All Chapters of Rejected by the Wolf King: The Moon Oath Judge: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"I, Alpha Damian Grey, reject Elena Vale as my mate."The words struck the marble walls of the Moon Temple and came back to me twice as loud.For one absurd moment, I wondered whether the musicians had missed their cue. Five hundred guests stood beneath silver lanterns. The priestess held our binding ribbon. I wore a dress stitched with tiny moons, and a silver circlet that had belonged to Damian's mother rested against my hair.Everything was where it belonged.The bells above the temple had been tuned for the ceremony. I knew because I had paid the bellmaker myself when Damian's steward said there was no room in the treasury. Their notes were supposed to announce a union the whole valley could celebrate. For weeks, the bakers had offered me sample cakes, children had waved from market stalls, and women who remembered my mother's kindness had pressed flowers into my hands. I had mistaken the tenderness of those people for proof that my future was secure. I could not bear the thought

The council chamber had no windows below eye level. It had been built to remind the accused how small they were.I had sat on the other side of that table hundreds of times, arguing over relief funds and border tolls. I knew which chair creaked, which clerk copied too slowly, and which drawer held spare ink. Now the clerks kept their eyes on the table while a guard removed my cuff from the iron ring by the door.A hearing was supposed to begin with a formal reading of the charges. Instead, Magistrate Voss placed an empty statement before me.The table still bore a pale ring from the winter I had spilled lamp oil during a fourteen-hour ration meeting. Damian had teased me about it afterward, saying a woman could command every storehouse in the valley but not a single lamp. We had laughed together then. Now the stain remained beneath the polished wood while my place at the table had vanished. The room remembered my work only in accidents, not in the harvest calculations or the names of

The first arrow struck the mule instead of me.It dropped without a cry, spilling the cart onto the rutted road. I threw myself sideways as a second arrow tore through the canopy. My shoulder hit a rock. Pain ran down my arm, bright enough to leave me breathless.Four riders emerged through the pines. None wore Silvermoon colors, but I recognized the kind of tack we issued to border patrols: oil-dark leather with double brass buckles. Someone had tried to make them look like bandits and had forgotten to change the equipment."The road's closed, sweetheart," one called.I rolled behind the fallen cart. The mule's blood spread through the mud. I had no sword. My bag held bread, a water flask, a clean shirt, Nora's little brass key, and the copy of my exile receipt. That was all an Alpha's former bride had been permitted to own."I don't have money," I said."We haven't come for money."Of course they hadn't.My wolf stirred, urging me to shift. Iron dust had been rubbed into the restrai

I slept with a knife under my pillow and woke twice to hear Kael pacing outside the cottage. In the morning, he'd left bread on the table and a map beside it. The eastern road was marked with a warning. The western route ended at Grayharbor.I could have taken either. I chose neither until we'd settled terms."I want a written agreement," I told him.He poured coffee into a chipped cup. "About what?""The investigation. Your obligations. Mine. What happens if we disagree.""You want to sign another contract the morning after a forged one ruined your life?""Especially then. The answer to dishonest records isn't to stop keeping records."He set down the coffee and brought out paper.We argued for nearly an hour.Kael wanted authority to decide when a road was dangerous. I wanted the right to know who was hunting us and why. He wanted to conceal certain contacts. I insisted he identify when information had been withheld, even if he couldn't reveal it immediately. He objected to my plan

Gwen Alder was waiting for us in a ditch beside the southern road.I recognized her by the green wax trapped under one fingernail. A branch had snagged her brown cloak, and rain had plastered gray hair to her cheek. She lay on her side with one arm stretched toward a milestone, as if she'd been trying to pull herself the last few feet to safety.There were no birds in the trees. Even the wind seemed to have left this place alone.Kael crouched to check for a pulse. He already knew there wouldn't be one. I watched his jaw tighten before he carefully pulled her cloak across her shoulder."How long?" I asked."Since last night. Perhaps earlier."I had wanted a living witness. Someone who could tell me which documents had been changed, who had ordered it, and why my mother's name had appeared beneath my rejection. Instead, I had a dead woman and a road that didn't belong to us."Could she have died before she sent the message?""The message was brought out two days ago. She had been tryin