The moon had never looked so cruel.
It hung in the sky like a silent judge, pale and unyielding, watching as Liora stood at the edge of the pack grounds with her heart hammering against her ribs. The night air was cold, sharp enough to sting her lungs with every breath, yet sweat clung to her skin. Fear did that to a body it confused it, betrayed it.
Tonight was supposed to be her night.
Her awakening.
Her confirmation.
The night she would finally stand before the pack as a true member claimed, chosen, accepted.
Instead, she felt like prey.
Around her, the forest whispered. Leaves rustled. Branches creaked. Wolves lingered just beyond sight, their presence heavy, oppressive. She could feel them watching her, assessing her, waiting.
Waiting to decide whether she was worth keeping.
Liora clenched her fists, her nails biting into her palms. Stand tall, she told herself. Don't show weakness.
Weakness had never been forgiven in the Silver Fang Pack.
She lifted her chin as the clearing came into view. Torches burned in a wide circle, their flames flickering wildly as if even the fire sensed the tension. Pack members gathered in tight clusters, murmuring among themselves. Some faces held curiosity. Others held disdain. A few pity.
That hurt the most.
At the center of the clearing stood Alpha Kael.
Tall. Broad. Unyielding.
His presence dominated the space like a force of nature. Dark hair brushed his shoulders, barely stirring in the breeze. His bare arms were marked with scars testaments to battles won and enemies crushed. Golden eyes glinted under the moonlight, sharp and cold as steel.
The mate mark the one that should have been hers burned faintly on his neck.
Liora's chest tightened.
She had loved him once.
No she corrected herself bitterly she still did.
But love had never mattered here.
Kael's gaze flicked to her as she stepped into the circle. The moment stretched, thick and suffocating. His expression did not change, but she felt it something tightening, something hardening.
Rejection.
Again.
"Begin," Kael said, his voice carrying effortlessly through the clearing.
No greeting.
No acknowledgment of what this night meant to her.
Just a command.
The elder stepped forward, leaning heavily on her staff. Elder Mara's eyes softened briefly when they met Liora's, but even she could not interfere now.
"Tonight," Mara announced, "Liora of the Silver Fang stands before the pack to awaken her wolf and claim her place among us."
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
"She's too weak."
"She's late-blooming. That's a bad sign."
"Her bloodline is tainted."
The words struck like stones.
Liora swallowed, forcing herself to breathe. She stepped into the center of the circle, the earth cool beneath her bare feet. Her heart pounded so loudly she was certain everyone could hear it.
Please, she prayed silently. Please let my wolf come.
She closed her eyes.
Focused inward.
Searched.
There something stirred.
A warmth, faint but present, curled deep in her chest. Hope flared, fragile and trembling.
"Yes," she whispered. "Come on… please."
Pain exploded through her body.
She screamed.
It wasn't the clean, sharp pain she had imagined. It was brutal. Violent. Like her bones were being ripped apart from the inside, like fire was racing through her veins.
Her knees buckled.
Gasps echoed around the clearing.
Liora collapsed to the ground, her hands clawing at the dirt as agony tore through her spine. Her vision blurred. Her teeth chattered. She could feel it something fighting to emerge, something powerful and furious.
But it was wrong.
So wrong.
Her wolf howled inside her mind, wild and panicked, slamming against invisible barriers. The bond between them flickered, unstable.
"No…" Elder Mara whispered. "This isn't right."
Kael stepped forward, his expression darkening. "Enough."
Liora's eyes flew open. "No please! I can..I can do this!"
She pushed herself up, trembling violently. Blood trickled from her nose. Her skin burned, then froze, then burned again.
The wolf surged.
For a heartbeat just one she felt it.
Power.
Raw, ancient, terrifying power.
The ground beneath her cracked.
A shockwave rippled outward, knocking several pack members back. Flames flared higher. Wolves growled, instincts screaming danger.
Kael snarled. "Control it!"
"I'm trying!" Liora cried.
But control slipped through her fingers like sand.
The power recoiled violently, slamming back into her chest. She screamed again as it shattered something inside her a bond snapping, a door slamming shut.
Silence fell.
Liora collapsed, gasping, her body convulsing as the pain finally receded.
The wolf was gone.
Not sleeping.
Gone.
The clearing erupted.
"She failed!"
"She's broken!"
"That power it was cursed!"
Kael stared down at her, his jaw clenched, his eyes unreadable.
Elder Mara's voice shook. "Her awakening… has been rejected."
Rejected.
The word echoed in Liora's skull, hollow and devastating.
Kael turned to the pack. "The Silver Fang cannot harbor instability," he declared. "She is a danger."
Liora forced herself to her knees. "Kael… please. I didn't mean"
His gaze snapped back to her, cold and sharp. "You should have been stronger."
The final blow.
The mate bond between them thin but still there shattered.
Liora felt it rip apart inside her, a tearing pain far worse than the failed awakening. She screamed as the bond snapped, the rejection branding her soul.
Gasps filled the clearing.
"A mate bond"
"He rejected her!"
Tears streamed down her face as agony consumed her. She collapsed fully this time, curling into herself as the world spun.
Kael turned away.
"Exile her," he said.
Just like that.
Elder Mara hesitated. "Kael"
"She leaves tonight," he snapped. "Before dawn. Or I'll have her escorted beyond the borders myself."
The crowd parted.
No one stepped forward to help her.
No one met her eyes.
Liora lay there, broken, rejected, unwanted.
The moon watched silently.
She didn't remember leaving the pack grounds.
Only the cold.
The ache.
The crushing emptiness where her wolf should have been.
Her feet carried her into the forest, branches tearing at her clothes, thorns slicing her skin. She welcomed the pain it was something she could understand.
Unlike the hollow void inside her chest.
By the time exhaustion dragged her to the ground, dawn was still hours away. She collapsed near a ravine, her body trembling violently.
"I'm nothing," she whispered hoarsely.
A tear slid down her temple, soaking into the dirt.
The forest was quiet.
Too quiet.
Then
A presence.
It hit her like a wave.
Ancient.
Heavy.
Overwhelming.
The air thickened, pressing against her skin. Her breath hitched as something vast brushed against her consciousness.
Her chest burned.
The emptiness inside her answered.
Liora gasped as heat surged through her veins different from before. Deeper. Darker. Calmer.
A voice echoed in her mind.
Found.
Her eyes flew open.
The moon above flared, glowing brighter than she had ever seen it. Silver light poured down, enveloping her body.
Pain returned but this time, it was controlled.
Her spine arched as power flowed through her, settling, anchoring. Her heartbeat synchronized with the rhythm of the earth.
A mark burned into her skin, just above her heart.
Not a pack mark.
Not a mate mark.
Something older.
Something forbidden.
The Moon itself had answered her.
Liora screamed not in pain, but in release as her wolf finally rose.
Not broken.
Not rejected.
Chosen.
Far away, Alpha Kael stiffened suddenly, a sharp pain slicing through his chest. He dropped to one knee, breath stolen from his lungs.
"What is this…?" he muttered.
The moon glowed brighter.
And somewhere beyond the pack's borders, the girl he had rejected was awakening into something the world had not seen in centuries.