Chapter 2

Aria’s POV

The world didn't move. It didn't breathe.

I Iay crumbled on the ground, my knees pressed on the dirt while the pack were murmuring words sharp enough to pause my heartbeat, each word slicing me open.

“She's rejected… He said she wasn't strong enough to be his Luna.”

“Poor girl, but the Alpha has spoken,” they whispered.

I pulled myself up with my shaky hands, my dress stained with ash and earth. My chest still burned where the bond was severed, it was as if the pains were crawling up to my soul. Nyra moaned faintly in my mind, her tiny voice, fractured but broken.

“We are broken… Aria, broken.”

My hand pressed my chest as if I could keep my heart from exploding. I held in my tears.

Not here. Not again in front of them. I would not give them the satisfaction to see me broken any more.

Across the fire Ronan stood tall and unmoved. Not a flicker of regret. Not even angry. His cold eyes had no emotions, and he gave out brutal commands that made my stomach churn.

The crowd’s eyes shifted between us, waiting, hoping he’d take back his words, to show some shred of the mate I thought I knew. But he didn't. He wouldn't.

Instead he nodded to the elders. The matter was sealed.

He didn't look at me again. It was as if I've ceased to exist on earth, erased from his mind.

The Alpha I've dreamed of loving–my fated mate– had destroyed me in one night and he felt nothing.

Through the sea of shocked faces, I sighted Laura fighting her way towards me, her tears filled eyes reaching for me as she tried to escape the strong hands holding her arms, barring her paths.

“Let her be!” someone whispered harshly.

“The Alpha wants her untouched.”

Laura dropped to her knees, her lips moved slightly across the distant, “I'm sorry Aria. I'm so sorry.”

I bit my lower lips hard enough to taste blood. I forced myself to stand upright. Laura, my best friend couldn't even get to me. I was truly alone.

Elder Marlow approached me, hitting his ancient staff on the earth one more time. His weathered face was filled with pity but his words merciless, as he invoked the Crescent Moon’s law.

“By Alpha's decree,” his voice trembled as he stated the laws, “Aria Blackwood, is no longer of Crescent Moon Pack.” Each words were like sprinkling raw sea salts on fresh words. “You are to leave before sunrise, Should you resist…”

Silence lingers as he stared at Ronan's stone cold face then he smirked bitterly and looked away as if he couldn't bear the cruelty.

“The guards would remove you by force.”

His final words pressed hard on my chest.

Banished. Cast out of my place, the place I call home. All because that the Alpha found me unworthy to become his Luna.

I turned and walked, forcing each steps steady refusing to let them see me break.

The cold air biting my skin

By the time I reached my small cottage on the pack’s edge, silence pressed in, my legs trembled so badly I almost collapsed against the door. I shoved it open and entered inside.

It was quiet and I could think about my shattered heart, my gaze fell on the shelf by the bed and saw my parents picture, laughing in each other's arms. I broke down a sob tore out of me.

“I’m sorry”, I whispered, “I tried”

Through the open window, drifted sounds of the celebration continuing. Laughter, music and life moving on without me.

Something began to burn within me, it was no longer heartbreak but anger

If Ronan thought he would cast me aside when he pleases and expect me to crawl and die quietly then he didn’t know me at all.

I sat on the bed staring at the moon through the small window; its light was shining over me as I became furious. My wolf kept on moving, licking her wounds.

We’ll come back, she whispered. We’ll make him regret it.

I clinched my fists. “Yes.”

The rejection ceremony had stripped me off my place, my title, my safety, my home but it had given me something else.

A reason to rise.

A knock at the door broke my thoughts.

“Aria.”

It was Laura my closest friend. Her voice was thick with pity. “Let me in”.

I couldn’t move.

The knock came again, this time harder “You can’t just…” she paused, lowering her voice. “They’re going to make you leave by sunrise. Please … pack what you can.” She left immediately so no one would see her with me.

The word sank into me harder than the rejection. They were going to force me out.

I pushed myself to my feet, my body moved quickly. I didn't have much. I grabbed a few clothes, my mother’s locket, and a old leather journal. I packed them into my small bag.

My eyes glanced in the mirror I barely recognized myself. Pale skin and red trimmed eyes, a broken thing.

By sunrise, I would be gone. But someday, I would return.

Not as a weak girl who begged for acceptance but I’ll come back as the woman who would watch them all burn.

The gates closed behind me with a loud sound. Two guards stood on either side, emotionless as though I was already a stranger. These were men I once laughed with, lived beside me, even trained with and they would bow their heads respectfully when I passed. And now their eyes held nothing.

Just hours ago, I had stood in the ceremonial hall, my heart beating with pride believing I was about to become Luna of Crescent Moon Pack.

I had imagined the ceremony ending with Ronan’s lips against mine as the packs cheered. Instead I’m walking out through the gates alone, carrying a pitiful bag like some unwanted stray.

The weight of their stares still burned on my back even though I could no longer see them. I kept walking refusing to look back. Not for once.

Nyra whimpered softly in my mind. “He should have come after us.”

“He’s not coming.” My voice cracked, “Not now. Not ever”

I walked until my legs gave out, the snow stopped and the trees thickened around me. The tears couldn’t come. My heart was too full of something else, something that felt like a blade being forged.

“Never again” I swore to the night. “Never again will I be powerless.”

The Moon goddess had bound me to Ronan once. Now, I would find a way to turn that bond into his doom.