Crowned by the shadows

Everyone said today would be the happiest day of my life.

The day I'd meet my fated mate. The day the Moon Goddess would stitch my soul to someone else's and whisper, This one is yours.

I'd tried not to believe the fantasy, but it lived in me anyway.

I stood outside the Moon Circle, my hands shaking and my feet numb, surrounded by girls who looked like they'd been plucked from the pages of fairytales. Tall, slim, delicate. Polished to perfection like glass dolls. Their laughter drifted around me like perfume ...too sweet, too sharp.

I pulled my cloak tighter around my shoulders and glanced down at myself.

I wasn't ugly. I told myself that often enough to almost believe it.

But I wasn't what the pack wanted.

At 5'8", I was taller than most of the she-wolves here. Broader in the hips, thicker in the thighs, with arms that could carry more weight than they should for someone without a wolf.

They called me names when they thought I couldn't hear. Big Red. Brick Luna. Bear-girl.

My red hair was thick, untamable, and bright as fresh blood... the final nail in the coffin. In our pack, beauty meant blonde, sleek, small. Red hair was wild. Unrefined. Unwanted.

But still... I had hope.

Because the Moon didn't choose based on beauty. She chose based on soul.

And mine burned for someone I hadn't even met yet.

The ceremony was cruel in how beautiful it was.

Lit by moonfire, the whole pack gathered beneath the open sky, cloaked in white and silver. The Alpha stood at the center, his presence commanding, while the unmated wolves circled in slow steps, waiting for the bond to snap into place.

I stood at the outer edge, heart racing, breath shallow.

Then I felt it.

Like lightning down my spine. Like a second heartbeat echoing against my ribs.

And I turned.

He was looking right at me.

Aiden Thorne.

Heir to the Alpha. The pack's golden boy. Tall, lean, perfect.

His eyes locked on mine, and I knew.

The bond roared to life in my chest.

I waited for him to step forward. To speak. To claim me.

But he didn't.

He blinked once.

Then turned away.

I froze.

And then-

He walked up to Lila Fairborn.

Tiny. Blonde. Beautiful.

And he said, in front of everyone:

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake. My mate is not her. It's Lila."

Gasps echoed around the circle. My body went cold.

Lila blinked. "Aiden, you can't just..."

He took her hand and raised it, smiling.

"I reject you, Seris Wynn."

The words hit like a blade to the chest.

I staggered back, breath stolen from my lungs.

Laughter rose somewhere behind me. Quiet. Cruel.

The world tilted.

I heard my mother gasp. My father's silence.

And then I ran.

The cold hit harder the farther I went from the ceremony grounds.

I didn't know where I was going. I just ran.

Through the trees. Up the mountain paths. Across the old trails no one used anymore.

Tears blurred my vision, but I didn't stop.

My chest burned. My legs ached. My lungs threatened to give out.

But nothing hurt worse than the bond tearing apart inside me.

He'd felt it too...I saw it in his eyes. The recognition. The spark.

And he still chose her.

Still chose to humiliate me.

I tripped on a root and fell hard, hands scraping against the frozen ground.

I curled into myself, sobbing.

"I wasn't enough," I whispered. "Not pretty enough. Not soft enough. Not small enough."

My wolf whimpered somewhere deep inside me but she didn't speak. She never had.

Because I wasn't enough even for her.

I don't know how long I lay there in the snow.

Hours, maybe.

The cold numbed the worst of the pain. My tears froze against my cheeks.

And then...

I heard it.

A soft crunch.

Snow being disturbed behind me.

I sat up slowly, blinking through the shadows.

A figure stood just beyond the trees. Massive. Cloaked in darkness and silence.

Not a wolf.

A Lycan.

Taller than any man I'd ever seen. Broader. Built like a nightmare, draped in black. His eyes glowed faintly beneath the hood he wore gold with a ring of frost-blue around the edge.

He didn't move.

Didn't speak.

Didn't growl.

He just stared.

I couldn't move. Couldn't scream.

I knew I was going to die.

Then he stepped forward.

And in one swift motion, he bit me.

The pain wasn't immediate.

It spread very slowly, like ink through water. From my shoulder outward. Burning.Spearing. Rewriting.

I screamed.

I clutched at the wound, writhing in the snow, and he was gone.

Just like that.

The forest was silent again, as if he'd never been there at all.

But the mark on my shoulder throbbed like fire.

And something inside me cracked open.

The world faded.

In the darkness behind my eyes, I heard a voice.

Deep. Calm. Older than the wind.

"Now... you are mine."