PROLOGUE

​ELENA'S POV

​The silver moonlight shone through the windows of the sacred pack hall. It felt heavy, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my chest.

​I was on my knees, staring up at the stage. My cheap dress was torn at the shoulder. Up there stood Kaelen. He looked magnificent and terrifying in his ceremonial furs. He was every bit the Alpha King he had just been crowned. Right beside him stood Lady Tanya, the daughter of the wealthiest Alpha in the north. Her hand was tucked tightly into his arm.

​"Kaelen, please," I whispered. My voice cracked.

​The mating bond between us was thick, golden, and humming with energy. I could feel his heartbeat. I knew the Moon Goddess had made us for each other.

​But Kaelen did not look at me with love. His eyes were as cold as ice. He looked at me like I was dirt on his boots. I was just an omega orphan. A liability.

​"Silence, omega," Kaelen commanded.

​His Alpha aura flared, pressing me flat against the marble floor. I gasped for air. Inside my mind, my wolf whimpered in submission.

​Kaelen took a deep breath and addressed the high council. His voice boomed through the hall, shattering my world.

​"I, Kaelen Vance, Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack and King of the Western Territories, reject the arrangement of the heavens," he announced. He looked me dead in the eye. "You are weak, Elena. You bring nothing to my throne but vulnerability. I reject you as my mate, and I banish you from my sight."

​A scream of pure agony ripped from my throat.

The entire hall fell silent for a heartbeat. Not because they cared about my pain, but because even the strongest wolves in the room could feel the violence of a broken mate bond. The ancient magic that had connected two souls chosen by the Moon Goddess was not meant to be destroyed so easily.

My wolf clawed desperately inside my mind, searching for the warmth that had always belonged to her. She had spent nineteen years waiting for him. Through every insult, every lonely night, every moment I was reminded that I was unwanted, she had whispered that someday our mate would come.

She believed Kaelen would be different.

She believed he would see me.

But the man who was supposed to protect me had been the one to destroy me.

​The golden bond snapped. It felt like my heart was being hacked out of my chest with a dull blade. My wolf howled in mourning, curling into a ball of dying ash inside my mind.

​Blood welled in my mouth, dripping onto the white marble floor. Through my tears, I watched Kaelen turn his back on me. He placed a golden crown on Tanya’s head. The crowd cheered.

Nobody looked at the dying girl on the floor.

I memorized every face in that hall. Every noble who looked away. Every warrior who lowered their eyes because they were too afraid to challenge their new king. Every person who watched an orphan omega lose everything and decided her suffering was an acceptable price for their celebration.

They wanted a queen who carried wealth. They wanted a mate who strengthened their politics. They wanted a woman they could display beside a throne.

They never wanted Elena. They wanted a symbol.

And when they realized I was not useful to them, they threw me away like a broken weapon.

I looked at Kaelen one final time before the guards pulled me through the towering doors of the sacred hall.

For one impossible second, I waited for him to turn around.

I waited for the man who had once held my hand beneath the moonlight to remember me. I waited for the boy who had promised that no one would ever hurt me to see what he had done.

But Kaelen never looked back.

The golden crown sat perfectly on his head. Tanya stood proudly beside him. The entire kingdom celebrated the beginning of his reign while the woman bound to his soul was thrown into the darkness like a forgotten memory.

That was the moment something inside me finally died.

Not my wolf. Not my heart.

My hope.

I had spent my entire life begging the world to see my worth. I had accepted cruelty because I believed there was a purpose waiting for me. I believed the Moon Goddess would not allow someone like me to suffer without a reason.

But maybe I had misunderstood my destiny.

Maybe I was never meant to be saved by a powerful man.

Maybe I was meant to become powerful enough that no one would ever dare destroy me again.

​Guards dragged my bleeding body out into the freezing rain toward the forbidden Dead Woods. As the cold hit me, my sorrow began to harden. The pain faded, replaced by a cold emptiness.

He thinks I am weak, my wolf whispered. Her voice was new—dark and dangerous. Let him rule his little kingdom. When we return, we will burn it to the ground.