Lyra's POV
The pain in my chest is unlike anything I've ever felt.
It's not just physical—though my ribs feel like they're cracking, my heart like it's being crushed in a fist. It's deeper. Soul-deep. The mate bond that's been part of me for four years is tearing apart, ripping away piece by piece, and I can't breathe, can't think, can't do anything but kneel on these white petals and scream.
My wolf howls inside my mind—a sound so broken it makes me sob harder.
"Kael, please!" I gasp, reaching up toward him with trembling hands. "Don't do this. Please don't—"
He steps back. Away from me. Like I'm something disgusting he can't bear to touch.
The crowd's shocked gasps turn into whispers. Hundreds of pack members stare at me—some pitying, some disgusted, all of them witnesses to my humiliation.
"Why?" The word tears from my throat. "Why are you doing this?"
Kael's amber eyes are empty. This close, I can see he's not even struggling with the decision. There's no pain on his face, no regret, nothing. Like rejecting me costs him nothing at all.
"Because you're not worthy," he says simply.
The words hit harder than the bond breaking.
"What?" I can barely whisper it.
"Look at you, Lyra." His voice is calm, almost kind—which somehow makes it worse. "You're weak. Your wolf is small. You have no notable powers, no strength, nothing that makes you fit to be a Luna. Especially my Luna."
Each word is a knife between my ribs.
"But the Moon Goddess—" My voice breaks. "She chose us as mates. She—"
"The Moon Goddess made a mistake." Kael cuts me off, his tone final. "And I'm correcting it."
Laughter erupts from somewhere in the crowd. Actual laughter. Someone finds this funny.
The pack Elder looks horrified, his hands shaking as he holds the ceremonial scroll. "Alpha Kael, rejecting a fated mate is—the pain alone could kill her. The Moon Goddess doesn't look kindly on—"
"I've made my decision." Kael's Alpha command rings through the clearing, silencing everyone. Even the Elder bows his head in submission.
I'm still on my knees, still clutching at my chest where it feels like I'm dying. My wolf has gone quiet now—not peaceful, but silent. The terrible, empty silence of something that's given up.
"A Luna must be strong," Kael continues, addressing the crowd now like I'm not even here. "She must be powerful enough to stand beside an Alpha, to protect the pack, to bear strong heirs. Lyra Ashborn is none of these things. She would be a liability, not an asset. I cannot—I will not—bind myself to weakness."
"I can get stronger," I hear myself say desperately, hating how pathetic I sound. "Kael, please, I'll train harder, I'll—"
"No amount of training will change what you are." His eyes finally meet mine, and they're so cold. When did they get so cold? "You're ordinary, Lyra. You always have been. I need extraordinary."
Someone in the crowd whispers agreement. Others nod.
My father stands at the edge of the gathering, his face pale but his mouth shut. He's not going to defend me. Helena beside him looks almost... satisfied.
And Seraphina—
I find her in the crowd, and my heart shatters all over again.
She's smiling. Not even trying to hide it. That cruel, triumphant smile that says I told you so.
"The rejection must be completed," the Elder says quietly, reluctantly. "The bond must be fully severed, or it will cause her endless pain."
"Then let's finish this." Kael turns back to me, and I see it now—the impatience. He wants this over with. Wants me gone.
How did I not see this coming? Four years of waiting, of believing his promises, of loving him with everything I had—and I never saw that he was going to destroy me.
The Elder begins chanting the severing ritual. Ancient words in a language I don't understand, but my wolf understands. She whimpers softly—the last sound she'll ever make.
The bond stretches thinner. Thinner. About to snap completely.
Kael speaks the final words clearly, making sure everyone hears: "I, Alpha Kael Thornwood, reject you, Lyra Ashborn. You are not worthy to be my mate. You are not worthy to be my Luna. I sever this bond completely."
The snap is audible.
I scream as the bond breaks, the last threads of connection between us ripping away. It feels like part of my soul is being torn out. My wolf—my poor, small, quiet wolf—goes completely silent. Not sleeping. Not resting.
Gone.
The emptiness where she used to be is so vast I can't comprehend it. I'm still me, still aware, but there's a hole inside me now that will never be filled.
