The full moon hung over Silver Hollow like a spotlight. I stood at the back of the crowd, freezing in my thin dress. Twenty-one tonight. Old enough for the mate bond to snap into place.
*Please,* I prayed to whoever was listening. The Moon Goddess had never answered before, not when my parents were killed five years ago, not when my wolf never showed up, not through three years of being called wolfless and worthless.
But the mate bond was different. It didn't care if you had a wolf. That's what I'd been holding onto every night in my shitty servant's room.
The ones who'd found their mates already stood together looking smug. The rest of us waited alone.
Elder Morna stepped into the circle, firelight making her gray hair glow. "Children of the Moon, open your hearts. The Goddess sees all bonds."
The air got heavy. My chest squeezed, and then…..
Something yanked hard inside my ribs. I couldn't breathe. Everything blurred except one face.
Across the fire stood Alpha Kaelen Virex of Bloodhowl Pack.
Staring right at me.
Everyone gasped. My heart slammed against my ribs. Kaelen Virex, tall, dark, and powerful , was one of the strongest Alphas around. A bond between our packs could change everything.
His face twisted like he smelled something rotten.
I stepped forward anyway. The bond hummed between us, warm and real. For the first time ever, I felt wanted.
"Kaelen."
He walked around the fire. Everyone moved out of his way. This was it he'd claim me, protect me, and I wouldn't be alone anymore.
Kaelen stopped three feet away. His amber eyes were cold as ice.
"No."
"I, Kaelen Virex, Alpha of Bloodhowl Pack, reject you, Aelara Moonfall, as my fated mate."
The bond ripped apart.
I screamed and dropped to my knees. It felt like someone tore something vital out of my chest. I couldn't breathe past the pain shredding through me.
"Look at her." Kaelen's voice rang out. "Wolfless. Weak. Daughter of dead traitors. You think I'd tie my bloodline to that?"
I looked up through tears. People I'd known my whole life looked away. Elder Morna showed nothing. Nobody helped.
"The Moon Goddess makes mistakes," Kaelen said. "I'm not letting one ruin my pack."
"Please—"
He crouched close enough that only I heard. "You're nothing, Aelara. You've always been nothing. Now everyone knows it."
He stood and turned to Morna. "Pack law says a rejected mate with no family goes to the rejecting Alpha. Aelara Moonfall belongs to Bloodhowl now."
My stomach dropped. "No—"
"You're packless," Kaelen said flatly. "You're mine. Property. I'll use you however I want."
"Take her."
Two warriors grabbed me. I looked back at Silver Hollow one last time, the place where I was born, where my parents died. Nobody met my eyes.
The walk to Bloodhowl was endless pain. Their pack house looked like a prison. They threw me in a tiny room with a thin mattress and locked the door.
I curled up, shaking. The rejection wound wouldn't stop throbbing. I pressed my mom's necklace against my chest and tried to breathe.
Hours passed. The moon moved across my window. Before dawn, I stopped shaking.
Something inside me changed.
Not my wolf, she was still gone. But something harder.
Kaelen called me nothing. My pack abandoned me. The law took everything.
But wolves could be outrun.
I stood on shaky legs and grabbed my bag. Put on my extra layer. Tucked mom's necklace under my shirt. Went to the window.
It was small, but I was smaller and too thin from years of eating scraps.
Outside, the sky turned gray. Guards would change shifts soon. I'd watched their pattern the same every time soo Arrogant.
My hands were steady on the window latch. My reflection stared back pale, hollow, marked by tears.
*You're nothing.*
"Good," I whispered. "Nothing's harder to catch."
The window opened silently. Cold air rushed in, smelling like freedom.
I climbed through, hit the ground, and ran.
Behind me, as sunlight touched the trees, a howl ripped through the morning. Long and furious.
They'd found my empty room.
I didn't look back. My legs burned. Branches scratched my face. I ran toward the one place they wouldn't easily follow, the Ashveil Borderlands. Where pack law meant nothing. Where rogues lived. Where people went to disappear.
My parents used to warn me. "Never go to Ashveil. Nothing good lives there."
Guess I was about to find out.
The trees got darker and twisted as I went deeper. The air felt heavier. My chest still ached from the broken bond, a constant throb reminding me what I'd lost.
*You're nothing.*
"Shut up," I muttered. "I'm alive. And he's not getting me back."
The sun was setting, turning the sky purple. I needed shelter. Water. I'd been so focused on running I hadn't thought past escape.
