The forbidden mate

Maya POV

The morning sun streamed through the windows as I rushed through the pack house halls with my arms full of healing supplies. My eighteenth birthday had finally arrived, and butterflies danced wildly in my stomach. According to ancient pack law, I could now sense my destined mate. After years of feeling like I didn't belong anywhere in the Silver Moon Pack, maybe today would finally change everything for me.

"Maya!" Healer Nora called from the medical room, her voice echoing down the corridor. "Did you prepare the willow bark tea like I asked?"

"Yes, ma'am," I answered breathlessly, hurrying inside with my heavy basket. Nora had been training me as her apprentice since I was twelve years old. She was the only person in our entire pack who treated me with genuine kindness, and I treasured our time together.

The medical wing smelled like dried herbs and clean bandages. Shelves lined the walls, filled with glass jars containing everything from fever-reducing powders to wound-healing salves. This place felt more like home to me than anywhere else in the pack house.

"Excellent work," Nora said, sorting through fresh bandages. "We'll need extra supplies tonight for Alpha Kane's birthday celebration. The whole pack will be attending, plus visitors from neighboring territories."

Alpha Kane was turning thirty today. Still no mate, which made everyone in the pack increasingly nervous. Our territory needed a strong Luna to help lead and protect us. The elders whispered constantly about it.

"I'll get everything ready," I promised, already mentally organizing what we might need.

Nora smiled at me warmly. "You're such a dedicated student, Maya. Your parents would be so proud of who you've become."

My chest tightened at the mention of my parents. I barely remembered them anymore—just fragments of gentle voices and warm hugs before they died in a rogue attack when I was five. The pack had taken me in out of duty, but I'd never stopped feeling like an outsider looking in.

"Maya!" Vera's harsh voice suddenly cut through our peaceful moment . The head servant stood in the doorway with her arms crossed tightly, her face twisted in its usual expression of disapproval.

I jumped, nearly dropping my basket. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Stop your endless chattering and go clean the guest quarters immediately," she snapped. "Important people are coming tonight, and I won't have them thinking we run a sloppy household."

My cheeks heated with embarrassment. "Right away."

"And try not to break anything this time," Vera added with a cruel sneer. "We can't afford to replace expensive items because of your clumsiness."

I kept my head down and nodded silently. People like Vera always found reasons to criticize everything I did. Maybe it was because I was an orphan with no family to defend me. Or maybe because of the strange silver birthmark on my shoulder that I kept carefully hidden under my clothes. It looked like a crescent moon caught in thorny vines, and the old pack shaman had once told me it meant I was "touched by unusual magic."

Whatever the reason, I'd learned long ago to stay quiet and avoid drawing attention to myself.

Later that afternoon, while I collected moonflowers and healing herbs from the garden behind the pack house, something incredible happened. A scent drifted through the warm air that made my entire body tingle with electric awareness. It smelled like deep pine forests after a storm and summer rain on warm earth. Rich and masculine and absolutely perfect.

'Our mate!' Kira, my wolf, practically purred with pure excitement inside my mind. 'Find him! Find him now!'

The intoxicating scent pulled at me like an invisible rope tied around my heart. I dropped my wicker basket without thinking and followed the trail toward the training field where workers were setting up decorations for tonight's celebration. My pulse hammered against my ribs as the smell grew stronger and more overwhelming with each step I took.

Then I saw him, and my world stopped spinning.

Alpha Kane stood among the pack elders near the raised platform, his commanding presence impossible to ignore. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with thick black hair that caught the sunlight and sharp green eyes that seemed to see everything. When he turned his head and our gazes locked across the busy field, electricity shot through me like lightning.

His nostrils flared slightly. He could smell my scent too—I was sure of it.

But instead of the joy and recognition I desperately expected, his handsome expression hardened into something cold. His eyes narrowed with what looked uncomfortably like... disgust?

My stomach dropped like a stone.

"Well, well. Look what we have here."

I spun around to find Sarah blocking my path, her perfectly manicured hands on her hips. The Beta's daughter was everything I wasn't—confident, beautiful, popular, and born into privilege. She wore a stunning sapphire blue dress that probably cost more than I made in an entire year of apprentice work.

"Shouldn't you be mixing herbs or grinding roots somewhere?" Sarah asked with fake sweetness dripping from every word.

"I was just—" I stammered.

"Just drooling over our Alpha like some pathetic little puppy?" She laughed loudly, the sound carrying across the field. "How utterly embarrassing for you."

More pack members started gathering around us, drawn by Sarah's mocking laughter. Their whispers felt like sharp needles pricking against my skin.

"She actually thinks she has a chance with him."

"Poor delusional girl doesn't know her place."

"Someone should tell her the truth before she humiliates herself further."

"Look at her—she's shaking like a leaf."

That someone who would deliver the crushing truth turned out to be Alpha Kane himself. He strode over with cold determination written across his face, and for one foolish, hopeful moment, I thought he might defend me against their cruelty.

Instead, he looked down at me like I was something unpleasant stuck to the bottom of his expensive boots.

"You're not Luna material," he announced loudly enough for the entire gathering to hear clearly. "I need a mate who's strong enough to stand beside an Alpha in battle. Someone who can protect this pack and lead warriors, not someone who hides behind healing books and herb gardens."

The words hit me like physical blows to my chest. Everything inside me felt tight and painfully compressed, like I couldn't draw a proper breath.

"But you're my fated mate," I whispered desperately, my voice barely audible.

His jaw clenched tightly, muscles jumping under his skin. "Fate makes mistakes sometimes. Biology doesn't always choose correctly."

Then he did something that completely destroyed whatever was left of my heart. He turned away from me dismissively and took Sarah's perfectly manicured hand in his much larger one.

"Sarah," he said in a voice warm with affection that he'd never used with me, "I'd be deeply honored if you'd accept my proposal to be my chosen mate and future Luna."

Sarah's smile was absolutely radiant and triumphant. "Yes! Of course, yes! I'd love nothing more!"

The entire pack erupted in thunderous cheers and enthusiastic congratulations. They looked like the perfect couple standing there together and destined for greatness. Everything a pack could want in their leaders.

While everyone celebrated this wonderful news, I stood there completely invisible and utterly forgotten. Kira whimpered pitifully in my mind, sharing every ounce of my devastating pain. The mate bond I'd felt so strongly just moments ago now felt like an open wound that wouldn't stop bleeding.

I couldn't bear another second of witnessing their happiness built on my heartbreak. I turned and fled toward the pack house, ignoring the cruel laughter and mocking comments that followed my retreat.

"Did you see her face?"

"I almost feel sorry for her."

"Almost being the key word there."

The old storage shed behind the medical wing became my refuge from their cruelty. I collapsed onto the dusty wooden floor and finally let the tears come in great, gasping sobs. Everything hurt—my chest, my throat, my very soul felt like it was being torn apart.

Eighteen years of hoping that someday I'd find where I truly belonged. Eighteen years of believing that somewhere out there was someone who would see me as worthy of love. All of it had been for absolutely nothing.

Celebration music drifted from the main field as darkness slowly fell around me. They were probably toasting the happy couple with expensive wine while I cried alone in a forgotten storage shed full of old medical supplies and broken furniture.

I closed my burning eyes and tried to disappear completely into the shadows that surrounded me.

But then heavy footsteps crunched on the gravel path outside.

The wooden door slowly creaked open.