Chapter 1

Tonight was the Blood Moon Festival, the night Kyle and I were supposed to seal our mate contract and get married.

Werewolves spent their whole lives waiting for their fated mate, but Kyle had waited thirty years, yet his fated mate had never appeared.

As the strongest female warrior of the pack, I had fought at his side for five years, pacifying the borders and expanding our territory.

Although there was no soul bond between us, we were still perfectly matched in battle. So, we decided to stop waiting for that vague, elusive one and instead chose to join forces.

Tonight, as long as I put on that thorned ruby crown, I would become Luna.

The torches around the altar crackled in the night wind, stretching every werewolf's shadow into something twisted and ferocious.

I stood at the center of the altar in an elaborate black velvet gown with my back straight.

Kyle carried the heavy crown in both his hands and climbed up the steps, slow and deliberate.

Just before his fingers touched my hair, a flurry of panicked footsteps shattered the silence of the sacred altar.

"No... Don't kill me! Help!" A human girl named Mia screamed and stumbled through the barrier by mistake.

Eric had saved her from a hyena half a month ago, and she had been clinging to the side hall ever since, refusing to leave. According to Eric, she was just a simple young woman who was obsessed with werewolf legends.

She was in a thin white dress tonight, and Kyle's Alpha aura slammed her to the ground, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Kyle became still, not just from irritation at the interruption.

More than that, a sweet, overwhelming scent of a fated mate came from that frail human body and wiped out every logic in his mind in an instant. Kyle's pupils shrank, edged with the crimson that marked an Alpha on the verge of losing control.

He even forgot who I was and what night it was.

He whirled around, rushed down from the altar like a gust of wind, and dropped to one knee in front of that girl.

He was confirming it.

From his back alone, I could see how excited he was, and things seemed to be slipping out of my control. I narrowed my eyes, a little annoyed.

"It hurts... My heart is beating so fast..." Mia said as she clutched her chest, her face deathly pale.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here." Kyle's voice trembled, full of tenderness and passion he had never given me. He looked at the fragile girl in his arms and went silent for a long moment. Then, Kyle set that crown that should have belonged to me onto Mia's messy hair.

The elders shot to their feet in shock, and Eric, the Beta, was even more stunned.

That was the Luna's crown! How could it be placed on a mere human's head?!

Mia timidly raised her head, one hand holding the crown. "Who are you? What is this? It's so heavy..."

She looked around curiously at everything, and when her eyes met mine on the altar, the coldness in my gaze frightened her into a shiver.

Kyle quickly shielded her completely behind him and snapped his head up to look at me, his eyes sharp and full of threat. "She's just a human! Don't scare her!"

That was the first time he had scolded me in public.

All the pack members turned to stare at me in shock, and for a moment, the air went frighteningly still.

I stood on the altar, the night wind whipping the hem of my velvet gown as I looked down coldly at the two people below.

I looked at Kyle, who had once promised to protect the pack with me, and watched him trample the pride of the pack and my dignity under his foot for the sake of this so-called fated instinct.

"Kyle." I started first, my voice so calm that even I was surprised by it. "Do you know what you're doing? That is the Luna's crown. Putting it on her means you acknowledge her as your Luna, and this worthless human doesn't deserve it at all."

"Selene!" Kyle cut me off impatiently, the beast inside him wild and overprotective now that it had found its mate. "Mia is the fated mate I've waited for for so long. As long as I say yes, she can still become the future Luna even if she's only human!"

"You casually gave the Luna crown to a fragile human during the ceremony in front of the pack," I said as I stepped forward, my high heels clicking on the stone slabs as I moved toward him. "This is not only an insult to me, but it's also irresponsible to the entire pack."

"Enough!" Kyle roared.

The Alpha's pressure swept across the holy place like a tidal wave, forcing the werewolves below to lower their heads and drop to one knee.

Kyle looked around, his gaze fierce. "Selene, you're strong and a born warrior. I agreed to marry you only to protect the pack. With or without a crown, Luna or not, you can still fight at my side! Stop making trouble without cause!"

I stopped two steps away from him, and the two of us faced each other in silence.

Mia, however, seemed completely unaware of the tight tension.

She cluelessly slipped out from under Kyle's broad arm, her large eyes full of confusion, her fingers unconsciously clutching Kyle's forearm. In that instant, I clearly saw Kyle's body shudder.

Kyle had never touched such a fragile, delicate human woman, one who seemed as if she would break with the slightest force. That unprecedented soft touch and her unique sweet scent instantly detonated the instincts he had kept suppressed inside.

His pupils narrowed sharply, and his breathing turned rough.

"Are you sure about this, Kyle?" I watched the scene before me and asked him coldly one last time.

Roar…!

What answered me was a roar gone out of control.

Kyle's muscles bulged all over his body as he locked that tiny person tight in his arms, his eyes already fully beastlike and fixed on me. "Don't push me. For her... I can tear anyone to pieces—even you."