Reign of the broken Luna

Chapter One

“Dirt belongs on the ground, Mia, not walking around pretending to be a wolf!”

Isabella’s laughter echoed off the cold stone walls of the pack kitchen as she slammed a heavy wooden bucket of dirty washwater against my shins. The sharp pain shot straight up my bone, but I did not cry out. Crying only made them hit harder. I bit down on my lower lip until I tasted iron and kept my head bowed, staring at the muddy slush pooling around my bare feet.

In the Silver Moon pack, weakness was a crime punishable by endless cruelty. Everyone in the pack had an inner wolf that howled at the moon, shifted into heavy fur, and carried the fierce strength of predators. Everyone except me. They called me a StillBlood. My wolf was fast asleep, trapped in endless silence, leaving me completely human and completely helpless in a world ruled by fangs and claws.

“Pick it up before I break your other leg, useless trash,” Isabella sneered, wiping a smudge of soot off her pristine white blouse before turning her back on me with a wave of her manicured hand.

Her two guards laughed behind her, kicking a pile of dirty rags into my face before following their alpha’s daughter out into the crisp morning air. I slowly knelt down on the freezing stone floor, my fingers trembling as I scooped up the spilled water with a cracked wooden cup. My arms ached from twenty hours of unbroken labor, and my stomach growled with a hollow, painful emptiness that had become my constant companion.

Life in the pack house was a slow death sentence. Every single day was filled with jeers, slaps, and reminders that I was nothing more than an accident of birth. My mother had died bringing me into the world, and my father had taken his own life a year later out of sheer shame for siring a StillBlood. I was completely alone in the world, surviving purely on stubbornness and a quiet, desperate hope that things might somehow change.

Little did I know, my entire life was about to be turned upside down in the most brutal way possible.

A sharp horn blew across the central courtyard, its deep, booming note vibrating through the thick timber walls of the kitchen. That was the gathering horn. It only blew when the alpha had an announcement that demanded the presence of every single member of the pack. My heart gave a nervous flutter against my ribs. Usually, pack meetings meant public punishments, tax collection, or new hunting laws. But today, the heavy atmosphere felt different. It felt heavy, suffocating, and terrifyingly final.

I wiped my hands on my torn apron, smoothed down my faded gray dress, and shuffled slowly out the back door, keeping close to the shadows where nobody would notice me.

The central square was packed with hundreds of wolves in their human forms, murmuring quietly amongst themselves. At the front, standing upon the raised wooden platform, was Acting Alpha Marcus. Marcus was a cruel, ambitious man who had seized control of the pack years ago by pushing aside anyone who stood in his path. Standing beside him was his daughter Isabella, wearing a triumphant smirk that made my stomach twist into painful knots.

And then, near the edge of the platform, standing alone in iron chains, was Alexander.

Even broken, battered, and stripped of his alpha title, Alexander commanded the space around him like a sleeping storm. His broad shoulders were covered in thick, jagged scars from ancient battles, and his right leg dragged slightly as he shifted his weight. Once, Alexander was celebrated across the entire mountain range as the greatest alpha in history—a fierce warrior who led with honor and protected his people with unmatched strength. But a mysterious betrayal years ago had left his body crippled, his wolf silenced, and his life reduced to a miserable exile in the dark cabins at the edge of the woods.

“Quiet!” Marcus roared, his voice carrying the deep, unnatural resonance of an alpha command that made everyone in the square instantly snap their mouths shut.

The silence that followed was absolute. You could hear the dry pine needles rustling in the cold mountain wind.

Marcus paced slowly across the wooden stage, his eyes scanning the crowd with a cold, calculating glitter before landing directly on my hiding spot in the shadows. A cold shiver crawled up my spine. Whenever Marcus looked at me like that, something terrible was about to follow.

“For years, our pack has carried dead weight,” Marcus shouted, his voice echoing off the surrounding pine trees. “We have fed mouths that contribute nothing to our survival. We have coddled weakness and allowed uselessness to fester like an infection in our holy lands!”

He raised his hand, pointing a long, accusing finger straight at me. Every single head in the massive crowd turned in unison. Dozens of pairs of glowing eyes locked onto my small frame, filled with mockery, disgust, and eager anticipation.

“Mia!” Marcus bellowed, his voice booming over the square. “Step forward where everyone can see your pathetic face!”

My legs felt like heavy lead, but terror pushed me forward. I stepped out from the shadows into the harsh sunlight, keeping my eyes fixed on the dusty dirt between my feet.

“You have lived off the generosity of this pack for eighteen years,” Marcus sneered, walking to the edge of the platform and glaring down at me like I was a bug beneath his boot. “You give us no labor of value, you carry no wolf spirit, and you bring shame to the Silver Moon name. We could banish you to freeze in the deep woods, but our laws demand a purpose for every living soul.”

Marcus turned his head, flashing a wicked, cruel grin toward the chained man standing in the corner of the stage.

“Today, you receive your true calling,” Marcus announced loudly. “You are hereby stripped of all remaining pack rights and sentenced to immediate marriage with our crippled outcast, Alexander. You will pack your pathetic belongings, walk down to the dark cabins at the edge of the woods tonight, and serve as his mate until your dying breath.”

A loud wave of cruel laughter erupted through the crowd. Isabella clapped her hands together in pure delight, whispering loudly to her friends about how fitting it was for the two worthless rejects of the pack to be chained together.

I stood frozen in the center of the square, the words ringing in my ears like a death sentence. Marry Alexander? The fierce, terrifying warrior who was now a bitter, broken monster living in total isolation? Rumors said Alexander hated everyone and everything, that he spent his days smashing furniture in his lonely cabin and glaring at the trees. They were sending me straight into the jaws of a beast.

Marcus raised his hand again, cutting off the laughter with a sharp gesture. “Take her away and prepare her for the walk. The ceremony happens tonight whether she likes it or not.”

Two large guards grabbed my arms roughly, their thick fingers digging painfully into my bruised skin as they dragged me backward out of the square. I did not fight back. I did not scream. I just stared ahead at the distant, dark tree line where the lonely cabin waited for me, knowing that my miserable life had somehow just found a way to become even worse.