THE LUNA HE THREW AWAY

I walked into Moonstone Hall and instantly knew I was in trouble. It wasn’t intuition or some wolf sense; I don’t have those. It was the smell. Usually, the place smelled like cedar and old power, but tonight it felt like a funeral for someone still alive. That someone was me.

People stared at me like I was a car wreck they’d been waiting to see. They didn’t look at me as a person, more like I was just gossip. The whispers kept going, a soft hum that always meant a pack execution was coming.

"Look at her," someone breathed. That was Sarah, a girl with a noble wolf but a nasty attitude. "No mark, no jewelry, no decent shoes. Does she think Kael will claim a human?"

I smoothed my dress. My mom had spent three nights fixing it, her eyes red and her hands quivering. She'd sewn her hopes and concerns into the seams, trying to make me look like a Luna. I knew I looked like a girl in a costume that didn't fit.

The Hall was a joke. It had arched windows, soft moonlight, and white candles. It was set up for a fairy tale. The emblem over the dais told the real story: a dark wolf trapped among thorns. That's the Thornridge way. Power costs. It usually costs in blood.

"Lira," a voice rumbled.

I stiffened. It was Silas, the Beta. He didn't hate me. That would have been easier. He pitied me like you would a dog about to be put down.

"The Alpha is ready," he said.

"I'm aware, Silas. I have ears." My sound came out more pointed than I meant. I needed to be tough.

I walked to the circle. My heart raced like a trapped animal, fear and hope pressing against my chest. It had been three days since I saw Kael. No calls, no messages. Just silence, and doubt settling in.

He knew. He had to know. We grew up together. He's the future, the leader. I'm the girl who can't shift, the human.

When we were alone, he'd looked at me like I was the only one who mattered.

"Silence has weight, Lira," he'd told me. "Some things take time."

I'd lived on those words. Now, as fact dawned, the hope in them withered inside me, leaving only disappointment.

The Beta slammed his staff on the stone. The room went silent. Kael appeared, dressed in no medals, no fancy regalia. He was huge, his shoulders wide, his face carved out of granite.

He didn't look at the crowd. He didn't look toward Silas. He looked at me.

My body betrayed me. The mate bond raced in my chest. It was warm and dull, a pain that wanted to scream for him.

Kael arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Stopped in front of me. I could smell him. Burnt wood, winter wind, and ozone. His look was a wall.

Silas’s voice echoed through the hall. "Tonight, under witness of blood, moon, and pack, Alpha Kael Thornridge is called to name the woman fate has chosen to stand at his side."

My hands were sweating. This was it. My nerves twisted between hope and terror. This was the moment when the gossip would end. This was when I would become Luna, or maybe not.

"Alpha Kael," Silas continued, "do you claim Lira Vale as your fated mate and Luna of Thornridge?"

The silence was agonizing. I watched Kael’s eyes. There was no sign of the man who once held me, or the boy who told me being different was a gift.

He didn't need a microphone. His words cut through the Hall, as chill and absolute as a winter grave.

"No."

The word hit me like a punch. I felt the air leave my lungs. Something snapped inside my chest, like a cord breaking.

The room gasped. A thousand people drawing in the air.

Silas stumbled over the ritual words. "Alpha... The bond... The Moon's decree...."

"The Moon may decree what it wishes," Kael stated, his eyes still locked on mine. "A pack is only as strong as its weakest link. Thornridge needs a Luna who can lead a hunt, not one who needs a bodyguard. His cruelty wasn’t careless. It was cold and precise. He didn’t speak with hate; he just delivered the words as if he were reading from a list.

A small noise escaped my throat. A whimper. Humiliation and grief tangled. That was the sound of a girl realizing her life is a lie.

Then arrived the voices. They didn't wait for me to leave.

"I told you, " someone whispered. "He was never going to choose a pet over a peer."

"She can't even. I looked at Kael, hoping he would say something. Maybe tell them to stop and let me keep some dignity. Instead, he turned his back on me and walked away, like I was something he no longer wanted. Fog drifted in through the doors, matching the cold, gray haze in my mind. I stood quietly, the so-called "Luna" in the dress, while the pack moved around me as if I were already a ghost. I wasn’t a mate. I wasn’t a leader. I was just a human girl who forgot that in a world of wolves, if you don’t have teeth, you’re just prey, you're just lunch.

And as I watched Kael disappear, one thought burned through the humiliation: I am going to make you regret this.