Chapter 1: The Night the Moon Broke Her

[RHIANNON]

The dress didn't fit right.

I tugged at the deep green fabric, watching it bunch awkwardly around my waist in the cracked mirror. My reflection showed what I already knew—I looked like someone pretending to be something she wasn't. Exactly what the pack saw every day—too much. Too soft. Too wide. The kind of body that made wolves whisper when I passed, their voices just loud enough for me to catch fragments.

Heavy.

Thick.

How did she even pass training?

My dark auburn hair fell over my shoulders, hiding some of the scars from old training accidents. The ones on my wrists stayed visible, though—thin white lines that proved I'd survived things that should have broken me.

Too bad I couldn't hide the rest.

'You're beautiful,' Nyx whispered, but even my wolf sounded uncertain.

I pressed my hand against my stomach, feeling the softness there that never went away no matter how hard I trained. Four years. Four years since the bond snapped into place and showed me Laziel was mine. Four years of him pretending I didn't exist while the pack made sure I knew exactly what they thought of the Moon Goddess' mistake.

Because that's what I was.

A mistake.

Laziel had never accepted the bond. Never claimed me. Every Moon Festival, I waited for him to either accept or reject me outright, but he did neither. Just left me hanging in this awful limbo where I belonged to no one and nothing.

Tonight was different, though. Tonight was the final Moon Festival before pack law forced a decision. Accept or reject—no more waiting.

I'd spent weeks dreading his rejection, playing the scene over in my mind until I could almost taste the humiliation. The way he'd look at me with those cold blue eyes. The way the pack would finally have permission to cast me out completely.

But yesterday, something shifted. Laziel had looked at me across the training grounds and smiled. Actually smiled. My heart had stuttered in my chest, hope flaring to life like a match in the dark.

'Maybe he's changed his mind,' Nyx had said. 'Maybe tonight he'll finally see us.'

I wanted to believe it so badly it hurt.

Downstairs, the packhouse hummed with preparation. Wolves carried lanterns past my door. Pups shrieked with laughter. Elders arranged offerings in the main hall. Everything smelled like cinnamon and woodsmoke and anticipation.

I slipped through the chaos invisibly, the way I always did. Maya shoved a basket of white flowers into my arms without a word, already turning away. I took them to the outer courtyard and arranged them along the stone pathway, my hands steady even though my heart raced.

The sun dipped lower. Drums started—deep and primal, rolling through my chest. Wolves gathered in the ceremonial clearing, and I followed, trying to make myself smaller among the crowd.

Then Laziel arrived.

He strode into the clearing like he owned the moon itself, golden hair catching torchlight until he practically glowed. Murmurs rippled through the pack—admiration, desire, envy. His ceremonial leathers fit perfectly, showing off everything I wasn't.

When his eyes found mine, he smiled again. That same smile from yesterday.

Hope exploded in my chest, bright and desperate and so dangerous I almost choked on it.

'He's going to accept us,' Nyx breathed.

The Luna's bell chimed—high and clear, signaling the moment for bonded mates to step forward. My legs shook as I moved toward the ceremonial stone. Laziel watched me approach, still smiling, and for one perfect second I let myself believe the Moon Goddess hadn't made a mistake after all.

Then his lip curled.

He laughed.

The sound cracked across the clearing like a whip, vicious and sharp. Wolves shifted uncomfortably. The bell's echo died.

Laziel's voice dripped with disgust. "Did you actually think I'd claim you?"

Heat flooded my face. The smile. Yesterday's smile. It had all been leading to this moment. One final cruel joke before he destroyed me.

"God, your body disgusts me!" He gestured at me like I was something rotting. "Is the Moon Goddess insane to bind us together?"

My hands went numb. I couldn't breathe.

"Oh, I beg you to look in the mirror; you are twice my size!"

Laughter erupted from the crowd. Not everyone—some wolves looked horrified—but enough. Enough that shame crashed over me in waves.

'Rhiannon, we need to leave,' Nyx begged.

