Chapter 1 The Return

Ava's POV

Blackvale hadn't changed.

Not the twisted trees, nor the suffocating silence pressing down on the land like it held its breath. And not the eyes staring at me.

The eyes that once watched me burn now followed me as if they had just seen a ghost step through the borders.

Maybe they had.

It's been ten years.

Ten years since I had set foot in Blackvale, since my boots last touched the cursed soul of the Blackvale Pack. Ten years since my sister drowned... and I was blamed for it.

Seraphina.

The last memory I ever had of her was that miserable day in the forest. It changed my fate for good. "Why did she die but not you?" Those bitter words had been a slap, it wasn't the first my drunken father had muttered to me.

But it was the worst thing he could ever say to me that day on Seraphina's grave, rain pouring down his face like tears he could no longer shed.

"The moon Goddess made a mistake. She should've taken you instead!!!."

Me.

I was just eight years old then, and I believed him, every word of it. She died because of me. I tightened the cloak around my shoulders, as if that would shield me from their judgment. It couldn't. Nothing could.

The note I had received still rested in my pocket, wet from the sweat in my palm. The Alpha's seal was stamped in deep crimson wax.

"Return to Blackvale. Your presence is required at the Luna ceremony... my Beloved mate-A.V.

Alpha Caden. Varkas.

That name sent a chill down me. Everyone in the rogue land whispered about him. He was ruthless, commanding. Cold.

The kind of Alpha who didn't tolerate weakness. But my wolf...she didn't care. She stirred the moment I saw his name on that note, as if his very existence called to her.

"You're meant to be with him," she whispered. The moment the bond had snapped into place on the morning of my eighteenth birthday.

I knew. I felt it deep inside my bones-raw and final. My mate wasn't just going to be anyone. He was the Alpha of the pack that had kicked me out like garbage..

The same pack that watched my father cast me away under storm clouds and grief. "Follow me." One of the guards gestured.

His nose curled at my scent as they met me inside the border. The path led me towards the pack's stronghold, and with every step, the weight of invisible eyes grew heavier.

Children peeking from behind their parents' legs. Elders frowning behind the windows, while some whispered my name like it was poison. Others just stared.

"I thought she's supposed to be dead by now," one woman spat on the ground as I passed. But I kept walking, I had to.

"What's that cursed girl doing here," another hissed. But I paid them no attention, everything was about to change for me.

The guard led me to the Grand hall. Massive iron doors stood tall before us, carved with the Blackvale crest-a crescent moon pierced through a fang. It groaned as it opened.

Warmth hit me first. Then came the noise. The hall was shining with a thousand floating lanterns. Wolves dressed in elegant ceremonial robes filled the room.

Gold banners covered the stone pillars, music drifting like smoke-haunting, beautiful, and far too cheerful for what this place was meant to be.

A ceremony.

My own Luna ceremony. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. There he was, at the far end of the room, standing under a silver chandelier.

His broad shoulders. Jet-black hair swept back. A jaw carved by the Gods themselves. He wore a blood-red coat embroidered with silver thread and deep scowl that made my breath stop.

Alpha Caden Varkas.

My mate.

His scent hit me like a storm-heavy, dominant, impossible to ignore. Every one of my instincts is screaming at me to run. But another part-one starved of affection, of being wanted.

It whimpered and leaned in the moment our eyes locked onto each other. And for a second...I saw something in his eyes. Surprise. Confusion.

Love?

But then it was gone immediately, replaced with cold indifference. Still, my heart skipped. Stupidly. Hopefully.

This was the moment. The one I had always dreamed of a thousand nights in exile.The moment the Moon Goddess would right the wrongs of my past.

If he marked me tonight... if he claimed me....I'd be his Luna. No longer forgotten, no longer cursed as they say.

He stepped closer to me, the room falling into silence. I could hear the sound of my own heartbeat. The thrum of it echoed in my ears like a war drum.

His boots clicked against the floor. Slow, deliberate. Measured. He stopped just inches from me. Tall and towering.

My wolf whimpered inside me. She wanted to give in, to kneel before him. And I nearly did with those eyes staring into mine.

Caden stared at me for what felt like forever. His eyes searched for mine. His lips parting slightly to finally say the words I've been waiting my whole life to hear.

Say it, I begged silently. "Make me yours."

He raised a hand.

And then-he spoke.

"I reject you, Ava Duskthorn."

I froze, unable to breathe. "W....what....?" I whispered. His voice was low, cruelly commanding and steady.

"You're not my Luna."

Gasps echoed across the hall like the sound of thunder. My knees felt weak, tears already streaming down my eyes, blinding my eyesight.

I blinked, certain I had misheard him. Certainly this was some sort of twisted joke, maybe he was trying to test me to know if I was really fit to be his Luna.

He turned away from me, looking over the crowd. "My Luna is alive," he announced. "And she's not her."

And at that moment, it dawned on me.

My fate was about to turn out for the worse.