Chapter 3 Fated and Forsaken

The Moon Rite.

Lila had imagined it a thousand different ways when she was a child, back when hope was still something she let herself feel. A night of glowing stars, sacred vows, and fated promises. Instead, the night was thick with unease, a strange tension that clung to her skin like mist.

The clearing buzzed with anticipation as the full moon crowned the sky, spilling silver light over the assembled pack. Wolves in both human and shifted forms circled the ancient stone altar, their faces expectant. Tonight, bonds would be revealed. Destinies would be sealed.

She should have stayed hidden. She knew it deep in her bones. But duty, pride, or maybe just a final, desperate shred of hope had dragged her here.

Lila stood at the edge of the gathering, her hands clenched at her sides, heart pounding a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She was nothing here. A ghost. An outsider even among her own.

And yet, when the High Seer began the Rite, calling on the Moon Goddess to unveil the bonds, her body thrummed with an energy she couldn't suppress. A low hum built inside her, a pull that yanked her forward against her will.

"The Moon reveals. The Moon binds. The Moon judges," the Seer intoned, her voice ringing across the clearing.

One by one, threads of silver light shimmered between destined mates, sealing them in sacred acknowledgment. Cheers, gasps, and weeping filled the night air.

Then-

A gasp.

A sudden, stunned silence.

All eyes turned.

The silver light-so pure, so undeniable-snapped into existence between Lila and Kael.

The Alpha.

The one man she should never, could never, be paired with.

Lila froze, rooted to the spot as the world tilted and spun. Her eyes found Kael across the clearing. His face, so usually unreadable, was stricken with disbelief, horror even.

The bond between them pulsed brightly, as if rejoicing. As if mocking.

Kael's lips parted. For a heartbeat, just one, she let herself believe.

Then his expression hardened into something cold, something cruel.

"No," he said.

A whisper at first. Disbelieving. A prayer.

He stepped forward, his voice rising. "No!"

The murmuring crowd stilled into silence so profound it ached.

Kael's power rolled off him in waves, rattling the stones beneath their feet. He turned to the Seer, to the gathered pack, to the Goddess herself.

"I reject this bond," he said, his voice cutting through the night like a blade.

Gasps. Whispers.

Lila's breath hitched in her throat. She wanted to move, to run, but her body refused to obey.

"I, Kael Thorn, Alpha of the Ridge black Pack, reject Lila Greyson as my mate."

Each word hammered into her chest, each syllable a death blow.

She staggered back a step, the bond snapping and twisting painfully inside her. Tears blurred her vision, but she would not-could not-let them fall here, under their watchful, judgmental eyes.

The Seer's face was carved from stone, offering no mercy.

The silver thread connecting them dimmed, frayed, and with a soundless, brutal snap-it was gone.

Dead.

Lila's knees buckled. She caught herself before she fell, swallowing the scream that clawed at her throat.

Around her, the crowd began to murmur again. Pity. Disgust. Some even laughed.

"An omega as our Luna?" someone sneered.

"The Goddess must be mad."

"Or testing him."

Kael turned away from her without another glance, walking back toward the altar where his Beta and council stood, waiting. Dismissing her as if she were less than nothing.

The rejection wasn't just a blow to her heart. It was a death sentence.

Unclaimed. Humiliated. Unwanted.

The Moon had chosen her, and he had spat in Her face.

Lila forced her legs to move, each step an agony of pride over pain. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her break.

Not here.

Not yet.

As she stumbled toward the edge of the clearing, a shadow detached from the trees.

A figure cloaked in darkness.

Someone was watching her.

Before she could react, a sharp, stinging pain blossomed at the back of her neck. Her vision blurred, the world tilting wildly.

Through the haze, she caught flashes-figures moving toward her, hands reaching out-but her wolf, wounded and furious, surged up inside her with a desperate, feral strength.

Run, the instinct screamed.

With a raw, ragged snarl, Lila tore free from the grasping hands. She didn't look back. Couldn't. Every ounce of strength she had left was thrown into one desperate act: escape.

Branches clawed at her skin as she crashed blindly into the forest, the agony of the rejection burning in every nerve, every breath. Her wolf whined and writhed inside her, grief and rage battling for dominance.

Behind her, distant shouts rose and fell.

Ahead-only darkness, only the silent witness of the moon.

She ran until the forest swallowed her whole.

Until pain and sorrow became the only truths she had left.