The full moon hung high in the sky, silver light spilling across the forest and bathing the pack lands in a pale glow. The air was heavy with energy; wolves stirred restlessly in their homes, their instincts sharpened by the lunar pull. For most, it was a night of strength and celebration. For Abigail, it was another reminder of how far she stood from belonging.
She sat alone behind the servants' quarters, knees tucked to her chest, watching the light spill across the ground. Hunger gnawed at her belly, but worse than that was the emptiness the hollow ache of having no family to sit with, no one to laugh or share the night with.
She pressed her forehead against her knees, whispering to herself, One day… maybe one day.
The wind shifted, and with it came a scent that made her entire body jolt. Rich, earthy, threaded with pine and something darker commanding yet intoxicating. Her heart skipped, then pounded, a rhythm that felt foreign and unstoppable. Her wolf stirred inside her, restless and eager, as if clawing to escape.
Abigail's eyes widened. Her breathing quickened. The scent was pulling her, calling her. She rose unsteadily, drawn toward it like a moth to flame.
She walked through the shadows of the trees until she found herself at the training grounds. And there he was.
Alpha Steve stood alone, the moonlight glinting off his broad shoulders as he gazed at the sky. His wolf simmered just beneath the surface, power radiating from him in waves. But it wasn't his strength that struck Abigail it was the way her soul screamed at her, Mate.
Her breath caught. The bond snapped into place, invisible yet undeniable, weaving itself around her heart and tying it to his. Her body trembled under the weight of it. She had dreamed of love, but she had never imagined it would feel like this overwhelming, terrifying, impossible to deny.
Steve stiffened. He had felt it too. His wolf surged, growling possessively as the bond ignited. His head snapped toward her, eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight.
Their gazes locked.
For a long, breathless moment, the world around them vanished. There was only the bond the magnetic pull, the fire in their veins, the certainty that fate itself had bound them together. Abigail's lips parted, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She felt both seen and claimed in that instant, as if she finally belonged to someone.
But Steve's jaw tightened. His expression darkened. He fought against the bond, refusing to let it consume him. Not her, he told himself. Not the omega. Not the girl they all despise.
Abigail took a hesitant step forward, her voice trembling. "Alpha…"
His wolf howled within him, demanding he take her, claim her, protect her. But Steve turned sharply away, his fists clenched. The rejection was silent but clear.
The sharp sting of his refusal cut through Abigail's chest. Her wolf whimpered inside her, the bond pulling one way while his coldness shoved her back. Tears burned her eyes, but she forced them down, unwilling to break in front of him.
"Go back," Steve said finally, his voice low and hard. "You shouldn't be here."
The words shattered her.
Abigail's lips quivered, but she swallowed her hurt and lowered her gaze. With every step back toward her lonely quarters, the bond tugged painfully, as though her very soul resisted leaving him.
Behind her, Steve remained rooted in place, his entire body taut with conflict. His wolf raged against him, furious at the rejection, desperate to chase after her. He dug his nails into his palms, blood welling from the crescent marks.
"She's not fit to be Luna," he muttered to himself, trying to bury the truth. "She'll ruin everything."
But no matter how firmly he spoke, the bond thrummed in his chest, unrelenting.
Abigail returned to her corner of the servants' quarters and curled onto her thin blanket. Her whole body trembled. She pressed a hand to her heart, feeling the bond's pull like a rope tied around her, stretching and burning but never breaking.
She closed her eyes, but sleep would not come. All she could see was his glowing eyes, all she could feel was the way fate had branded him as hers and his rejection had branded her as unwanted all over again.
That night, Abigail realized the cruelest truth of all: she had finally found the one person fate had chosen for her, but he was the one person who refused to claim her.