RISE OF THE LUNA

The ballroom was a different world.

Golden chandeliers dripped from the ceiling like frozen sunlight, casting a warm glow across velvet drapes and polished marble floors. Music drifted through the air-something elegant and old. Laughter rippled in waves, and the scent of roasted meats and honeyed wine mingled with the perfume of unmated she-wolves, each more radiant than the last.

I stood against the farthest wall, half-hidden behind a towering floral arrangement, my borrowed dress clinging to me like guilt. It wasn't mine. Maura, the head cook, had forced it on me, along with a stern, "Just go. No one will notice you anyway."

She was half right.

No one ever noticed Ava Rivers. Not unless I was in the way.

I was the lowest-ranking omega in Silver Hollow-the one who cleaned the warriors' blood from the training mats, who delivered towels to the she-wolves allowed to train in the gym, and who slept in a storage closet behind the kitchens. I wasn't born to this pack, and they never let me forget it.

Tonight was supposed to be the same. Invisible. Quiet. Background.

Then he entered.

Alpha Damon Spears.

Even the music seemed to pause as he stepped into the ballroom. The crowd parted with an unspoken reverence, bowing their heads, baring their necks. He strode in with the confidence of a man born to rule-broad shoulders wrapped in a midnight black suit, silver cuffs gleaming against dark skin, and a gaze that could cut through steel. His presence stole the air from the room.

My wolf stirred, ears twitching, restless.

I swallowed hard. Damon was beautiful in the way wildfires are-dangerous, untouchable, hypnotic. He was also the reason for tonight's celebration. His twenty-eighth birthday. The day he became eligible to find a mate.

And clearly, every unmated she-wolf here had the same idea.

I watched them flutter to his side like moths to flame, giggling, brushing his arm, offering drinks and stolen smiles. Damon nodded politely, accepting each gift with a coolness that said he wasn't impressed.

I turned away. I didn't belong here. This wasn't my world.

The moment I shifted my weight to leave, a sharp voice cut through the air.

"You."

I froze. Not because I didn't recognize the voice-but because I did.

Damon.

Slowly, I turned back around. He was looking right at me.

No. Through me.

The crowd had gone silent. Dozens of heads swiveled in my direction. I wanted to melt into the floor.

"You." He took a step closer. "What's your name?"

My mouth was dry. "A-Ava."

His eyes narrowed slightly, as if testing the word on his tongue. Then he stiffened.

And everything changed.

The scent hit me first-rich, smoky cedar and storm-washed earth. My knees buckled. My wolf surged forward, howling, clawing at my chest. Something ancient flared to life in my bloodstream, racing toward him like lightning down a wire.

My heart stopped.

No. No, no, no.

This couldn't be happening.

His expression twisted-shock, disbelief, then something colder. Denial.

The bond snapped into place like a steel trap.

He was mine.

And I was his.

I didn't need anyone to say it. I felt it in my soul.

The Alpha of Silver Hollow was my mate.

And he looked horrified.

A whisper rippled through the room like wind through tall grass. "The omega?" "Her?" "That can't be right."

I stepped back instinctively, suddenly aware of how loud my heartbeat was.

"No," Damon said. Not to me. To the universe. His voice was strained, laced with confusion and rage. "No. This is a mistake."

The bond recoiled like it had been slapped. My wolf whimpered, ears flat.

I didn't know what to do-what to say.

"I don't accept this," he said, louder now. "There's no way the Moon Goddess would bind me to her."

A fresh sting bloomed in my chest.

I tried to breathe. I tried to hold the pieces of myself together.

But his words kept slicing them apart.

He turned to the gathered wolves. "Everyone-leave. Now."

Silence. Then movement. The ballroom emptied in record time, gasps and murmurs trailing behind.

I stood frozen.

Damon stalked toward me, eyes glowing faintly, power crackling like lightning beneath his skin.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped.

"I-I was just-Maura said-I didn't mean-" My voice was paper-thin.

"You shouldn't have been at this event."

"I didn't know-"

"You knew." He snarled. "You were hoping. Just like the rest of them."

My nails dug into my palms. "That's not true."

"I'm the Alpha," he said. "You think I can afford to be mated to an omega-one no one respects? One who has no lineage, no strength, no standing?"

The words were weapons, every syllable striking true.

But he wasn't done.

"I need a Luna who can lead, Ava. Who can stand beside me. Not someone who cowers behind plants and flinches when I speak."

Tears burned behind my eyes. I refused to let them fall.

"I didn't choose this either," I said quietly.

That stopped him. For a moment.

I stepped forward. "You think I wanted this? I've spent my life being no one. Less than no one. I was happy being invisible if it meant surviving. I don't want your title. I don't want your pack. I didn't come here looking for a mate, Damon. I came because I was told to."

The silence between us stretched, taut and trembling.

"I don't care what the Moon Goddess intended," he said at last. "This won't happen."

And just like that, the bond cracked.

Pain ripped through me like claws down my spine. I staggered backward, clutching my chest.

He'd rejected me.

Not in ceremony. Not formally.

But the intent was clear.

I bit down on the scream that threatened to tear from my throat. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

He turned his back on me.

I left before I crumbled.

I didn't remember getting back to the servant wing. Or how I got out of the dress. Or when the sobs started. Only that they didn't stop. Not for hours.

The bond still pulsed inside me-wounded, raw, but alive. Rejection didn't kill it, not completely. It just... poisoned it. Turned something beautiful into agony.

My wolf whimpered softly, licking wounds that wouldn't heal.

He was supposed to be mine.

And he hated me for it.

Somewhere around dawn, the pain dulled enough for thought to return.

I sat on the floor, wrapped in a thin blanket, staring at the moonlight bleeding in through the narrow window.

You survived this long, I told myself. You'll survive this, too.

But I didn't know if that was true.

Because surviving without a heart was a different kind of death.

And Damon Spears... had taken mine with him.