The words that destroyed my life were spoken in a voice I'd once dreamed of hearing whisper "I love you"
I knelt on the cold stone floor of the Great Hall, my knees
pressed against the ancient symbols carved into the marble. The Verdant
Canopy's bioluminescent glow filtered through the massive windows, casting
everything in that perpetual twilight that should have been beautiful. Should
have been magical. Instead, it felt like the light was dying along with my
heart.
Kieran stood above me, his golden hair catching the ethereal
light. He looked like every fantasy I'd ever had about this moment, except his
amber eyes held nothing but disgust. The pack elders formed a semicircle around
us, their faces carved from stone. Elder Moira watched from the shadows, her
gray eyes glittering with something that made my skin crawl.
My hands trembled against my thighs. The scars on my palms
burned like they always did when my emotions ran high. I'd gotten them at
twelve, the day my magic first manifested. The day everything went wrong.
"Leah Nightwhisper." Kieran's voice boomed through
the hall, formal and cold. Nothing like the warm tone he'd used when we were
children, before he knew what I was. "Present yourself before the Silver
Moon Pack for judgment."
I lifted my chin, trying to summon whatever courage I had
left. The mate bond between us hummed weakly, a dying ember that had never
quite caught fire. He'd avoided me for months, ever since my eighteenth
birthday when the bond snapped into place. I'd thought maybe tonight would be
different. Maybe he'd accept what the Moon Goddess had given us.
How stupid I'd been.
"I present myself willingly," I whispered, the
ritual words tasting like ash on my tongue.
Elder Thorne stepped forward, his weathered face grim.
"Kieran Bloodmane, Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, do you accept this
female as your mate and Luna?"
The silence stretched like a blade between us. I could hear
my heartbeat thundering in my ears, could feel the magic stirring restlessly
beneath my skin. It always responded to strong emotions, and right now my
entire world was crumbling.
Kieran's jaw tightened. For just a moment, I saw a flicker
of the boy I'd grown up with. The one who'd shared his lunch with me when the
other children called me cursed. The one who'd held me while I cried after my
parents died.
Then his face went blank.
"I, Kieran Bloodmane, Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack,
reject you, Leah Nightwhisper, as my mate and Luna."
The words hit me like physical blows. Each syllable carved
into my chest, but something else rose with the pain. Power. Dark, terrible
power that tasted like copper and felt like ice. The magic I'd spent years
trying to control surged through my veins like liquid fire.
"Kieran, please—" I gasped, reaching for him
instinctively.
"Don't!" His amber eyes went wide with fear as
black veins spread up my arms like poison. "Whatever you are, you're not
my mate. You're a curse."
The rejection bond snapped like a physical rope, sending
agony through every nerve in my body. But the magic was stronger than the pain.
It poured out of me in waves, seeking something to destroy, something to make
hurt as much as I was hurting.
Elder Thorne stepped back, his face pale. "Control
yourself, girl!"
But I couldn't. I could never control it when it mattered
most. The temperature in the hall plummeted. Frost spread across the stone
floor in spiraling patterns. The bioluminescent lights above us flickered and
dimmed.
"Get away from her!" someone screamed.
I tried to pull the magic back, tried to stuff it down deep
where it couldn't hurt anyone. But it had been building for too long, fed by
months of rejection and years of self-hatred. It wanted out. It wanted blood.
Elder Cassius, who'd known my parents, took a step toward
me. His kind eyes held no fear, only sadness. "Leah, child, you
must—"
The magic lashed out like a living thing. It wrapped around
him in tendrils of shadow and ice, seeking the warmth of his life force. I
watched in horror as the color drained from his face, as his eyes went wide
with shock.
"No!" I screamed, but it was too late.
He crumpled to the ground, his life stolen in seconds. The
other elders stumbled backward, terror etched on their faces. Elder Ravenna
fell next, then Elder Marcus. They died so quickly, so quietly. Just there one
moment and gone the next.
The hall erupted into chaos. Pack members fled toward the
exits, their screams echoing off the stone walls. Kieran stood frozen, staring
at the bodies of his advisors with something like horror in his eyes.
"Monster," he breathed. "I knew you were
dangerous, but this..."
I scrambled to my feet, my legs shaking so badly I could
barely stand. The magic was still pouring out of me, seeking more victims. It
was hungry now, drunk on the life force it had consumed. I could feel it
pressing against my mental barriers, begging me to let it loose on everyone
who'd ever hurt me.
"I'm sorry," I sobbed, backing toward the doors.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean—"
"Seize her!" Elder Moira's voice cut through the
pandemonium like a blade. "She's murdered three elders! This is an act of
war against the pack!"
Warriors moved to surround me, but they kept their distance.
Smart of them. I was a walking weapon now, and we all knew it.
Kieran finally looked at me, really looked at me. His face
held no trace of the boy I'd loved since childhood. This was the Alpha now,
cold and calculating.
"Leah Nightwhisper," he said, his voice carrying
the weight of absolute authority. "By the power vested in me as Alpha of
the Silver Moon Pack, I banish you from these lands. You have until dawn to
leave the Verdant Canopy. If you're found here after sunrise, you'll be
executed on sight."
The words hit me harder than the rejection had. Banishment
meant death in the Shifting Mists. Everyone knew that. Nothing survived long in
that hellscape of bog and shadow.
But maybe that was what I deserved.
I turned and ran.
The great doors of the hall burst open as I fled, and I
could hear them shouting behind me. Orders to track me. To make sure I kept
running. The magic was still writhing under my skin, still hungry for more
death.
As I stumbled into the perpetual twilight of the Canopy, one
thought echoed in my mind over and over: I was exactly the monster they'd
always said I was.
The forest seemed to sense my presence. The bioluminescent
flowers dimmed as I passed, as if even the plants knew to fear me. My feet
carried me toward the Mist border without conscious thought. Toward exile.
Toward death.
Behind me, I could hear the pack rallying. Kieran's voice
rose above the others, strong and sure as he took control of the crisis I'd
created. He didn't sound heartbroken. He sounded relieved.
The edge of the Canopy loomed ahead, where the solid ground
gave way to the treacherous bogs of the Shifting Mists. I paused at the
threshold, looking back one last time at the only home I'd ever known.
The bioluminescent trees stretched up into the darkness like
pillars holding up the sky. Beautiful and eternal. Everything I would never be.
I took a step forward into the Mists, and immediately felt
the temperature drop another ten degrees. The ground squelched under my feet,
boggy and unstable. Somewhere in the distance, something howled. It didn't
sound like any wolf I'd ever heard.
The magic was still singing in my veins, dark and seductive.
It whispered promises of power, of revenge. It showed me visions of Kieran on
his knees, begging for my forgiveness while I drained the life from his perfect
golden body.
I shook my head violently, trying to dispel the images. I
wouldn't become that. I couldn't.
But as I stumbled deeper into the Mists, surrounded by the
calls of things that had never been human, I felt something watching me from
the shadows between the gnarled trees.
Something that had been waiting for me to finally come home.