Chapter 1

After I finished the Luna training that every she-wolf dreamed, I went to my Alpha, Damien, with a request.

To break our mate bond.

"All this, just because I missed your ceremony to help my late brother's mate, Lilith, with the rogues in her territory?"

A smirk twisted his lips, his voice a low rasp.

I nodded, silent.

"I gave my brother my word before he died. I swore I would protect Lilith. I can't break that vow! Why can't you understand?" he whispered, sighing heavily.

"Stop being so childish! Why can't you be reasonable, like Lilith is?"

I pushed him away with a chilling calm.

Ten years. For ten years after our bond was confirmed, I gave up everything.

Every hobby, every dream… all to learn how to be his Luna.

Everyone in the pack thought I was helpless without him. That I couldn't even survive without his protection.

But this time, I was done.

He didn't know I'd already contacted the neutral packs in another land.

I was going somewhere his Alpha scent could never reach me.

...

"I have to go help Lilith," Damien's voice echoed in our mind-link. "The rogues in her territory are getting out of hand."

Lilith. His late brother's mate.

I remembered her words, dripping with false modesty.

"Please, don't call me Luna Lilith. Just Lilith. After all. Being so formal just brings back sad memories."

"Besides, the Alpha isn't your brother anymore. If you keep calling me that, wolves might think I'm the mate of the new Alpha. And then your little mate will throw another tantrum."

And just like that, he called her Lilith. Far more intimate than a title.

"I know," I bit my lip, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth.

"You know what that promise means to me. Can't you understand?"

His voice was laced with frustration. "Elena, I'm just doing my duty. I have to!"

"Damien." I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms.

I finally found the courage to meet his golden eyes. "I want to reject our bond."

Damien shot up from his throne in the great hall, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Because I missed your Luna ceremony?"

I nodded, silent.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Elena, our bond is fated." Damien's face hardened, his eyes flashing red—a clear warning.

"This isn't a game. You're turning the Goddess's gift into a curse. It will shatter us both."

I nodded again. "I'm sure. I'm going to reject you."

He rushed forward and grabbed my hands, the pain of our bond weakening already hitting him like a physical blow.

I felt it too.

But I couldn't take it anymore.

"Why, Elena?" He fought through the discomfort to look at me.

“I will never agree to this, Elena. Stop throwing a tantrum like a child!”

I suppressed the storm of emotions raging inside me, fighting back the tears that burned my eyes. I pulled my hands from his grasp.

“I am serious. I have to reject—”

Before I could break our mate bond, the door swung open and Lilith walked in.

She was wearing a simple white dress, her expression soft and pitiful.

"Damien, the celebration feast is about to start. I had some things to discuss about the rogues..."

Lilith saw me, and a look of perfectly practiced surprise crossed her face.

"Elena, what are you doing here?"

She glanced from Damien to me. "Did you two... fight again because of me?"

She turned to me, her tone gentle and innocent. "Is it because Damien missed your ceremony?"

She quickly explained, "Elena, please don't misunderstand. This was my first time handling a crisis on my own. It was so important for me and my pack. That's why I begged Damien to stay and lend his Alpha strength and experience. I never thought it would take so long and make him miss your ceremony. I'm so, so sorry."

Every word was perfectly crafted.

She made me look like a jealous, immature pup.

And that's what I hated most about her.

Seeing my silence, she stepped forward to take my arm. "Come on, join us for the feast."

I pulled away.

She turned to Damien with a playful pout. "Since your little mate is here, perhaps we shouldn't eat in the main hall tonight. What about the Silent Woods?"

"I haven't hunted there in so long. Damien, take us!" she pleaded.

Then she covered her mouth as if she'd misspoken. "Oh, I forgot. You were always the one who took me."

She looked at me. "Elena, Damien told me you love the moonlight in the Silent Woods too, right?"

My body went rigid.

The Silent Woods. It had the best moonlight, but it was also the pack's forbidden territory.

No wolf was allowed to enter without being led by the Alpha.

He never allowed me to go there.

I looked at Damien, my eyes were red.

"Is that so? Funny, I don't recall."

Lilith's brow furrowed with apology. "Then I must have misremembered. But it's okay, we can go wherever you want. We want you to feel included."

She was treating me like some charity case she had to pity.

Damien stiffened.

I saw his gaze flick from Lilith to me, a flash of struggle in his golden eyes.

But he quickly hid it, his Alpha resolve returning.

He nodded, his voice low and unreadable. "Fine. We'll go to the Silent Woods."

I refused to be tangled in their mess any longer. "You two go ahead."

In the next second, I shifted into my wolf and bolted from the hall, running blindly into the deep woods.

Even over the wind, I could hear Damien's words pierce my soul.

He said to Lilith, "Let her go. She's being too sensitive. She'll need to toughen up if she's going to be a true Luna."

That night, a post from Lilith appeared on the pack's private network.

It was a video of Damien in his wolf form, powerful and majestic, sleeping peacefully at her feet.

The caption was intimate: I can only sleep soundly when you're here.

A little later, another post.

A photo from the Silent Woods: Thanks for remembering my favorite view.

I shut off my device.

Hugging my knees, I felt the bond in my soul tear and shred, sending waves of agony through me.

I didn't sleep all night.

The next day, Lilith's feed updated again.

It was a photo.

The background of the photo was the Shadowcrest pack's famous “Wall of Glory.”

The wall was covered with the skulls and fangs of powerful creatures Damien had hunted over the years, each one a symbol of his supreme power and honor.

In the photo, Damien was personally hanging a wolf's fang on a spot on the wall that wasn't prominent, but was still impossible to miss.

I had seen that wolf fang before.

It was from a common adult wolf that Lilith had taken down on her own territory not long ago.

To me, it could hardly be considered a real fight.

And I remembered how I once eagerly brought him the medal I had earned for single-handedly defeating three elite-class mutated beasts in my Luna trials, wanting to hang it in the most obscure corner of the wall.

I just wanted to be a little closer to his glory.

But at the time, Damien had only given it a cool glance and refused me.

He said, “Elena, this wall is only for trophies of outstanding contribution to the entire North.”

The message was clear: my victory was nothing to him.

But now, with his own hands, he was hanging Lilith's unremarkable wolf fang on the wall that symbolized the entire pack's honor.

In the picture, Lilith stood right by his side, wearing the smug, triumphant smile of a victor.

The photo's caption read: [“He says my every effort is worthy of being remembered.”]

This wasn't just a photo.

It was a slap in the face. A hard one.

It was telling every wolf that for Damien, the standards were set for Lilith and Lilith alone.

And I would always be the one left out.

Not a single one of our mutual friends had liked the post.

In that instant, I understood. She had blocked everyone else. This post was designed to wound me, and only me.

My chest felt so tight I could barely breathe.

A moment later, Damien's mind-link forced its way into my mind.

“Mother wants you to prepare for the official mating ceremony, he said. “

“But Lilith is leading her first patrol today, and I need to be there to make sure her authority is respected. I won't be with you.”

I severed the link.

When I went downstairs, my mother was beaming, just off the phone with Damien's.

She waved me over, gushing about how Damien's mother had already commissioned the most beautiful ceremonial gown for me.

She'd even gotten time off from the pack elders to be with me.

She chattered on, "That boy Damien, he was born to be a leader. I always knew he was the one. Elena, you are so lucky to be his Luna. Any she-wolf would fall for an Alpha like him."

I bit my lip, summoning all my courage.

"Mom, I'm going to reject him. The ceremony is off."