The morning after I left the great hall, the packhouse hummed with a strange energy. Whispers rushed through corridors like wind through cracks—excited, secretive, cruel. Wolves dressed in their finest silks, warriors polished their armor, servants scrubbed the marble until it gleamed like ice.
No one told me why.
No one ever did.
I stood at the window of my chamber, watching the courtyard fill with movement. The flag of the Blackthorn Pack had been raised higher than usual, its silver wolf crest shimmering in the pale sun. Even from here, I could smell roasted meat, new wine, the faint perfume of celebration.
“Are we expecting guests?” I asked one of the maids when she entered to fetch my empty tray.
She froze mid-step, eyes darting everywhere but at me. “I—uh—the Alpha said not to disturb you, Luna.”
I hated that word now. Luna. It used to mean power. Now it meant “shadow.”
“What celebration?” I pressed.
“I’m sorry, my lady.” She bowed and fled before I could ask again.
I stared after her, unease curdling in my stomach.
By midday, the packhouse was almost empty. The laughter that once echoed in its halls had migrated beyond the northern ridge, toward the Moonstone Courtyard—where every sacred ceremony was held.
My wolf stirred restlessly under my skin. Something’s wrong, she whispered.
I ignored her. I didn’t want to believe what I already suspected.
It wasn’t until the door burst open that I heard the truth from the last person I expected—my son.
Nash swaggered in, already dressed in ceremonial robes of dark blue lined with silver thread. His hair was slicked back, his fangs glinting when he grinned. “You’re not even getting ready?” he asked, tone mocking.
“For what?” I said carefully.
He tilted his head, pretending to think. “Oh, that’s right. You weren’t invited.”
My heart sank. “Invited… to what?”
“The Moon Banquet.” His grin widened. “Selene’s hosting it tonight. The whole pack’s going. The council. The elders. Even the priest of the Lunar Creed.”
The name hit like a blade. “Selene?”
He shrugged. “Father says it’s time. The Bloodmoon ceremony will make it official.”
My throat tightened. “Official?”
He looked almost delighted at my confusion. “She’s going to be marked tonight, Mother. The whole pack will witness it. Father’s giving Selene the Luna mark.”
For a second, I forgot how to breathe. The air around me warped, the world narrowing to the shape of my son’s cruel smile.
“But I’m his Luna,” I whispered.
“Were,” Nash said. “You were his Luna.”
He left laughing, leaving the door wide open behind him.
The silence that followed roared louder than thunder.
I sank onto the edge of the bed, the world spinning. For years I’d endured mockery, coldness, isolation—but deep down, I’d believed Kael would never publicly betray me. That whatever cruelty he held in private, he would at least preserve the illusion of respect.
I was wrong.
Outside, bells began to toll—the signal that the Moon Banquet had begun. Wolves howled in unison, a low, rhythmic chant that carried through every link of the pack bond. My connection to them pulsed faintly at the edge of my consciousness, and against my better judgment, I reached out through the link.
The sounds flooded in all at once—music, voices, laughter. I could see it as if I stood among them.
The Moonstone Courtyard was lit with hundreds of torches. Wolves filled the great circle, dressed in ceremonial white, their furs glowing under the light of the rising moon.
And at the center stood Kael.
He was magnificent in silver armor, the Alpha crest blazing across his chest. His head was bowed slightly toward the woman beside him—Selene. She wore a gown the color of midnight, its hem trailing behind her like smoke.
The crowd chanted their names together, voices rising in perfect unison: “Alpha Kael. Luna Selene.”
I gripped the window frame so tightly my knuckles cracked.
A voice from the crowd—a priest’s—began the binding rite. “Under the gaze of the Moon Goddess, Alpha Kael Blackthorn acknowledges his true mate, chosen not by destiny but by will and blood.”
The words twisted like knives.
Chosen not by destiny but by will and blood.
That meant it wasn’t the goddess’s doing. It was his choice.
He had chosen her.
When the priest lifted the sacred bowl of moonwater, Kael took Selene’s hand. She looked radiant, triumphant. Her golden hair caught the firelight, her lips curved in a soft, practiced smile that once belonged to me.
He dipped his fingers into the water and pressed a crescent of silver light against her wrist. The symbol shimmered—his Alpha mark, glowing with dominance.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
My bond—my invisible thread to him—snapped.
It wasn’t a clean break. It tore through me like claws through flesh. My knees buckled; I clutched the windowsill, gasping. Every nerve screamed. My mark—the faint crescent burned onto my neck decades ago—seared with sudden fire, then went cold.
He had severed it.
He had erased me.
My wolf whimpered deep inside, a wounded sound that echoed through my bones. He broke the bond, she said, disbelief shaking her voice.
“Yes,” I whispered. “He did.”
Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall.
Through the link, the crowd’s laughter swelled. I could still hear Kael’s voice as he lifted Selene’s hand and declared, “Before the Goddess and all my kin, I claim Selene as my Luna. The Blackthorn Pack recognizes no other.”
The wolves howled, the sky split with their devotion.
I turned away from the window. My legs moved on their own, carrying me across the room to the small table where I kept my keepsakes. On it sat the scrying orb—a relic my mother gave me long ago. It shimmered faintly when I poured a trickle of energy into it, the surface blooming with light until it revealed the courtyard in sharper detail.
There they were.
Kael and Selene, hand in hand, surrounded by the pack I’d served for half my life. My sons stood beside them, smiling proudly, their loyalty shifting as easily as the wind.
Selene leaned toward Kael, whispered something that made him laugh. I didn’t need to hear the words. I knew the tone. I’d heard it from my own mouth once—back when I believed I was loved.
The orb flickered, showing the moment Kael kissed her hand, sealing the ceremony. The crowd roared again.
That was the end of Aria Silvermoon, the Luna who once held the Alpha’s heart.
I reached for the orb, and for one reckless heartbeat, I wanted to shatter it—to end the vision, the pain, everything. But I didn’t. Instead, I set it down carefully, wiped the moisture from my cheeks, and forced myself to breathe.
The room felt smaller now, the walls pressing in. Every trace of my life here—my robes, my books, the small garden I tended by the balcony—seemed to mock me.
I crossed to the wardrobe and pulled out a plain traveling cloak. My hands no longer trembled. They were steady, sure. The decision had already been made; I was only now following through.
I gathered what little remained of my strength and went to the hearth. Above it hung Kael’s old dagger, a ceremonial weapon he had forged when he first became Alpha. I took it down. Its weight felt right in my hand, cold but familiar.
“I loved you,” I murmured. “But love shouldn’t mean worship.”
The flames reflected off the blade as I slid it into my belt.
Outside, the moon had reached its zenith—full, blinding, indifferent. The very goddess who once blessed our union now watched as it burned to ash.
I stepped out onto the balcony, letting the night wind whip through my hair. From here, I could see the faint glow of the Moonstone Courtyard in the distance. I thought of all the years I had wasted waiting for Kael to look at me the way he looked at her tonight.
No more.
If I stayed, I would die by inches—forgotten, humiliated, erased.
If I left, I could live. Maybe even fight.
Somewhere beyond those mountains lay the Silvermoon Keep—my father’s domain, the place I had fled to marry Kael. I didn’t know if he’d forgive me. I didn’t know if I deserved it. But I knew I would rather face his wrath than endure another dawn in this place.
The decision felt like breathing after drowning.
I turned my back to the glittering lights of the Blackthorn Courtyard. My heart was raw, but something new coiled in its center—a spark, small but alive.
Tomorrow, before the sun rose again, I would be gone.
Let Kael have his new Luna, his celebration, his power.
I had nothing left to lose.
And sometimes, that was where real power began.
