Chapter 1

• Amy
• The tolling of the Coming of Age bell echoed through the valley. It was my eighteenth birthday.
• According to tradition, an eighteen-year-old wolf would scent their fated mate for the first time. They would find the one the Moon Goddess had chosen for them under the silver light.
• I knelt on the cold stone steps below the dais, scrubbing at the blood that stained the snow. It wasn't my blood. It was the aftermath of Luca's training session. He had deliberately sent his injured warriors to me, then purposely had someone kick over my medicine box.
• Luca Vane. The future Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack. And the person who had made my life a living hell for the past ten years. He made me wash the warriors' armor. He forced me to kneel in thunderstorms sorting herbs. He even made me take the blame when his half-sister, Ivy, stole healing potions.
• "Omegas are born to obey," he had said.
• I had endured it all, waiting for this very night. Before my mother died, she held my hand, her fingers cold and trembling. "You must stay until your Coming of Age ceremony," she had rasped. The moonstone pendant she left me rested against my chest, burning hotter tonight than ever before.
• As the second bell chimed, a guard kicked my scattered medicine box.
• "Stop playing dead, Amy. The future Alpha wants to see you."
• I raised my head. The stone steps were packed with pack members. Fire braziers lined the high dais. The elders stood in their gray cloaks, and Luca's father, the current Alpha, sat on the main seat with the cold indifference of a judge.
• Luca stood in the center of the crowd. He wore a black suit, the silver clasp of the Alpha heir gleaming on his shoulder.
• The scent hit me then. Pine needles and the crisp, biting cold of fresh snow. It curled into my lungs, making my chest tight and my legs weak.
• My wolf paced restlessly inside me, clawing at my control. She only chanted one word, over and over.
• Mate.
• Luca.
• I didn't want to admit it.
• But my body betrayed me. My heart hammered wildly against my ribs.
• He smelled me, too. His expression shuttered. For a fraction of a second, shock flashed in his eyes, followed quickly by resistance, and then fury—the anger of someone whose darkest secret had been dragged into the light.
• I forced myself up, leaning heavily against the stone steps. My old leg injury protested, making my movements agonizingly slow. Snickers rippled through the crowd.
• Ivy stepped out from behind the onlookers. She was draped in a pale, moonlight-white shawl—the ceremonial garment meant only for the future Luna, a sacred piece guarded by the female elders. Only the one recognized by the Alpha's mate bond was allowed to touch it.
• Ivy gripped the edge of the shawl and jutted her chin at me.
• "Stop staring, sister. Luca said this doesn't suit you."
• I ignored her. My gaze remained locked on Luca.
• He had to speak. The mate bond couldn't be faked. His wolf would recognize me. His racing heart would recognize me. The veins bulging on the back of his hands as he fought his primal instincts would recognize me.
• Luca descended the dais and stopped right in front of me. He was so close I could smell the sharp, acrid tang of anxiety beneath his pine scent.
• For a fleeting second, the nearness of him soothed the aching void in my chest.
• Then his hand shot out. He gripped my wrist in a vice-like hold and slammed a silver cuff around it.
• Sizzle.
• The smell of burning flesh hit the air. White-hot agony drilled through my skin and straight into my bones.
• I collapsed to my knees. The crowd erupted into laughter.
• My inner wolf shrieked in pain. The mate bond, only just beginning to form, was violently suppressed by the silver.
• Luca leaned in, his voice dropping so low only those closest could hear.
• "Why out of everyone, did it have to be you?"
• I stared up at him through the haze of pain. "That's exactly what I'd like to ask."
• His jaw tightened. Ivy practically plastered herself to his side, her suffocatingly sweet perfume masking his scent. The cloying smell cleared my head instantly.
• Luca raised a hand, silencing the crowd.
• "Tonight, I will announce my choice."
• An elder frowned. "Luca, the Moon Goddess has spoken. The Omega beside you carries your mate scent."
• Annoyance flashed in Luca's eyes.
• "She's nothing but a stray. A low-ranking Omega," he sneered, his voice carrying over the silent courtyard. "She has no wolf form. No combat ability. No bloodline records. The Crescent Moon Pack needs a powerful Luna, not a useless piece of trash raised between the kitchen and the infirmary."
• Something ripped inside my chest. Not because of his insults.
• But because he said "stray". In front of everyone. The secret my mother had guarded with her life, weaponized against me to seal my fate.
• Luca threaded his fingers through Ivy's.
• "Ivy will be my Luna. As for Amy, I will sever this mistake myself."
• The elder paled. "Rejecting a fated mate will cause severe backlash for both of you!"
• A dark smile curved Luca's lips. "I can handle it."
• He turned back to me, the familiar disgust returning to his eyes.
• "I, Luca Vane, future Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack, reject you, Amy Gray, as my fated mate and Luna."
• The words hit me like physical blows.
• When the bond snapped, I heard my own bones pop. Blood surged up my throat, choking me. I slumped against the stone, my wrist blackened and blistered from the silver. A gaping, hollow void opened in my chest.
• Luca stumbled backward. He clutched his chest, the color draining from his face in the firelight.
• His wolf was fighting the backlash. He was in pain.
• But my pain was a hundred times worse.
• Ivy caught his arm, shooting me a triumphant glare. "Accept it, sister. Don't make Luca suffer any longer."
• I lifted my head, blood dripping from my chin and staining the snow.
• The elder murmured a warning. "Amy, as long as you refuse to accept the rejection, the bond will keep tearing at him. The backlash won't stop."
• Everyone expected me to beg. To cry and plead for Luca to take it back. After all, an Omega who lost her mate would likely lose her wolf—and probably die before the next full moon.
• Luca thought the same. He looked down at me, fighting through his own agony to maintain his arrogant sneer.
• "Accept the rejection. Then get out of my pack."
• I laughed.
• The sound tore at my bloody throat, sending dark spots dancing across my vision.
• "I, Amy Gray, accept your rejection, Luca Vane."
• Luca folded. He doubled over, gripping the edge of the dais as Ivy screamed his name in panic.
• Deep within me, my wolf let out one final, mournful whimper. Then, absolute silence.
• It was a terrifying emptiness. But I felt no regret.
• With a trembling, bloodstained hand, I pulled the moonstone pendant from my collar and pressed it against my chest.
• "From this moment on, you are not my mate," I rasped, my voice barely a whisper but loud enough for him to hear. "And I am not your cure."
• Luca looked up, panic flashing in his eyes—a panic he didn't even realize he was showing.
• I turned and began the slow, agonizing walk down the steps.
• The guards stepped in to block my path.
• Luca gasped out a command. "Throw her out. No one gives her food, water, or medicine. She takes absolutely nothing from the Crescent Moon Pack."
• I stopped. "My mother is buried here."
• It was Luca's father, the current Alpha, who answered.
• "She wasn't your real mother. She just found you. Her grave belongs to the pack."
• My fingers tightened around the moonstone pendant. I traced the old crack on its back. My mother's dying words finally made sense. "When you come of age, go to the Northern Forest to find the answers."
• I hadn't understood then. I did now.
• Luca jerked his chin at the guards. "Throw her out."
• They grabbed my arms, hauling me forward. The silver cuff dug deeper into my raw wrist with every step.
• Ivy trotted after us, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
• "Run fast, sister. The rogue wolves in the North are always hungry."
• I didn't look back.
• Because the wind had shifted. A new scent drifted through the cold air.
• Cedar wood. Cold stone. And burning embers.
• It wasn't a Crescent Moon scent. It came from the North.
• And in the dead silence of my soul, my wolf opened her eyes.