1: The Rejection

Aria

The moon burns tonight.  Its silver light pours down on the altar like judgment. I can feel it, and it feels too heavy, as if even the goddess can’t bear to watch what’s about to happen.

The clearing is silent except for the rustle of hundreds of bodies. My pack. My family. My witnesses.  Every face is turned toward me.  Every gaze is waiting for my perfection to crack.

The hem of my ceremonial cloak trembles between my fingers. I bite my lip until I taste iron, praying no one sees my hands shake.

Tonight should have been my ascension, the night I become Luna of the Jasper Pack.  The night my fated mate chooses me.  I have trained for this moment since the day I found out Riven was my mate. 

I was sixteen and he was eighteen.  I was swimming in the pond behind the pack house, enjoying the summer air, when he burst through the trees with his nose in the air.  His eyes searched the water frantically, searching for something.  Searching for me. 

When he spotted me in the water, a growl ripped from his chest, and he roared the word, “mine.” 

My eyes widened in shock as the Alpha’s son waded through the water to get to me.  He pulled me into his arms and vowed in that moment to never let me go. 

But that was a long time ago.  People change, and the bond faded. Still, through everything, I held out hope that he would still choose me.      

But the air already feels wrong.

Riven stands across from me, broad shoulders squared, eyes hard. The man I grew up loving won’t even look at me. The boy who once carved our initials into the hollow oak behind the training fields is gone.

His jaw ticks once, and his gaze slides past me to the crowd.  To her.

Morgan.  My step-sister.

The smile she gives him is sweet, but I know better.  She is a poison, threatening to taint everything we have built together. 

Alpha James lifts his arms, his voice booming through the clearing.  “The moment has come. Tonight, the mate bond will be honored. Aria Vale, step forward and take your place beside your fated.”

I force my chin up, spine rigid. Every step toward Riven feels like walking into a noose.  This is wrong, but I won’t defy the Moon Goddess.

I wait for him to reach for me. To meet my eyes. To give me one sign that everything will be alright.

He doesn’t move.  The silence stretches. The moonlight turns colder. Even the wind holds its breath.

And then he speaks.  “I cannot choose Aria Vale as my mate.”

My vision fractures, and I wish the ground would open up and swallow me whole.  The sound of my heartbeat roars in my ears. My knees nearly buckle, but I lock them, refusing to fall.  Gasps ripple through the crowd like shockwaves. A thousand whispers slice through the air.

Alpha James clears his throat, voice uneasy.  His eyes narrow on his son, and he can barely keep the growl from his voice. “You would defy the mate bond set forth by the Moon Goddess?”

Riven smiles, not at me, but at her. “I do. I choose Morgan Vale.”

For a second, I can’t breathe. The words don’t make sense. They can’t.

Morgan steps forward, feigning innocence, her hand slipping into his like she’s claimed a prize. The crowd surges with disbelief, fascination, hunger.

My claws itch beneath my gloves. Violet snarls in my head, furious, betrayed.  ‘Take him back. Bite him. Make him remember who you are.’

But I can’t move. I can’t even speak.

Riven turns away. His voice, cold and final, seals my ruin.  “You are not my mate.”

My throat burns. My wolf howls.

“Riven, please don’t do this.”

“Don’t.” His tone cuts through the air. He leads her to the altar that was meant for us.  The world goes white with pain.

The pack parts around them, murmuring like vultures.  “Poor girl.”  “She should have known this was coming.”  “She can’t compare to Morgan.”

Their words slide off me like ash, but every one leaves a mark.  The cut my soul, leaving a scar that I know will never heal.

I don’t remember deciding to move. I only know that I’m turning, stripping the ceremonial cloak from my shoulders, letting it fall into the dirt. My feet carry me away from the altar, from the stares, from him.

The night air hits my lungs like fire. Violet whines softly, low and mournful.

‘He was never worthy of us,’ she whispers.

I wish I believed her.

The forest is quiet when I reach my cabin at the edge of the grounds, too quiet.  The place feels hollow, like it’s holding its breath.

I push open the door. The scent of cedar and smoke should be comforting, but it isn’t. It feels like a grave. 

I move through the cabin, pushing the door to the bedroom open.  I just want to sleep.  Maybe when I wake, I will find that all of this is nothing more than a bad dream.

Something gleams on the bed, a small, black envelope sealed with red wax.  It’s the only thing that doesn’t belong.

My fingers tremble as I pick it up. The seal bears a sigil I don’t recognize, a circle with thorns curling inward.

On the front, in precise gold lettering:  The Game beckons you.

Inside, a single card:

Survive the Game. Win what your heart desires most. Will you accept the challenge?

I stare at it, numb.  I flip the card over in my hands, looking for more information, but there is only a small map etched into the back.  The forbidden forest.  The place that is said to contain dark magic and plagues. 

I should toss this aside.  It is dangerous, but I can’t seem to release it from my fingers.  The world I knew ended under the full moon.  The girl I was died on that altar.

And this, whatever it is, feels like a resurrection.

Violet growls, uncertain. ‘It’s a trap.’

“Maybe,” I whisper.

But for the first time since my rejection, I feel something other than despair. I feel the spark of a fight.  And if this Game truly offers a chance to take back what was stolen from me,

then I am willing to play.

Let the goddess herself watch.  I have nothing left to lose.