All Chapters of Rejected, Then Crowned Luna: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The words didn’t sound loud, but they settled over the clearing like a verdict no one could appeal. My skin tightened, my wolf pressed forward inside me, alert and focused.“State your name,” Ryan demanded.“You don’t command me,” the stranger replied.The air thickened instantly. Warriors who had stayed standing lowered their eyes without being told and the elders didn’t move at all.“This is Silverpine territory,” Ryan said, louder now, “You have no authority here.”“You forfeited authority,” the stranger answered calmly, “when you severed what you did not understand.”Ryan’s jaw tightened. “I rejected my mate and that is my right.”“No,” the stranger corrected, “You rejected something far older than you.”The silver at my collarbone pulsed.Ryan noticed. “Becky, what is this?”“I don’t know.”But my wolf did. She wasn’t crying anymore, she was watching him.“You will not approach her,” Ryan said.“Move,” the stranger replied.“Or what?”The stranger took one step forward. The grou

The silver didn’t flare, it detonated.Light tore through my chest and shot down my spine like something ancient had just been unlocked. My knees nearly gave out, but Ethan’s grip tightened instantly, steady and unshaken.Gasps rippled through the clearing. The Rite circle beneath us ignited, the carved symbols blazing bright silver instead of blue. The air cracked with pressure and wolves staggered back as if a storm had erupted without warning.“Release her!” Ryan shouted.Ethan didn’t move.“I am not the one hurting her,” he said calmly.He was right. I wasn’t in pain, I was awakening.The crescent mark at my collarbone burned hot, but beneath the heat was something deeper. Recognition and alignment. Like a door opening in a house I had lived in my whole life without knowing it existed.“Becky, say something!” Lily cried, pushing through the crowd, my childhood friend and the only person in Silverpine who had always stood on my side.I tried. The silver surged again, not outward bu