Lucian's Point of View.
"Alpha…" the voice was sweet, slow, a practiced hush.
It was morning.
The morning of the day I had waited for, for three years.
The blonde who spent the night with me ran her fingers through the dark hair on my chest, pressing her bare body against mine. Her skin was warm as her lips brushed my jaw, but I barely felt her.
Her voice trembled with carefully disguised need, the kind laced with fear. "Is something troubling you, my Alpha?"
I didn't answer.
She kissed the hollow of my throat and pressed closer, dragging her nails across the rigid line of my abdomen. "Let me help ease your mind, Alpha," she whispered, mouth brushing my ear.
I still didn't say a word nor did I look at her.
The edge of her smile faltered, but she pressed on.
"You were pleased with me last night… weren't you?"
I turned my head, slowly.
Her gaze flicked up to mine, cautious as the golden light reflected off my eyes, making them flare unnaturally bright in the shadows of the room.
With one hand, I shoved her back against the pillows.
"Leave at once!" I ordered.
The smile on her face vanished.
She reached up again, this time to trace the line of my beard, soft fingers trembling slightly.
"Please, Alpha," she breathed. "Let me stay…"
My hand snapped around her wrist like a steel trap.
She let out a sharp gasp of pain, the sound cut short by her instinct to remain obedient.
Her eyes widened.
I leaned in, just enough for her to feel the fury boiling beneath my skin.
"When I want your company," I said, voice cold as obsidian, "You'll be summoned, until then, get out!"
She nodded quickly, eyes wide with fear and breath caught in her throat. "Y…Yes, Alpha."
I released her wrist.
She scrambled off the bed, clutching her gown to her chest, her head bowed low as she backed out of the room.
As the door closed behind her, silence fell like a blade.
I rose from the bed, unbothered by my nudity.
My body was carved from years of war, a constellation of scars scattered across my skin like battle medals.
"A mate?" I scoffed in irritation.
I slipped into my black silk robe, tied it loosely around my waist, and stepped toward the arched window.
The royal home stretched out below, an estate carved into stone and power.
I watched as slaves moved through the sunlit courtyard like ants, and in a hurry.
"A mate today?" I muttered deep in thought, "Radical nonsense!"
I didn't want a mate.
I didn't need to be tethered to one woman for eternity. I had women who warmed my bed, who kissed my feet, who begged to carry my heir.
Why would I submit to a single name written by the moon goddess?
I walked away from the window and as I got close to the wardrobe, suddenly, a sharp, burning jolt pulsed through my chest.
I staggered backward, hissing, as I clung to the center of my ribcage. It was like fire exploded inside me, crawling down my spine and into my bloodstream.
"What the hell?" I cussed out loud as I bit my lower lip.
A grunt of pain escaped my lips as I dropped to one knee, gasping for air.
"What's happening?"
"What in the fuck is going on?"
Immediately, bright light radiated out of my eyes and it filled the room.
"Argh!" I screamed as I shut my eyes and quickly opened them but the lights were bright as ever.
I glanced behind me and at once, a name appeared, carved in white flame.
SELENE.
I whispered it aloud.
"Selene…"
My legs gave out and I crashed into the table beside me, knocking over a crystal decanter and scattering books, goblets, and scrolls across the stone floor. My breathing turned ragged as I collapsed, my forehead pressed to the cold tile.
At once, the door of my room burst open.
"Alpha!" a voice called out in horror.
It was a guard.
He sprinted to me, eyes wide with alarm, dropping to his knees.
"What happened? Are you wounded? What should I do?"
"Get Voran," I roared with gnashing teeth, my voice cracked from the pain. "Now!"
The guard didn't hesitate. He bowed, his face pale, and he bolted out of the room.
I lay there for what felt like an eternity, the pain ebbing slowly but the heat still burning behind my ribs. I could still see the name.
"Selene." My eyes narrowed in deep curiosity.
"Who is she?"
"Is she…my mate?"
The word mate sounded bitter in my mouth.
Voran arrived not long after cloaked in violet robes, he knelt beside me without touching me.
"The bond is awakening," he said.
My friend deepened and anger surged from within.
"I didn't see her face," I snapped, forcing myself upright. "Just a name, that's all, and it means nothing."
The priest tilted his head. "And what was the name?"
"Selene." I said.
He paused as I watched the color drain from his face.
Voran rose slowly and turned away, eyes lifting to the far wall like he was listening to something only he could hear.
"What is it?" I growled. "Speak!"
He exhaled.
Then, slowly, he turned to one of the guards nearby.
"Send your best warriors, go into the southern rogue settlement hidden in the deep woods. Ask for a rogue named Selene and bring her back to the Alpha at once."
I stood, fury building in my chest like a dam about to break.
"A rogue?" I bellowed as my anger exploded.
"You expect me to believe the Moon Goddess has matched me with a filthy, broken, and nameless mongrel hiding in the dirt?" my heart was racing with anger as I clench my fists, unable to believe my ears.
Voran eyes met mine.
"The Moon Goddess has chosen, and fate does not bend for anyone, not even you, Alpha."
"Bullshit!" I spat in rage.
"She should be a princess," I snapped. "The daughter of an Alpha! A Luna worthy of standing beside me and not a rouge!"
Voran gave a single but final nod. "You may rage against the moon, Lucian… but it will still rise."
Then, he turned to the guard who was present in the room with us.
"Go now and bring her at once!"
