LUNA OF THE NIGHTBORN
img img LUNA OF THE NIGHTBORN img Chapter 1 The Alpha's Verdict
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Chapter 6 The Bond That Breaks img
Chapter 7 The Stranger's Truth img
Chapter 8 Beneath the Hunter's Moon img
Chapter 9 The Vale of Shadows img
Chapter 10 The Girl with My Face img
Chapter 11 He Who Wears the Crown img
Chapter 12 The Howl Beneath the Ashes img
Chapter 13 The Path of Flame and Bone img
Chapter 14 The Monster Within img
Chapter 15 The Blood Oath img
Chapter 16 Embers Beneath the Skin img
Chapter 17 Ashes in Her Veins img
Chapter 18 The Other Nightborn img
Chapter 19 Shadows Over Bloodline img
Chapter 20 The Bond That Burns img
Chapter 21 The Moon's Gate img
Chapter 22 Shadows That Bleed img
Chapter 23 Moonborn img
Chapter 24 The Ashen Tether img
Chapter 25 Shattered Boundaries img
Chapter 26 The Veil Between img
Chapter 27 Let Them Come img
Chapter 28 Shards of Moonlight img
Chapter 29 Rise of the Marked img
Chapter 30 Ashes and Ascension img
Chapter 31 The Other Chosen img
Chapter 32 Trial by Flame img
Chapter 33 The Unraveling Veil img
Chapter 34 Beneath the Marked Moon img
Chapter 35 Born of Light, Forged in Fire img
Chapter 36 Shadows Don't Sleep img
Chapter 37 Beneath the Hollow Crown img
Chapter 38 The Vessel and the Crown img
Chapter 39 Shadows in the Light img
Chapter 40 The Price of Fire img
Chapter 41 The Echo and the Flame img
Chapter 42 The Waking Marks img
Chapter 43 What Lurks Beneath img
Chapter 44 When Fire Remembers img
Chapter 45 Flame Against the Dark img
Chapter 46 What Sleeps Beneath img
Chapter 47 The Pulse Beneath the World img
Chapter 48 The City That Waited img
Chapter 49 Flame Against the Forgotten img
Chapter 50 Ember Crowned img
Chapter 51 Beneath the Light That Remains img
Chapter 52 The Fire That Chose Her img
Chapter 53 Flame Remembers Flame img
Chapter 54 Beneath the Cracked Sky img
Chapter 55 It Breathes Below img
Chapter 56 Beneath the Breathing Stone img
Chapter 57 The Heart That Waits img
Chapter 58 The Reckoning Flame img
Chapter 59 Voice of the Flame img
Chapter 60 The Hollow King's Wake img
Chapter 61 The Flame That Remembers img
Chapter 62 Beneath the Mountain's Heart img
Chapter 63 When Stone Begins to Breathe img
Chapter 64 The Threshold of Flame img
Chapter 65 The Marked and the Forsaken img
Chapter 66 Shrine of the Lost Flame img
Chapter 67 Ashen Cradle img
Chapter 68 Descent img
Chapter 69 Vessel of Flame img
Chapter 70 The Shadow Below img
Chapter 71 The Knock Beneath img
Chapter 72 Beneath the Breathing Root img
Chapter 73 Bleeding Root img
Chapter 74 Breathing Root img
Chapter 75 The Ember's Echo img
Chapter 76 The Ember That Watches img
Chapter 77 The Burn that Remembers img
Chapter 78 The Burden of Flame img
Chapter 79 The Howl in the Roots img
Chapter 80 Shattered Oath img
Chapter 81 Ash and Oath img
Chapter 82 Footprints in the Dark img
Chapter 83 The Ash That Remembers img
Chapter 84 Beneath the Pulse img
Chapter 85 The Other Half of the Oath img
Chapter 86 Beneath the Bones img
Chapter 87 When the Flame Knows Your Name img
Chapter 88 Chains of Memory img
Chapter 89 The Choice That Waits img
Chapter 90 When the Locks Give Way img
Chapter 91 Between Fire and Frost img
Chapter 92 Out of One Trap img
Chapter 93 The White That Watches img
Chapter 94 The Door Beneath the Fog img
Chapter 95 Beneath the Shattered Basin img
Chapter 96 Beneath the Collapse img
Chapter 97 Whispers of Stone img
Chapter 98 Guardians of the Forgotten img
Chapter 99 The Altar of Ash and Flame img
Chapter 100 The Shatter of Chains img
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LUNA OF THE NIGHTBORN

SELENE RAVELLE
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Chapter 1 The Alpha's Verdict

They all stared like she didn't belong.

