Chapter Three: The Brutal Rejection

ARIA'S POV

The dawn came early and not soon enough.

I sat on the small bed in my crowded room, pressing my upper body tightly against my knees while watching the faint sunlight slip through the floor of the treehouse. I could not sleep. How could I rest when every part of me was still tied to the man who wanted to break me?

The bond between us remained, soft but constant. It carried his emotions like a song I never asked to hear. His determination seeped into me. That cold certainty that what he was doing was right. The decision to reject our bond for the sake of the pack.

I wanted to shut everything out. I pressed my palms to my temples, trying to steady myself. These feelings, they didn’t belong to me, but still they flowed inside me, thick and stubborn like blood. There was no silence in a connection like ours. Even if the Moon Goddess herself had tried to mute it, it still echoed. Every breath and flicker of emotion moved along the thread between us.

This would continue until I found a way to sever it completely.

A loud knock snapped through my thoughts.

“Aria,” Margaret’s voice called sharply through the wooden door.

Of course there would be no kindness. No softness. This was not a moment for mercy. The ceremony had to look perfect. For the sake of appearance, the pack needed to see that even the Moon Goddess could be overruled.

My hands trembled as I pulled the brown dress over my shoulders. The same one I had worn at the ceremony of choosing. The fabric felt heavier now. I caught a glimpse of myself in the cracked mirror, like me, and I just… stopped.

The blessing had changed me. My hair naturally brown, now it had silver threads glinting when the light hit, like the morning was trying to remind me of something I didn’t ask for. My eyes looked different. Deeper. Brighter. My spine no longer curled inward. I stood straighter, as if I were part of something greater.

But none of that mattered. I was still an omega. Still nothing.

I stepped into the hall. Every head turned and the silence didn’t last long whispers started crawling under my skin like knives.

“She still thinks she matters.”

“This is pathetic.”

“At least the Alpha knows better.”

I kept walking.

What choice did I have? If the floor had cracked open right then and swallowed me, I wouldn’t have fought it.

The great hall doors were already open. The entire pack was gathered inside.

Mothers holding babies, warriors, elders and servants pressed into the corners. They were all there for a show. The public undoing of the Moon’s so-called choice.

Sunlight poured in through the windows, stretching shadows across the floor like reaching hands.

At the very front, beneath that cold black throne, Kale stood where he belonged.

 Dressed in a clean black shirt. Perfect. Every inch the Alpha.

Beside him stood Lyric Ashford. Her silk dress was the color of clear water. Her golden hair curled gently over her shoulder. Her smile was wide and controlled. She belonged there.

 Or that’s the version they fed us, anyway.

My body walked, but I never told it to. My feet didn’t wait for permission. The bond called me forward, even as it threatened to break me. The crowd parted slowly, making a path I did not want to walk. Every step felt heavier than the last.

I felt their stares.

“Look at her.”

“She still believes she’s important.”

“She’ll be nothing after this.”

Each word sliced into me, but I kept going. There was no turning back.

KALE'S POV

I saw Aria walk toward me, and something shifted deep in my chest.

Not fear.

Something else. A change. She looked different. Her light had grown. Her presence radiated divine grace, and it threw my wolf into chaos. Recognition and resistance clashed inside me.

The silver in her hair caught the sun in a way that made it hard to look away. And her eyes—there was something in them now. She didn’t look small anymore.

But she had never been someone of rank. Always beneath me.

So why did it hurt to see her like this?

The bond still held, even now. My senses filled with her. She smelled like honey, like wildflowers crushed under bare feet, like the ground right after it rains.

My wolf stirred and let out a soft whine. I balled my fists, stayed still, reminded myself over and over that this bond….this thing between us was a risk I couldn’t take.

Lyric’s hand settled lightly on my arm.

“Do the right thing,” she whispered. “The pack needs a Luna who lifts you up. Not someone who drags you down.”

I nodded slightly. Lyric understood leadership. She was graceful, educated, diplomatic. She was the kind of Luna the pack would accept.

But when she got close, it hit me. Something sharp and deep I thought I buried. She was too close, and it hurt.

My wolf made this low sound, not loud, but desperate. It wanted me to turn around. To stop this.

Moira stood near the far wall. Her face stern. Her voice calm and firm.

