Chapter 1 No.1

For my entire life, I believed my Alpha, Kaelen, was my fated mate. A sacred gift from the Moon Goddess.

But on the eve of my eighteenth birthday, he presented another she-wolf, Seraphina, as his chosen Luna, using a borrowed pup in a cruel plot to crush my spirit.

When Rogues attacked our pack, a silver chandelier fell towards us. Kaelen lunged past me without a glance, shielding Seraphina with his own body while I was left to be crushed.

He never even looked back.

Later, after falsely accusing me of hurting her, he dragged my injured body to an ice-cold hydrotherapy pool and shoved me under the water.

As I struggled to breathe, he loomed over me, his voice a roar of command.

"If you ever touch her again, I will strip you of your name and make you Rogue."

Watching the man I loved try to kill me, the last of my hope finally turned to ash.

That night, I accepted an offer to join the Silverwood Pack.

Then, I walked to the forge and tossed every memento he'd ever given me into the flames, watching the girl who loved him burn away forever.

Chapter 1

Caelia POV:

The scent of moonpetal herbs and sweet cream filled my small kitchen. It was a calming aroma, one I'd spent weeks perfecting. Tonight was the night before my eighteenth birthday, the night before my First Shift. But more importantly, it was the night I would finally offer my heart, baked into a cake, to my Alpha. To Kaelen.

My wolf, still dormant within me, purred in contentment. She knew, just as I did. Kaelen was ours. The Moon Goddess had woven our souls together long before we were born. I felt it every time he walked past, a pull so strong it was a physical ache in my chest.

I carefully placed the finished cake into a transport box. The frosting was the color of a midnight sky, with delicate silver sugar crystals scattered across it like stars. It was perfect.

My hands trembled slightly as I walked towards the pack house's main wing, where the Alpha's offices were. He was always working late, managing the vast corporate empire that was the public face of the Black Moon Pack.

As I neared his office, a strange scent hit my nose. It was faint, but unmistakable. Milk, baby powder, and the sweet, innocent smell of a wolf pup. A very young one. Confusion pricked at me. There were no new pups in the pack that I knew of.

I slowed my steps, my ears straining. The heavy oak door to his office was slightly ajar. Voices drifted out-Kaelen's deep, commanding tone, and the smooth voice of his Gamma, Jax.

"Are you sure about this, Alpha?" Jax asked. "It seems... cruel."

My heart began to hammer against my ribs. I pressed myself against the cold stone wall, holding my breath.

"It's the only way to make her understand," Kaelen's voice was cold, devoid of the warmth I so often imagined. "She needs to see that I have a mate. A family. Then she'll finally back off."

A hollow feeling opened in my stomach. He was talking about me.

Then, a new, fragile thought brushed against my mind. It wasn't a full Mind-Link, more like a whisper on the wind, a side effect of my impending Shift. My senses were heightening, breaking barriers I didn't know existed.

*The Rogue pup is sleeping. Seraphina did well to find one that wouldn't cause a scene.* It was Kaelen's thought, clear as a bell in my head.

*Seraphina is the one for you, Alpha,* Jax sent back, his mental voice full of loyalty. *Everyone knows it.*

The cake box suddenly felt impossibly heavy. Seraphina. The beautiful, high-ranking warrior he'd always favored. They were planning to stage a fake family, using a borrowed Rogue pup, just to get rid of me. To crush my hope so he could be with her.

And then came the final blow, a thought from Kaelen so powerful, so full of raw emotion it felt like a physical strike. His inner wolf, a beast of legend, roared in my mind.

*Seraphina is MINE! I will not allow a weak, pathetic Omega to be my Luna!*

The box slipped from my numb fingers. It hit the marble floor with a soft, sickening thud. The beautiful cake, my heart, my hope-all of it shattered.

A pain unlike anything I'd ever known ripped through me. It wasn't just my heart breaking; it was my body. My bones felt like they were on fire, twisting and cracking. My vision blurred. The First Shift. It was happening now, triggered by the sheer force of my agony.

I couldn't let them see me like this.

Ignoring the searing pain, I scrambled away, choking back a sob as I fled the pack house and plunged into the darkness of the surrounding forest. Each step was torture. I felt my spine elongating, my joints dislocating and snapping back into new, unfamiliar positions. A scream tore from my throat, but it came out as a pained, guttural howl.

In the haze of agony, a memory surfaced. I was ten years old, cornered by a Rogue wolf. Kaelen, just a teenager himself, had appeared like a shadow, dispatching the Rogue with brutal efficiency. He'd found me crying, my knee scraped and bleeding, and had pressed a bar of chocolate into my hand. His touch had sent a jolt through me, and his scent-pine and winter frost-had calmed my terrified soul. That was the moment. The moment I knew.

Now, that sweet memory was poison, turning my insides to ash.

The transformation completed. I collapsed onto the forest floor, my breath coming in ragged pants. I looked down at my paws. They were huge, covered in fur as white as freshly fallen snow. A dire wolf. A white wolf. The legends were real.

A mournful howl escaped my lips, a sound of pure, unadulterated heartbreak. My new, powerful senses picked up the Mind-Link network of the pack. I focused, pushing through the pain, and found my brother.

*Ronan,* I sent, my mental voice raspy and broken.

*Caelia? What's wrong? I can feel your pain!* His worry was a warm blanket in the cold.

*I'm okay,* I lied. *Tell the Alpha... tell him I accept the offer to study abroad. I'll go to the Silverwood Pack's territory. I'll leave as soon as I can.*

I cut the link before he could ask more questions. Shifting back was just as painful. Naked and shivering, I limped back to my small cottage at the edge of the pack lands.

As I stepped inside, a chime sounded in my head. A formal Mind-Link message from my Alpha.

*I have found my mate. And our child.* The message was curt, professional. An image flashed in my mind: a tiny, furry wolf paw. *This is an invitation to our Mating Ceremony.*

My fingers curled into fists. He didn't even have the decency to tell me to my face. He was making it official. The lie. The whole pack would see it.

My own pain didn't matter anymore. Only survival.

I took a deep breath, composing my reply, making it as hollow and obedient as he believed me to be.

*Yes, my Alpha.*

Then, I walked to the small forge my father used to use. One by one, I gathered every memento of Kaelen. The training dagger he'd given me for my sixteenth birthday. An old tactical shirt of his I'd stolen from the laundry. The faded wrapper from that first chocolate bar.

Without a second thought, I tossed them all into the flames. I watched them burn until they were nothing but glowing embers, the last vestiges of a girl who had dared to love an Alpha who would never love her back.

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