Chapter 1

LYRA

“Don’t say it.” 

My voice comes out all wrong. Too small, too exposed and not like I had imagined this moment would be. But then I had never imagined a moment like this. Not exactly like this. Not to me.

The Alpha’s hall is warm and full of people. The low buzz of conversations, the smell of food and the smoke from several candles fill the room. 

I had been standing at the edge of the room as I always did at gatherings like this, not wanting to be noticed. That was until his eyes met mine. 

I could still feel the sparks where his hand closed around my wrist. Couldn’t he feel it? Why then is he doing this?

The greatest thing that could happen to any werewolf happened to me just twenty minutes ago.

I found my mate. 

The one person picked for you by the moon goddess. The one who is supposed to love and care for you for the rest of your life.

At least I thought that was how it was going to be.

One minute I am standing at the edge of the room trying my best not to be noticed, the next minute I am looking into the eyes of my mate. 

He had a strange look on his face as he stared at me. His eyes roving over my figure then going back to my face with barely concealed longing. 

My first instinct was to jump on him and stake my claim as my wolf howled with joy. I was stopped in my tracks by the conflicting expressions on his face— hunger, longing followed by anger and a look of resolve.

Of all the people in Ashveil Pack. Of all the people in the world. Why did it have to be him?

Dylan Ashbourne,

The Alpha’s son.

“I felt it.” I murmur. “You felt it too. I know you did”

“I did.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

Dylan turned his face away from me and towards the crowd we were slowly drawing in. When he looked back at me his expression had settled into something decided. 

“Don’t.” His jaw tightened. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be”

“You’re going to reject me?” I could hear the pain I was feeling in my voice as the reality of my situation dawned on me.

His eyes softened for a moment as they roam my face. I can see the lust and hunger filtering across his face but he looks away quickly. His breathing ragged. 

“Emery is pregnant,” he says gruffly. 

The words hit me like a punch in the gut.

“We have been together for four years.” Dylan said more to himself than to me as he released my wrist—the warmth going with it— which had been in his grip this whole time after he dragged me from the crowd. 

“She’s carrying my child. I can’t—” He paused, and as though putting an end to an internal battle, continued like he wasn’t ripping my heart to shreds. “I won’t do that to her.”

“But…I’m your mate” I whispered in a desperate plea. 

“You’re an omega. You are not fit to be my mate. Emery will be a strong Luna and she will give me powerful heirs.”

How could he be so cruel? I searched his face for something—guilt, hesitation, anything at all that looked like this was hurting him as much as it hurt me—and only found a steely resolve.

“I’m your mate Dylan.”

“I know what you are.”

“Do you?” I hiss. “You wouldn’t do this if you did. Don’t you know what happens to a rejected mate? The pain? The suffering?”

“You’ll survive” He stated cruelly.

I went still. How could he say that so casually as though discussing the weather? I have known Dylan my whole life and I always held him in high regards but today just proved that you never really know a person. 

“Lyra, I need you to understand that this is not personal.”

“Not personal? You’re rejecting me in front of the entire pack and you expect me to take it in stride?”

“Can you keep your voice down?” He murmurs, his voice panicked.

“Dylan?”

Hearing his name he instinctively took a step away from me.

Emery Coldwell, our Beta’s daughter, appeared at his side looking breathtakingly beautiful. She touched his arm with an air of familiarity and let her gaze move briefly to me before returning to his face like I wasn’t worth her time.

“Is everything alright?” She asked, stroking his arm. 

“Fine.” He replied as he covered her hand with his. An action that looked too intimate to watch.

Emery’s appearance seemed to change Dylan’s demeanor and cement any conflicting thoughts he had.

I watch it happen. Even before he opens his mouth I know what is about to happen. 

“I, Dylan Ashbourne, future Alpha of Ashveil pack—”

“Please.” I reach out in an attempt to stop him but he brushes me off.

“---reject you, Lyra Thorne, as my mate and the future Luna of my pack”

The pain I feel is immediate and consuming, spreading through me like wildfire and replacing the warmth I felt from finding my mate. My wolf cries and howls in pain before going completely silent. I claw at my chest, trying to reach the pain, trying to make it stop.

My knees give up first. 

“Please… please make it stop,” I scream, looking up at Dylan from my crumpled position on the ground. “I’ll do anything…please.”

Nobody helped. Nobody came forward. They didn’t even offer. Nobody wanted to be on the wrong side of the Future Alpha. 

My knees buckle as my hands grip the edge of a table, I hold on for dear life since it is the only solid thing I can reach.

My vision blurred. I blink hard as the whole room swims back into focus but everything is still too much. I was feeling too much. The lights were too bright, the people were too loud, the room was too full of people who chose their social standing over kindness and common decency.

I collapse back on the floor. Crying.

I was crying. For years I had fought to look strong in this pack, to not appear weak, to not insight pity. All that came crashing down in the space of one hour because the moon goddess decided to give me Dylan Ashbourne as a mate. 

Get up! Something inside me said Not here. Don’t let them see you like this.

My wolf. I thought I would loss her as most rejected mates do. 

It took longer than it should have but I got up. I am shaking, my face is wet and I know I’m never going to forget what this room looked like from the floor.

Not even sparing Dylan a glance, I walk to the door killing the urge to run. I will never let them see me in a vulnerable state ever again. Even when the night air hit my face and my legs almost fail me on the stairs outside I refuse to run. 

I focus on the cold air filling my lungs and the grass beneath my feet as the trees close around me . 

I crumbled to the ground a safe distance from the Alpha’s and let out all I had been holding in. 

My mate had looked at me and seen someone not worthy to be his mate. 

My pack had looked at me and seen someone not worthy of help. 

I had waited my whole life to find my own person and look at what happened. 

I should have known better. 

XAVIER

I had not planned to stay long. 

Blackridge pack had no business at an Ashveil’s gathering and I did not pretend otherwise. I was here because Godric Ashbourne— the Alpha of Ashveil—owed me a conversation he had been avoiding for months, and I was done waiting for him. I had planned to stay for an hour before returning to my pack.

That was until I heard a low cry.

He is rejecting his mate? Doesn’t he know an Alpha needs his true mate to be strong?

I watched the girl go down as their bond severed. I heard her cries from across the room and watched the pack deny her help.

I watched her get up. That part stayed with me longer than I expected it to. 

She is strong.

“Who is she?” I ask my Beta, Cain, who accompanied me to Ashveil.

“Lyra Thorne,” he whispered. “She is an omega and an orphan. She has no family in the pack.”

“What was Godric’s reaction?” I inquired.

A pause. “He seemed pleased.”

“I wonder why.” He should know his son is making a mistake. Why didn't he stop him?

We watched the girl cross the grass below the window, alone, until the darkness took her.

“I want you to find out everything about her,”

Cain hesitated, “The omega? Can I ask why?”

“Because I think she just became very useful to me.”