Chapter 1 The Moon Doesn't Lie

• The night they banished me, the moon didn’t weep.
• It hung above the Crescent Pack’s ceremonial grounds in cold silence, silver and indifferent, watching as the people I once called family tore the mark from my shoulder and cast me into the shadows like a stray.
• I didn’t cry.
• Not when Beta Kai the man I’d grown up loving, the male who was supposed to be my fated mate stood in front of me, eyes cold, jaw clenched, and spat the words that shattered every bone in my chest.
• “You’re not my mate, Lupita. Whatever bond you felt, it was a mistake.”
• A mistake!
• As if the Moon Goddess had somehow fumbled the stars when she tied our souls together.
• As if I hadn’t spent every year waiting for my eighteenth birthday, praying that when my wolf awakened, she would call out to him and he to me.
• But the moment came, and instead of recognition… there was rejection.
• There was Kai, standing before the pack council, accusing me of betrayal—of harboring secrets, of aiding rogues, and dishonoring my bloodline. All lies. All fear. Because I had a power inside me that no one could explain, not even me. And because Kai, despite his title, was a coward.
• Now I was nothing. No pack. No title. No home.
• A lone wolf.
• An outcast with a torn shoulder and a scar where a bond should have been.
• The forest was colder outside the territory lines. The Crescent border shimmered faintly behind me, sealed by magic that no longer recognized my scent. My wolf, Mira, whined low in my mind, restless and wounded. The bond severed between us and the pack had left her quiet… smaller somehow.
• Keep walking, I whispered to her. We’re still alive. That’s all that matters.
• I didn’t know how long I wandered. Hours. Maybe days. My body was running on instinct. My torn ceremonial dress was soaked in blood, mud clung to my calves, and my ribs ached from where one of the guards had struck me on my way out.
• I should’ve shifted.
• But I was too weak. Too tired. And deep down, I was afraid I’d shift and never come back.
• That Mira would vanish like the rest of me.
• Just as I stumbled against a crooked tree trunk, a howl sliced through the night.
• It wasn’t from a Crescent wolf.
• This one was deeper. Fiercer. There was power in it. Raw and ancient, like the forest itself was listening.
• I froze.
• Another howl answered, closer this time. I wasn’t alone.
• Mira whispered, "Rogues."
• And then came the scent. It was metallic, sour, wrong.
• I turned to run, but it was too late. Two figures emerged from the trees, eyes glowing amber, their bodies shifting mid-step. They were big, twisted, and snarling. Their wolves looked barely human, more beast than man.
• The first lunged.
• I screamed, dodging just in time, but my ankle twisted on a root, and I crashed to the ground with a sharp cry. Pain shot through my leg, and before I could move, the second rogue was on top of me, his fangs flashing, claws aimed at my chest.
• I raised my arms in defense, heart racing.
• And then
• A blur of black fur tore through the air.
• A growl, low and thunderous, shattered the forest silence.
• The rogue on top of me was thrown back as another wolf landed in front of me, larger than any I’d ever seen, his coat midnight dark, his eyes glowing like wildfire. He didn’t hesitate. With lethal grace, he lunged at the rogues, tearing into them like death itself had come to dance.
• I lay still, breathless, blood pounding in my ears.
• The fight was over in seconds. The rogues fled, limping and howling, and the dark wolf turned to me.
• His eyes—gods, those eyes pierced through the shadows, locking onto mine with such force it felt like my soul had been yanked forward.
• He stepped closer.
• And shifted.
• One moment, he was fur and fury. The next, he was a man tall, scarred, naked under the moonlight, with a presence that made the earth hold its breath.
• His chest rose and fell, muscles taut, a long scar curling across his collarbone. His hair was dark and damp with sweat. And his gaze…
• It wasn’t kind.
• It wasn’t gentle.
• But it was curious. Controlled.
• And it made my broken heart stutter.
• “You’re not from here,” he said, voice low and sharp.
• I swallowed, trying to sit up. Pain burned in my ankle.
• “I—I’m not a threat,” I rasped. “Please. I was banished. I didn’t mean to enter your land.”
• He crouched beside me without touching, studying me like a puzzle he didn’t trust.
• “You’re Crescent.”
• “Not anymore,” I whispered.
• Something flickered in his eyes. A twitch of the jaw. His gaze dropped to my shoulder, where the mark of my pack had been violently burned off.
• He didn’t ask what happened.
• He didn’t need to.
• He stood again. “You’ll die out here if you stay alone.”
• “Then let me,” I murmured, closing my eyes. “It’s not like anyone would care.”
• Silence stretched between us. I expected him to walk away. To leave me like the rest of them did.
• But instead, I heard him sigh.
• And then shockingly his arms wrapped around me, warm and strong, lifting me like I weighed nothing.
• I flinched. “What are you doing?”
• “I didn’t save you just to watch you bleed out in my woods.”
• “I didn’t ask to be saved.”
• He glanced down at me, those wildfire eyes narrowing.
• “No. You didn’t. But that doesn’t mean I’ll let you die, little wolf.”
• I opened my mouth to protest, but something in his scent calmed Mira. Made her stir for the first time in days.
• He wasn’t a Crescent.
• But he wasn’t a rogue either.
• “Who are you?” I asked hoarsely.
• He began walking, barefoot and sure, through the trees. “Ronan Vale.”
• I blinked. The name hit like lightning.
• The Alpha of the Night fang Pack.
• A ghost story. A legend. A warning whispered to pups who didn’t obey.
• And now, somehow, the most feared Alpha on the continent was carrying me into the night.
• Not as a prisoner.
• But as something else.
• Something I didn’t dare name yet.
• I had been cast away beneath a silent moon, but the night had delivered me into the arms of a wolf even the stars seemed to fear.