Chapter one: The Ceremony That Broke Me
“Say the words, Elena.”
Alpha Damien’s voice rolled across the clearing like a storm breaking, deep and unyielding. The silver moon crowned him, his dark hair gleaming as if spun from midnight itself, and those golden eyes locked on mine with a heat that should have anchored me. Instead, it burned the air from my lungs.
The pack circled around us, hundreds of wolves standing shoulder to shoulder, their breath misting in the autumn chill. The silence throbbed with the weight of the ritual. Tonight was the moment every wolf dreamed of—the claiming of a mate, the crowning of a Luna. Tonight, every doubt that had haunted me since childhood would be silenced.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and lifted my chin. For years, I had heard the whispers—weak, unworthy, too fragile to lead. Tonight, I would prove them wrong. Tonight, before the Moon Goddess and every watching eye, Damien and I would seal a bond no force could sever.
I drew in a steadying breath, let it fill me, and spoke. “I, Elena of Silvercrest Pack, accept Alpha Damien Blackthorn as my—”
“Stop.”
The word struck harder than claws. The air around us stilled. Even the torches guttered, flames shrinking as if afraid to burn.
Damien’s gaze, which only moments ago had pinned mine with the promise of forever, slipped away. His voice, when it came, was merciless, each syllable sharpened by the weight of an Alpha.
“I reject you.”
The ground tilted. The bond—our bond—screamed inside me, tearing, unraveling, but not cleanly. Something clung stubbornly to my soul, a frayed thread that pulsed like a wound refusing to close.
Gasps tore from the crowd, sharp and cruel. Some wolves pressed hands to their mouths, others laughed, jagged sounds cutting me open like broken glass. The whispers I had carried for years—weak, unworthy, unfit—now had their proof.
Pain ripped through my chest, hot and raw, crushing my ribs until every breath was a battle. My knees wavered, but I forced myself to stand tall. Pride was all I had left.
“You… you can’t,” I choked out, my voice trembling. “The bond—”
Damien’s golden eyes flared, colder than winter’s bite. “I just did.”
The pack stirred, unease rippling through the circle. And then came the laughter. Smooth. Poisonous.
Seraphina.
She glided forward, black silk clinging to every curve, her jeweled necklace catching the firelight with each movement. Her lips curved into a slow, poisonous smile.
“Poor little Elena,” she purred, her voice pitched to carry. “Did you truly believe the moon would crown you Luna? Look at you—you can barely keep standing.”
The pack didn’t argue. Their silence was worse than their laughter. Not a single voice rose in my defense. My heart twisted.
I turned back to Damien, desperate for the man I thought I knew. For a flicker of a heartbeat, I saw it—pain, raw and unguarded, flashing in his eyes. But then it vanished, smothered under steel.
“You’re weak, Elena,” he said, his voice cutting deep. “The pack needs strength.”
The words struck harder than his rejection. Seraphina’s smirk deepened. She touched Damien’s arm with a possessive grace, long fingers brushing his sleeve. My wolf snarled inside me, wounded and enraged, but powerless.
Her gaze locked with mine. “Don’t worry,” she whispered with venomous sweetness. “I’ll take very good care of him.”
The crowd murmured, some voices tinged with pity, more with dark amusement.
“No,” I whispered, broken. “This isn’t fair.”
“Fairness is a child’s tale,” Seraphina replied, tilting her head so the jewel at her throat glimmered. For a moment, it burned too brightly, a strange ripple of heat brushing against my skin. My wolf recoiled, shuddering as if recognizing something ancient and wrong.
The torches sputtered, smoke rising thick and choking. A low, keening cry broke inside me, the sound of my wolf mourning, hollow and broken.
“Leave, Elena,” Damien ordered. His voice was iron, cruel in its finality. “Before I make you.”
The earth swayed beneath me. This night, meant to crown me Luna, had become my public ruin.
“That’s enough!”
The voice cut through the night like a blade.
Jonah.
He pushed through the circle of wolves, his broad shoulders scattering them aside until he stood at my side. His dark eyes burned with fury as they locked on Damien. “You can’t do this to her.”
The air thickened, tension crackling like lightning.
“Stay out of this, Jonah,” Damien growled.
“I won’t.” Jonah’s stance was unshaken. “She doesn’t deserve this. No one does.”
The pack held its breath. The flames themselves leaned closer.
But I saw what no one else did. When the bond had torn, Jonah had staggered too, clutching his chest as if something invisible had coiled around his heart. Standing this close, I could feel it—the faint echo of the bond pulsing in him as much as in me.
Why?
Seraphina’s laughter cut the silence, low and mocking. “How noble, Jonah. But you can’t save her. Not tonight.”
Hope flickered in me, fragile and fleeting. Then my knees buckled. I fell hard onto the cold ground, stones biting into my palms as tears blurred my vision.
“This ceremony is over,” Damien declared, his voice sharp as steel. Wolves recoiled under his command. One by one, they turned away, whispering as they melted into the night.
Still on the ground, I lifted my gaze. Damien’s lips parted as though he would speak—but then his jaw clenched, and he strode away.
And in that moment, I knew: this rejection wasn’t only about me. Something darker threaded beneath his cruelty, something he dared not name.
A scent reached me before her shadow did. Seraphina.
She leaned close, her breath brushing my ear. “Run while you can, Elena,” she whispered. “The forest has teeth… and they’re hungry for you.” Her fingers brushed the jewel at her throat, and it pulsed faintly against my skin. Not firelight. Something else. Something alive.
She straightened, heels clicking as she melted back into the dispersing crowd.
It wasn’t mercy. It was a promise.
I stayed kneeling, the earth cold and merciless beneath me, my chest burning with grief. And then—
Heat seared across my wrist.
I gasped, yanking back my sleeve. A crescent-shaped mark blazed on my skin, glowing silver as though carved by the moon itself.
A voice rose inside me, ancient and commanding, sharp as a blade and eternal as the stars.
Rise, Luna.
My heart thundered. My breath caught. And in the shadows, Seraphina turned once more. She smiled, the kind of smile that said she had been waiting for this moment all along.
This night was not my end.
It was the beginning.
