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He told me his Inner Wolf was dormant. He claimed he couldn't feel the Mate Bond, that divine connection the Moon Goddess gifts to us. I believed him. For years, I waited in the shadows, protecting his secret, convinced my Alpha was just broken. But the truth revealed itself in the middle of a fire. During a rogue ambush, an explosion threw me into a ditch. My ankle was crushed in a hidden poacher's trap, the silver teeth searing my flesh like acid. I screamed for him. Ethan sprinted through the smoke. He stopped, looking down at me. He saw the trap. He saw the blood. He saw the silver burning me alive. Then he looked at Chloe. She was sitting on the grass nearby, clutching a tiny, insignificant scratch on her forehead, wailing like a child. He didn't hesitate. Not for a heartbeat. He turned his back on me. He scooped Chloe up in his arms, cradling her like she was made of precious glass, and ran to safety. As the flames licked closer to my trapped leg, his voice cut through the Mind-Link, cold as a winter grave. "You are too weak, Ava. You don't deserve to be my Luna." He wasn't dormant. He never was. He just didn't want me. I didn't die in that fire. I dragged myself out, leaving my love in the ashes. The next morning, I limped into the Pack Hall. My leg was a ruin, but my mind was clear. Ethan sat on his throne, Chloe smirking on his lap. He looked at me with annoyance, expecting me to beg. Instead, I stood tall, letting my own wolf rise. "I, Ava Miller, reject you, Ethan Reed, as my mate."
Contents
Chapter 1
He told me his Inner Wolf was dormant. He claimed he couldn't feel the Mate Bond, that divine connection the Moon Goddess gifts to us.
I believed him. For years, I waited in the shadows, protecting his secret, convinced my Alpha was just broken.
But the truth revealed itself in the middle of a fire.
During a rogue ambush, an explosion threw me into a ditch. My ankle was crushed in a hidden poacher's trap, the silver teeth searing my flesh like acid.
I screamed for him.
Ethan sprinted through the smoke. He stopped, looking down at me. He saw the trap. He saw the blood. He saw the silver burning me alive.
Then he looked at Chloe.
She was sitting on the grass nearby, clutching a tiny, insignificant scratch on her forehead, wailing like a child.
He didn't hesitate. Not for a heartbeat.
He turned his back on me.
He scooped Chloe up in his arms, cradling her like she was made of precious glass, and ran to safety.
As the flames licked closer to my trapped leg, his voice cut through the Mind-Link, cold as a winter grave.
"You are too weak, Ava. You don't deserve to be my Luna."
He wasn't dormant. He never was. He just didn't want me.
I didn't die in that fire. I dragged myself out, leaving my love in the ashes.
The next morning, I limped into the Pack Hall. My leg was a ruin, but my mind was clear.
Ethan sat on his throne, Chloe smirking on his lap. He looked at me with annoyance, expecting me to beg.
Instead, I stood tall, letting my own wolf rise.
"I, Ava Miller, reject you, Ethan Reed, as my mate."
Chapter 1
Ava POV
I woke to the scent of damp earth and crushed pine needles drifting from the edge of the Moonstone Pack territory. The morning mist clung to the windows of my small cabin, blurring the world outside into a haze of gray.
I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, desperate to find that familiar, golden thread that should have connected me to him.
*Ethan?* I called out tentatively through the *Mind-Link*.
Silence answered me. Not a peaceful silence, but a wall of static-cold, impenetrable, and absolute.
He told me his Inner Wolf was dormant. He said he couldn't feel the Mate Bond, that divine connection the Moon Goddess gifts to Fated Mates. But I felt it. I felt it every time he walked into a room, a magnetic pull in my chest like the tide bowing to the moon.
I believed him, though. I had to. An Alpha with a sleeping wolf was vulnerable, and as his future Luna, my duty was to protect his secret and wait.
My mind drifted back to when we were pups. I was ten, and he was twelve. We had sneaked out to the ancient Laurel tree that stood sentinel on the highest hill of our territory. Under the silver light of the full moon, we climbed its gnarled branches.
"You and me, Ava," he had whispered, carving our initials into the rough bark with a jagged stone. "You are going to be my Luna. The only one standing by my side."
That memory was my anchor. It was the only thing keeping me steady as I walked toward the Pack House to start my duties as the Pack Historian.
The Pack House was bustling. Warriors were training on the lawn, their sweat smelling of musk and iron. I slipped into the library, the scent of old parchment calming my frayed nerves. I was sensitive to smells, more than the average wolf. It was a gift, or perhaps a curse, to perceive the world so visibly through scent.
Ethan walked in an hour later. He didn't look at me.
"The records for the border patrol need updating," he said, his voice flat. He was scrolling through his phone, dismissing my presence entirely.
"I finished them last night, Alpha," I said softly, stepping closer. I reached out to touch his arm, needing just a spark of contact, just one crumb of affection. "How are you feeling? Is your wolf..."
"Still sleeping," he snapped, pulling his arm away as if my touch burned him. "Stop asking, Ava. It's annoying."
He turned to leave, but as he spun around, the air shifted. A scent hit me. It wasn't his usual signature of storm clouds and cedar. It was cloying, sweet, and suffocatingly artificial.
Vanilla and expensive roses.
It was the scent of Chloe Vance.
