Rejected As Wolfless, She Becomes The Alpha's Weakness

On my 18th birthday, my mate rejected me in front of the whole pack. He said I was wolfless, worthless, and not worthy to be his Luna. I had dreamed of this night my entire life. The Moon Ceremony. The night every unmated wolf in the Blackthorn Pack finds their destined mate under the full moon. Girls spent months making dresses, boys spent months training. Everyone wanted a strong mate. A powerful mate. I just wanted to belong. My name is Elena. And I am the only 18-year-old in the history of Blackthorn who has never shifted. No wolf. No claws. No power. Just... me. "Elena, are you ready?" My mother adjusted the red dress I borrowed from my cousin. It was too big, but it was the best we had. My hands were shaking so badly I couldn't tie the lace. "I don't think I can do this, Mom," I whispered. "You can. The Moon Goddess has a plan for everyone." I wanted to believe her. The pack house was already full when we arrived. Hundreds of wolves in their finest clothes, drinking, laughing, the air thick with anticipation and the smell of pine and moonflowers. At the center of the hall stood a raised platform made of stone. The Altar. And on it stood him. Alpha Kian. He was 23, already Alpha for two years since his father's death. Tall, dark hair, beard perfectly trimmed, black suit that couldn't hide the muscle underneath. His eyes were ice blue and cold enough to freeze fire. Every unmated girl in three packs wanted him. And for three years, I had secretly loved him. He had been kind to me once. When I was 15 and the other kids threw rocks at me shouting "Wolfless freak!", he had stopped them. He didn't say anything kind. He just said, "Enough." And they stopped. Since then, I watched him from afar. Maybe, I thought stupidly, maybe the Moon Goddess would be kind. Maybe my mate would be him. The Elder began to chant. "Tonight, under the eye of the Goddess, mates shall find each other! When you smell the scent that calls to your soul, step forward!" One by one, couples found each other. The hall filled with gasps, cries of joy, wolves howling. Jessica found her mate in the warrior from the north. My best friend Lily found hers and sobbed with happiness. Then the wind shifted. A scent hit me like lightning. Dark pine, smoke, winter. My knees went weak. My heart beat so loud I thought everyone could hear it. I lifted my head. Kian's eyes locked with mine across the room. Time stopped. He inhaled. His pupils dilated. His whole body went rigid. Mate. He was my mate. I saw the shock in his eyes. Then something else. Horror. No. Goddess, no. He stepped down from the Altar, each step heavy. The crowd parted. Everyone stared. Whispers started. "The wolfless girl? No way..." "Alpha's mate is a wolfless?" He stopped in front of me. Up close, he was even more handsome, and even colder. He looked down at me, at my cheap red dress, at my trembling hands. I opened my mouth to say "Mate" but no sound came out. He spoke first. And his voice destroyed my life. "I, Alpha Kian Blackthorn, reject you, Elena Rivers, as my mate and Luna." Silence. Absolute, crushing silence. Then the hall exploded. He rejected me. He continued, louder, so everyone could hear, "The Moon Goddess made a mistake. I will not be bound to a wolfless, weak human who cannot even shift to protect our pups. A Luna must be strong. You are nothing." I felt my legs give out. My mother caught me. Someone laughed. Then another. Soon the whole hall was whispering and giggling. "I knew it! The wolfless thought she could be Luna!" "Pathetic." Kian turned away from me like I was trash. He looked at the crowd and pulled forward a beautiful girl with silver hair and bright green eyes — Sophia, the Beta's daughter, the strongest she-wolf of our age. "I choose Sophia Vale as my chosen Luna," he announced. "The ceremony will continue." Sophia smirked at me as she walked past. "Sorry, wolfless. Some of us are born to be queens. Some are born to clean their floors." That was it. I ran. I pushed through the crowd, out of the pack house, into the dark, cold forest behind. I didn't stop. Branches scratched my legs, my dress tore, my bare feet bled on stones. I ran until the music and laughter disappeared, until only the sound of my own broken sobs remained. I collapsed at the base of an old oak tree and cried. For my mother, for my dream, for the wolf that never came. "Why?" I screamed at the moon. "Why did you make me like this? Why did you give me a mate only to have him humiliate me?" The moon didn't answer. It just watched, cold and full. Then I heard a twig snap. I froze. We were not allowed in this part of the forest. This was borderland. Enemy territory. The territory of the Nightfang Pack. "Well, well," a deep voice said from the shadows. "What do we have here? A little Red Riding Hood lost in the woods?" A man stepped out. Tall, even taller than Kian, with golden blonde hair that shone even in the dark, and eyes the color of a storm. He wore a black shirt, sleeves rolled up, revealing arms covered in scars. He smelled like forest rain and danger. I knew who he was from stories. Alpha Ryker. The Alpha of Nightfang. The one they called The Ruthless. The one who was said to hate weakness. He was my death. I scrambled back against the tree. "Please... don't kill me..." He tilted his head, studying me. His nostrils flared. He inhaled. And his eyes went wide. Then dark. Possessive. "Mine," he whispered. What? He knelt in front of me, not touching me, but close enough that I could feel his heat. "Your scent. Goddess... your scent." "I don't... I don't have a wolf scent," I stammered. "I'm wolfless." He let out a low, dark laugh. "Wolfless? Oh, little one. You are anything but wolfless." He reached out, and before I could flinch, his fingers brushed my cheek, wiping away a tear. His touch was shockingly gentle. "That fool Kian," he said, his voice now full of cold fury, "that blind fool rejected a sleeping queen." "My wolf... is sleeping?" I whispered. Ryker's eyes glowed golden for a second. "She is not gone. She is locked. Someone locked her inside you when you were a child. And when she wakes up... Elena... the world will bow to you." My heart stopped. "What do you mean?" He leaned closer. "Do you want revenge, Elena? Do you want to make the Alpha who called you worthless regret every word?" I thought of Kian's cold eyes. Sophia's smirk. The laughter. "Yes," I breathed. I had never meant anything more in my life. "Good." Ryker smiled, and it was both beautiful and terrifying. "Then come with me. I will help you wake her up. I will make you strong. I will make you the Luna he will spend his life regretting losing." He stood and held out his hand to me. Behind him, I heard shouting. My name being called. Kian's voice. He had come looking for me. Kian burst through the trees, breathing hard, his suit torn, eyes wild. He stopped dead when he saw me. When he saw Ryker's hand extended to me. And when he saw me place my trembling hand into the enemy Alpha's. Ryker pulled me up against his chest, his arm wrapping around my waist possessively. He looked at Kian over my head and said, with deadly calm, "She is no longer yours to reject, Blackthorn. She is mine to protect." I was rejected as wolfless. But tonight, in the arms of the enemy Alpha, I felt my heart — and something else deep inside me — start to beat again for the first time.