That's when the memories hit.
My parents. The Moon Scholars. They'd studied prophecies and old magic. Boring stuff I used to fall asleep listening to.
Then soldiers came one night five years ago. Dragged them out with the other Scholars. Called them traitors.
Killed them all before sunrise.
The official story said the Lycan King ordered it. King Vaelor Noctyrr himself decided they were dangerous and had them executed. No trial. Just dead.
I was sixteen. Wolfless. Orphaned. Nobody wanted me after that.
I hated the Lycan King. Hated all rulers who killed people because they felt like it.
I was so lost in anger I almost tripped over him.
A man collapsed against a tree. Huge massive shoulders, long legs. Covered in blood. So much blood.
I should've kept running. This was the Borderlands finding dying men was probably normal here.
But I stopped.
Maybe because I'd been hunted all day. Maybe because I knew what it felt like to be abandoned. Maybe I was just stupid.
I stepped closer.
His skin was too pale. Sweat covered his face. Deep cuts across his chest and arms, edges black and ugly.
Poison.
"Damn it."
I looked around. Nothing but trees and shadows.
The smart thing was to leave. He could be dangerous. Probably nobody got wounds like that from being nice.
But I thought about my mom. She helped anyone who needed it. "The Moon sees everything, Aelara. She remembers who showed mercy."
"You better be right about this, Mom."
I grabbed him under his arms and pulled. Heavy as hell. My muscles screamed as I dragged him behind thick bushes, away from the path.
He didn't wake. Didn't make a sound.
I used my torn sleeve to wipe blood away. The poison was spreading black lines creeping under his skin.
I had a tiny water bottle. Almost empty. I poured some on the wounds, washing them. Ripped more of my dress and wrapped the strips around the deepest cuts.
It wasn't much. Probably wouldn't save him. But it was something.
I sat back, breathing hard. My hands were covered in his blood.
Rain started. First a few drops, then pouring. Thunder shook the ground.
I pulled my knees to my chest. The rain soaked through in seconds. I was cold, tired, hungry, sitting next to a dying stranger in the most dangerous place in the territory.
"What the hell am I doing?"
Lightning flashed.
In that bright white light, I saw his face clearly for the first time.
My breath stopped.
He was beautiful. Not regular, beautiful, the kind that belonged in old paintings. Sharp angles, strong jaw, face that looked carved from stone. Dark hair plastered to his forehead. Even half-dead and bloody, he was the most stunning man I'd ever seen.
And terrifying. Something about him screamed danger. Like getting too close would burn me alive.
His eyes opened just barely. Silver. Pure silver, glowing slightly in the dark.
I froze.
He looked at me but didn't seem to see me. His lips moved.
I leaned closer to hear over the rain.
"Little moon," he whispered.
My heart jumped. Nobody had ever called me that. It sounded important. Like it meant something.
"Hey," I said quietly. "You're hurt badly. Just hang in there."
His silver eyes focused on me for one second. Something passed between us felt like electricity on my skin.
Then his eyes rolled back. Out again.
I pressed my hand to his chest. Heartbeat still there. Faint but there.
"Don't die. I didn't drag your heavy ass over here so you could die on me."
Rain kept coming. Thunder kept shaking everything.
And I sat there in mud and blood, next to a stranger who might not see morning, wondering what I'd gotten into.
My chest still ached from the broken bond. I was exhausted, soaked, freezing.
But sitting there with him, I didn't feel completely alone anymore.
Lightning flashed again. His face looked peaceful, like he was just sleeping.
"Little moon," I repeated softly.
The words felt right.
Then his hand twitched. Fingers curled slightly, like reaching for something in his sleep.
And on his wrist, barely visible under the blood and dirt, I saw a mark.
A royal seal.
My heart stopped.
No. It couldn't be.
I grabbed his wrist, wiping away mud with shaking hands. The mark became clearer—a crescent moon wrapped around a crown, done in silver ink that seemed to glow faintly.
The Lycan King's mark.
This man was royalty. Or worked for royalty. Either way, he was connected to the throne.
Connected to the bastard who killed my parents.
I should've left him there to die. Should've run and never looked back.
But I'd already saved him. Already stopped the bleeding. And something in my gut said this man, whoever he was, would change everything.
Thunder crashed overhead.
I looked down at his face one more time. Beautiful and deadly and mine to deal with now.
"Who the hell are you?" I whispered.
His lips moved again in his sleep.
"Little moon... mine..."