Chapter Two: Who deserves Who

Lyanna's POV

"Lyanna, stop!"

The voice echoed from behind me, cutting through the chaos like a command. Who dares to stop me? I thought angrily as I turned around, ready to tear apart whoever had dared interfere. But the moment my eyes landed on the person standing several feet away, I froze.

Azrael.

My Azrael.

The very man that wolfless disappointment thought she could steal from me. The boy I had loved ever since we were children. The future Alpha of the Stygian Hunt Pack.

For a moment, I couldn't move. I simply stared at him, my anger slowly being replaced by something I couldn't quite explain. Ever since we were children, everyone had known that Azrael was mine. Or at least, that was what I had always believed.

We trained together, laughed together, and grew up beneath the same moon. Whenever the elders spoke about the future of the pack, they always mentioned his name with pride, and I would silently imagine myself standing beside him as his Luna.

I never questioned it. Why would I? I was one of the strongest females in the Stygian Hunt Pack. My wolf was powerful, my bloodline was respected, and I had spent years proving that I was worthy of becoming the future Luna.

Every bruise from training, every victory in battle, and every sacrifice I made had been for one dream: standing beside Azrael when he finally became Alpha. I had built my entire future around that dream, and I had never imagined a day when someone would come along and take it away from me.

Then she appeared.

Selena.

A wolfless nobody.

A girl who couldn't even shift.

She had no strength, no title, no wolf, and no place among us, yet somehow she managed to capture the attention of the only man I had ever loved. It made no sense. Every time Azrael looked at her, it felt like someone was driving silver claws through my heart.

Every smile he gave her became another reason to hate her, and every time he defended her, it felt as though he was choosing her over me.

I couldn't accept it, and I wouldn't accept it. The Moon Goddess couldn't possibly be so cruel as to pair the future Alpha with a useless wolfless girl while rejecting someone who had spent her entire life preparing to rule beside him.

No, there had to be another explanation. She must have bewitched him somehow. Perhaps she was pretending to be weak just to earn his sympathy, or perhaps she knew exactly what she was doing and was using her pathetic situation to make him feel sorry for her.

Whatever game she was playing, I would expose her. And if she refused to leave Azrael alone, I would make sure she regretted ever setting foot in the Stygian Hunt Pack.

Because if I couldn't have Azrael, no one else would.

I couldn't even imagine a wolfless girl becoming his Luna. The thought alone made something vicious stir inside me. I would rather die before that ever happened.

I took a step toward him, my chest rising and falling rapidly as I waited for him to say something. I expected him to look at me the way he always had. I expected him to understand why I had done what I did.

“Azrael,” I called. “What are you doing here?” I asked, putting on my best soft and gentle voice. I only use that tone when talking to Azrael, so he can know that I’m soft when it comes to him.

“So I should just stay put and watch you bully a person we all know did nothing to you?” he asked.

“Oh, her?” I said, pointing at her and faking ignorance. “I’m just teaching her a lesson. Since she doesn’t know her place, I have to put her back in it.”

“Putting her back in her place by beating her this much? You clearly know she doesn’t stand a chance against you.”

“Do you want to kill her?!” he shouted. His voice carried a command, and I could tell he was trying his best to keep his wolf under control.

“I didn’t know it would hurt her so badly. And why are you defending her, Azrael? For crying out loud, she is wolfless, and she doesn’t deserve you,” I said.

“And who deserves me?” he replied.

That caught me off guard.

“I do,” I said slowly. “I do deserve you. Can’t you see that we are fated mates? Are you blind?” I said. “We were chosen by the Moon Goddess herself. Why do you fail to recognize that yourself?”

His expression was cold and disappointed, and somehow, that was worse.

"I don't love you."

The words struck me with a force I wasn't prepared for. Each one felt like a silver blade carving through my heart. I stared at him, certain I had heard him wrong.

"What?"

"I reject you, Lyanna. I never loved you, and I never will."

My entire world shattered.

For a few seconds, I couldn't breathe. Reject? He was rejecting me? After everything? After all the years we had spent together, every training session, every conversation, and every moment I had imagined us sharing?

My wolf howled inside me, refusing to accept his words. No. This couldn't be happening. Azrael couldn't reject me.

Not for her.

Not for Selena.

But before I could even process the rejection, Azrael turned away from me. He didn't look at my face again. He didn't care about the tears threatening to fall from my eyes or the pain he had just caused me.

