The Pack's Awakening

The dawn had barely broken when the guards returned to the heart of their territory. Their paws thundered against the earth, chests heaving, eyes wide with the weight of the tale they carried. As the first wolf let out a piercing howl, the pack stirred from slumber.

Word spread like wildfire.

"She fought Ronan... alone."

"She saved the Alpha."

"Diva. The Luna. She didn't run."

The whispers grew louder. Wolves gathered in clusters around the training grounds, the courtyards, the open fire pits. The guards stood at the center of it all, relaying what they'd seen with their own eyes. Ronan, the rogue who had once torn through border patrols without mercy, was dead. And it wasn’t Derek who brought him down. It was her.

Diva.

The name rang different now.

They had called her weak, a mistake. Some had said she was a curse sent by the Moon Goddess herself. A Luna without bite. A mate who couldn’t hold her Alpha's gaze, let alone stand by his side. But now?

She was the wolf who stood when her Alpha fell.

Elder Marrok, the oldest living member of the council, limped toward the crowd, leaning on his carved wooden staff. His eyes, still sharp with years of judgment, settled on the guards.

"Speak again, and speak true," he growled.

The youngest of the guards, a sandy-furred wolf named Elric, stepped forward. His voice trembled, not with fear, but with awe. "Ronan was going to kill Alpha Derek. We couldn’t stop him. He was too strong. But Luna... she shifted before any of us could react. She fought like a true Alpha. Not just to survive. She fought to protect."

The air grew still. For a moment, even the wind seemed to listen.

"She risked her life. Took blow after blow. And when Ronan fell, it was her fangs in his throat."

Gasps, disbelief, and then a strange hush.

Marrok nodded slowly, his voice low but firm. "The Moon chooses not with mortal eyes, but with divine purpose."

A chorus of approving murmurs rose.

Among the younger wolves, a sense of awe swelled. Pups who once mocked her now looked toward the main den with wide, reverent eyes. Even hardened warriors who had once doubted her began to speak of her differently.

"She didn’t have to fight," said one. "But she did."

"For him," said another. "For all of us."

Yet not all shared in the wonder.

In the shadows near the back of the gathering stood Kyra, a striking she-wolf with piercing green eyes and a temper as sharp as her claws. Once, she had openly sought Derek's favor, convinced she was better suited to be Luna. Her lips curled in a sneer.

"Are we sure they didn't exaggerate?" she said, loud enough for those near her to hear. "Perhaps Ronan was already weak. Or maybe it was luck."

Her words slithered like venom into the ears of a few impressionable wolves.

"Why would the Goddess bind an Alpha to someone like her?"

But even as Kyra spoke, the tone around her had shifted. Doubt lingered, yes. But it was fading. What Diva had done could not be erased by jealousy or poison.

---

Meanwhile, within the healer’s den, Derek stirred.

The herbs laced in the poultices made his mind foggy, but the pain in his ribs had dulled. Light streamed in through the circular skylight, casting gold across his bare chest. He blinked slowly, adjusting to the stillness. It was quiet here, too quiet for an Alpha who had been at death's door.

He turned his head and saw Caleb sitting nearby, half-shifted, his eyes vigilant.

"You're awake," Caleb said, standing. "You should rest."

"What... happened?" Derek croaked. His throat was dry as sand.

Caleb hesitated.

"You were nearly killed by Ronan."

The memories came back in shards. The rogue's sneer. The crushing pain. And then... Diva. Her scent. Her howl. Her fury.

"Diva?" he whispered.

"She's safe," Caleb said. "She saved you."

Derek blinked again. "What?"

Caleb repeated it, slower. "She fought Ronan. Alone. Killed him. Brought you back."

Silence fell.

And then, for the first time in years, Derek felt something he hadn't allowed himself to feel.

Shame.

Memories tore through him, merciless. The way he had denied her a place at his side. The leash he kept on her. The orders. The cold looks. The sharp words. Every freedom she had once held had been stripped the moment the Smoothsayer declared her his mate.

Not once had he asked if she wanted the bond.

Not once had he considered her heart.

He had seen her as a tool. A seal to power. A placeholder for a Luna.

And still, she had saved him.

He turned his head toward the doorway of the den, where the wind carried the distant sound of howls and murmurs.

They were chanting her name now.

Not in mockery. Not in doubt.

With reverence.

"I treated her like a cage," he whispered, voice hoarse. "And she still chose to protect me."

Caleb looked at his Alpha, eyes unreadable. "She made her choice. Now you need to decide what to do with it."

---

Outside, Diva sat beneath the Moon Rock—a sacred boulder at the edge of the training field. Her fur was damp with the morning dew, her bones sore from battle, but her mind was sharper than ever.

She could hear them. The pack. Talking. Whispering. Shifting. Changing.

They saw her now. But the question that gripped her chest like iron was... was it too late?

She didn’t do it for their praise.

She didn’t do it for power.

She had done it to save Derek. Because no matter how he had treated her, she couldn't watch him die.

But now that the bond between them was broken, she didn't know where she stood. She wasn’t bound to him anymore. She could leave. The road beyond the mountains called to her. A new life. Freedom.

And yet, her heart was torn.

Would she be running to something new?

Or just running away from what scared her most?

Footsteps crunched the earth behind her.

She turned.

Derek.

He stood there, healed but quiet. Not the cold Alpha. Not the harsh leader. Just a man—a wolf—who had been saved by someone he had once tried to control.

He didn’t speak.

He didn’t command.

He knelt beside her.

And for the first time, he bowed his head.

To her.

To his Luna.