Chapter One

SELENE

My world was shattering.

Piece by piece, it crumbled around me, yet no one seemed to notice.

The scent of burning sage and moonflower nectar turned rancid in my throat as I stared ahead, my vision tunneling in on the scene before me. Kaith. Sylvia. Together.

His arm curled around her waist, pulling her close, and when she tilted her chin up to him, he leaned down without hesitation, brushing his lips over hers with a tenderness that should have been mine. The full moon bathed them in silver light, making them look almost celestial—two souls bound together, perfectly matched.

But that wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

Not Kaith. Not him.

Who had told me that fate was nothing but a suggestion, that he would choose me, that his wolf had already known long before this night. The same man who made promises that had rooted themselves into my bones, who made me believe—truly believe—that I would not be standing here alone.

And yet…

Here I was.

Alone.

A cold gust of wind curled around me, slipping beneath the thin silk of my ceremonial robes, white and untouched, unworn by the mark of a mate. Around me, the others stood with their chosen ones, bonds solidifying under the full moon’s glow. Their wolves rumbled in satisfaction, their auras humming with strength. Even the air itself seemed to bow to them.

I was the only one.

The realization was a physical thing—a sharp, twisting agony that coiled deep in my chest and threatened to consume me whole. My stomach hollowed, my heart a frantic beat of disbelief.

The question burned inside me, a desperate, unspoken plea, but the only answer I got was Sylvia’s laughter—low, mocking, dripping with venom.

Her piercing blue eyes glowed under the full moon, locking onto me as she pulled herself further into Kaith’s embrace. She looked at me like I was something pitiful. 

"What’s the matter, Selene?" she spat, her lips curling into a smirk. "Still thinking he was going to mark you?"

The words cut deeper than I thought possible, slicing through flesh, through bone, through every fragile hope I had foolishly held onto.

Kaith didn’t defend me.

He didn’t even look guilty.

When his gaze finally flicked down to me, his crimson eyes were cold, unreadable. Indifferent. Like I was just another face in the crowd.

I sucked in a sharp breath, my throat burning, but the air refused to settle in my lungs. Everything inside me screamed that this was a mistake, that this wasn’t real, that at any moment, Kaith would look at me and say my name the way he used to.

But he didn’t.

I clenched my hands at my sides, my nails digging into my palms, my body trembling with the effort to keep standing.

I had spent so long believing I was meant for him. That fate had carved our souls to fit together.

And now?

Now, I was nothing.

The Lunar Garden was no longer beautiful. The glowing flowers, the moonlight, the sacred energy in the air—none of it mattered. Not when I was standing there, stripped bare of everything I had ever hoped for.

Not when the one person I had trusted had just looked through me like I never existed.

“Why?”

The word slipped past my lips, raw and fractured, barely a whisper against the roaring in my ears. My breath was ragged, my chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven movements as if my own body struggled to process the reality before me.

Kaith didn’t flinch.

He didn’t even blink.

Instead, he looked at me as if my very presence was an inconvenience, as if I were nothing more than a stain on his perfect night.

"Why!!!" My voice broke as I glared up at him, desperation clawing its way out of me. My hands clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms, but the pain did nothing to steady me.

He never replied.

Not immediately.

Instead, he let the silence stretch, let my question wither and die in the cold night air. Then, with the cruelest smirk I had ever seen, he pulled Sylvia tighter against him, his fingers possessively trailing down her waist as she leaned into him with ease.

“Why?” he finally repeated, amusement coating his voice like venom. Then he chuckled, the sound sending ice-cold shivers down my spine.

“Why would I go for a defect when I can have a gold mine? It’s stupid, don’t you think?”

Defect.

The word sank into me, brutal and unrelenting, stripping away the last sliver of hope I had foolishly clung to. My stomach twisted violently, my heart hammering against my ribs like it wanted to break free from the pain that now held it hostage.

A defect.

That’s all I had ever been.

My lips parted, but no words came out, only a sharp, stuttered breath that felt like razor blades slicing my throat.

He had never intended to choose me.

I clenched my trembling fingers into the fabric of my dress, fighting against the tears burning behind my eyes. The humiliation, the heartbreak, the unbearable betrayal—it all slammed into me at once, leaving me lightheaded and breathless.

“Come on, Selene,” Sylvia sneered, her voice dripping with mockery. “Did you actually think a wolf without an ability would fit as the perfect mate for an Alpha of Kaith’s caliber?” She let out a cold laugh, shaking her head. “Don’t make me laugh. You are a disgrace to our pack, and yet you dared to dream of being marked?”

Disgrace.

The word echoed through my mind, rattling against every insecurity I had ever buried deep within me.

Because it was true, wasn’t it?

I had always been different. Always weaker.