The guard ran without another word.
I stood in the center of the room, robe swaying with each thunderous breath, golden eyes blazing like sunfire.
"This can't be happening!"
"I can't be with a rogue!"
"Never!"
The name still echoed in my mind.
"Selene."
*
She knelt like something broken.
Dirty knees pressed into polished stone, her shoulders stiff beneath torn rags that barely passed for clothing. Her hair was a mess of tangled black strands, half-fallen from a braid, clinging to sweat-slicked skin and sand.
She looked starved, like life had chewed her up and spat her out in front of me.
This was the mate the Moon Goddess dared assign me?
No jewels adorned her throat?
No royalty in her posture.
The only scent from her smelled like blood, earth, and desperation clinging to her skin.
I could barely process the insult, my heart racing in anger.
I turned to Voran who nodded with a slight smile on his face.
"Yes, Alpha, this is her." he affirmed.
My rage snapped like a bone breaking beneath a boot.
I descended from my throne, the steps slowly, each thud of my boots echoing like a war drum. The weight of every eye in the great hall fell on me, and still, she remained on her knees, foolishly proud and utterly beneath me.
"This," I spat, gesturing toward her as if she were a heap of trash on sacred ground, "is what the Moon Goddess gives me?"
Voran said nothing.
"The moon goddess sends me a rogue, a stray. A girl scraped from the gutter like a half-dead dog, and I'm expected to… what?" I paused breathing out loud as I pointed my finger at her.
"Bind myself to this?" My voice rose, sharper than steel. "Touch her, claim her and turn her into my Luna?"
I paced around her, circling like a predator sizing up prey too weak to kill.
"She looks like she hasn't bathed in weeks," I said with a sneer. "I can smell the filth in her pores. Her clothes are stitched together with threadbare hope. Her shoes, if you can even call them that are falling apart. Has she even eaten today? Or is that too great a privilege for someone of her... noble bloodline?"
A cruel laugh escaped my lips in disbelief, she didn't raise her face at me, her head was still bowed.
I turned to Voran.
"I don't want her, she doesn't belong in a palace. She belongs in chains, or back in the dirt where she crawled out from."
My eyes were still fixed on Voran, my voice laced with venom. "I will not accept this, I won't insult my legacy by binding myself to that. The Moon Goddess has mocked me, she gave a king a beggar."
I paused as I turned to her.
"I would rather remain unmated for eternity than tie myself to a woman who looks like she's been tossed aside by the world and just forgot to die."
Suddenly, she raised her head to me, and our eyes locked together.
I couldn't read the expression on her face, her eyes were dead cold and I watched in surprise as she got up on her feet, her hard gaze not leaving me.
A hush fell over the room, it was the kind of silence that filled the air just before lightning struck.
All eyes were on her and she narrowed her eyes, they weren't soft or pleading, Instead they burned from spite.
"Are you done talking? She asked, her voice boomed in the hall, her voice was low, and controlled. "Have you run out of insults or just breath?"
The hall shuddered with the weight of her words.
I blinked, stunned, not by what she said, but by how she said it. Steady, unafraid like I hadn't just stripped her dignity raw in front of an entire court.
"You think I want this?" she snapped, taking a bold step forward towards me. "Do you think I begged the Moon Goddess for you?"
I said nothing, as I watched her in disbelief, unable to process that she was talking back to me.
She pressed on, her voice rising like a fire finally given air. "I never asked for a mate. I didn't spend my nights dreaming of some brute Alpha to save me by binding with me."
She took another step towards me, now she was standing just a foot from me, her chin lifted, posture straight, and her eyes filled with something fierce and wild.
"Looking at you, I already know the kind of man you are, you're nothing but a man who needs the world to respect him but you know nothing about respect."
Deep gasps rippled across the room.
My wolf stirred, snarling, but not in anger, but in shock.
"And let me be clear," she said, her voice cutting now, sharp and bright. "Even if I did want a mate, it sure as hell wouldn't be you. Not someone who spits on women for sport and talks about legacy like it's a crown instead of a chain."
My fists clenched.
"Since we both agree this bond is a mistake," she said, her voice now low and deadly, "then let me save you the shame of being stuck with a rogue, I'll walk away right now because I reject you as my mate."
My wolf roared in shock.
What!
Did she just reject me?
She turned her back to me and continued.
"I don't want you either, I will leave and you won't set your eyes on me, ever again."
I clenched my teeth as anger vibrated through my veins as the crowd present began to murmur, I could see the disbelief in everyone's eyes.
No one ever rejects me?
Not even her!
Everyone's eyes didn't leave her.
Even the guards, those hard-eyed men who'd ridden through rogue camps like death in wolfskin, looked stunned.
I turned to Voran, his lips parted slightly, like he couldn't believe she'd just rejected me in front of everyone.
"How dare you?" My voice roared at her and at once she stopped but didn't turn to look at me.
I have seen warriors scream for mercy,I have gutted traitors, slain Alphas in single combat, watched the light leave the eyes of dying men.
But this rogue girl… with her dirt and bruises and fire-forged voice just insulted me for the first time in my life.
"You dare not walk away from me!" I roared at her, my lips visibly trembling as I tried to control my rage.
Slightly, she turned her face to me, "I have said what I want to say, Alpha, do let me be."
With this, she walked away from the hall as I stared in her direction.
"Mate!" My wolf roared out inside me and my body shook.