The bonfire crackled high into the inky sky, sparks kissing the stars, smoke curling like a dragon's breath over the clearing. The Silver claw Pack had gathered in full, dressed in ceremonial garb, wolves howling in the distance in celebration. It was Kael's nineteenth birthday ,the night he would ascend as Alpha.
And the night Lulu Voss would finally be named his Luna.
Or so she thought.
Lulu stood near the edge of the crowd, heart hammering in her chest, watching as Kael, flanked by his Beta and his mother, approached the altar stone. The air shimmered with heat and power. Every step he took toward the fire seemed to draw more gasps, more pride-struck whispers from the pack.
He looked the part of Alpha. Tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in black linen embroidered with silver thread. The faint glow of his amber eyes under the moonlight was unmistakable- dominant, commanding, noble.
He hadn't spoken to her all day. Not during the preparations, not even when she passed him a fresh shirt outside the cabin that morning. She'd chalked it up to nerves. Ceremony days were always heavy. She understood that. She tried to ignore the way his gaze had shifted right past her, resting briefly and curiously on a new face in the crowd.
Kael reached the altar and turned. A hush fell over the field.
Elder Harrow stepped forward, raising his hands. His ancient voice echoed through the clearing.
"Tonight, we gather to pass the mantle. Kael of Silver claw, born of Alpha Coren and Luna Elira, son of blood and honor, you come before us to take your father's place as Alpha."
Kael bowed his head respectfully.
"I come willing," he said, voice smooth and deep.
Elder Harrow nodded, then lifted the ceremonial dagger. The blade was obsidian, carved from the first mountain the pack ever called home. He sliced Kael's palm, catching the blood in a stone bowl, then raised it to the moon.
"Silver claw accepts you."
The pack howled in unison, a thunderous wave of sound. Lulu's throat caught as she added her voice, pride swelling in her chest. She could feel the connection forming Kael's aura pressing against the pack bonds like a heartbeat. He was Alpha now. Truly.
And she was his mate. They hadn't completed the bond yet, but everyone knew. They'd grown up side by side. Touched by the Moon Goddess on the same summer night. She still remembered the first time Kael had kissed her behind the training arena, whispered "It was always you, Lu."
It had to be her. Destiny didn't play games.
As the pack quieted, Kael lifted his hand for silence. He turned slowly, eyes scanning the faces, jaw tight.
"There is one more thing I must do."
Lulu stepped forward instinctively, dress billowing around her legs. Her heart thumped in time with the ceremonial drums still pulsing in the background.
Kael's gaze met hers.
Then… slid right past her.
"To my fated mate," he said, and the crowd stilled. "I accept the bond the Moon Goddess has granted me. I honor her choice. And I honor my mate."
A ripple of confusion passed through the pack. Lulu's smile faltered.
Kael turned and held out his hand to a girl near the front.
A girl Lulu didn't recognize.
Slighter in build, with a cascade of white-blonde curls and a startled expression, the girl stepped forward, trembling. Kael drew her in by the hand, sealing the bond with a kiss on her wrist.
Gasps rang out.
Lulu felt her body go rigid, blood draining from her face.
No.
No, this wasn't right. This couldn't be right.
"That's not...no..." she choked, her voice cracking. "That's not possible."
Kael's eyes finally met hers.
And in them, there was no warmth. No apology.
"I felt the bond two days ago," he said flatly. "Her name is Calla. She arrived with the envoy from Thorn ridge. The Moon Goddess made her my true mate."
Lulu stumbled forward, confusion morphing into devastation.
"But we, Kael, you told me-"
"I was wrong," he said coldly. "Whatever we thought we had… it wasn't the bond. I reject you, Lulu Voss. As Alpha. As man. As mate."
A collective gasp sucked the air from the clearing.
Lulu swayed on her feet. It was like a whip had lashed through her chest, cutting clean through flesh and spirit. The rejection hit like lightning-raw, scorching, undeniable. Her wolf howled in agony inside her, claws scrabbling at the edges of her skin, desperate for purchase.
"I-I don't understand-" she whispered.
"You will," Kael said. "Eventually."
Then he turned away from her like she was nothing.
The pain didn't come all at once. It came in waves. Her knees gave out first. Someone-maybe her cousin Eric - caught her before she hit the ground. Her lungs refused to expand. Her heart screamed. She felt like she was bleeding without blood, breaking without bones.
She heard murmurs from the crowd.
"She wasn't his fated mate?"
"But they were together for years…"
"She was supposed to be Luna."
The fire roared. The drums stopped.
And just like that, Lulu Voss, who had once been whispered about as the Alpha's promised Luna, was no one. Nothing. Not even Kael's shadow.
She didn't remember much after that.
Not the way people averted their gazes as she stumbled back to her cabin. Not the hollow looks from those who used to call her friend. Not the cold silence that replaced years of shared warmth.
The moment she was behind her door, she collapsed to the floor.
Her hands trembled as she tried to breathe, to think, to make sense of the unbearable ache in her chest. She clawed at her skin, as if she could tear the bond out of her with her bare hands.
He rejected me.
Not just privately. Not gently. But in front of the entire pack.
She had believed in the stories. The ones where childhood sweethearts were destined. Where loyalty and love mattered more than fate. Where a promise meant something.
But in the end, Kael had chosen power. Optics. The foreign girl with strange eyes and a delicate smile. A political tie to Thorn ridge, no doubt. It made sense.
Everything made sense.
Except the way her soul now felt like it was peeling away from her ribcage.
By morning, word had spread beyond the Silver claw lands.
Lulu Voss had been rejected by her Alpha.
A storm rolled in before noon - ominous, grey, cold. Fitting.
Elder Harrow came to her door with a quiet knock.
"You should leave," he said softly, not unkindly. "For your sake."
She didn't argue. What was left here? Pity? Whispers? A future of watching Kael stand beside another woman in the Luna's chair?
No.
She packed what little she had into a satchel. Some clothes, a wolf bone blade, her mother's locket. She didn't cry again. The tears had dried up in the night.
At the edge of the forest, she looked back once.
The fire pit was still smoking.
She turned away from it and ran barefoot, fast, her wolf just beneath her skin, begging to take over. But she didn't shift. Not yet.
Somewhere deep in the woods, as the first drops of rain kissed her skin, she whispered to the trees, to the goddess, to whatever cruel force watched from above-
I will not be broken by this.