Ariyah had always known the night would come.
She just hadn't known it would hurt this much.
The Moon Festival was meant to be a celebration — a night of music, firelight, and destiny. The entire Blackwood Pack gathered in the clearing, laughter rising into the cool night air as torches flickered beneath the full moon. Silver light bathed the forest, making the leaves glow like polished glass.
For everyone else, it was a night of hope.
For Ariyah, it felt like an execution.
She stood at the edge of the crowd, fingers curled tightly into the fabric of her plain gray dress. Around her, wolves whispered, their voices sharp and unkind.
"That's her…"
"The cursed one."
"Why is she even here?"
Ariyah lowered her gaze. She was used to it. Ever since the night she was born — the night the Moon Priestess gasped and declared her marked by a curse — she had been treated like something fragile and dangerous.
A mistake the Moon Goddess never should have made.
Her wrist tingled faintly, a familiar warning. The mark she hid beneath layers of cloth burned softly, reacting to the rising moon. She swallowed hard.
Please, she prayed silently. Let it not be him.
But fate was cruel.
The drums stopped.
Silence rippled through the clearing as a tall figure stepped forward, commanding attention without a word. Alpha Kael Blackwood.
He was power given flesh.
Broad-shouldered, dark-haired, with eyes the color of storm clouds, Kael had ruled the Northern Packs for five ruthless years. Strength radiated from him like heat from a flame. When he moved, warriors straightened. When he looked at someone, they bowed their heads.
Ariyah felt it then.
The pull.
It slammed into her chest like a violent tide, stealing her breath. Her heart pounded wildly as her wrist flared with burning heat.
No.
No, no, no.
Her knees weakened as her gaze lifted against her will — and locked with his.
The world shattered.
Kael froze mid-step, his sharp eyes narrowing as if he'd sensed something impossible. The air thickened between them, vibrating with unseen power.
Mate.
The word echoed in Ariyah's mind, loud and merciless.
Her fated mate.
The Alpha.
A collective gasp spread through the crowd as the moonlight intensified, bathing the clearing in silver-white brilliance. The Moon Goddess had made her choice.
And it had chosen her.
Kael's jaw tightened. For a brief, terrible moment, something flickered in his eyes — shock, confusion… and then disgust.
The connection snapped like a whip.
"No."
His voice cut through the silence, cold and absolute.
Ariyah flinched as if struck.
"No?" the Elder beside him whispered urgently. "Alpha, the bond—"
"I said no," Kael growled, his eyes never leaving Ariyah. "This is a mistake."
Murmurs erupted instantly.
"She's cursed…"
"The Moon Goddess wouldn't—"
"This can't be right."
Ariyah stepped forward before she could stop herself. Her chest burned, the bond pulling painfully at her soul. "Alpha Kael," she said, her voice trembling but clear. "I didn't ask for this."
His gaze hardened. "You should not exist in my future."
The words shattered her.
"I am the Alpha of the Northern Packs," he continued, his voice carrying authority and finality. "I will not accept a cursed mate. I reject you, Ariyah of no rank, no lineage, and no worth."
The clearing went deathly still.
The rejection slammed into her like a physical blow.
Pain tore through her chest, sharp and unforgiving. She cried out as she collapsed to her knees, clutching her heart. The bond burned, then cracked, leaving behind a hollow ache so deep she thought it might swallow her whole.
The mark on her wrist ignited, glowing violently beneath her sleeve.
Gasps filled the air.
"She's reacting—"
"The curse—"
"Look at her!"
Kael turned away.
Just like that.
As if she were nothing.
The Moon Festival ended in chaos. Ariyah barely registered the voices around her, the way the crowd parted as she stumbled to her feet. Her legs trembled, but she forced herself to walk — head high, heart bleeding.
She would not beg.
She would not cry in front of them.
She didn't know how long she walked before the forest swallowed her whole. The torches, the music, the voices faded into nothing but the sound of her own breathing and the pounding of her heart.
Tears finally fell when she reached the abandoned watchtower at the edge of pack territory.
She collapsed against the cold stone, sobs wracking her body. "Why?" she whispered to the moon above. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"
Her wrist burned fiercely now.
She pushed her sleeve back, staring at the mark she'd hidden all her life — a dark, intricate symbol etched into her skin, pulsing with silver and gold light.
The curse.
Or so they called it.
The ground beneath her feet trembled.
Ariyah froze.
The air shifted, growing heavy and charged. Shadows stretched unnaturally across the forest floor as a low, ancient hum echoed through the trees.
Her mark flared brighter than ever before.
A voice — deep, timeless, and not entirely kind — whispered through the night.
Rejected… but not broken.
Ariyah's breath caught.
The light around her wrist surged, spilling outward, illuminating the watchtower in blinding brilliance. Symbols ignited along the stone walls, ancient runes responding to her presence.
She staggered back, heart racing.
"What is this?" she whispered.
The voice returned, closer now.
The curse was never meant to destroy you.
The forest seemed to bow.
It was meant to hide you.
The light vanished as suddenly as it appeared, plunging the clearing back into darkness. Ariyah stood frozen, chest heaving, her mind reeling.
Hide her… from what?
From whom?
Far away, under the same moon, Alpha Kael Blackwood halted mid-stride.
A sharp pain tore through his chest.
He clenched his fist, teeth grinding. "Damn it," he muttered, anger and something dangerously close to regret twisting in his gut.
The bond was gone.
But the pull…
It hadn't disappeared.
It had only gone quiet.
And for the first time in his life, the Alpha felt something unsettling crawl up his spine.
Fear.
Because whatever he had rejected tonight…
The Moon Goddess had not.