Elara stood in the center of the ceremonial hall, her presence swallowed by the towering stone pillars and glowing torches overhead. The vast chamber was crowded-elders seated in rows, warriors standing shoulder to shoulder, curious onlookers watching from the shadows. Their gazes followed her every move, filled with suspicion, pity, or something colder.

She felt like a trespasser in her own fate.

The marble beneath her bare feet was cold, unforgiving. Her white dress clung to her damp skin, and the silence was so thick it pressed against her chest like a weight. She inhaled deeply, trying to keep her expression blank. She wouldn't fall apart in front of them. Not in front of him.

Alpha Kael stood on the dais, tall and composed, carved from stone and just as warm. His black ceremonial coat brushed the backs of his boots as he slowly stepped down. His jaw was sharp, his posture regal, and his dark eyes didn't betray a single thought as they locked on hers.

He didn't smile. He didn't speak.

He descended like a king delivering judgment, not fate.

Elara had dreamt of this moment countless times. In those dreams, he looked at her like she mattered. There was always a spark, a glow-the mate bond igniting like wildfire between them.

But in reality, Kael's gaze was flat. Distant. She searched for something behind his eyes... and found nothing.

He came to a stop inches from her. Close enough for her to hear the quiet breath he took before turning slightly to the man beside him.

"Touch her," Kael commanded.

His Beta obeyed with no hesitation. A large, weathered man with silvering hair and steady hands, he stepped forward and rested his palm on Elara's arm.

She braced herself, heart thudding hard.

This was it. The moment the bond would awaken. Her skin would glow, her soul would hum, and everything would finally make sense.

Except... nothing happened.

No spark. No light. No confirmation.

Only silence.

A moment later, the Beta stepped back and gave a slight shake of his head.

Elara's chest collapsed inward. Her stomach twisted.

Kael turned toward the watching crowd and delivered his verdict without emotion.

"She is not my mate."

The words cracked the stillness. Gasps spread like ripples on water. Some wolves lowered their gazes. Others stared openly, drinking in her shame. A few even sneered.

Elara stood still. Her face didn't flinch, but inside, something shattered. She had waited for this for so long. The dreams. The signs. The quiet hope. All of it-wrong.

She didn't belong to him.

And he wanted the entire pack to see it.

The humiliation settled over her like a heavy cloak. Her vision blurred slightly, but she held her ground. She would not give them the satisfaction of watching her break.

But then, as if the universe had other plans, a strange warmth crept along her neck. It was subtle at first, like heat rising under her skin.

Then it burned.

Sharp. Blazing. Alive.

She gasped, lifting her hand to her jaw, just as a brilliant light burst from beneath her skin.

The crowd cried out.

A glowing symbol bloomed along the side of her neck-an intricate, ancient mark pulsing with golden light. It cast a halo around her face, illuminating the chamber with a soft, powerful glow.

The wolves closest to her recoiled. Even the guards hesitated.

The Beta's face turned pale. His voice trembled.

"Nightborn..."

That single word echoed like a curse.

A chill swept through the crowd. Elders stood. Warriors stepped back. Fear crept into their eyes like fog rolling over a battlefield.

Kael's calm expression cracked for the first time. His eyes locked onto the mark, and for a heartbeat, Elara saw something in him she hadn't expected.

Uncertainty. Maybe even fear.

Then his face hardened again.

"Take her away," he snapped, voice clipped.

Two guards began to approach-but slowly, as if unsure whether she was still safe to touch. The glowing mark on Elara's neck pulsed brighter, brighter still, matching the rhythm of her racing heart.

She couldn't move. Not from terror-but because something ancient had awakened inside her. Something that refused to let her go.

Her body trembled, but her feet remained planted.

The torches flickered.

Then, one by one, every flame in the chamber died.

Darkness.

Complete and consuming.

Gasps rang out. Someone stumbled. A chair scraped. But no one dared speak.

Elara stood in the center of it all, glowing faintly in the dark. Her pulse roared in her ears. Her breath came shallow.

Then came the voice.

Not aloud-but inside her. Smooth. Low. Unmistakably possessive.

> "You were never his, little moon.

You're mine now."

Her skin tingled.

The mark on her neck burned hotter.

And in that moment, surrounded by fear and shadows, Elara realized something terrifying:

The bond she had hoped for her whole life...

Was never meant to come from Kael.

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