I'm on my hands and knees on the white petals, gasping for air, tears streaming down my face. The crowd's whispers are getting louder now—no longer shocked, just gossiping. Talking about me like I'm not right here, broken in front of them all.
"Poor thing..."
"I knew he'd come to his senses..."
"She never should have thought she was good enough..."
"Well, at least now he can choose a proper Luna..."
Through my tears, through the agony, I see Kael turn toward the crowd.
"Seraphina Ashborn," he calls out. "Come forward."
No.
No.
Time seems to slow down as Seraphina glides through the parted crowd. She's walking toward the altar. Toward Kael. And she's smiling—that beautiful, perfect smile that everyone loves.
Everyone except me.
She reaches the altar and takes Kael's offered hand without hesitation. The hand that should be holding mine. The hand that just destroyed me.
"What are you doing?" I choke out, though I already know. Deep down, I already know.
Kael looks at me one last time, and there's something in his eyes now. Not regret. Not quite pity.
Satisfaction.
"I'm choosing my true Luna," he says. "Someone strong. Someone worthy."
He turns to Seraphina, and the way he looks at her—
He's never looked at me like that. Not once in four years. Not even when our bond first snapped into place.
"Seraphina Ashborn," Kael says loudly, his voice carrying across the silent clearing, "I choose you as my mate and Luna. Will you accept?"
"Yes," Seraphina breathes, and her eyes flick to me for just a second. In that second, I see the truth.
She's not surprised. She's not shocked.
She planned this.
"You knew," I whisper, staring at her. "You both—you planned this. How long? How long have you—"
"Months," Seraphina says sweetly, almost kindly—the way you'd talk to a child. "He's been mine for months, dear sister. Did you really not notice? All those late-night 'patrol meetings'? All those times he was 'too busy' to see you?"
The crowd gasps. Someone actually gasps.
My stepmother Helena watches with cold satisfaction. My father won't even look at me.
And Kael—Kael doesn't even have the decency to look ashamed.
"You're stronger," he says to Seraphina, his voice warm in a way it never was with me. "Your wolf is powerful. Your abilities are exceptional. You're everything a Luna should be."
Then he leans down and kisses her.
Right there. Right in front of me. Right in front of everyone.
On what was supposed to be my mating ceremony.
The crowd erupts in shocked whispers and some—some actually cheer.
I can't move. Can't breathe. Can't process what's happening.
This isn't real. This can't be real.
But the empty place where my wolf used to be tells me it is. The broken bond tells me it is. The pain radiating through every cell of my body tells me it is.
Kael just rejected me, humiliated me in front of hundreds of witnesses, and replaced me with my stepsister.
In the span of ten minutes, I've lost everything.
My mate. My wolf. My future. My dignity.
Everything.
The Elder looks like he wants to protest, but what can he say? What can anyone say? Kael is Alpha. His word is law.
I try to stand, but my legs won't hold me. I'm still on my knees in the white petals that are now stained with my tears.
Seraphina leans down, her smile so sweet it could rot teeth. She whispers in my ear, just loud enough for me to hear: "You never stood a chance, sister. He was always going to choose me. You're just too weak, too ordinary, too... nothing."
She straightens up, takes Kael's hand, and they walk toward the Elder to complete their chosen mate ceremony.
Like I'm not even here.
Like I never mattered at all.
The crowd parts for them, many bowing in respect to their new Luna-to-be. Others stare at me with pity, disgust, or worse—indifference.
I'm invisible again. Just like I always was.
Just like I always will be.
Somewhere in my broken mind, I register that I should leave. Should get up and leave before I witness them completing what should have been my ceremony. But I can't move. I'm frozen here, trapped in this nightmare.
The moon above is so full, so bright.
I stare up at it through my tears and think: This is it. This is how my story ends. Rejected. Replaced. Forgotten.
Then something happens.
The moon turns red.
Not slowly. Not gradually. In an instant, the silver light bleeding across the clearing turns crimson—like someone poured blood across the sky.
The temperature drops so fast I can see my breath. Frost forms on the white petals. On the altar. On everything.
The crowd gasps, then screams.
Because the ground is shaking. Violently. Like the earth itself is angry.
And the sky—the sky is tearing open.