The alpha rejected me

The moon sat high and silver above the Midnight Howl Pack lands, shining down upon the assembled throng surrounding the ceremonial circle in a blessed glow. It should have been the most joyful moment of my life-the day of my eighteenth birthday, the day when I would be told about my destined mate.

Pressure in my chest counselled otherwise. My wolf, Solara, struggled fitfully within my breast.

Something's not right, she breathed softly, voice trembling.

I was in the center of the stone circle, heart pounding, members of the pack in their beautifully ceremonial robes encircling me. They were gathered in a tight semicircle around me, their watchful eyes with a dim moonlit sheen. At the front of the gathering was Alpha Ronan Nightshade-the strongest alpha of the eastern realms. He was tall, his black hair tousled in the wind, his body honed as if carved out of stone. His frigid gray eyes fixed on mine, but there was no warmth in them tonight.

None.

He was my mate.

The moment our eyes locked, the pull was unavoidable-a magnetic current coursing through every fiber of my being. My breath caught. My vertebrae vibrated. Even the Moonstone on the altar pulsed with silvery light.

The whole pack gasped as one.

"The bond has chosen," Elder Marcus declared, advancing a step. "Lilith Blackthorn, you are mated to Alpha Ronan."

Joy, relief, and shock washed over me like a wave. I moved forward, prepared to offer my neck in submission to the man I'd loved since childhood.

But Ronan's face curled into a cold, cruel grin.

"I reject you."

The words hurt more than any blade. Silence erupted into chaos. Whispers. Gasps. Wide-eyed stares between him and me.

I blinked. "What?"

"I said," he snarled harder, moving toward me, "I, Ronan Nightshade, Midnight Howl Pack Alpha, reject you, Lilith Blackthorn, as my mate."

Sorrow burst through my heart like fire. The bond of mating shattered with a scream that could only be muffled by myself. My knees gave way, and I put a hand on my heart as if I might sew the rent closed. Solara wailed in despair in me.

No. no, this isn't right-

Ronan's expression did not change. "You're weak. Your wolf is weak. And you bear the mark of death."

The onlookers shuddered as my cloak slipped off, revealing the crescent-shaped birthmark that disfigured my shoulder like a splatter of blood on the snow. A tainted mark, the elders had insinuated.

Elder Marcus stepped in, frowning. "Alpha, this is most irregular-

"I will not be bound to a cursed mate," Ronan growled. "Let the Moon Goddess choose anew."

His statement cracked the air like thunder. My parents never moved forward. No one came to my side.

I alone stood in a circle of wolves who once looked at me as family.

Spiritual leader of the pack Elder Yara spoke up. "Lilith, do you accept this denial?"

"I-" My voice shook. My heart screamed no, but my pride. my pride would not permit me to beg.

"I accept," I said, my voice hollow.

The moment the words were on my lips, I felt the breaking finished. The hot, sacred tie between Ronan and me melted away to dust.

He turned his back on me without so much as a glance. "Let's continue. My Luna will be chosen among the worthy."

My sister Camellia moved forward, her golden curls bouncing, her lips curving into a disgustingly sweet smile.

"I accept your challenge, Alpha."

The crowd cheered. My world shattered.

The Moon Goddess did not slay them. She was quiet. And so were the heavens.

---

I do not remember how I walked back to the forest. My feet were bleeding. My dress was ripped. My wolf was silent.

I stumbled at the edge of the Deadlands-a region no wolf would tread. Black wind howled, its secrets uttered in a language older than time itself. No sun touched this land. The earth was as cold as bone.

"This is it," I breathed. "This is where I disappear."

But when my blood splattered onto the ground, something awakened beneath me.

The earth trembled.

A voice-deep, ancient, not human-roared in the darkness.

You are nothing, Lilith Blackthorn. You are ours now.

The darkness of the earth convulsed outward from the ground, engulfing my shattered form. My eyes cycled backward in their sockets as energy that wasn't even comparable to what I'd previously experienced flooded through me-energy tempered with night and death.

And I did not scream.