Chapter 1: Despised

Lilith’s POV

I have spent my whole life weaving lies. Carefully, intricately, like a spider spinning its web. And tonight, all my efforts were about to pay off.

The grand hall of the Blood Moon Pack was alive with light and music, the scent of jasmine and cedarwood filling the air. The Mating Ball was the most important event of the year, the night where fated bonds were revealed. But I had no intention of leaving my fate to the Moon Goddess. No—I had already decided how my story would end.

I belonged to Kieran.

The future Alpha stood at the center of the room, exuding power and authority, his broad shoulders tense as he listened to some warrior’s report. His dark, neatly styled hair framed a face carved from stone—sharp jaw, high cheekbones, piercing blue eyes. Every unmated she-wolf in the pack was watching him, hoping, waiting, wondering if the Moon Goddess had chosen them.

I knew better.

I adjusted the delicate gold chain around my throat, the one Kieran had gifted me on my last birthday, and walked toward him with calculated grace. My crimson gown hugged my body perfectly, the deep slit in the side revealing just enough leg to draw his attention.

When I reached him, I placed a hand on his arm, making sure my touch was light but possessive. “I can’t wait for the ceremony,” I whispered, my lips curling into a smile. “We both know how this will end.”

Kieran glanced down at me, his expression unreadable. Something about it made my stomach twist.

“Do we?” he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.

I stiffened. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

But before I could question him, the room hushed.

The Elder stepped forward, holding the sacred chalice in his hands. A shiver of anticipation ran through me. This was the moment I had waited for—plotted for. The moment fate would recognize what I had already made certain.

Kieran was mine.

The Elder raised the chalice, his voice ringing through the hall. “Tonight, we honor the will of the Moon Goddess. She shall reveal the fated mate of our future Alpha, Kieran Alistair of the Blood Moon Pack.”

A hushed silence fell. My heartbeat thundered in my ears.

This was it.

The Elder closed his eyes. The air crackled with energy. I held my breath, my fingers digging into Kieran’s sleeve.

And then—

“Kieran’s mate is… Selina Devereaux.”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard. The words felt distant, unreal. Then, like a thunderclap, they hit me all at once.

No. No. NO.

A suffocating silence filled the hall. Gasps followed. Whispers.

My blood turned to ice. My nails sank into Kieran’s arm, but he didn’t move.

He was staring across the room, his blue eyes locked onto someone else.

Selina.

She stood frozen, her golden eyes wide with shock. The delicate silver dress she wore shimmered under the lights, her dark waves cascading down her back.

I wanted to scream.

This wasn’t happening.

This couldn’t be happening.

Selina was nothing. A nobody. A servant’s daughter.

She didn’t deserve him. She didn’t deserve the life I had planned.

I turned to Kieran, willing him to deny it, to fix this. To look at me and choose me like he always had.

His jaw tightened. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. And then—

“This is a mistake.” His voice was sharp, commanding. “You’re wrong.”

The Elder’s brows furrowed. “The bond has been revealed. The Moon Goddess—”

“I don’t care what the Moon Goddess says.” Kieran’s voice cut through the room like a blade.

I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

And then he did something even I hadn’t expected.

“I reject you.”

The words echoed like a death sentence.

A collective gasp filled the hall. Shock rippled through the pack. Even his father, the current Alpha, looked stunned.

Selina sucked in a sharp breath, her whole body trembling.

I watched, triumphant, as the light in her eyes dimmed, as her lips parted in disbelief.

She looked… broken.

Good.

She should be.

The Elder hesitated. “Kieran, rejecting a fated mate is—”

“I don’t care,” Kieran snapped, his voice harder than steel. “Selina is not my mate. Lilith is.”

Relief flooded my veins. The pack began murmuring again, but this time, it was different.

“Maybe the Goddess made a mistake,” someone muttered.

“Yes… Kieran and Lilith have always been close.”

“She risked her life for him once. The Goddess wouldn’t separate them.”

I almost laughed. How easy it was to sway people. They believed what they wanted to believe.

Kieran turned to me then, his grip on my waist tightening. The way he looked at me—it wasn’t love. It wasn’t even desire. It was desperation.

He was clinging to me because I was the only thing he had left.

And I would take it.

I lifted my chin, giving him a small, knowing smile.

Selina turned without a word and walked out of the hall, her steps slow, her back stiff.

She didn’t even fight for him.

Pathetic.

As the pack cheered around us, celebrating my victory, I allowed myself to bask in the moment.

I had won.

Kieran was mine.

And nothing would take him from me.

Or so I thought.

Because hours later, as I prepared for my Mating Ceremony, I felt a presence behind me.

A cold, gloved hand clamped over my mouth.

Panic exploded in my chest. I struggled, tried to scream, but the grip was too strong.

Then—a whisper. Low. Menacing.

“Did you really think you could steal what was never yours?”

And just like that, the world went black.