Instead, he walked straight toward Selena, who was lying unconscious on the ground with her body covered in bruises from the beating I had given her. Azrael knelt beside her without hesitation and gently lifted her into his arms as though she were the most precious treasure in existence.

I watched him cradle her against his chest, and something inside me cracked all over again. There was tenderness in his eyes, a softness I had never seen directed at me, and that sight hurt more than his rejection ever could.

My fingers curled into fists as my wolf clawed violently inside me, begging to be set free. The rejection burned through my veins, turning my heartbreak into something darker, something dangerous.

Then my eyes landed on a young she-wolf standing among the crowd.

She was smiling.

Actually smiling.

So... she was enjoying my humiliation?

Fine.

I would erase that smile from her face.

I didn't think.

I simply moved.

The fight began.

No, it wasn't a fight—it was an execution.

I slammed my fist into her jaw, sending her crashing into the dirt. She cried out in pain and struggled to stand, but I didn't give her the chance. My foot slammed into her ribs, launching her several feet across the arena, and before she could recover, I was already moving toward her again.

Another punch.

My fist connected with her face, but the impact barely registered. All I could see was Selena lying safely in Azrael's arms. I grabbed the young she-wolf by her hair and yanked her to her feet before throwing her into the wooden barrier surrounding the arena.

Her body crashed against the wood with enough force to make it crack.

Another punch.

The tenderness in his eyes whenever he looked at Selena flashed through my mind, and I struck the she-wolf again. She coughed blood as she struggled to crawl away from me, but I caught up to her in seconds and drove my knee into her stomach, knocking the air from her lungs.

She curled into herself, gasping for breath, but I didn't stop.

Another punch.

The way he rejected me without the slightest hesitation replayed in my mind. My fist came down again, and again, and again. I couldn't hear the crowd anymore.

Their voices had disappeared beneath the roar of my own anger, and I couldn't hear her screams either. Everything around me seemed to fade until there was only one thing left.

Selena.

Her face.

Her body in Azrael's arms.

The way he had looked at her.

The way he had rejected me.

All I could hear was Azrael telling me he would never love me.

I struck the she-wolf again and then again. My breathing became ragged, but I didn't care. My hands hurt, my knuckles were burning, and my entire body trembled with rage, yet I couldn't make myself stop.

She had nothing to do with Selena, and she had nothing to do with Azrael, but at that moment, I needed someone to blame. Someone to pay for the pain inside my chest.

And she was there.

By the time I finally came back to my senses, the young she-wolf lay motionless on the ground. My chest heaved as I stared down at her, and for a moment, I simply stood there, trying to understand what I had done.

She had lost consciousness.

Maybe...

She was dying.

The thought finally broke through the anger clouding my mind. For the first time, I noticed the silence. Fear had spread across everyone's faces as several wolves rushed into the arena and immediately surrounded the unconscious she-wolf, carefully pulling her away from me.

No one dared meet my eyes.

No one dared utter a single word.

Even the wolves who had been cheering moments ago were suddenly silent. I looked around at them, daring someone to challenge me, but nobody did.

I shifted back into my human form. Among werewolves, nudity after shifting was completely natural. It carried no shame because everyone transformed the same way, and no one dared comment as I stood there, breathing heavily and staring at the crowd.

Without sparing anyone another glance, I turned and walked toward my house, completely naked, leaving nothing but silence and terror in my wake. My footsteps echoed behind me as I walked away from the arena, but the humiliation, the rejection, and the image of Azrael carrying Selena wouldn't leave my mind.

I had spent my entire life believing that Azrael would eventually be mine. I had imagined standing beside him when he became Alpha. I had imagined the entire pack bowing before us, and I had imagined wearing the Luna crown and having his mark on my neck.

I had built an entire future around a man who had just looked me in the eyes and told me he had never loved me.

And now?

A wolfless girl had taken my place.

A girl who didn't deserve him.

A girl who had done nothing to earn his love.

A girl who had somehow managed to take everything I had spent my life preparing for.

My hands curled into fists again as the anger returned.

Selena had taken the one thing that belonged to me.

Azrael.

If the Moon Goddess wanted a war, then I would give her one. I didn't care if Selena was wolfless. I didn't care if Azrael loved her. I didn't care if the entire pack stood against me.

I had already lost the man I loved, and there was nothing left for me to lose.

And before this was over, Selena would beg for the mercy I had no intention of showing. Because if she thought being Azrael's beloved would protect her from me, she was about to learn just how wrong she was.