The moon was full. Silver. Watching.
It bore witness to her humiliation.
Arielle stood at the center of the ceremonial grounds, wrapped in the soft silver of her Luna robe, her eyes locked on the one person she had once dreamed of calling her mate.
Alpha Kael Nightshade.
His face was carved from stone. Unreadable. The golden crest of the Blackthorn Pack glinted on his chest, but his eyes—those storm-dark eyes—held none of the warmth she used to imagine. Only silence.
And then he said the words.
> "I, Alpha Kael Nightshade of the Blackthorn Pack, reject you, Arielle Storm, as my mate."
The sentence struck like lightning.
A gasp rippled through the crowd. Her knees nearly gave way.
Something inside her—tethered and delicate—snapped. The mate bond broke. The pain hit her chest like a sledgehammer. A twisting, choking ache that stole the breath from her lungs.
He didn't flinch.
Did he feel nothing?
Her lips parted, a plea caught in her throat, but she stopped herself. She would not beg. Not here. Not in front of them.
> "So be it," she whispered, voice soft but steady enough to seal the bond's end.
The silence that followed was heavier than the rejection. A silence soaked with judgment, pity, and barely concealed laughter.
The weak Omega girl who dared to dream of becoming Luna.
They didn't see her leave.
They only remembered the way her shoulders trembled as she turned and walked away.
And just like that—
She was gone.
Three Years Later
Rain whispered through the forest, soft as secrets. Mist curled along the treetops like breath held too long. A dark hood cloaked her face as she stepped past the border stones of Blackthorn territory.
Arielle Storm had returned.
No longer the fragile girl they'd broken.
No longer the rejected mate who had been cast aside.
She walked with purpose. Her spine straight. Her aura sharp enough to cut.
Inside her, a secret burned hotter than revenge.
One that could bring the pack to its knees.
Her heart no longer beat for Kael Nightshade.
But her vengeance?
It roared.
[To be continued...]