My stomach churned. Chloe was the daughter of our Gamma, a woman who wore her ambition like a red dress. Why would he smell like her?
"Ethan," I called out, my voice trembling slightly.
He didn't stop. "I have Alpha business. Don't wait up."
*
Later that afternoon, the pack gathered for the harvest celebration. The air was thick with the smoke of roasting meat and laughter. But I stood on the periphery, holding a cup of cider that tasted like ash in my mouth.
Ethan was in the center of the crowd. And Chloe was right there, her hand resting casually on his bicep. She whispered something in his ear, and he laughed-a genuine, deep laugh that I hadn't heard in months.
I took a deep breath, letting the scents of the party filter through my nose. Beneath the smoke and food, there it was again. His scent. Her scent. They weren't just near each other; the scents were mingled, woven tight like vines.
You don't get someone's scent on you that strongly just by standing next to them. That was the smell of friction. Of skin sliding against skin.
"I can smell it too," a voice murmured beside me.
It was Maya, my best friend and a Beta warrior. Her face was grim. "It smells like lies, Ava. Sour and rotting."
"He said his wolf is dormant," I whispered, clutching my cup until the plastic cracked under the pressure. "He can't feel the bond."
"He looks pretty awake to me," Maya said, nodding toward them.
I had to know. Denial was a luxury I could no longer afford. I walked toward them, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
"Ethan," I said.
The chatter around them died down. Chloe looked at me, a smirk playing on her red lips. Ethan looked annoyed.
"Not now, Ava," he gritted out.
"We need to talk. Privately."
"I said not now!" His voice carried a hint of the Alpha's Command, a crushing weight that pressed down on my shoulders, forcing my wolf to submit. My knees buckled slightly.
"My Alpha, my future," Chloe cooed, loud enough for the surrounding wolves to hear. She brushed a piece of lint off his shoulder, staking her claim for all to see.
I retreated, humiliated, feeling the eyes of the pack burning into my back. I checked my phone to distract myself and saw a notification. Chloe had posted a photo on social media five minutes ago. It was a close-up of a necklace-a silver pendant with the Moonstone Pack crest. The caption read: *My Alpha, my future.*
My blood ran cold. That crest was reserved for the Alpha's mate.
I looked up, desperate to find a lie in what I was seeing. Across the clearing, Ethan was leaning in close to Chloe. His eyes weren't vacant or dormant. They were sharp, calculating, and hungry.
He wasn't a man waiting for his wolf to wake up. He was a man enjoying his freedom before the shackles of a mate bond he didn't want snapped into place.
Suddenly, a siren wailed. The perimeter alarm.
"Rogues!" a warrior shouted. "Breach at the north gate!"
Chaos erupted. Wolves shifted mid-stride, bones cracking and fur bursting forth as they rushed to defend the pack. I wasn't a warrior, so I ran toward the safe zone near the treeline. Chloe was running a few feet ahead of me, screaming dramatically.
A rogue wolf, massive and mangy with madness in his eyes, burst through the bushes. He wasn't alone. It was an ambush.
A jeep swerved to avoid the rogue and slammed into a utility pole. The impact sent sparks showering down, igniting the dry grass instantly. The explosion threw both Chloe and me backward.
I landed hard in a ditch. Pain exploded in my leg, white-hot and blinding. I looked down and screamed.
My ankle was caught in a hidden poacher's trap-iron teeth digging deep into my flesh. But it wasn't just iron. The searing, acidic burning sensation that clawed up my leg told me the terrifying truth.
Silver.
"Ethan!" I screamed, the agony blinding me. "Help!"
Through the smoke, I saw him. Ethan, in his human form, was sprinting toward us. He looked at me. Our eyes locked.
Time seemed to freeze. I saw him register the trap. I saw him register the blood. I saw him realize the silver was burning my skin alive.
Then he looked at Chloe. She was sitting on the grass, a small cut on her forehead, wailing like a child.
He didn't hesitate. Not for a heartbeat.
He turned his back on me.
He scooped Chloe up in his arms, cradling her like she was made of precious glass.
"No..." I whispered, the word lost in the roar of the fire. "Ethan, please."
He ran away from the fire, carrying her to safety, leaving me trapped in the silver's deadly embrace.
The physical pain was excruciating, like acid eating through my bone. But it was nothing compared to the sensation of my heart shattering. It felt like a physical blow, a claw ripping through my chest. The bond, the one he claimed he couldn't feel, screamed in agony.
*You are too weak, Ava,* his voice cut through the *Mind-Link*, cold as a winter grave. *You don't deserve to be my Luna.*
He wasn't dormant. He never was. He just didn't want me.
I stopped struggling. I watched his retreating back until the smoke swallowed him. A strange calm settled over me, the kind of absolute silence that comes after a hurricane destroys everything you own.
I reached down, grabbing the silver jaws of the trap. My hands sizzled and burned, the skin blistering on contact, but I didn't care. With a scream that tore my throat raw, I pried the trap open and pulled my mangled leg free.
I didn't run to the safe zone. I dragged myself toward my cabin. I had to get rid of everything. Every letter, every gift, every lie.
I limped into my room, blood trailing behind me. On my nightstand sat a necklace he had given me years ago, a simple stone carved with the moon. I grabbed it.
It felt heavy in my hand, like a stone tied around the neck of a drowning dog.
It was time.
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