Chapter 1: The Moon's cruel choice

The Silver Moon Festival was supposed to be the pinnacle of Ariyah’s life. Instead, it became the altar where she was sacrificed.

The air in the Nightfang Valley was thick with the scent of pine, roasted meat, and the electric charge of a thousand shifting wolves. High above, the moon hung like a heavy, expectant eye, bloated and silver. For Ariyah, the moonlight didn't feel like a blessing; it felt like a spotlight on a condemned woman.

She stood at the edge of the Great Stone, her fingers trembling as she smoothed the silk of her ceremonial white gown. Beside her, Alpha Kael Nightfang stood like a statue carved from obsidian. He was magnificent—all sharp jawlines, broad shoulders, and eyes the color of a winter storm. He was the man she had loved since they were children, the one the Moon Goddess herself had knitted to her soul.

He’s tense, her wolf, Lyra, whispered anxiously. The bond... it’s cold, Ariyah.

Ariyah reached out, her fingers grazing Kael’s forearm. His skin was burning, but he didn't turn to look at her. His gaze was fixed on the delegation from the Iron-Claw Pack across the clearing. Specifically, he was looking at Lady Seraphina, the daughter of the High Alpha of the North. Seraphina wasn't just beautiful; she was an army. She brought with her ten thousand warriors, a strategic border, and a dowry of gold that could fuel the Nightfang expansion for a century.

"Kael?" Ariyah whispered, her voice barely audible over the chanting of the pack elders. "The ceremony is beginning. We have to step forward."

Kael finally looked at her. For a fleeting second, Ariyah saw the boy who had once given her a crown of wildflowers in the meadow. But then, the shutter fell. His eyes turned stony, calculating.

"Not now, Ariyah," he muttered.

The High Priestess, an ancient woman whose skin looked like crumpled parchment, stepped into the center of the circle. She held a silver dagger aloft, its blade shimmering under the lunar glow.

"Children of the Moon!" the Priestess cried. "Tonight, the blood of the Alpha meets the soul of the Luna. We witness the sealing of the fated bond. Kael of the Nightfang, step forward with your mate."

The crowd went silent. The heartbeat of the pack was a singular, thrumming rhythm. Ariyah took a breath, ready to step into her destiny. She reached for Kael’s hand, expecting his fingers to lace through hers, to ground her, to claim her.

Instead, Kael stepped back.

The movement was small, but to Ariyah, it felt like the world had tilted on its axis. The pack gasped. A low murmur, like the sound of a gathering storm, rippled through the onlookers.

"Alpha?" the Priestess asked, her brow furrowing. "The Goddess has spoken. The bond is recognized. You must accept the Luna."

Kael’s voice cut through the night, cold and clear as breaking ice. "The Goddess may choose a mate, but an Alpha chooses his Queen."

Ariyah felt the blood drain from her face. "Kael... what are you doing?"

He didn't look at her. He stepped toward the Iron-Claw delegation. "The Nightfang Pack stands at a crossroads. We are surrounded by enemies. We need strength, not just... sentiment. We need an alliance that secures our borders for generations."

He turned back to the crowd, his voice booming with the authority of a True Alpha. "I, Kael Nightfang, Alpha of the Nightfang Pack, do hereby announce my intent to take Lady Seraphina of the Iron-Claw as my mate and Queen."

The silence that followed was deafening. It was the silence of a heart stopping.

Ariyah felt a physical pain in her chest, a searing heat that began at the base of her neck where her mating mark—still faint, still waiting to be fully claimed—resided. It felt like a hot coal pressed against her skin.

"And what of Ariyah?" the Priestess asked, her voice trembling with indignation. "She is your fated one, Kael. You cannot simply cast aside the Moon’s choice without consequence."

Kael finally turned his gaze to Ariyah. There was no pity in his eyes, only a ruthless, chilling pragmatism.

"The Moon’s choice is a suggestion," Kael said. "My choice is a command."

"Kael, please," Ariyah whispered, stepping toward him. She didn't care about the pride she was losing in front of the thousand wolves watching. "You know what this will do to us. The bond... it will break us both."

"I am strong enough to bear it," Kael said, his voice dropping to a low growl meant only for her. "Are you?"

"You're choosing a throne over me?" she asked, her voice cracking.

"I am choosing my pack over a girl who brings nothing but a smile and a fated thread," he countered. "Go home, Ariyah. I’ll ensure you’re cared for. You’ll have a house on the outskirts. You’ll never want for anything."

"I'll have everything but a soul," she spat, the first spark of rage flickering through her grief.

Seraphina stepped forward then, a smug, cat-like grin playing on her lips. She moved with a practiced grace, sliding her arm through Kael’s. The sight of it was a physical blow to Ariyah’s stomach.

"It’s for the best, darling," Seraphina said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "An Alpha needs a partner who can lead an army, not someone who spends her days in the infirmary tending to bruised paws."

Ariyah looked around the circle. She saw the faces of the people she had grown up with. Some looked away in shame. Others, the more power-hungry warriors, looked at her with newfound disdain. She was no longer their future Luna; she was an obstacle that had been cleared.

The High Priestess shook her head. "You invite the darkness, Alpha. To reject a fated mate on the night of the Silver Moon is to invite a curse upon your blood."

"I'll take my chances with a curse," Kael said, his eyes narrowing. "The ceremony is over. Celebrate the new alliance!"

The drums began again, but the rhythm was different—discordant, aggressive. The pack began to cheer, the sound of loyalty overriding the sense of sacred betrayal.

Ariyah stood frozen on the Great Stone as the crowd began to swirl around the new "royal" couple. Kael led Seraphina toward the feasting tables, never once looking back.

Ariyah felt the bond inside her begin to fray. It was like a silken cord being pulled until the fibers snapped one by one. Each snap was a fresh agony. Her wolf, Lyra, was howling in the back of her mind, a sound of pure, unadulterled grief.

He threw us away, Lyra wailed. He killed us.

Ariyah’s hand went instinctively to her stomach. A strange, fluttering sensation stirred there—not the pain of the bond, but something else. Something quiet. Something secret.

She hadn't told him. She had found out only two days ago. She had planned to tell him tonight, after the ceremony, as they lay together in the Alpha’s suite. She had imagined his joy, the way his stern face would soften, the way he would promise to protect them both.

But as she watched Kael lean down to whisper something into Seraphina’s ear, a cold, hard resolve began to settle over Ariyah’s heart.

He didn't want the fated mate. He didn't want the "girl who brought nothing."

Fine. He wouldn't have the child, either.

The Nightfang Pack didn't deserve an heir from a man who broke the most sacred law of their kind. If Kael wanted a realm built on power and blood, he could have it. But he would have it alone.

Ariyah stepped back from the light of the torches, retreating into the shadows of the surrounding trees. No one stopped her. No one even noticed. She was a ghost already.

She reached the edge of the clearing and paused, looking back one last time. Kael was laughing at something the High Alpha of the North had said. He looked every bit the powerful, ruthless leader he aspired to be.

"You chose power, Kael," Ariyah whispered into the dark. "But the moon sees everything. And one day, you’ll realize that the power you craved is nothing compared to the blood you’ve just lost."

She turned and ran. She didn't head for her small cottage on the outskirts. She didn't grab her belongings. She ran toward the Forbidden Woods, the territory where the pack’s protection ended and the lawless rogue lands began.

She ran until her lungs burned, until the sound of the drums faded into the distance, and until the only thing left was the silent, silver light of a moon that had betrayed her just as deeply as the man she loved.

Ariyah was gone. And with her, the true future of the Nightfang line vanished into the night.