Chapter 3: The Wolf and the Wound

Lila’s POV

Three days

It's been three long days since the ceremony and laughter lingered across the halls. Every whisper in the Silverfang estate, every hushed word cut deep like a dagger pressed into my throat. Every glance felt like a reminder of the girl who was rejected turned down cast away. Kael Nightbane had rejected me infront of the gods and both our packs.

Mother acted like she didn’t care, her chin helf hijh as she wrote letters, to smooth things over. But I saw the shadow of disappointment that crossed her gaze when she thought nobody noticed. To her, my shame and humiliation was nothing but an inconvenience. Bothersome. To me it felt like venom.

The rejection bond throbbed within me, painful and relentless. Every beat echoed his name — a non stop , stinging rhythm. Each breath felt like fire. Nobody ever mentions how messy the rejection is — how it shreds through you ripping away every part of the bond, until you're raw vulnerable and half-mad.

And Kael did it without even blinking.

He held my affection, once upon a time. Or better put I'd loved the idea of him, the possibility he represented — a future alpha, powerful leader who once in a while paid me mind. However, that illusion shattered when he rejected me.

A desire for revenge simmered. It wasn't simply hurt feelings; I craved his downfall. I wanted to destroy him.. To make the all high Kael Nightbane remember the girl he publicly humiliated and flinch when my name is spoken.

Deciding came so easy after that.

Remaining here meant fading into nothing but mother’s shadow, smothered by pity. But out there, beyond Silverfang territory lay old forgotten skills, ancient power, and wolves who bow to none. If I couldn’t be his Luna, I would become someone forever beyond his reach.

The servants avoided me as I gathered my things. News spreads quickly within the walls of a pack house. I threw my ceremonial silks into the flames, watching as their golden stitching twisted to ash. Let them murmur. Let them call me cursed.

The first light of dawn found me facing my reflection, clad in tough leather rather than delicate fabric. I looked feral – wild hair, eyes raw, lips set in a deep frown I couldn’t care enough to hide. Let them see what a rejection as humiliating as that does to a person.

I ripped the Silverfang pendant off my neck tossing it across the room. The chain snapped hitting the wall with a satisfying crack.

“You wanted a weapon, Mother, I muttered, then that’s exactly what you’ll get.”

Darkness still lingered in the sky overhead as I slipped past the guards by the east gate. The forest laid beyond carrying the scent of rain, also liberation.

Every step I took away from the walls I was raised in, unraveled something inside me. Though the pain still lingered — raw sharp and searing, beneath it something darker began to stir.

Power.

Perhaps it was madness.

Perhaps it was the moon taking pity on me.

Either way, for the first time since the ceremony; I felt alive.

I stood on the the ridge overlooking the valley that divided the Silverfang territory and Nightbane holdings. Distant fortress lamps glimmered resembling unattainable stars.

“You wanted to reject me, Kael? Fine. But you’ll remember my name when the world kneels to it.”

The wind carried my words toward the darkness and the trees shifted swaying in what seemed like an answer — gentle, low and hopeful.

I refused to look back at the walls I once called home, there was simply no reason to. The girl who had sought and waited for the moon's favor and blessings — that girl had died in that hall three nights ago.

A different girl ventured into the woods.

Someone wild and untamed and unstoppable.