Chapter 3: The Daughter They Threw Away

Raven POV 

The guards stripped me of everything before they marched me out.  

I stood in the courtyard in bare feet, my hair tangled from the fall, my palms still bleeding. The pack had gathered to watch my downfall. No one spoke or met my eyes

"Mom." My voice cracked. I reached for her sleeve. "Dad. Why are you doing this? I am your daughter. I am your firstborn. How can you…"

My father's gaze remained cold, but I could see the irritation written all over his face. "A wolfless omega is a curse, Raven. It is a stain on the bloodline. Every day you walked among us, you weakened our standing with the neighboring packs. Do you think I enjoyed making excuses for you? Do you think I was proud when the other Alphas asked why my eldest had no beast?"

"A huge shame," my mother whispered, her voice trembling not with grief but with exhaustion. "You have been a huge shame for years, Raven. Cassandra is our redemption. She is our future. You are nothing but a walking parasite"

I staggered, feeling all my energy leave me at once.

"Take her to the border," my father commanded. "Remove her before the ceremony concludes."

The guards seized my arms. Their grips were like iron, crushing my arms. But I did not fight. I had no strength left for fighting.

But before they could drag me through the gates, a voice stopped them.

"Wait," Cassandra screamed, running down to meet us. "Let me speak to her. One last time. As sisters."

The guards hesitated, then released me. My mother opened her mouth to object, but Cassandra's eyes filled with tears. "Please," Cassandra said softly. "I want her to understand. I want her to find peace."

They left us alone in the courtyard.

Cassandra stepped closer. The tears were gone; she was finally tired of pretending. Her eyes sparkled with joy at my downfall.

I swallowed, my throat dry as dust. "When did you and Matthew…"

"Six months ago." She said it casually, adjusting the Luna crown on her head. "He came to Father after the winter solstice. He said he had waited long enough, and he was beginning to believe you would never awaken, and he could not tie himself to a defective mate. Father agreed. The wedding date was set for me all along, Raven. You were just the pathetic wolfless sister. We used to keep the pack calm while the real arrangements were made."

Six months. "You've all been lying to me," I whispered.

"Of course we have." Cassandra tilted her head, scoffing. "Did you really think anyone would choose you? A beastless nothing? You were useful for a time, Raven. You kept the household running. You trained the younger wolves. You were so eager to please our parents, so desperate to be loved. It was almost sad to watch."

She leaned in, her breath warm against my ear. "But sad things must be discarded. And you, sister, are the saddest thing I have ever known."

The guards returned. Cassandra stepped back, her mask sliding into place…the weeping, wounded, merciful Luna. She pressed a hand to her heart as they dragged me away; I could hear her crying, pleading on my behalf.

The border of Shadow Claw territory was marked by an ancient oak, its trunk split by lightning decades ago.

The pack had gathered there to witness the final severance of my bond to them. My father stood beneath the tree, with a silver blade in his hand. Pack law required the Alpha to cut the bond personally when expelling kin.

I was thrown to my knees at his feet.

"Please," I said. Begging desperately. "Dad. PleaseDon't."

He looked down at me. "You are no daughter of mine."

He plunged the blade into the space between my shoulder blades. Into the tether that connected my soul to the pack's collective heartbeat.

The silver burned. The bond screamed, and I felt pain unlike anything I had ever known in my life.

I collapsed, convulsing. My back arched off the ground. I screamed, begging the goddess to take the pain away.

Through the haze of agony, I heard voices.

"She's dying."

"The cut was too deep."

"Leave her. Rogues die at the border all the time."

The pain did not stop. It got worse with each dying breath I took. I gripped the floor as stone dug into my hand, injuring me. But it was nothing compared to the ripping pain inside of me. It felt like something was waking up inside of my soul.

A door forced open by the sheer violence of my father's rejection.

And then… I felt her, my Ara.

The name bloomed in my mind like a flower made of fire.

My bones snapped. My spine elongated. My jaw snapped and rearranged. Tears slipped down my face as the pain grew worse.

 My hands twisted, claws extending from fingertips that were no longer fingers. My vision became different. Like I could see everything more clearly.

I rose on four legs instead of two.

The world had changed. Scents exploded around me… I could smell everything: fear-sweat, the copper tang of my father's shock.

I could hear their shocked heartbeats.

I looked down at my paws. Black. Massive. Tipped with claws that could gut stone.

I lifted my head and saw my reflection in a guard's shield. A wolf stared back, larger than any female in the pack's history, her coat the color of a moonless midnight, her eyes…not yellow, not gold, but blazing with silver light, as if the moon itself had taken residence behind my gaze.

The other wolves stepped back. Even my father stumbled, the silver blade falling from his hand.

"Impossible," someone breathed.

I also thought it was, but I felt her; she was me, and I was her.

Cassandra pushed through the crowd. Her face had gone white beneath her makeup. She looked at me. She understood what the elders would say. A wolf like this was born to be Luna. A wolf like this made her white-furred beast look like a pup.

She moved before I could react.

She stepped close and grabbed my muzzle with both hands, her fingers digging into the fur. Then she threw herself backward, her body hitting the earth with a shriek, her arm raking across my teeth as she fell. Blood welled on her skin.

"She attacked me!" Cassandra screamed, cradling her arm, tears streaming down her face in an instant. "The rogue! She attacked the future Luna! She'll kill us all!"

The spell broke.

“She’s feral!” Matthew roared above the chaos. "The exile broke her mind! Hunt her down!"

"Kill the rogue!" my father shouted, his voice cracking with panic. "Protect your Luna!"

They came for me. I could feel it; they really meant to kill me.

 I spun, Ara's instincts screaming through my veins. I could feel her strength, vast and untapped, but it was like trying to hold a river in cupped hands. I didn't know how to run on four legs. I didn't know how to fight with claws. I had only just been born.

Run, Ara commanded.

I ran.