The Alpha Banished Mate

The rain would not stop.

It fell from the sky like cold needles, washing over the ashes that used to be my home. Smoke rose into the dark clouds, carrying the smell of burned wood, blood, and pain.

I stood there barefoot, shivering, my white dress covered in soot and dirt. The ground was muddy beneath my feet. My hair clung to my face, wet and heavy.

Around me, the people I had known all my life — people I had loved, trained with, eaten with — now stared at me like I was a monster.

“She did it!” a man shouted from the crowd. “She burned the Alpha’s house!”

“It was her! I saw her near the flames!” another voice added.

Their words came at me like stones, cruel and sharp.

“I didn’t!” I screamed back, my voice shaking. “I didn’t do anything! Please, believe me!” I cried, tears soaking through my dress. “Please, please believe me!”

No one moved to help me. No one even looked sorry. Their eyes were full of hate, full of disgust.

Then I saw him — my uncle, Alpha Leon. He stepped out of the crowd, tall and strong, his dark coat dripping with rain. He looked at me as if I was dirt beneath his boots.

Behind him stood Mia, my best friend since childhood. Her arms were crossed, her face pale, her eyes empty.

I took a small step forward. “Mia… please. You know me. You know I would never hurt anyone — not my parents. You know that, Mia. We are best friends. You know me. Please, Mia, believe me, please.”

She flinched but didn’t come closer. “I saw you, Aria,” she said softly, though her voice was shaking. “You were the last one in the house before the fire started. If it wasn’t your plan, how come only you survived? Your fake tears won’t change anything.”

My heart stopped. “No… no, I wasn’t. I went to bed early. I woke up when the smoke filled my room. I tried to save them. I tried, Mia. Please, if anyone should believe me, it’s you. Please tell them I would never hurt someone.”

Alpha Leon raised his hand, and the murmuring crowd fell silent.

“Enough,” he said, his voice deep and cold. “Aria Moon, daughter of the late Alpha Kian and Luna Helena, you are accused of burning the Alpha’s home and killing your parents.”

The words cut into my chest like a knife. I could barely breathe. “I didn’t!” I cried. “Please, Uncle, you have to believe me! I loved them! They were all I had. How would I ever kill my parents? I loved them more than anything. If anyone should be angry, it’s me!” I said, still crying. I had never cried like that before.

But there was no pity in his eyes.

“I warned your father about you,” he said slowly. “I told him a child born under a red moon would bring nothing but ruin. You proved me right tonight.”

The crowd gasped.

Tears poured down my face, mixing with the rain. “Please,” I whispered, “don’t do this to me.”

Alpha Leon stepped closer, his shadow covering me.

“You are no longer part of this pack,” he said. “From this moment, you are banished from the Silver Claw territory. If you are ever seen again, you will be killed on sight.”

Gasps filled the air.

My knees gave out, and I fell into the mud. “No… please, don’t send me away. I have nowhere to go,” I said, my eyes full of tears. I had cried out all the tears in my body — no tears left to cry.

“Then die in the woods like the curse you are,” he said.

Someone threw a rock. It hit my shoulder. Pain shot through me.

Then another one hit my arm. I heard laughter.

“Monster!”

“Murderer!”

“Get out!”

I covered my face with my arms, trembling. The sound of their shouts filled my ears. The people I grew up with were now screaming for me to leave — or die.

“Mia!” I shouted, desperate. “Please! Help me! Please, Mia, don’t leave me now! Don’t abandon me, Mia, please!”

But she turned her head away. “I can’t look at a murderer. I thought you were different. You were my friend before… but not anymore,” she whispered.

That broke me completely.

I pushed myself up slowly, the mud cold under my hands. “Fine,” I said, wiping my tears and trying to fix my hair, my voice barely a whisper. “If none of you believe me, then I’ll go.”

I looked one last time at the burning house — the only place I had ever called home — and then I turned and ran.

---

The forest was dark and endless.

Branches tore my skin. Stones cut my feet. The rain made the ground slippery, but I didn’t stop. Besides, I had seen it all — the worst had already happened to me. My legs ached as I ran, but I didn’t feel it much. The pain in my chest and my mind was much worse.

Behind me, the fire’s glow faded, swallowed by the storm.

Only the sound of the rain and my heartbeat remained.

When I finally stopped, I was deep in the woods. My dress was torn, my body freezing. I sank to the ground, breathing hard, my hands shaking.

“What did I do to deserve this?” I whispered. “No one believes me but me. I can’t take this. Who did I offend? I wish I could cry, but there’s no strength left. It feels like I’m already dead.”

No answer came — only the wind, cold and cruel.

I hugged myself, trying to stay warm. My wolf had not yet awakened — I was still seventeen — so there was no one to console me.

Tears rolled down my cheeks again. My heart ached so much I wanted it to stop beating.

I thought of my mother’s smile, the way she used to braid my hair and hum old songs.

I thought of my father’s voice, deep and warm, when he called me “little wolf.”

Now they were gone — burned to ashes — and everyone thought I killed them.

I was tired — so tired — but I had to keep walking. Something in me kept pushing me forward.

I was exhausted, but I kept moving, one slow step after another. My feet bled. After hours, I managed to find a river. I knelt down, drinking water with my injured hands.

I got up again and started walking deeper into the forest.

Finally, my legs gave up. I fell to the ground beside a large oak tree, too weak to move.

The world around me blurred. It was like I was dying — not from the pain in my legs, but from the pain of losing my parents and my pack in one night. How can one person bear all this pain?

“I’ll find out the truth,” I whispered with my last bit of strength. “I’ll make them see I didn’t kill them… I promise, Mom… Dad…”

Then everything went black.

And that was the night I lost everything — my home, my pack, my family, and my name.

That was the night I became the banished one.