CHAPTER ONE

Lyra's pov

I was never meant to survive.

I’ve known that truth since the day I was old enough to understand words whispered behind locked doors. Since the first time my stepmother’s sharp slap sent me sprawling across the kitchen floor. Since my own father turned his eyes away whenever they bruised me, as if I didn’t belong in the world he ruled.

“You will keep your head down,” Selene hissed beside me, her clawed hand tightening on my arm like iron talons. “You will not speak. You will not look at anyone unless spoken to. If you embarrass this family tonight, I will personally see you flogged until your skin peels.”

I nodded mutely, my gaze on the polished stone floor of the grand corridor as we neared the Great Hall. The scent of fresh roses, perfumes, and wolf musk clung to the air, suffocating. My heart pounded, but not with excitement like my stepsister Celeste's, who walked proudly ahead in a crimson gown that gleamed like fresh-spilled blood.

It was the Alpha King's choosing ceremony tonight.

And I...I was the stain they kept hidden. The reminder of a shameful affair that no amount of noble breeding could erase.

“You hear me, girl?” Selene's voice cut into my head like a blade. When I didn’t answer fast enough, pain exploded across my cheek as her hand struck me hard. My head snapped to the side, coppery taste instantly filling my mouth.

“Yes, ma,” I whispered, swallowing the blood on my tongue.

She sniffed in disdain and wiping her hand on a handkerchief. “See that you behave. This is the most important night of Celeste’s life. You are nothing but a shadow. Stay behind us. Be unseen.”

Once again, my father walked ahead like nothing was happening.

I swallowed, forcing my trembling legs to follow them into the dazzling light of the Great Hall.

The Moonstone Pack's finest nobles filled the ballroom, men and women in shimmering silks, gold, and jewels that glinted like stars. Laughter and murmured gossip floated on the air, but all of it was background noise to the hammering of my heart and the cold sweat beading on my neck.

Every time I stepped into these gatherings, I prayed to the Moon Goddess to make me invisible. To erase me from this world of beautiful wolves and powerful bloodlines.

But the Goddess never listened.

I didn’t belong here. I wasn’t like them.

I was the bastard daughter of Lord Damon Blackthorn and a forgotten maid who had died birthing me. A mistake. An accident. A dirty secret that Selene scrubbed and whipped and scolded into submission every day since I could remember.

I was a bad omen. Pups whose mothers die while giving birth are to be thrown into the forbidden forest to be feasted on by the rogues but my father had been “kind” enough to have me spared.

I wish he hadn't.

My half-siblings, Celeste and Marius looked at me with open disgust. Their perfect golden hair, their strong wolves always present beneath their skin, their confident grace...and then there was me.

Plain. Small. Fragile.

And worst of all, wolf-less. My beast lay silent, buried deep, as if even she were ashamed to share a soul with me. I’d never shifted. Never howled beneath the moon. I was an omega in everything but name.

A broken thing.

“Smile, dear sister,” Celeste whispered, casting me a vicious grin as she leaned close. “Perhaps if you bow low enough mother will spare you the dungeon tonight.”

I stiffened but said nothing. I’d learned long ago that silence was my only shield.

The musicians played a soft tune as the grand doors opened wider.

And then he entered.

The Alpha King.

Kael Draven.

His presence was like a thunder, commanding. The hall stilled, breaths held, every head turning toward him as he strode in. Tall, broad-shouldered, cloaked in black and gold, with emerald eyes that gleamed like cut glass.

My heart faltered.

He was...magnificent. Dangerous. The kind of male whose mere scent made the wolves inside the nobles stir with need and fear.

I lowered my head, as Selene had ordered. But fate or cruelty had other plans.

Celeste suddenly shoved back as she adjusted her gown, and I stumbled, my foot catching on the hem of her dress. My body lurched forward right into the path of the approaching Alpha King.

I gasped as I collided with him. His chest was like iron, the scent of cedar and lemon washing over me, making my dormant wolf shudder deep inside. His hand shot out, gripping my arm to steady me.

For one heartbeat, his eyes met mine.

And the world stopped.

Something deep and powerful crackled between us. A thread snapping in place. The faintest shimmer of gold light flashed in his pupils, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled sharply.

A mate bond.

Panic ripped through me.

But before hope could bloom, before the Moon Goddess’s gift could take shape his face twisted.

Revulsion. Disgust.

“No,” he growled softly, his voice a dagger to my heart. "It cannot be."

The hall went silent. Every gaze turned toward us. My breath caught in my throat as he pushed me away as if I were filth.

"An omega bastard?" he sneered, loud enough for all to hear. "The Goddess mocks me. What sort of sorcery is this?!”

A cold laughter echoed through the hall. Celeste’s smile curled like a cat’s as she stepped forward, sliding her arm through his.

"Surely, my King, the Goddess meant no such thing," she purred. "You deserve a true mate. One of noble blood. Not this...thing."

His grip tightened on her waist.

“I, Alpha King Kael Draven of the Moonstone Pack, reject you, Lyra Blackthorn, as my mate," Kael declared, his voice booming through the hall so that all could hear it. "This disgrace is not my mate. She is nothing."

My chest caved inward. It felt like a physical tearing, as if invisible claws ripped down my soul. The rejection slammed into me, sucking the air from my lungs. My knees buckled, pain searing through my heart, my veins, my very bones.

No. No, no, no...

The bond, the only thing that had ever stirred in my silent wolf snapped.

And I broke.

Laughter and whispers swirled around md. I knelt there on the polished floor, trembling, eyes burning with unshed tears.

"Such audacity," Selene murmured nearby, venom lacing her voice. "To think you could ever be chosen."

"My King," Celeste said sweetly, batting her lashes, "as your future Queen, I make a small request. A prize to celebrate our bond."

Future queen?

Kael tilted his head, amused. "Speak, my beautiful mate."

Celeste turned to me, her smile cruel.

"I want her head on a pike. Tonight."

A gasp echoed through the hall. My blood froze.

Kael smirked.

"So be it."

Guards grabbed me roughly, hauling me to my feet. My legs dragged behind me as they pulled me away, down the cold stone steps toward the dungeon. The distant sound of music and celebration faded behind us.

I said nothing.

What was there to say?

I had always been unwanted. Unseen. A mistake.

Now I was condemned.

The cell door creaked open, iron and rot filling my nose. They threw me onto the damp stone floor, the door slamming shut behind me. Darkness swallowed me, cold and suffocating.

I curled into myself, shivering as the bond’s rejection twisted in my chest. My wolf gave no comfort. No voice. No strength.

She was as broken as I was.

"I wish I’d never been born," I whispered to the dark, my voice cracking. "Moon Goddess...why did you make me at all?"

No answer came.

Only the sound of my own ragged breathing in the shadows.

I was nothing.

And soon, I would be dead.