The Moonstone Hall glowed beneath the light of the full moon, its pillars carved with ancient runes that seemed to pulse with power as the pack gathered. My pulse thrummed in my ears, louder than the hushed whispers and shuffling feet around me. Tonight was supposed to be the night I had dreamed of since I was a girl—the night the Moon Goddess revealed my mate.
I had always known who it would be.
Kaelen Stormrider.
Alpha. Leader. The man whose very presence made the ground shift and the air grow heavy. He was strength, discipline, and untouchable authority. But he was also the boy I had once glimpsed from afar, the one whose storm-grey eyes haunted my dreams long before I understood what the mate bond meant.
Every fiber of me believed this night would bind us together forever.
And yet, as I stood in the ceremonial gown the elders had placed on me—white silk that shimmered like moonlight—I could barely keep my knees from trembling. My wolf, restless beneath my skin, paced in circles, anxious and hopeful all at once.
“She looks nervous,” someone whispered as I passed.
“She should be. The Alpha deserves better,” another sneered.
I kept my chin high, refusing to show weakness, though my stomach twisted with knots. I’d grown up hearing the rumors about me. Too quiet. Too timid. Too ordinary to be Luna. Still, I had clung to the belief that the Moon Goddess did not make mistakes. That She had chosen Kaelen for me, and me for him.
When I reached the dais, my breath hitched. Kaelen stood there, tall and unyielding, dressed in black that seemed to devour the torchlight. His face gave nothing away. His jaw was sharp, his posture rigid, and those storm-grey eyes fixed on me like cold steel.
I searched them desperately for warmth, for some flicker of the bond I knew tied us together.
But all I saw was distance.
The elder’s voice rang out, steady and ceremonial. “Moon Goddess, reveal the bond you have woven.”
The world stilled. For a heartbeat, nothing moved. Then the bond snapped into place with undeniable force. A thread of golden fire coiled around my chest and pulled toward Kaelen. My lungs filled with his essence—rain, wind, the sharp bite of a coming storm. My heart soared. My wolf howled with joy.
It was real. It was him.
My eyes burned with tears of relief. Finally. Finally, he’s mine.
But Kaelen’s lips parted, and the words that left them shattered me.
“I reject you.”
At first, I thought I had misheard. But the crowd’s collective gasp proved otherwise.
The bond twisted painfully, searing through me like molten glass. My knees buckled, and I gripped the edge of the dais to keep from collapsing.
Kaelen’s voice was as cold as the winter wind. “Aria Blackwood, you are not fit to be my Luna. I, Kaelen Stormrider, reject you as my mate.”
Every syllable cut into me.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My chest felt as though claws had ripped my heart straight from it.
Whispers erupted all around. Some sounded pitying. Most mocking.
“I knew it.”
“The Alpha would never choose her.”
“Pathetic.”
And then came the cruel laughter—Lyra Vale’s, sharp and triumphant, ringing above the rest.
I wanted to scream, to beg him to take the words back, but no sound left me. Only the echo of his rejection, replaying endlessly in my skull.
Kaelen didn’t even flinch. His eyes, those storm-cloud eyes I had once loved, were unreadable stone.
I forced myself to stand taller, though my insides were bleeding. I would not let them see me break. Not here. Not now.
Before I could find the strength to walk away, a voice rang out from the shadows.
“I’ll take her.”
The words crashed through the hall like thunder.