probably rotting inside her, but this wasn't just a suppressed shift. It felt like a gutting, appearing exactly as if someone she trusted had reached in and ripped a piece of her soul right out.

Her skin had the gray lifeless look of ash, leaving her legs, one furred and clawed, the other pale and human, to collide in a twitching wrong way. I watched the nearby omegas recoil, their faces twisting in disgust.

A girl who is a Queen of the underworld, but still suffering in a human shade, that woman's voice hissed in the back of my mind, leaving me to wonder if it was truly her, though I knew it couldn't be. I searched for the scent of her wolf, but nothing remained except the smell of copper and old snow.

I took a step forward as the floorboards groaned under my boots, refusing to break my stride while my eyes locked on a crystal tumbler sitting on the edge of the nearest guest table.

Silence stretched, causing the air to tighten around the glass until it shattered completely.

Pressure from my aura sent shards spraying across the linen like diamond dust. Lucas flinched at the sound, his face turning pale while Ivy practically vibrated beside him, her hands showing white where she clung to his arm. They both looked from the broken girl I held straight to me.

"Is this what you call a mate?" My voice came out low, vibrating with a heavy dangerous weight. "Is this how you treat someone who actually loved you?"

"Wh… what did you—" Lucas's eyes darted around, hunting for a hole to crawl into.

"Did you mean to ask if I'm serious?" I cut him off, refusing to move while I simply watched him sweat. "You look weak, Lucas. Pathetic. And this Luna you called."

I cut my gaze to Ivy, who opened her mouth to snap back but ultimately kept her jaw tight and stayed quiet because she looked like she knew something she wasn't saying.

"I rejected her!" Lucas exploded, his voice cracking with a high desperate note. "She just, she doesn't accept it!"

The words felt like a slow-acting poison, causing my vision to bleed into a deep predatory red while the air grew thick and suffocating. I waited through a silence that felt like a burial, watching the way his pulse hammered in his neck.

"Hold your breath," the crowd murmured in panic.

My aura dropped, acting not as a flare but as a physical hammer that smashed the crowd into the stone. The weak ones crumbled instantly as blood began to leak from their noses, while the strong were bent double, fighting to keep their knees from hitting the floor.

Only two stood firm: that noble lady by the head table, and Morrigan.

Lucas staggered, his heels catching on the dais as he tried to puff his chest out like an Alpha trying to look the part, but he just looked small. I stepped into his personal space, leaving the air between us to crackle.

"You did what? Rejected her? Are you that much of a fool, or just a coward?"

I didn't give him time to blink, especially since the wine on his breath had gone completely sour, and moved.

My hand snapped out and caught his throat to pin him back, keeping Sienna steady against my side to ensure she didn't hit the deck as I shoved Lucas against the wall.

"You broke her into pieces," I snarled, my fingers digging into his neck. "That wasn't enough? You had to steal something from her, so tell me what you took."

He clawed at my wrist, his face turning a mottled purple as he gasped for air.

"You came a long way from your pack just to cause trouble, Alpha Damien."

Morrigan stepped into the light, her red gown flowing around her like a fresh pool of blood while her heels clicked in a rhythmic arrogant cadence.

I loosened my grip slightly, leaving him to sag against the stone without falling completely.

"You know the rules," Morrigan said, sounding far too calm. "Alphas don't go against the rules, because you know the price."

"I know," I rasped, looking down at the girl in my arms. "But look at this. This is wicked. How does your pack treat a Luna like this and call themselves wolves?"

I released the pressure, leaving the room to scramble for oxygen. Lucas didn't look like a leader anymore, starting to smile instead with a jagged broken laugh that made my skin crawl while Ivy stepped out, her hands coming together in a slow mocking clap.

"Wow," she said, her voice dripping with false awe as she glared at Sienna. "The Moon Goddess really pulled a fast one tonight. Sienna, my darling sister, and her second-chance mate? Oh, no. What the hell just happened?"

She turned and pressed her mouth against Lucas's in a hollow desperate display of affection, while Morrigan watched them with eyes like flint before giving a sharp flick of her finger to the guards.

"You know the rules, Damien," Lucas said, his voice finally finding some level ground. "Aren't you afraid for your position back home?"

My heart skipped as I wondered how the hell he knew about that, leaving me paralyzed for a split second while I searched his face.

"Drop her and leave, or—" Lucas stopped.

A single drop of blood leaked from his lip, and he wiped it, staring at the stain in confusion before letting out a sharp laugh.

"Or we execute you," he finished.

Then the blood really started to flow, forcing panic to flicker in his eyes as his guards rushed to keep him from falling over while he clutched his chest, gasping for air as his wolf flickered completely unstable through his skin.

The hall went eerily quiet, leaving the wet ragged struggle of Lucas's lungs as the only sound.

"Goddess, he's—" The crowd's voices rose in a panicked roar.

Ivy rushed to him and bent down, touching his chest with her face twisting into pure frustration.

Mindlink: "Mom… why isn't it working? He's dying."

Mindlink: "The poison is working," Morrigan projected back, her voice like cold iron. "Heal him, and the Goddess will grant the wish."

Mindlink: "No, I can't, Mom. It's not working!"

Mindlink: "Remember the essence, Ivy," Morrigan commanded. "Use her power to prove you're the True Luna."

I looked down at the girl I was holding and brushed a strand of hair from her face, catching the moment her pulse hammered once, hard.

Sienna's eyes snapped open.

She pushed against my chest, steady and firm, her gaze unfocused, as if she were trying to remember where she was.

"Gentle," I rasped, lowering her to the cold floor.

She stood, but her knees buckled for a second before she caught herself, avoiding my gaze as she walked toward the center of the hall with uneven steps.

Ivy was still kneeling over Lucas with her hands shaking.

Sienna stood in the middle of the hall for one breath. Her eyes moved across the room slowly, settling on nothing and everything at once, and something shifted in her face, quiet and final, like a door closing.

Then she moved.

A slap echoed through the hall like a gunshot.

"Y… you slapped me!" Ivy stammered, blood trickling from her lip.

"And I'd do it again, Ivy." Sienna's voice was like wind in a storm, unnervingly calm, though I could see the tremors in her fingers. "Are you satisfied, or do you want more?"

Morrigan rushed forward, her face turning into a mask of rage.

The floor seemed to vibrate while Morrigan's hand was halfway through an arc, but Sienna didn't flinch, simply moving instead.

Sienna backhanded her in a blur of movement that sent Morrigan flying backward, leaving her body to skid across the marble in a heap of red silk.

Sienna knelt beside Lucas with her breathing ragged and sweat beading on her forehead, rubbing her hands together as a low hum began to fill the air.

A bright blinding light exploded from her palms to turn the world completely white, forcing me to shield my eyes as the glare burned through my lids.

The light faded before Lucas let out a ragged wet cough, sitting up with eyes darting around until they landed on the girl he had cast aside, his fingers trembling as he tried to touch her.

Sienna stood up and took a long shaky step back.

The silence in the room was deafening because no one breathed and no one moved.

"I accept the REJECTION, LUCAS."

The words ripped through the hall like a physical force, causing the weak wolves to crumble to their knees while Sienna's body swayed, her eyes rolling back before she collapsed onto the cold stone.