Prologue
Aria’s POV
The bond between mates is supposed to be unbreakable. Eternal. A thread of light spun by the Moon Goddess herself, binding two souls as one. I grew up believing that. Believing him.
But tonight, that thread is a blade, and it is cutting me open. I stand in the middle of the packhouse courtyard, the moon high above me, casting everything in cold silver. My heart pounds so hard it hurts, but not nearly as much as the words spilling from Ethan’s mouth.
“I, Alpha Ethan Blackthorn, reject you, Aria Hale, as my mate and Luna,” Ethan says.
The air vanishes from my lungs. The Earth tilts. My knees almost give way. His voice carries across the gathering, strong, merciless, sealing my fate with every syllable. Around us, the pack is silent, dozens of eyes fixed on me, waiting for my response. Waiting to see me break. I want to scream. To deny it. To beg. But my pride is the only thing I have left, and I will not let him see me crawl.
“I… I accept your rejection,” I stumble over my own words. The words shatter something inside me. The bond between us snaps, and the pain is immediate, blinding. It feels as if claws have raked straight through my chest, tearing out my heart. My wolf howls, writhing in agony, her voice echoing in my skull.
“No! He is our mate! Ours! Why?" She screams in my head. I feel her pain.
"But he isn’t. Not anymore," I whisper to her in my head. Tears blur my vision, but I refuse to let them fall. I force myself to lift my chin, to look at the man who once swore he loved me. His eyes are hard, cold. Once, they held warmth, laughter, desire, devotion. Now they’re just ice. And she stands beside him. She has a smirk on her face. She pretends to look at me with sympathy. Lilith. Her hand slides possessively into his, her lips curling in triumph as she leans against him. Her raven hair glints like the feathers of a raven in the moonlight, her smile smug. The woman I once called a friend. The woman he chose over me.
“You were never strong enough to be my Luna. The pack deserves better. I deserve better,” Ethan says, his voice cutting through me like a whip. His gaze drops, lingering on my trembling hands, and his lip curls in disdain.
“Weak. Always weak," I think bitterly by myself. My wolf snarls inside me, but I am too broken to summon her strength. My claws ache to tear his face, to shred Lilith’s smug smile from her face. But what good would it do? My mate has cast me aside. My Alpha has stripped me of my place. Gasps ripple through the pack, but no one dares to step forward. No one defends me. I am already nothing in their eyes. The pain deepens, spreading like fire through my veins, as if the Moon Goddess herself is punishing me. My vision swims. Every breath is agony. I clutch at my chest, trying to hold myself together, but there is no stopping this wound. I must keep my dignity. I cannot show them how much they are hurting me. Lilith tilts her head as she stares at me.
“Run along, Aria. The pack doesn’t need a rejected little girl crying at its feet,” Lilith says, her voice sweet but full of poison. I hear laughter from some of them. Others look away, ashamed, but not enough to speak. Not enough to save me. The humiliation burns worse than the pain. I draw in a ragged breath, straighten my spine, and force my legs to move. My wolf whimpers at each step, begging me not to turn away, begging me to fight for what is ours. But there is nothing left to fight for. I glance back once, just once. Ethan’s arm is already around Lilith, his lips at her ear, his smile real. He never smiled at me like that. A sob claws at my throat, but I swallow it down. I will not give them the satisfaction of seeing my hurt and hearing me cry. Then, when I am out of sight, I run. Into the trees, into the night, into the arms of darkness. My lungs burn, my legs ache, but I don’t stop. Every step away from the packhouse rips another piece of me, but I keep going, because there is nothing left behind me except betrayal and hurt. My wolf howls in my mind, broken, lost.
“Mate. Mate. Mate," She cries. I feel her pain. I hear her broken heart. I bite my lip until I taste blood. “
"Not anymore. Never again,” I whisper to her, my voice breaking. The bond is gone, but its echo lingers like a phantom pain. My chest feels hollow, my soul raw, as if part of me has been carved out with a dull knife. The forest blurs around me through my tears. Branches claw at my arms, roots snag my feet, but I don’t care. I just run until my body finally gives up. When I collapse, the earth is cold and unforgiving beneath me. I curl into myself, clutching my chest as if I can hold the pieces of my heart together. The wind howls overhead, carrying with it the distant sounds of the pack’s celebration. I hear their laughter. Music is playing in the distance. They are celebrating Lilith’s victory. She won. The worst part is, I did not even know I was in a battle for my mate. I did not realise I was fighting for his heart. I was blind to what was going on around me. Blinded by my love for Ethan. I press my forehead to the dirt and let the sobs finally come, ragged and helpless.
So this is what it feels like to die without dying.
The Moon Goddess gave me a mate, and he destroyed me.
I swear, through my tears and the pain tearing through me, that I will never forgive him.
Never forgive her.
Never, ever be weak again.