“Alpha Kale. What you are doing goes against the will of the goddess.”

“My responsibility,” I replied, my voice louder than intended. “Is to the safety and future of this pack. Not my feelings. Not divine interference.”

Gasps moved through the hall. Their judgment pressed into my back like stones.

Aria was only a step away now. The bond between us burned with sorrow. Her heartbeat slowed. Her spirit broke.

She met my eyes. No tears fell, but they swam in her gaze.

Pain surged through my chest. Something inside me cracked.

But I stood firm. I had to. There could be no doubt.

ARIA'S POV

I stood before Kale, the room spinning with judgment. Every face felt like a wall I could not climb. The bond between us flickered like a dying light.

I felt his resolve. It radiated through the bond. Cold. Final.

He truly believed this was right.

But underneath, buried under that steel, something else lived. Regret? Guilt? I could not tell.

He hesitated, but not enough to save me.

“Aria Blackthorne,” Kale began, his voice steady and formal, echoing across the room.

“You were chosen by divine will to be my partner and Luna. But the goddess’s ways are not always clear to us. Sometimes she tests us. And her trials demand sacrifice.”

The words hit me like fists. This was not just rejection. It was erasure.

“I pursued this bond for three years,” he continued. “We became stronger. But I cannot let personal emotion or divine tricks ruin what we’ve built.”

Divine tricks.

The words froze me.

He was not just rejecting me. He was calling the goddess wrong.

“Alpha,” Moira said sharply. “You speak dangerously. The goddess does not trick us. She reveals truth.”

Kale’s jaw tensed, but he did not stop.

“Then explain to me,” he said. “How someone with no noble background, no training, no preparation, could lead beside me. What truth is that, if not a cosmic mistake?”

Silence fell. Heavy and wide.

Everyone stared. Waiting for me to fall apart.

I wavered.

Then I raised my chin.

And met his eyes.

“I have the blessing of the Moon Goddess,” I said quietly. “Is that not enough?”

KALE'S POV

Her words burned through me. They were soft, but they shook something in my core.

The pack shifted uncomfortably.

Even I faltered. Just for a second.

But I pushed forward. I had to end this completely.

“The goddess has erred before,” I said. “Old records speak of false bonds. Tests meant to prove loyalty. This is one of those. I choose what is right for the pack.”

Murmurs swelled through the room.

Even Lyric turned her head slightly, unsure.

But I raised my voice.

“I, Kale Morrison, Alpha of ShadowClaw, reject you, Aria Blackthorne, as my mate and Luna. I break this bond for the sake of unity and strength.”

The words shattered through the air like a blade.

Aria collapsed.

She dropped to the stone floor. The bond snapped in jagged pieces.

I felt every one of them.

Her scream tore from the center of her chest. Raw. Broken. It echoed across the hall like a spirit being torn from its body.

My wolf howled inside me.

But I stood still. I made this choice. For the good of the pack.

I told myself that again and again.

ARIA'S POV

It took a second to remember how to breathe. When I did, I noticed it. The room had gone quiet, dead quiet.

Some looked at me with pity.

Some looked away.

Some looked pleased.

None saw me.

Not as a blessed one. Not as a woman.

Just a problem.

I stood slowly. My limbs trembled. My silver hair no longer glowed. The divine light had faded.

Kale’s voice rang out.

“It is done. Let no one speak of it again. We move forward. United.”

United. As if my destruction brought them together.

I turned to leave.

Then his voice came again.

“One more thing.”

My steps froze.

“For the good of peace,” he said. “It is best you find somewhere else to live.”

His words cut colder than before.

I was not just rejected. I was exiled.

“Alpha,” Moira’s voice came low and strong. “She is still under your protection.”

“She is a mistake of divine origin,” Kale replied. “She only brings disorder. She must start fresh, far from here.”

Agreement stirred in the room.

Not one person objected.

Not one hand reached for me.

I looked at them all. These were the people I had served. Cleaned for. Watched their children. Given my all.

No one met my gaze.

“I understand,” I said.

“I will be gone by nightfall.”

As I left the hall, my heart in pieces, I made one promise to myself.

I would survive.

And one day, they would all regret what they had done to the Moon Goddess’s chosen.

The doors closed behind me.

Heavy. Final.

Sealing the fate they thought they chose for me.