Betrayed by the park

 Chapter 1 

Ivy’s POV

“Ivy, I reject you as my mate.”

The words were so loud that It ripped something inside of me so deeply I almost didn’t feel it at first. I just stood there, staring at him like maybe I hadn’t heard right. Maybe I imagined it.

But Vivian, my wolf, heard it too.

He did not just say that, she snarled inside me, her voice shaking with fury. Let me out. Let me show him what it means to reject us.

Vivian surged forward, slamming against my chest, trying to break free. Her anger lit a fire under my skin, hot and wild. But I held her back, barely.

Not now, I begged her. Please.

But she was howling already, echoing in my head. Her pain mirrored mine. The bond wasn’t just between Derek and me, it was between our wolves, too. And she had just been abandoned.

Derek…my Derek…looked me dead in the eyes, and there wasn’t an ounce of regret in his voice.

My mate. The man the Moon Goddess marked for me. The same man who had carried the symbol of our bond for years. The one I was promised to. Trained for. And now… rejected me like I meant nothing. Like I was just another stranger.

My fingers trembled as I reached out, desperate to touch him, to feel something real. Vivian whimpered beneath my skin, just as broken.

“Don’t touch me.” He stepped back like I was some disease. “You mean nothing to me.”

Vivian whimpered again, curling into herself. My wolf…fierce and proud…had never been this quiet before.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

I grew up in Moon Park, a place where every breath smelled of pine and magic, where the moonlight felt like a kiss on the skin. Where legends lived in the air, and whispers of prophecies flowed like water. A pack threatened by witches and cursed beings for centuries. A thousand years of fear wrapped in silence.

Then I was born.

A girl with glowing blue hair and piercing blue eyes. A sign. A miracle. A prophecy come true.

They said the Moon Goddess visited the seer in his sleep and showed him a vision, a girl with a glowing crescent mark at the back of her neck, born to bring salvation. That girl was me. At least… that’s what everyone believed.

I was cradled like glass, treated like royalty. No one questioned it. How could they? My mark shimmered under moonlight like a living flame. Even the witches backed off for years after I was born. I became the symbol of hope. I was everything. A promise in human form. But one person didn't like me. And that was Derek.

Derek. The Alpha. Cold. Ruthless. Distant.

I met him when I was twelve, and he was already twenty. He towered over me, already crowned Alpha, strong and cruel in a way that made my knees tremble. My parents had introduced me to him as my future husband. “He is your mate,” they said. “You will get married to him.”

I remembered looking up at him, stunned by how beautiful he was. Chiseled face, eyes dark like a thunderstorm, and lips that could both bless and curse. I fell instantly. My heart, young and foolish, had no defense.

But he didn’t look at me with awe. He didn’t see the savior. He pinned me to the wall, literally, and sneered in my face.

“I know you’re fake,” he whispered then. “And I will prove it. You’re a lie.”

Those words? They never left me. And Vivian had never forgotten them either. He never saw us, she growled even now. He never believed in either of us.

Since then, I tried everything to show him who I was. I trained like my life depended on it, because it did. I carried the burden of everyone’s hope. I endured bruises, sleepless nights, weapons training, mental discipline, pain… endless pain. And through it all, Vivian was there. Encouraging me. Fighting beside me. Howling when I cried in the dark.

And through it all, I told myself it would be worth it, because one day Derek would believe we were real.

But that day never came.

Now I was eighteen. The day of our Luna acceptance ceremony. The day he was meant to acknowledge me. The day we were meant to begin our journey together.

Instead, he stood before the entire pack and said those words. Cold. Merciless. Final.

“I knew from the beginning,” Derek continued, turning to face the gathered elders and seers. “She and her family scammed us. And now, the truth has come out.”

Murmurs erupted around us. Confusion. Shock. The crowd stirred like a rising storm. Vivian’s claws itched to shred through the lies.

“What are you saying?” I demanded, stepping forward again, eyes wide. “Look at me! Look at my hair, my eyes, my mark. I am the one! I’ve always been the one!”

He scoffed. “Everything about you is fake. Your whole life has been a lie. A trick. Elders, look at her! She is not who she claims to be.”

My throat tightened. “Why are you doing this? You know I’ve trained my whole life for this. You know..”

Then the crowd gasped.

A shadow stepped out from behind Derek.

A girl.

A girl who looked exactly like me.

Same glowing blue hair. Same luminous eyes. Same delicate features. For a heartbeat, I thought I was looking into a mirror… but no. She was slightly taller. Her aura, stronger. Sharper. Radiant.

Vivian froze inside me.

This… isn’t possible…

I stumbled backward.

“No…” I whispered. “No, no, no…”

The murmuring swelled like a rising tide. Heads turned. Eyes widened.

“She looks just like her…”

“She’s glowing…”

“Is this the real Luna?”

“Could it be…?”

Derek stepped forward, his voice booming now, triumphant.

“Everyone, look. This is the real Luna. This is who the Moon Goddess sent. The girl in the prophecy. Not Ivy. Her.”

“No!” I cried out, tears welling in my eyes. “You’re wrong! That can’t be…”

Fight back! Vivian screamed. Don’t let them erase us!

“The seer will decide,” someone shouted.

“Yes! Bring the seer!”

The crowd parted as the elder seer stepped forward, his staff tapping against the ground. Ancient, blindfolded, but powerful, his presence hushed the noise instantly. He turned his head toward us, as if his sightless eyes could still see.

“We shall reveal the truth now,” he said. “Raise your hair. Let us see the mark.”

My hands trembled as I gathered my hair. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want the truth to hurt more than it already had. But I had to.

The girl did the same.

A wave of silence swept through the park.

Then…gasps. Audible gasps.

Her mark glowed brighter.

So much brighter.

Mine… flickered.

Not gone. But weak. Dimming.

No. No, this can’t be! Vivian wailed inside me, grief-stricken. We are the prophecy!

“NO!” I screamed, but the sound was swallowed by the roar of the crowd.

“She’s the fake!”

“She deceived us!”

“Liar!”

Someone threw something. A fruit. It hit me in the chest. I fell to my knees, stunned, breath knocked from my lungs.

More things followed. Stones. Words sharper than blades.

“Fake!”

“Get out!”

“You deceived the whole pack!”

But then, something snapped.

A cold rush swept over me, sharp and primal. My vision blurred. My lungs seized.

Vivian surged forward.

My eyes burned….literally burned…as they shifted into a glowing silver, the mark of my wolf coming to the surface. My fingernails cracked and lengthened into claws, sharp and black, tearing through the tips of my gloves. My breathing turned ragged, guttural.

The world went silent around me.

The crowd froze.

Some backed away in fear.

Even Derek’s smug face faltered, just for a second.

“She’s shifting…!”

“No…stop her!”