Chapter 1: The Rejection and Sold

Veya’s POV

“The mating ritual begins soon. If he rejects you in front of the pack, that’s the end,” my mother whispered behind me.

I swallowed hard. “Alpha Darien and I have known each other for three years. He didn’t protest when he found out we were fated. He won’t reject me, Mother.”

She snorted. “Then prove it.”

Footsteps thundered through the trees. Alpha Darien emerged draped in his emerald ceremonial cloak, flanked by two elders and a trail of warriors behind him. His golden hair was slicked back, and his handsome face carved by gods too stingy to grant him a heart.

I held my breath as he drew closer. The wolf within me howled, recognizing her mate.

The eldest Alpha stepped forward. “Alpha Darien, do you accept Veya Ravenshire as your mate and future Luna of Thornspire?”

The eyes that met mine weren’t the eyes of the boy who once kissed me beneath the cypress three seasons ago.

These eyes were cold. Unfamiliar. As if I were nothing more than dust clinging to his boots.

I stepped forward, extending my hand. If our bond was real, our bodies would respond. And for the briefest moment, I saw it. A flicker of doubt in his eyes.

Hope surged, then shattered.

“Alpha Darien,” I whispered.

He looked at me, eyes sharp as blades. “Veya, I reject you as my fated mate. You’re too weak. Unworthy of being Luna.”

Gasps erupted from the crowd. The elders flinched. Warriors exchanged whispers. But the loudest sound came from my mother’s amused chuckle.

“I told you. You’re nothing but a burden. Even Alpha Darien sees that,” she said, not even trying to hide her contempt.

My hands trembled. The invisible bond between us tore like paper soaked in fire.

I collapsed to my knees. Not a single hand offered comfort. Even my father stood rigid, silent, as if I were no longer his child.

“You can’t reject me,” I choked out. “We’re fated…”

“I don’t want a Luna from a nameless family,” he spat, stepping closer. “You have nothing special, Veya. Even your parents are ashamed of you.”

I stared at him, hoping to find the boy I once loved buried deep in his eyes. But all I saw was disgust.

“That’s a lie!” I cried. “You promised, back at the coming-of-age ceremony, you said…”

Alpha Darien’s hand shot out, gripping my chin hard enough to send pain radiating through my jaw.

“Stop embarrassing yourself. A broken little wolf like you doesn’t deserve an Alpha like me.”

I tried to breathe, but my chest felt like it had caved in. The world blurred around me, just mocking laughter and cruel whispers from the pack.

“Listen to me, Alpha Darien,” I begged. “I love you. I’ve always…”

He spit at the ground near my feet. I flinched. The crowd laughed. The sound twisted into something monstrous, like a circus of wolves feasting on weakness.

I slapped him hard. The sound cracked through the clearing. “Three years ago, you promised to accept my flaws. You’re a liar. A coward. You don’t deserve to be Alpha.”

Before I could step back, a warrior’s hand gripped my arm. A punch landed on my cheek, spinning the world. I hit the ground, dust and blood mixing with tears.

“Take her away.” His voice boomed through the night like judgment. “And make sure she never returns. Thornspire Pack does not harbor trash.”

He turned away, his cloak snapping in the wind like laughter.

One by one, the pack turned their backs. My mother wouldn’t look at me. My father said nothing, but his jaw clenched like stone.

“Let me go. I’m not a slave!” I thrashed against the warriors’ grip, but they dragged me like an animal.

A rock hit me. I didn’t see it coming. Warm blood trickled down my temple. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

The last thing I saw before darkness swallowed me whole was Alpha Darien’s face. His eyes were far too cruel for someone who once promised never to leave me.

***

The next morning, two men in black dragged my bruised body toward a carriage and threw me in like I was nothing more than livestock.

I landed hard beside a sack of grain. My father stood at the side of the cart. There was no guilt in his eyes. Just relief, like a man unburdened.

A tall figure approached, his cloak as dark as the midnight woods. A letter bearing the seal of a black wolf clenched in his gloved hand.

“Is she your biological daughter?” the man asked.

My father nodded quickly. “Virgin-born. If the old bloodline myths are true, maybe the King will be grateful.”

The man’s cold gaze flicked to me, weighing me like cattle. “The King’s advisor will determine her selling price. Lycan King has grown restless in Nocturnis. He’s in need of new entertainment.”

A chill raced down my spine.

Nocturnis?

Every woman sent there returned broken, if they returned at all. Whispers claimed the Lycan King never touched the same girl twice. His appetite was insatiable, flesh offered only once before being discarded like a broken toy.

My breath hitched, the taste of bile sharp on my tongue. “What the hell are you talking about?”

My father looked at me the way one looks at an old, rusted blade. “You’re nothing here anymore, not after the Alpha cast you out. But the Lycan King, he’s willing to pay good coin for your filthy blood. At least you’ll be useful before you rot.”

“You sold me?” My voice cracked as I reached for him. “Father, how could you do this to me?”

“Family debts must be paid,” he said without looking.

I stared at him, searching for something. “So that’s what 'your honor' means? After everything you taught me, you just hand me over like an animal?”

“Honor dies with debt,” he answered flatly.

Tears poured down my cheeks. I shook my head, refusing to believe that the man who raised me would do something this vile.

“I’ll work. I swear I’ll repay everything. Just don’t send me to that place. Not to him. Please, Father. I’m your daughter,” I begged.

I reached for his hand. But he slapped it away and shoved me back hard enough that my skull snapped against the grain sack.

“Obey and pray,” he said as if offering some twisted wisdom. “You’ll be safe if you follow the King’s orders.”

My fingers curled into the fabric of the white dress I still wore. The same one from the altar. The same one I stood in when I believed the Moon Goddess had given me something sacred.

Now it felt like a burial shroud, sewn to fit the body of a girl who didn’t matter.

“Death sounds kinder than serving as a whore to the Lycan King,” I whispered.

“You failed to become Luna,” my father muttered. “At least now, you’ll bring silver into this household. One way or another.”

And with that, he handed the sales contract to the imperial soldier as if trading a defective lamb at market.

“Father, please!” I screamed his name, but the carriage wheels turned before my fingers could grasp anything but air.

The cart lurched forward. Chains bound my wrists, cold metal that rubbed my skin raw.

The warriors surrounding the cart were clad in black armor etched with obsidian. One glanced at me with something that almost looked like pity. The rest didn’t care.

They’d done this before, transported broken girls like me to a place where souls went to die.

The gates of Thornspire Pack slammed shut behind us. Not a single face turned to watch me leave.

As the cart rolled deeper into the woods, the wind howled through the trees, and the world grew darker with every mile.

I curled in on myself, heart barely beating beneath the weight of betrayal.

If my filthy blood could pay my father's debt, then may it poison the Lycan King.