Return of the Rejected Luna

I smelled him before I saw him.My wolf froze mid-step, and then she screamed inside my head: Mine!The word hit me like a thunderbolt, and my wine glass slipped from my fingers, shattering on the stone floor of the moon lodge.Around me, the Blood Moon Pack's celebration continued without pause; wolves laughed and danced, their bodies bare under the moonlight. Among our kind, nudity carried no shame, only freedom. But I heard none of it, and I saw none of it.I saw only him.He stood across the crowded room, tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair falling across his forehead and silver eyes locked onto mine from about fifty feet away.The music faded, and the world narrowed to the space between us. I could feel it thrumming within; a bond I had only read about in ancient texts snapped into place like a chain forged beneath the Moon's watchful gaze.Fated mate. My fated mate."Rya?" Lila grabbed my elbow, her auburn hair wild around her face. "What is wrong? You look like you've see

The forest changed around me as I stumbled deeper into the dead zone. Trees grew twisted and pale, their branches clawing at a sky I could barely see.The air felt heavy, wrong, as if the land itself was holding its breath. No patrols came here, no wolves howled at night. This was the forgotten edge of Blood Moon territory, where the pack bond faded to nothing and even the Moon Goddess seemed to look away.Perfect for someone who wanted to disappear.I walked and walked until my feet bled against sharp rocks. The silence inside me was still deafening. Artemis had not stirred since Zarek's rejection, and I had stopped calling her name. Every time I reached for her, I found only emptiness, and that emptiness hurt worse than hunger or thirst."I am going to die here," I whispered to the twisted trees, "alone and forgotten."Darkness crept at the edges of my vision. Then I heard footsteps."Moon above," a gruff voice said. "What have we here?"I tried to lift my head, but I could not.Han

***SEVEN YEARS LATER***Naya was seven years old, and she had never seen another wolf outside of Theron and me.She had his eyes, Zarek's eyes, silver and sharp and full of questions I could not answer. Most nights she asked about her father, and every time I told her the same lie, telling her he was dead. I told her he was a sailor who had died at sea a few months before her birth because it seemed easier than the truth, easier than saying he rejected me before the sun rose and he was not aware of her existence.She asked what he was like, if she could go to sea, or if she could see a picture of him. She asked if she got her silver eyes from him, and sometimes I would put together a lie that I would forget the next time she asked the same question.She had caught me in my lies numerous times, and on other nights when I was worn out from the day's work, I would turn away from her and pretend to sleep even as she called out to me.The lies had grown heavier with each passing year, a we

Zarek spiked forward a single step, his silver eyes widening as they darted from Naya’s similar silver eyes up to my face.The illusion of the stranger dissolved instantly, and the muscle near his jaw tightened into a hard knot as the realization finally hit him."Rya," he breathed, his voice a whisper that seemed to shake the very foundations of the cottage.I did not break eye contact, refusing to show the tremor threatening to tear through my knees as the past rushed back in waves.I stepped fully in front of my daughter, blocking his view completely and forcing him to look only at me. "The Alpha has paid his respects, has he not?" I said, devoid of any emotion. "The old man is gone, and there is nothing left for you here."Zarek did not move an inch, his jaw setting into a rigid line. "How long has she been out here, Rya?" he demanded, his voice dropping into a dangerous tone. "How long have you been hiding my daughter in this cursed forest?""She belongs to this cottage, and she