Chapter 2 : The Alpha’s Verdict

Moana’s POV

The forest suddenly became so quiet I could hear the soft snow falling on the leaves.

I remained on my knees in the cold dirt. The golden light continued to glow between my chest and Eldrick’s heart. It felt warm, like a soft blanket, but fear made my whole body shake. I looked up at the high stone ledge. Eldrick stood there, staring down at me. His face showed no kindness, only dark, angry fire.

“Please, Alpha,” I whispered. But my voice was too small for him to hear.

I wanted to tell him I was not my father. I wanted to tell him I had worked hard for the last three years to prove I was a good wolf. But the words stayed stuck in my throat.

Eldrick took a step closer to the edge of the rock. He looked at the golden cord, then at the hundreds of wolves watching us.

“Look at her,” Eldrick shouted. His voice cracked like thunder across the clearing. “Look at the mate the Moon Goddess has given to your Alpha.”

Elara laughed first. It was a mean, sharp sound. Sela joined her, her voice loud and cruel.

“She is a servant!” Elara yelled. “She cleans the toilets!”

“She is the daughter of the man who tried to kill you, Alpha!” a man in the clearing shouted.

“She is a stain on our pack!” Sela barked.

I pulled my arms around my body. I felt so small, like a bug everyone wanted to crush under their boots.

The golden light pulsed once, twice, trying to pull me toward him. My wolf — the small, quiet animal inside me — wanted to run to him. She wanted to shift, howl, and lick his face. She thought we were finally safe.

He is our mate, my wolf whispered inside me. He will protect us.

But my mind knew better. Eldrick did not want to protect me.

“Silence!” Eldrick roared. The pack went quiet at once.

He turned his golden eyes back to me. They were cold and hard. There was no love in them, only disgust.

“Moana Ashclaw,” he said.

My name sounded like a curse on his lips.

“You think because the moon chose you, you are my Luna? You think you will sit on a throne next to me?”

I looked up at him, tears running down my face.

“I… I don’t want a throne,” I swallowed hard. “I just want people to see me for who I am.”

“I see you,” he spat. “I see a traitor. I see the blood of the man who tried to end my life. I see a girl too weak to even stand up straight.”

He lifted his right hand. The golden cord began to shake. It felt like he was pulling on my heart with a sharp hook. The pain made me gasp for air.

“Eldrick, wait!”

Kaelen, the Beta, stepped toward the ledge. Worry showed on his face.

“The bond is sacred, Eldrick. The Moon Goddess does not make mistakes. Maybe there is a reason…”

“Reason?” Eldrick murmured.

“The reason is a test, Kaelen!” he yelled, turning to his Beta. “The Goddess is testing my strength! She wants to see if I will be weak and follow a bond, or if I will be a strong leader and protect my pack from bad blood.”

Kaelen glanced at me. For a second, his eyes looked soft, like he felt sorry for me. But he was only the Beta. He could not stop the Alpha.

Eldrick turned back to me. He stood tall, looked at the red moon in the sky, then down at the dirt.

“I, Alpha Eldrick Blackthorn,” he began.

The air in the forest screamed. A strong wind picked up and blew the bonfire flames in every direction. The golden light between us started to turn gray. It fought against him, refusing to break.

“No,” I cried out again. I reached my hand toward him. “Please, Eldrick! It hurts!”

He did not care. He did not even blink.

“I reject you, Moana Ashclaw, as my mate and as the Luna of the Blackthorn Pack,” he shouted.

The words hit louder than thunder.

The golden cord did not just fade. It exploded. A bolt of lightning struck the center of my chest. I flew backward and hit the hard ground.

The pain was worse than anything I had ever felt. It felt like my heart was ripping in half. Like acid was burning through my skin and deep into my bones.

I screamed like a dying animal. I curled into a tight ball in the mud, clutching my chest, trying to hold my soul together.

On the ledge, Eldrick groaned. He stumbled back and clutched his own chest. His face turned pale. But he quickly stood straight again, forcing himself to look strong.

The light disappeared. The forest grew dark once more. Only the red moon and the dying orange fire remained.

“The bond is broken,” Eldrick said. His voice shook, but he sounded proud. “I have cast the traitor out. She is nothing to me now. She is nothing to this pack.”

The wolves began to howl. It was not a happy sound. It was a victory howl over an enemy. They celebrated my pain.

Sela walked up while I was still on the ground. She looked down at me and kicked dirt onto my dress.

“Did you hear him, rat?” she whispered so only I could hear. “He hates you. We all hate you. You should have died with your father.”

I could not move. I could not breathe. Every breath felt like broken glass cutting through my lungs and chest.

I looked up at the ledge one last time. Eldrick was already walking away. He did not look back. He did not care to check if I was okay. He disappeared into the dark trees with his head held high.

Kaelen stayed for a moment. He looked at me lying in the mud and opened his mouth to speak, but Elder Marek stepped beside him.

“Leave her,” Marek said, his voice cold. “She is a rejected thing now. She must find her own way back to the cellar. If she survives the night, she has floors to scrub in the morning.”

One by one, the wolves left the clearing. They laughed and talked about the party they would have later. They left me alone in the dark.

I stayed in the mud for a long time. The bonfire died down to gray ash. The red moon hid behind a cloud.

My chest felt cold and empty. The warm golden feeling from before was gone, replaced by a deep black hole.

We are alone, my wolf whimpered. She was crying. She hid in the darkest corner of my mind and did not want to come out again.

I forced myself to sit up. My hands shook so hard I could barely use them. My vision was blurry from tears. I looked at the spot on my chest where the light had touched me. A small red mark burned there now, like a scar.

It was the mark of a rejected mate.

I stood up slowly. My legs felt like water. I held onto the trees so I would not fall.

I walked back toward the pack house, but I did not go to the front door. I took the small wooden door that led to the cellar. I walked down the stone steps into the darkness.

I crawled onto my small bed made of straw. It was cold and smelled like dust.

“I am Moana,” I whispered into the dark cellar. “I am not a traitor. And I do not deserve this.”

But as I closed my eyes to sleep, all I could hear was Eldrick’s voice.

“I reject you, Moana Ashclaw.”

The words echoed in my head again and again. I fell asleep with fire burning in my chest, wondering if I would wake up the next day.