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Instead, when my eyes met Damian Blackwood’s across the crowded clearing, he looked away.

I stood frozen in the middle of the Moonfire Ritual, surrounded by lanterns and murmurs, while my heart cracked in silence. The bond hit me like lightning—violent, unrelenting, unmistakable—but he turned his back before I could even breathe his name. No one else seemed to notice the way the air shifted around us, thick with the pull of destiny. Only I stood trembling, waiting for something he had already rejected.

I followed him. I don’t know why—I think some desperate part of me still believed he’d explain, that there was something wrong with the bond, not with me. He walked with purpose, his broad shoulders stiff beneath his black ceremonial jacket, deeper into the woods past the outer ring of firelight. My bare feet crunched over fallen leaves, and the wind carried the scent of pine and ash…and him. It was intoxicating and cruel.

“Damian,” I whispered, my voice breaking. He stopped, but he didn’t turn. “You shouldn’t be here, Selena.”

“I felt it.” My voice was shaking now. “You’re my mate.”

He exhaled slowly, like he’d been waiting for this moment just to crush it. “No. I’m not.” I blinked, stunned. “But the bond—”

“I don’t want it.” He turned to face me then, his eyes like polished obsidian—cold, unreadable. “I reject you, Selena Cross. I reject this bond. Go back to the ceremony and pretend this never happened.”

His words hit harder than any blow. My knees buckled, but I didn’t fall. I wouldn’t give him that. “Why?”

“Because you’re not Luna material,” he said flatly. “You’re weak. You always have been. An orphan omega with no standing, no power, no purpose.”

Each word cut deeper than the last. I had known him since childhood, worshipped him from afar, believed in his strength. But this… this wasn’t the boy I remembered. This was the Alpha he had become—ruthless, closed off, already shaped by war and expectations.

“I would’ve followed you,” I said, my voice hoarse. “I would’ve given everything.”

“I didn’t ask you to,” he replied. “And I don’t want it. I have plans, Selena. A future. One that doesn’t include you.”

I should’ve screamed. Should’ve begged, or cursed, or slapped him. But I just stood there, numb, letting the silence hollow me out. The bond still throbbed under my skin, a silver thread pulling me to him even as he severed it with every word.

“You’ll regret this,” I said quietly. He didn’t flinch. “No, I won’t.” Then he walked away.

I don’t remember how I got back to my room. The celebration went on without me, a blur of laughter, music, and moonlit joy I would never be part of. I curled into myself on the cold floor, still in my ceremonial dress, the hem torn and dirty. My chest ached, not just emotionally—but physically, like something inside me had splintered.

The mate bond doesn’t break cleanly. It lingers, festering, pulling at your soul until you either heal… or lose yourself.

That night, I didn’t sleep. I stared out the window at the forest beyond Dark Hollow, wondering how a heart could feel this hollow and still keep beating. I had no family, no rank, no future. My only tether had just cut me loose.

But something inside me refused to die. By dawn, the world had shifted.

I woke to a burning sensation in my veins, like fire moving beneath my skin. My reflection in the mirror looked the same—brown eyes, dark curls, pale skin—but something deeper had changed. My body felt tighter, like it was holding something back. My hearing had sharpened, my instincts clearer. I could hear the heartbeat of a bird outside. I could sense movement three houses away.

And the moon… gods, the moon still called to me. Louder now. Sharper. As if it hadn’t finished speaking.

A knock on my door made me jump.

I opened it to find Elder Rowan, the oldest seer in our pack. His silver hair flowed behind him like a river, his eyes unreadable.

“You need to come with me,” he said. “Now.”

“Why?”

“Because your power has awakened, child. And it won’t stay hidden much longer.” What power did Selena just awaken—and why is everyone suddenly afraid of her?

The air vibrated around me like a storm trapped in my skin. Damian staggered back, eyes wide—not with anger, but something sharper. Fear.

I didn’t understand what I’d done. I hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken. But the wind was howling through the trees, bending the branches like they were bowing. The earth beneath my feet trembled, cracks spiderwebbing from where I stood. A strange warmth surged in my chest, ancient and hungry. My fingertips pulsed with light, a faint silver shimmer licking over my skin like flame without fire.

“What…” I whispered. “What’s happening to me?”

No one answered. Warriors who had stood ready to escort me off pack lands now kept their distance. Even Marcus, loyal as ever to Damian, hesitated with a hand on his weapon, unsure whether he was supposed to protect me—or protect the pack from me.

Damian’s voice came low, harsh. “Selena, stop this. Whatever this is—control it.”

But I wasn’t doing anything. The power wasn’t coming from me—it was waking up through me. And it wasn’t interested in being quiet.

Something deep in my blood called out, a language I’d never been taught but somehow understood. Not words. A warning.

They were right to fear me. Because I was no longer the omega they thought they could cast aside.

And then I saw him—Elder Rowan—emerging from the trees, robes whipping in the wind. His face was pale. His gaze locked onto mine with something like recognition. Or dread.

“She’s not just a wolf,” he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. “She carries the bloodline we buried long ago.”

My heart dropped. “What bloodline?” No one answered. But Damian’s silence said enough. He knew. They all knew. So why had they kept it from me?

And what, exactly, had they awakened?