REJECTED BY THE ALPHA CHOSEN BY THE MOON

olden sparks into the air as the music of drums and flutes wove through the forest clearing. Laughter echoed between tr

pulse of the pack's joy vibrating through the earth but didn't dare step into it. Her fingers curled into th

But tradition was tradition, and no unmate

urge to vanish back into

n she f

rld sh

th caught. The bond-the unmistakable, soul-binding pull of a mate. Her heart

voted

saw

a

ark coat that fit his cold reputation. His silver eyes found hers across the distance, and in

the

mbling, her heartbeat wild. Her wolf howled within, reco

a

tep forward.

didn'

aze-not surprise, not joy.

o

ization sank in like ice through h

ye

rned

t, weaving between dancing couples, across grass and stone until she reache

ow and even. "D

cked. "Kael.

her. "It doesn't

ds were

reject

d tight, strained. "I

he sting behind her eyes. "Neither d

h of pain in his silver gaze, quickly buried. His jaw clenched. "S

red-just enough. There was hesitation there. A shadow of grie

el.

tasy," he said, voice brittle d

alked away, leaving

her like a wound that refused to close. Her chest ached with a th

d and walked back

d, found her quickly. Her wide ey

outh to answer bu

darkened. "It's him,

he trees where he'd

as audible. "Th

d, her th

twisted into anger.

ecte

with fury. "I'm going to

hispered. "D

tightly. "You don't deserve this.

s

n't sure

he wo

had

wn. It wasn't just heartbreak-it was the shredding of something ancient

nd lifted her chin. She wouldn't cr

danced, she took one last look at

ave reject

't finished w

ither

That

desk, wiping away the last remnants of her tears. Moonlight filtered

the one she only wrote in wh

ibbled

me, but I wi

bel

know what I

orphan, too quiet, too strange. They never saw the strength in her. The girl who trained in secret before dawn. Who he

ut deep-but it wou

more, toward the dark trees and

inside h

asn't

the beg