The full moon softly lit the clearing and accentuated the features of my former group. My heartbeat raced like war drums in my chest while my fingers tightened into fists at my sides. This was going to be our bond renewal night, a holy ceremony whereby friends reconfirm their vows before their people. Instead, it was the night I was being cast away.
Alpha stated, "Zaia Toussaint, Alpha." Sebastian King spoke with clarity and consistency. Once bursting with love when they gazed at me, his golden eyes now reflected only cold apathy. "I, Alpha of the Silver fangle Pack, reject you as Luna and mate."
The viewers nodded softly in silence. The words cut the relationship I thought to be permanent like a knife. As if all the breath had been taken from my lungs, my wolf moaned deep inside me, wriggling fiercely at the core of my chest. The suffering was more physical than only mental.
Though I skewed somewhat, I forced myself to be straight. Seeing me break would not appease him.
Sebastian stepped forward, his face blank as though none of this troubled him. You were never meant to be my Luna, he murmured. "I am just fixing a mistake the Goddess made."
From my right, my darling buddy Liana gasped chokily. She clutched for me, her dark eyes gleaming with unshed tears, but I shook my head slightly. I could not expose weakness right now.
From the throng, a woman with long, auburn hair cascading over her shoulders like liquid fire surged towards Sebastian with predatory grace. Al Ara. The old lover he would never have truly let go of.
I should to have known.
She put her hand in his as if it belonged there, as though I hadn't stood next him for years, leading our pack, battling by his side, suffering for his people.
Sebastian said, pointing his head towards Elara, "You see, she is my genuine mate. With her, destiny is correcting itself; with you, the relationship is a mistake.
I wanted to laugh over the stupidity. I instead drew the venom building in my throat down. "Fate correcting itself"— Though there was a sharp edge to it, cutting and persistent, my voice was low. "Or is it that you simply cannot let go of your past?"
Murks flowed among the gathered wolves.
Sebastian's teeth shut firmly. You leaving Silverfang early in morning.
The last knock. One thing was the rejection; yet, banishment? My blood came to a chill.
Searching for a sign of opposition, I turned around the audience but no one moved. Not even the elderly people I had always revered and followed. Not only from my pal, but from every member of my pack—treachery.
Alpha questioned, "Is that an order,?" I spit the title, just as poison does.
Sebastian's lips sealed. " It is."
My tummy turned around. This set it apart. Every bit I had produced and learned was being lost.
worst of all—he was likewise uninformed.
Not sure I carried his child.
The moon had long ago dipped below its glory by the time I packed my modest belongings. I was leaving not only a house but also my identification behind.
At my door, one heard a hesitant knock.
Lisle.
Tears streaming across her face, she hurried in. She begged, "Zaia, please," grabbing my arms. You can resist this. Luna has rights just as you do. difficulty him! The pack will pay heed, that is, "I shook my head and halted them. "They already favoured him above me."
Liana started to wiggle her lips. Then stay here for me. Visit for — "
With a hand, I felt my tummy; the action came naturally. I was not now only thinking about myself.
Liana begun to widen her eyes. "Zaia..." are you?
"Shh..". Less than I had expected my voice came out. "Nobody knows."
Shock evolved into fear as she thought about the consequences. "You cannot leave like this," she screamed furiously. You ought to be behind cover. You must— "
"What I need," I said decisively, "is to get as far away from here as possible."
Liana nodded and began to swallow fiercely. "I will be at your side."
Before me the jungle appeared to continue endlessly, a vast unknown full with dangers. Wolves outside packs began to behave like rogues. Rarely did Rogues survive.
Liana held me closely last time before turning away. She said, "Take this," thrusting a silver sword into my hand. "for protection."
I kept the gun near by.
"If he finds out....," she halted then.
I put her off. "He won't." Not until it comes too late.
Turning away, I started past the Silver fang line first. Every movement seemed like a goodbye.
I rushed then.
I turned not to look behind.
I halted not here nor here.
Since I doubted my own strength to travel if I did.
The scent of damp earth crept into my breath as I slowed down. My body ached; fatigue permeated my bones. A painful reminder of what I had lost, the mark on my neck Sebastian had claimed pulsed.
I was on my alone.
underclaimed.
Not a Luna for much longer.
Hearing the woods whisper made me conscious. I took more firmly Liana's dagger.
The clearing reflected a strong growl.
I had company other than myself.
Ratitudes.
Rising from the darkness, three of them had eyes ablaze with wrath and longing. Wolves who had gone crazy in the wild.
Not cowering, I kept my chin. I said really sensibly: "I don't want trouble."
The largest one laughed gutturally, while his fur matted and deteriorated. "Too terrible." Indeed, we do.
They fled.
I skipped the first by precisely cutting my knife in an arc. There was a yelp but not enough. Too many.
One dropped to attack from the ground. My vision darkened as claws ripped down my arm.
Blood; misery.
The world spun.
Then—one shadow past me too rapidly to track.
a call to pain.
The rebel ripped off me and thrown aside like a rag doll.
I gasped for oxygen as my eyesight cleared just in time to see him—a man above me—his silver eyes flashing in the dark.
tall, athletic. terrifying.
Not just any man, not every man. Ana Alpha.
His eyes moved over me, analysing and computing.
"Who are you?" ask Licked.
He slanted his head, the moonlight striking his face at sharp angles.
He then started to speak.
"Why is the forsaken Luna running alone in Rogue territory?"