All Chapters of The Outcast Luna’s Reckoning: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

Elara's POVThe morning sun streamed through the high windows of the Silver Ridge training hall, turning dust motes into dancing flecks of gold.It was a beautiful morning, the kind that promised hope and strength.In the center of the hall, the air was thick with the scent of pine, sweat, and raw power. The sound of wood striking wood echoed like gunshots.“Again!” my father’s voice boomed, filled with a pride he never used for me.I watched from the periphery, my knees stinging against the cold stone floor. My adopted sister, Kaelith, was a blur of lethal grace. Her silver-blonde hair was pulled back in a tight braid as she sparred with three warriors at once. She moved like a storm, her Alpha-born instincts guiding every strike. When she landed a spinning kick that sent a grown man stumbling back, the hall erupted in cheers.They looked like gods. I looked like a smudge of dirt on their polished floor.I dipped my brush back into the bucket of gray, soapy water and began to sc

Elara's POVI snapped awake, my eyes flying open in the pitch-black darkness of the cellar.For a moment, I lay perfectly still, my heart thundering against my ribs like a trapped bird desperate to escape its cage.Thump.Thump.Thump-thump.The rhythm was frantic, but for the first time in years, it wasn’t driven by fear. It was fueled by a wild, intoxicating adrenaline.I reached up, my fingers brushing my cheeks, and realized I was smiling so hard it actually ached.The two weeks were over.I sat up on my thin cot, ignoring the familiar damp chill of the stone walls.Today was the Blood Moon.Today, I was eighteen.“Finally,” I whispered, the word tasting like a prayer on my tongue.The misery of the last fourteen days, the extra beatings, the endless mountains of laundry, the sting of boiling water on my hand, felt like a lifetime ago. Today, the cosmic tether would snap into place. Today, the Moon Goddess would reveal the soul bound to mine.I closed my eyes, pressing my palms

Elara's POVI couldn’t breathe.The air in the clearing felt like liquid lead, heavy, toxic, filling my lungs until I was certain I would suffocate. The pack’s laughter echoed in my ears, a cruel, rhythmic chant that pulsed with every beat of my shattering heart.I stared at the mud streaking the hem of my dress. The deep green fabric was ruined now. Just like me.I can’t stay here.The thought took root, cold and sharp. I have to go. Anywhere but here.Hot tears blurred my vision as I scrambled to my feet and turned toward the treeline.A hand clamped onto my shoulder and spun me around.For one foolish heartbeat, I hoped it was Orest, my eldest brother, come to pull me away.Instead, I faced Kaelith.Her face shimmered in the moonlight, beautiful and serene. To anyone watching, she might have looked almost kind. But I saw the truth in her eyes, the sleek, predatory satisfaction of a wolf who’d won a hunt without ever lifting a claw.“Oh, Elara,” she cooed, her voice pitched just