MATED TO THE REJECTED ALPHA

-------The road to Moonstone Pack smelled like pine, rain, and memories I tried to bury.Three years.1095 days since I last saw the gates with the big wolf head carved into them.1095 days since Kade’s voice broke me.My hands gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles went white.“You don’t have to do this,” I told myself. “Turn around, Luna.”But my phone buzzed again.Same unknown number._“She’s getting worse. Please. 20 minutes.”_Her.Kade’s younger sister, Maya.She was 12 when I left. Always followed me around, calling me “sister.”I sighed and pressed the gas.The pack gates opened automatically when my car approached. They still recognized me.Or maybe they recognized my scent.The Moonstone territory looked the same. The same tall trees. The same lake. The same training field where Kade first kissed me when we were 15 and thought no one was watching.My wolf, Lyra, stirred. _Home.__Not home,_ I snapped back. _Never again._The pack house was chaos.Wolves were runnin

*Chapter 4: The Traitor*Dawn came with sirens.I woke up to banging on the cabin door.“Luna! Kade! Open up!” It was Elder Mara.Kade was already on his feet, gun in hand. When did he get a gun?He opened the door.Mara looked panicked. “It’s bad. 3 more wolves collapsed last night. And the lake... someone drained it.”My stomach dropped.We ran back to the pack house. The rain had stopped but everything was mud and chaos.Warriors were guarding the water supply. Healers were running.And in the great hall, lying on a stretcher, was Beta Damon.Kade’s best friend. His second.He was pale. Lips blue. Black veins up to his neck.“Is he—” I started.“Alive. Barely,” Mara said. “He was the one who found the lake drained. He must’ve confronted whoever did it.”Kade knelt beside Damon. His fists were clenched. “Who did this?”Damon coughed. Blood on his lips. “D-didn’t see... mask...”Then he passed out.Kade stood. His whole body was vibrating with rage.“Seal the pack. No one in or out.

*Chapter 6: The Kiss That Broke The Bond*The council room was a war zone.Six elders sat around the stone table. All of them staring at Kade’s neck.At her mark.“You marked her!” Elder Rowan slammed his fist on the table. Spit flew. “After you rejected her publicly! After you called her a traitor!”Kade sat at the head of the table. Unmoving. Luna stood behind his chair. The mark on his neck was visible. Glowing faintly silver.“She was poisoned,” Kade said flatly. His voice was cold. “I saved her life.”“By binding her to you?” Rowan sneered. “Convenient. Now no one can question her. Now no one can touch her.”Luna stepped forward. Her hands were shaking but her voice was steady. “I found the vial. I found the note. My sister is framing me.”“Lies,” Rowan said. “The traitor’s daughter lies to protect herself. Just like her father did.”Kade’s wolf surged. _Mine._The bond pulsed between him and Luna. Hot and angry and desperate.“Say it again,” Kade growled. The room temperature dr

---*Chapter 8: The Mate Mark Burned*The training room was empty. That’s what I thought.I had come to grab my dagger before curfew. The last thing I expected was Alpha Kieran Blackwood leaning against the weapons rack, arms crossed, watching me like I was prey.“Lost, omega?” His voice was low. Rough. Like gravel and sin.I froze. “I’m not an omega. And this is my pack too, Alpha.”He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Your sister was an omega. The weak one I rejected in front of the entire pack. And now you come sneaking around my territory at night?”My sister. Luna Mae. The girl he humiliated and threw out three months ago. The girl whose name he spat on like she was nothing.I lifted my chin. “I’m not her.”“No,” he stepped closer. “You’re not.”He smelled like pine and storm clouds and power. It made my knees weak and my wolf whine. That was impossible. I wasn’t even supposed to have a wolf yet.Kieran’s eyes dropped to my neck. To the bare skin where a mate mark would go

*Chapter 10: The Ghost Walks In*I stared at Kieran’s hand.In front of 50 people. The Alpha who rejected my sister was now claiming me.My fingers trembled as I took it. His grip was warm. Possessive. The second our skin touched, the mark on my neck burned.Whispers turned to shouts.“This is wrong!”“She’s just like Mae!”“The moon goddess has lost her mind!”Kieran squeezed my hand once. “Enough.”The room went silent.“We will discuss this in private,” he said. “Council dismissed.”But we never made it to his office.Because the great doors of the meeting hall slammed open.And she walked in.Mae.My sister.The entire pack gasped.Three months. It had been three months since Kieran threw her out in front of everyone. Her hair was longer. Her eyes were harder. And around her neck... a silver collar. The collar of a rogue.But she was walking in here like she owned the place.Behind her, two unfamiliar wolves. Scarred. Dangerous. Not pack.“Mae,” I whispered.Her eyes found mine