The great hall was chaos. Injured wolves, scent of smoke and blood, emotions so thick I could barely breathe. The pack parted as Marcus hauled me to the center, their feelings a tsunami—anger, fear, betrayal, bloodlust.
"The attacks stop when she's locked up," someone shouted. "Start again when we're distracted!"
"She's working with rogues!"
"Defective Luna bringing destruction!"
"SILENCE." Marcus's Alpha command rippled through the room. "We will have order."
But I felt his doubt, his rage, his desperate need for someone to blame. And beneath it all, Garrett's satisfaction, carefully controlled but unmistakable.
"Luna Aria stands accused of conspiracy against the pack," Marcus announced. "The evidence—"
"Is fabricated!" I found my voice, found my rage. "Beta Garrett orchestrated everything. The attack on the Northern wolf, Jonas's involvement, now his death—"
"She admits to knowing about Jonas!" Garrett stepped forward, the perfect picture of righteous fury. "How could she know he was involved unless she was part of it?"
The trap closed neat as a snare. "Because I felt his guilt! My gift—"
"Your gift that conveniently can't be proven. That makes accusations without evidence." Garrett turned to the pack. "How many more must die before we accept the truth? The Luna is either insane or traitorous. Either way, she's a danger."
Murmurs of agreement. The tide turning fully against me.
"I call for formal rejection," a voice from the crowd. "Cast her out before she destroys us all!"
Others took up the cry. "Reject her! Protect the pack! Reject the defective Luna!"
I looked at Marcus, my mate, my love, the father of my child. Waited for him to defend me, to remember his vows.
Instead, he looked at me like a stranger. "The pack has spoken."
"No." The word tore from my throat. "You can't. I'm pregnant. Your child—"
"Will be better off without a mother who brings death and chaos." His voice was ice. "I should have listened when they first called you defective. Should have known the Moon Goddess marks some wolves as warnings, not blessings."
Each word was a claw tearing flesh. But worse was feeling his emotions—relief mixing with regret. He wanted this. Wanted an excuse to be free of his broken mate.
"Then do it," I snarled, finding strength in fury. "Reject me. But know this—when the truth comes out, when Garrett's betrayal is revealed, when you realize you threw away your true mate for a lie, I hope it destroys you."
His jaw clenched. "Kneel."
The Alpha command slammed into me, trying to force submission. But my gift, wild with pregnancy and pain, pushed back. I remained standing, meeting his gaze with defiance that made the pack gasp.
"I said KNEEL."
This time, the power behind it was crushing. I fought, but my knees buckled, hitting the stone floor hard enough to bruise. The position—heavily pregnant, forced to kneel before my mate—was designed to humiliate.
Marcus stepped forward, and I knew with horrible certainty what came next.
"I, Alpha Marcus Thornfield of the Silver Moon Pack," he began, each word formal and final, "reject you, Aria Nightshade, as my mate and Luna."
The bond between us, already damaged, began to tear. But I wouldn't make it easy. Wouldn't give him the clean break he wanted.
"I do not accept," I gasped out, clinging to the connection with everything I had. "You are rejecting an innocent wolf. You are rejecting your unborn child. The Moon Goddess—"
"The Moon Goddess has already shown her judgment," Garrett interrupted smoothly. "A Luna who brings chaos. A child conceived in a corrupted bond. Perhaps it's mercy to end it now."
The threat was clear. If I didn't accept the rejection, they'd kill my child.
"I..." My voice broke. Through my gift, I felt the pack's bloodlust rising. They wanted me gone—dead or alive. "I accept your rejection."
The words tasted like poison. The moment they left my lips, our bond shattered completely.
Pain like nothing I'd ever experienced ripped through me. Not just emotional—physical, as if half my soul was being torn away. I doubled over, arms wrapping around my stomach as agony consumed me. Distantly, I heard my own screaming.
But beneath my pain, the baby's emotions flared—fierce, protective, angry. Power unlike anything I'd felt before pulsed from my womb, and suddenly every wolf in the hall staggered.
Their emotions—all of them—slammed into me at once. But instead of drowning me, they flowed through me. I felt their hatred and pushed it back at them twisted, amplified. Wolves began dropping to their knees, clutching their heads as their own darkness reflected back.
"What is she doing?" someone screamed.
"Monster!" Another voice. "Kill her!"
But they couldn't move. My child's power held them frozen, their own emotions turned weapon against them.
Marcus fought through it, Alpha strength letting him stay upright. "Aria, stop this!"
"I'm not doing it," I gasped, struggling to stand. Blood ran down my legs—the rejection triggering early labor. "Our child... she's protecting me."
His face went white. "The child is doing this?"
"The child you just rejected." I laughed, harsh and broken. "Congratulations, Alpha. You've created something more powerful than you ever imagined. And she already hates you."
The power pulsed again, stronger. Windows shattered. Wolves howled in pain. And in the chaos, I saw my chance.
Moonsbane. Morgana's gift.
I shattered the vial against my teeth, bitter liquid flooding my mouth. Within seconds, my scent began to fade. In the chaos of writhing wolves and my child's psychic assault, I ran.
"Stop her!" Garrett's voice, but slurred with pain.
I burst through the main doors into the night. Behind me, the pack house erupted in screams as my child's power grew wilder without my touch to ground it. Let them suffer. Let them feel a fraction of what they'd done to us.
The forest embraced me, dark and familiar. I ran despite the contractions starting to rip through me, despite the blood trail I was leaving. North. Away from pack territory. Away from everything I'd known.
Hours passed in a blur of pain and motion. When I finally collapsed beside a stream, dawn was breaking. The moonsbane was wearing off. Soon they'd track me.
"Please," I whispered to my child. "Please hold on. Just a little longer."
A rustling in the bushes. I tensed, ready to fight with my last breath.
But the wolf that emerged wasn't from Silver Moon.
She was massive, pure white, with eyes like molten gold. Power radiated from her—ancient, primal, nothing like pack wolves.
"Aria Nightshade," she spoke directly into my mind. "The Luna who feels too much. I've been waiting for you."
"Who—what are you?"
"I am Selene. Guardian of those the packs reject. And you, little empath, are exactly what we've been hoping for." She shifted, revealing a woman with timeless features and kind eyes. "Come. Let's deliver that powerful child somewhere safe. You have much to learn before you return."
"Return?" I laughed bitterly. "They'll kill me."
"No, child. When you return, they'll kneel." She helped me stand, supporting my weight. "The gift you see as a curse? It's about to become legend. And that Alpha who rejected you? He'll spend every day regretting it."
As she led me deeper into the forest, I felt my child's power settle, soothed by this ancient presence. We were leaving everything behind—my mate, my pack, my life.
But for the first time since my gift manifested, I didn't feel broken.
I felt like I was finally becoming whole.