Chapter 1

Aria’s Pov

The fire popped from the chimney, its glow catching my eyes like liquid gold. Tonight marks the claiming ball of the long-anticipated event I had dreamt about since my first transformation three years ago.

By dawn, I would be bound by my fated mate.

I’ll officially be with my fated mate. Butterflies swirled in my tummy as I tried to envision my first night with my Alpha. It’s going to be magical and I can’t wait.

“Stop fidgeting,” Nyra, my wolf, barked impatiently in my mind, pacing nervously. “He's already ours. The connection sparked the moment we turned eighteen. What’s causing your anxiety?”

I tried to suppress how my hands trembled by pressing it down my knees, “Because everything changes tonight,” I murmured to the empty room but focusing on the fire. The mate bond with Ronan had been intensifying for weeks, electric and undeniable.

Every stolen glance and then when we mistakenly brush fingers, all that sent jolts of electricity through me making me feel different. And tonight, he will officially claim me as his mate.

A sharp knock on the door startled me, before I could respond, the door swung open.

There he is.

Alpha Ronan.

The youngest Alpha in the Crescent Moon Pack’s history having inherited the title after his father’s death just last winter.

He stood by the door shirtless, looking very attractive, his presence filling the room. My breath cut and I felt like wrapping my arms around him. The Alpha’s presence makes me speechless. His intense, possessive eyes move over me.

“Why are you shaking little wolf,” his voice rumbled softly, wrapping around me like heat. He stepped in closing the doors behind him. “I can sense your anxiety down the hallway.”

I rose quickly, feeling small in his presence. “I'm just..."

“Excited,” he cuts in, moving closer to me and I could feel the heat radiation from him, “You should be. Tonight at the claiming event, everybody will know you belong to me.”

His hand gently brushed my jaw, and the mate bond flowed between us, it was too powerful and consuming.

I gave into his touch, my wolf rumbling in pleasure. This felt right. This was everything I’d ever desired and wanted.

But instantly, Ronan withdrew his hand, moved backward which hurt my heart, a flicker of something unreadable crossed his face.

“Ronan, I…”

He cut in, "Don't be late," his voice hardened, he turned away with a cold smirk, then walked out of the room leaving me alone with my heart racing against my chest.

***

The ceremony filled with whispered conversation and anticipation as every member of the pack gathered in a circle beside the bonfire.

Elders were dressed in the ceremonial robes chanting in ancient language, they sang sacred songs, it resonated in my soul.

I stood at the edge of the circle in my flowing white gown which was the usual clothes for unmated females.

But this is not for long.

Soon Ronan would walk up to me, claim me and I would never be alone.

My heart skipped as my eyes met him across the fire. The world shifts. He looked magnificent in his formal attire, the epitome of an Alpha—commanding, powerful, mine.

“Patient,” Nyra said, her excitement infusing my mind, “very soon, he would kiss us just like we had imagined. Also he would claim us as his Luna in front of everyone.”

I could imagine it, Ronan’s hands clinging to my face as he kisses my lips claiming me in front of the pack while they applaud. Pride swelled within me at the thought that I, Aria, would stand beside the most powerful Alpha our pack had ever known as his Luna.

Suddenly the chanting lowered, Elder Varyn began, hitting his staff thrice on the ground, "Let those favored by the Moon Goddess step forward!"

This was my moment. Our moment.

Ronan stepped out fiercely, and an immediate hush fell over the gathering. His Alpha presence made the lower wolves bow their heads instinctively. But when his eyes met mine this time, it felt distant. Cold. Wrong.

Something was off but I couldn't tell.

The Moon Goddess may have bound us," he declared, his voice echoed, each word hitting like stones dropping in water, "but I reject you, Aria Blackwood, as my mate and Luna."

Time froze.

“What?” The word escaped from my lips, raw with disbelief. “No—you can’t—”

But he could. And he did.

I felt pain erupting from the deepest part of my chest, burning my ribs apart. The mate bond I had cherished snapped with a violence that made me choke and double over. Nyra's tormented howl rang in my mind, a sound so pure with devastation that tears filled my eyes.

The pack erupted in shocked whispers. I spotted Laura my bestfriend trying to fight her way forward, her expression horrified, but strong hands held her back.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn't think. The broken bond left a wound in my soul that gave me constant heartache.

Ronan moved closer to me with decisive accuracy, and I pulled back from him staring into the flames, unscheduled tears clustering in my eyes. When he held me tightly, I felt a total strange hand on me, a different Alpha Ronan.

He leaned close and whispered in my ear, I felt chills down my spine.

“Leave before dawn,” his voice cold without emotions, different from the man who had made promises I would be his Luna just hours earlier. “Or you’ll be thrown out.”

Elder Varyn began the rejection ritual with trembling hands, his ancient voice slicing through my skin like another blade.

The ceremonial words felt like heavy chains wrapping around my chest, each syllable making the severed bond burn brighter.

As the ritual commenced, my world shattered in the same night I thought would be the happiest night of my life, one thought echoed through the void where our bond had existed:

What had I done wrong?