I couldn't move. Couldn't think. This was happening in front of everyone. Every wolf who'd ever whispered about my weight and my worthlessness was watching Laziel confirm what they'd always known.

He turned away from me like I'd already ceased to exist, walking straight toward a group of high-born females near the torches. Beautiful, slender wolves who giggled as he whispered something that made them flush.

I stood frozen beside the ceremonial stone. Alone. Exposed.

The ceremonial stone seemed to pulse with silver light, mocking me. The Moon Goddess' supposed blessing felt like a curse burning through my veins.

'This is wrong,' Nyx whimpered. 'The bond—it shouldn't feel like this—'

But it did. It felt like dying while still breathing.

Laziel's hand slid around one of the females' waists. She leaned into him, her scent—something floral and cloying—mixing with his ash. They moved toward the edge of the clearing, and I realized with dawning horror what was about to happen.

"Laziel." My voice broke. "Please—"

He glanced back; eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "Oh, you're still here?"

I watched him lead them into the darkness. Watched him kiss the first one slowly, deliberately, his eyes finding mine to make sure I saw. To make sure I understood.

This was my punishment for existing. For being fat. For daring to be chosen when I clearly didn't deserve it.

'Turn away,' Nyx pleaded.

But I couldn't. Some broken part of me needed to witness this. Needed to feel every moment so I'd never forget why hope was poison.

The sounds from the shadows carved into my chest and hollowed me out. The pack dispersed, no one wanting to acknowledge what was happening. I stood there alone, waiting for permission to stop existing.

Eventually Laziel emerged, adjusting his leathers. The females trailed behind him, smug and satisfied. He walked straight toward me, and for one stupid second I thought he might apologize. Might explain that this was all some terrible mistake.

"I reject you."

The words punched through my chest.

"I will never accept you as my mate and Luna!" His voice carried across the clearing. "You are banished. Get out of my pack. Now!"

The bond snapped.

Not gently—like something inside me exploded. I gasped, doubling over as pain shredded through every nerve. Nyx howled, the sound echoing in my skull.

Laziel had already turned away. Done with me.

Banished.

I had nowhere to go. No family—they'd died years ago in a rogue attack. No friends who'd risk sheltering someone the Alpha's son cast out.

Nothing.

My legs remembered how to move. I stumbled backward, away from the stone, away from the torches. The first sob built in my throat, but I wouldn't let it free. Not here. Not where anyone might hear.

I ran.

The forest opened before me, shadows welcoming me into their depths. Branches whipped at my face and caught in my hair, but I didn't slow down. Couldn't slow down. If I stopped moving, I'd shatter completely.

'Where are we going?' Nyx asked, frightened.

'Anywhere,' I thought back. 'Anywhere but here.'

My dress tore on thorns. My feet bled. I didn't care.

The bond's severed edges scraped against my soul with every step, raw and agonizing. I'd heard about rejection before—whispered stories of wolves who never recovered, who went feral from the pain. I'd always thought they were exaggerating.

They weren't.

The moon rose higher, merciless and bright. Its light filtered through the canopy as I ran deeper into territory I didn't recognize. Rogue lands, maybe. Or nowhere at all.

I collapsed when my legs gave out, gasping against a tree trunk. The sobs finally broke free—violent and endless until I shook with them.

Everything the Moon Goddess promised was a lie.

Everything I'd believed about fate and bonds and belonging—gone.

I was nothing. No pack. No mate. No purpose.

'Rhiannon.' Nyx's voice cut through my spiral. 'Something's wrong.'

I felt it then—trembling that started in my hands and spread up my arms. My bones ached, shifting under my skin. The moon's pull grew stronger, demanding.

Not now. Not here.

But my body didn't care. The shift was coming, dragged forward by trauma and the moon's cruel timing.

I tried to stand, but my legs buckled. Tried to breathe, but my lungs were changing shape. My dress tore as my body began to transform, and I didn't have the strength to fight it.

The last thing I saw before the shift took me was the moon glowing silver behind the trees.

And gleaming eyes watching from the darkness beyond.