SERA'S POV
My knees hurt from kneeling on the cold stone, but I don't care. Tonight, everything changes.
I stare at Kade standing on the platform above me, and my heart feels like it might explode. He looks so handsome in his Alpha ceremonial clothes tall, strong, powerful. His dark hair catches the moonlight, and I remember the first time I saw him six years ago.
I was eighteen. The mate bond hit me like lightning hot and bright and perfect. The Moon Goddess herself had chosen us for each other. I'd spent every day since then trying to be good enough for him. Learning to cook his favourite meals. Studying pack laws. Training to be the perfect Luna.
Tonight, he'll finally claim me in front of everyone.
Sera Blackwood, Kade's voice booms across the ceremonial circle. Hundreds of pack members surround us, their eyes glowing gold in the darkness. Everyone is watching.
I hold my breath. This is it.
I, Kade Thorn ridge, Alpha of Rain Valley Pack... He pauses.
My wolf, Luna, practically dances inside my mind. Finally! Finally, he'll say we're his!
...reject the mate bond with Sera Blackwood.
The world stops.
I can't breathe. Can't think. Those words they don't make sense.
Then the pain hits.
It feels like someone is ripping my chest open from the inside. The golden thread connecting me to Kade the bond I've felt every single day for six years starts tearing apart. I scream, clutching my chest, but no sound comes out.
You're too weak to be my Luna, Kade says, and his voice sounds so cold. Like I'm a stranger. I choose Vivian Ashford as my mate instead.
A beautiful woman steps onto the platform beside him. Vivian. She's everything I'm not powerful, confident, from an important family. Her wolf is huge and strong. Mine is small and barely useful.
The pack erupts in cheers.
They're celebrating. They're actually happy about this.
The mate bond snaps completely. The last thread breaks, and I feel it die inside me. Luna whimpers, and then goes silent. My wolf the other half of my soul just... disappears.
I collapse onto the stones. My whole body shakes. I try to stand, but my legs won't work.
No one helps me.
They're all watching Kade and Vivian. Cheering. Clapping. Some are already shifting into their wolves and howling with joy.
I'm dying right here in front of them, and no one even notices.
Somehow, I get to my feet. My legs shake so badly I almost fall again. Everyone is focused on the platform where Kade is kissing Vivian's hand. Making promises. Saying all the words he was supposed to say to me.
I stumble backward. One step. Then another. The celebration gets louder behind me.
I run.
My cottage is on the edge of pack territory small and forgotten, just like me. I barely make it through the door before I collapse again. This time, I can't get up.
The bond is gone. Completely gone. Where it used to be feels hollow and cold, like someone carved out a piece of my chest and left nothing but emptiness.
Luna is still silent in my mind. I try to call to her, but she won't answer. My wolf is broken.
I'm broken.
Why? I whisper to the empty room. What did I do wrong?
I remember every moment of the last six years. Every time I smiled even when Kade ignored me. Every time I pretended not to notice when he looked at me like I was annoying. Every time I told myself he was just busy, just stressed, just needed time.
I was so stupid.
The door opens. I don't even lift my head.
Sera? Nova's voice is soft. She's my only real friend in this pack an omega healer who never cared that I wasn't important.
She kneels beside me and pulls me into her arms. I finally start crying. Big, ugly sobs that make my whole body shake.
He doesn't deserve you, Nova whispers fiercely. He never did.
But I just shake my head. If my own fated mate the one the Moon Goddess herself chose for me didn't want me, what did that make me?
I tried so hard, I choke out. I did everything right. I learned everything. I became everything he needed. Why wasn't I enough?
Nova doesn't answer. Because there is no answer. Sometimes you can give someone everything, and it still won't be enough.
The sounds of celebration drift through my window. They're having a party. For Kade and Vivian. For the new Luna who replaced me.
I should leave, I whisper.
Where would you go? Nova asks gently.
Nowhere. I have nowhere. This pack is all I've ever known. My parents died when I was young. I have no money, no family, no other pack that would take me.
I'm trapped here. Forced to watch Kade build a life with someone else. Forced to see Vivian every day, being everything I couldn't be.
I can't do this, I say. I can't live like this.
Nova holds me tighter. You're stronger than you think.
But I'm not. I'm the weakest wolf in the pack. Everyone knows it. Even my own mate knew it.
Hours pass. Nova eventually leaves, promising to come back tomorrow. I sit alone in the dark, staring at nothing.
Then I feel it.
A sharp, hot pain in my chest. Different from the bond breaking. This feels... wrong. Dangerous.
I look down and see a faint black mark spreading across my skin, right over my heart. It looks like a crack. Like something inside me is literally breaking apart.
My wolf should be healing this. But Luna is still silent. Still gone.
The mark spreads wider.
What's happening to me?
I try to stand, but the room spins. My vision goes blurry. The black mark pulses with each heartbeat, growing darker, spreading faster.
I reach for the door, but my hand won't work right.
Nova, I try to call out, but my voice is barely a whisper.
The last thing I see before everything goes black is the mark covering half my chest, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Like something dark is waking up inside me.