The night I turned eighteen, my pack decided I was disposable.
That realization hit me somewhere between the bitter taste of cheap ceremonial wine and the way the Alpha wouldn't look me in the eye.
I stood in the center of the Moonhall, white stone cold beneath my bare feet, the silver runes glowing faintly under the full moon above us.
My dress clung too tight, too thin, like someone wanted to remind me that I didn't belong here anymore.
Or maybe that I was about to be given away.
No wolf. No rank. No value.
That's what they saw when they looked at me.
I lifted my chin anyway.
Because if I was going to be thrown to the wolves—pun fully intended, I wasn't going to beg.
"Step forward," Alpha Rowan said, his voice echoing through the hall.
I did.
Every eye followed me.
Pity from some.
Hunger from others.
And scorns from the rest.
It was the day of Mate selection ceremony.
The cruelest tradition known to werewolves.
At eighteen, unmated wolves with no awakened wolf were either claimed… or discarded.
Claimed meant marriage, obedience and survival.
Discarded meant exile.
Or worse.
The Alpha's gaze flicked over me like I was already a problem he didn't want to deal with.
"Do you accept the bond offered by any challenger present tonight?"
Silence.
Thick and heavy silence filled the room.
My fingers curled slowly at my sides.
Of course no one stepped forward. Why would they? I was a wolfless girl with a sharp tongue and a reputation for being "difficult."
No wolf meant no strength boost, no bloodline advantage, no political gain.
I was dead weight.
"I see," Alpha Rowan said after a moment, too quickly. "Then by pack law—"
A low and amused laugh cut through the hall.
Every head snapped toward the entrance.
The doors hadn't opened.
They had been ripped off their hinges.
Wood splintered and Iron groaned.
Cold night air flooded the Moonhall along with a scent that made my breath hitch—
Smoke. Blood. Wild forest.
Rogue.
My pulse spiked as he stepped inside.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dressed in black leather that looked worn and battle-tested, not ceremonial.
His hair was dark, falling loose around his face, eyes glowing a molten gold that didn't belong to any pack I recognized.
Rogue Alpha.
The kind mothers warned their daughters about in hushed voices.
The kind packs hunted.
The kind that didn't ask permission.
"Relax," he drawled, eyes sweeping the room like he owned it. "I'm not here to slaughter anyone. Tonight."
A few warriors shifted. Alpha Rowan bristled. "You dare enter pack territory during a sacred ceremony?"
The Rogue Alpha's gaze flicked to him, unimpressed. "You dare discard a woman under a full moon."
Then—slowly—his eyes found me.
And stayed there.
It felt like being pinned.
Not physically but something deeper.
Like he'd reached inside my chest and curled his fingers around my heartbeat.
Interest sparked in his gaze, sharp and assessing dangerously.
"What's your name?" he asked me directly.
The hall went dead silent.
I didn't hesitate. "Lyra."
A smile tugged at his mouth. "Pretty name."
I snorted before I could stop myself. "Don't flatter me. You didn't come all this way for manners."
A few gasps sounded behind me.
Alpha Rowan snapped, "She is not yours to address—"
"I wasn't speaking to you," the Rogue Alpha said mildly.
Power rolled off him, heavy and unrestrainedly dominant.
I swallowed.
Not from fear.
But from something worse.
Interest.
He took a step closer. Then another. Each one sent awareness skittering up my spine.
"No wolf," he murmured, circling me slowly.
"No mate. No claim."
My jaw tightened. "You here to rub it in, or—"
He stopped in front of me.
Close.
Too close.
"You smell unclaimed," he said quietly. "But not weak."
My breath stuttered. "Congratulations. You have a functioning nose."
A chuckle rumbled from his chest. "I like you."
I rolled my eyes. "Get in line."
Alpha Rowan slammed his staff against the stone. "This is enough. Leave now, Rogue, before—"
"Before what?" the Rogue Alpha asked lazily. "You exile her? Kill her? Sell her off to some desperate Beta who'll break her spirit?"
His gaze hardened. "You won't."
A ripple of unease spread through the council.
"What do you want?" Alpha Rowan demanded.
The Rogue Alpha's eyes never left mine.
"I want to claim her."
The word hit like thunder.
Claim.
Heat flared low in my stomach—unwanted, shocking.
My mouth opened. "Excuse me?"
Gasps erupted.
"She has no wolf!" someone shouted.
"She's defective!"
"She's unbondable!"
The Rogue Alpha tilted his head. "Then she'll be perfect for me."