While my peers flaunted their powerful auras, their wolves standing tall and unshaken, mine was… diminished. Small. Barely even noticeable. Even my presence among them felt like a mistake—a smear against the flawless reputation of our pack.

And Kaith had known.

Had he only entertained me for his own amusement? Had I been nothing but a cruel joke, a game for him to play until the real choice stood before him?

A fresh wave of nausea churned in my stomach.

I couldn’t stand here any longer.

Not with the weight of hundreds of eyes on me, their whispers like daggers slicing through my already shredded soul.

She really thought he’d pick her?

Pathetic.

What a fool.

I bit down on my bottom lip, hard enough to taste blood, trying to ground myself in something—anything other than this unbearable humiliation.

I just wanted to leave.

I needed to leave.

But my feet refused to move, rooted to the spot like some cruel force wanted me to suffer just a little longer.

Kaith turned away from me then, his grip on Sylvia tightening as if she were his greatest prize. And maybe she was. She was strong, radiant, a force to be reckoned with—everything I was not.

I was nothing.

My hands trembled, my entire body numb with despair, but I forced myself to straighten my spine, to swallow the raw ache clogging my throat.

I wouldn’t cry.

So I turned.

And I ran.

I didn't know how long I had run. I didn't even realize I was barefoot. My feet throbbed, sliced open by jagged stones and sharp twigs, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't feel anything except the crushing weight inside my chest. 

Run.

I needed to be far, far away. Away from the humiliation. 

My world was shattering, folding in on itself, swallowing me whole. My vision blurred, my breath came out in ragged gasps. My chest burned. My wolf whimpered, curling into itself like a wounded pup. I was nothing. I was defective. I was—

A movement.

Fast. Too fast.

A shift in the wind. A violent presence.

Danger.

My wolf stiffened, ears flattened in submission. A guttural snarl rumbled from the shadows ahead, deep and primal. I halted in my tracks, the hair at the nape of my neck standing rigid. It wasn’t just the presence of an alpha—it was something greater. Darker.

Then, through the thick, swaying bushes, two glowing eyes locked onto mine. One a searing red, the other a blazing orange—burning like embers in the dead of night. My stomach dropped. Even my wolf, battered and weak, let out a trembling whimper.

I swallowed hard.

A slow step backward.

Then impact.

I slammed into something solid. Unyielding. A wall of muscle and heat.

“Ouch!” I gasped as I stumbled, crashing to the ground. The dirt clung to my shaking hands as I looked up.

A man.

A towering, dark figure loomed over me. His presence was suffocating—his wolf aura unlike anything I had ever encountered. Not Kaith. Not the alphas from my pack. Not even our elders.

This… this was something else.

His brown eyes bore into me, cold and unreadable. His expression, a mask of indifference, but the weight of his power pressed into me like an unseen force.

Run.

My wolf whimpered.

I scrambled to my feet, shaking, legs barely holding me up. He did nothing. He just… stood there. Watching.

I took a slow step back, trying to breathe through the overwhelming pressure in my chest. One step. Just one step.

A blur.

A flash of movement.

A powerful grip crushed around my waist, locking me in place, an iron hold that burned against my skin. Before I could fight, his other hand curled around my forehead, tilting my head back. Exposing my neck.

Fangs.

A sharp, searing pain pierced into my flesh.

I screamed. My body convulsed, fire spreading through my veins, burning me from the inside. The pain was unbearable, sinking deeper, merging into something beyond physical agony.

Then, just as suddenly as it came, it was gone.

I stumbled, gasping, fingers clawing at my burning skin. The wound was already closing, but something inside me had changed. Shifted.

My blood—my very essence—was no longer mine alone.

I lifted my gaze, heart hammering, finding him still there. The dark man. His lips curled into a smirk as he licked the remnants of my blood from his mouth.

And then, I felt it.

A pull. A magnetic force so strong it stole the breath from my lungs. My wolf, once shattered and beaten down, submitted. Not to Kaith. Not to my pack.

To him.

My body ached—craved him. A hunger I didn’t understand, but it consumed me.

“What… what have you done to me?” I whispered, my voice barely my own.

His smirk deepened, amusement flickering in his mismatched eyes.

“What else could it be, my abandoned little white wolf?” His voice was a rich, lethal purr, curling around me like smoke. “I just marked you as my mate.”

My breath hitched.

No.

No. No. No.

“What?” I choked out, stepping back, only for his grip to tighten. My wrist trembled under his hold, and my strength was nothing compared to his. My entire world spun as his eyes bore into mine, those wicked, terrifying colors glowing under the full moon.

His voice was final. Unshakable.

“You belong to me now, little wolf.”

My stomach twisted.

“You are now owned by the King of all Alphas.”

His smirk widened, lips brushing against my ear, voice like thunder before the storm.

“Alpha King Draven Nightbane has marked you as his.”