I laughed—sharp and disbelieving. "You don't even know me."
His gaze dipped to my lips. "I know enough."
Alpha Rowan sneered. "She has no value."
That was when something inside me snapped.
I stepped forward, chin high. "I'm standing right here."
The Rogue Alpha's expression shifted.
Approval.
Dangerous, lethal approval.
"Say the word," he murmured. "And I'll take you out of this place."
My heart pounded.
Leave the pack.
Become rogue.
Bind myself to a man everyone feared.
I should've said no.
I should've walked away.
Instead, I looked around the Moonhall—at the faces that had already decided my fate.
Then back at him.
"What's the catch?" I asked.
His smile was slow, predatory and brutally honest.
"You survive me."
The bond wasn't complete. Not yet.
But when he reached for my wrist—warm, steady, possessive—the moon flared brighter overhead.
And every instinct I didn't know I had screamed one truth:
I was never supposed to belong to them.
I was made for the monster who just claimed me.
The moment his fingers closed around my wrist, the air changed.
Not magically with glowing runes or dramatic lightning—but something older, heavier.
Like the forest itself had paused to watch.
Gasps rippled through the Moonhall.
Alpha Rowan took a sharp step forward. "Unhand her."
The Rogue Alpha didn't even look at him.
"Careful," he said calmly. "You're already on thin ice."
Thin ice.
From a man standing in the heart of enemy territory, surrounded by warriors trained to kill him.
My pulse hammered, but I didn't pull away.
That realization startled me more than his touch.
His thumb brushed lightly over the inside of my wrist—not possessive but not gentle either.
"You feel it, don't you?" he murmured so softly only I could hear.
I scoffed.
"I feel a lot of things. Most of them inconvenient."
His lips twitched. "Sharp tongue huh."
"I have fear," I said flatly. "I just don't let it make my decisions."
Something dark and pleased flickered in his eyes.
Good. That scared me a little.
"Release her," Alpha Rowan ordered again, louder now. "She is pack property until officially—"
I yanked my hand free.
Every head snapped toward me.
"I am not property," I said clearly. "And if you're done pretending you ever cared about pack law, Alpha, we can stop this performance."
A murmur swept through the crowd.
Rowan's face darkened. "Watch your tone."
"Or what?" I asked. "You'll exile me harder?"
The Rogue Alpha laughed under his breath.
"That," he said, "is exactly why I came."
I turned to him sharply. "You didn't even know I existed."
"I knew," he corrected. "I just didn't expect you to be this… entertaining."
Alpha Rowan's patience finally snapped.
"Enough. Guards—"
Before anyone could move, the Rogue Alpha released a fraction of his aura.
Just a fraction.
The stone floor groaned.
Warriors froze mid-step, instinct overriding loyalty.
Even the elders stiffened, breaths catching as that wild, dominant presence pressed down like a storm front warning them.
"I will leave," the Rogue Alpha said calmly.
"With her."
"And if we refuse?" Rowan challenged.
The Rogue Alpha smiled.
"Then you'll have to explain to every neighboring pack why you provoked a war over a girl you already discarded."
Silence.
Cowardice won.
Rowan's jaw worked. His gaze flicked to the council—calculating and desperate.
"She goes as rogue," he said tightly. "No protection. No claim to pack resources."
The Rogue Alpha inclined his head. "Fair."
Then he looked at me again.
"Your choice," he said. "Last chance."
This was the moment.
The point of no return.
I thought of cold hallways and whispered insults.
Of knowing I was unwanted long before tonight.
Of surviving despite them.
I exhaled.
"Fine," I said. "But let's be clear."
He raised a brow.
"I'm not yours," I continued. "You don't own me. You don't command me. If I'm walking out of here, it's because I choose to."
A pause.
Then—unexpectedly—he nodded.
"Good," he said. "I don't need obedience."
He stepped back, giving me space.
Respect.
That scared me more than dominance ever could.
I walked past Alpha Rowan without looking at him.
No one stopped me.
The Moonhall doors stood broken and open, the night beyond vast and unknown.
As I crossed the threshold, the Rogue Alpha fell into step beside me.
"What do I call you?" I asked, not looking at him.
"Fenris," he said.
Of course it was.
"And you?" he asked.
I smiled grimly.
"You already know."
The moon hung high above us, bright and unforgiving.
Behind me, the pack I'd been born into closed ranks without a backward glance.
Ahead of me walked a monster with golden eyes and a dangerous smile.
And somehow—
I felt freer than I ever had in my life.