🦋ALTHEA
"I, Draven Ashbourne, reject you, Althea Nocturne, as my mate and Luna."
His grip on my arm burned as much as the searing agony of his words.
I looked up at him—his mouth twisted, sapphire orbs reflecting disgust.
"What?" I sounded pathetic and distant to my ears.
He didn't repeat himself. "You heard me."
Murmurs rippled through the gathered pack. I could hear pieces of what they said about me, my cheeks burning hot with humiliation.
I wanted nothing more than to shift and flee into the woods, but I couldn't even do that.
"Wolfless disgrace."
"Omega bitch."
"Useless cunt."
Every word was another chip at my already fracturing heart. "Draven, this is—" My voice cracked, gesturing between us. "This is what we've always wanted." Every syllable sharpened with my desperation. "How can you say this now, here—" I gestured to the pack surrounding us. So many stood with their new found mates. "After everything I have done—"
For a moment, the disdain in his gaze cracked, horror bleeding through. He knew exactly what I was about to say and what it would do to his position.
"You are an Omega," he spat, and I flinched. "Wolfless. Disabled. In what world—what delusion—did you think I would ever choose you?"
He raised his head and voice to address the pack. "The Hell Hound still haunts our borders."
The pack's murmurs morphed into horror.
The mutilated bodies of our gammas flashed in my mind, bile rising in my throat.
"She cannot even shift to escape, much less defend the pack alongside me as my Luna." His lips twitched as he harshly pointed it out.
By the mumbles and nodding that followed, it was obvious they agreed. Elias, the beta, snickered in my direction.
Draven's grip tightened, still refusing to let me go as he publicly tore me apart. "The pack is my first priority. It has always been. For the sake of the pack, I choose a Luna worthy of the title and the responsibility."
My cheeks flamed, my vision darkened around the edges.
I tried to wrench free, but his grip merely tightened. My skin prickled and itched from the crowd's scornful staring.
"What is it, Althea?" A firmfeminine voice asked, devoid of empathy.
"Is the truth too hard to bear?" she asked, stepping down from the dais. Even now, her footsteps made my skin crawl. My ribs still ached from my last 'session'.
I dropped my gaze, as I'd learned to do long ago, as she stopped in front of me.
"Mother," I murmured.
I could feel her grimace.
She never liked me calling her that.
"Is the fact that you're too weak too much for you to accept? That you'd rather throw a tantrum than simply accept the Alpha's rejection?"
I felt her sharp eyes rake over my form, cataloguing every flaw.
She turned to address the pack.
"I am the high Gamma. I have served this pack for thirty years. And I'm telling you now—" her voice rang out, clear and brutal, "—my daughter is not fit to be Luna."
The words hit like a slap.
"And it is unfortunate that you thought the friendship the Alpha bestowed upon you meant more than it did. Alpha Draven pulled this pack back from the brink. When the Red Fever ravaged our territory, he became our salvation; he found the cure."
Draven's grip turned crushing, enough that I felt my pulse hammer. The message was clearer than the disgust in his eyes.
Open your mouth. I dare you.
"You simply cannot compare," she muttered, voice leaden with condescension.
"If she wants to be Luna so fucking much, maybe she can prove herself by bringing back the Hellhound's head," Elias said, grinning.
Laughter rippled through the pack but the amusement was tampered with fear.
To speak his real name was taboo.
"The Hell Hound would gut her in seconds!" someone shouted.
More laughter.
"She'd probably trip over her own feet before she even found him!"
"Useless Omega."
"Disgrace."
I kept my eyes on the ground.
"Enough," Draven said, his voice slicing through the mockery.
The laughter died.
"I didn't reject Althea out of cruelty," he said, addressing the pack. His voice was calm. Measured. "I rejected her because I already made my choice."
My head snapped up so hard my neck popped.
What?
He turned, gesturing toward the gathered crowd. "I chose my Luna long ago. Someone worthy of the title who can stand beside me and lead this pack into the future."
No.
Even the slaves—Vargans shifted uneasily, the chains at their wrists rattling in the quiet. They weren't allowed to react, but the tension rolling off them was unmistakable. A new Luna always meant new laws. New punishments. New ways for them to suffer.
No, he wouldn't— "My Luna," he said, voice ringing with pride, "is Circe Nocturne."
The world tilted.
Circe.
My half-sister stepped forward—dressed for the ceremony. In a silver dress, her dark hair braided with flowers. Her pale blue eyes gleamed as she descended the steps.
All of it was to make her look better by comparison. Circe reached Draven's side and took his outstretched hand.
The pack erupted in cheers.
"Luna Circe!"
"Finally, a REAL Luna!"
"She's perfect!"
Circe smiled. She was radiant, beautiful and everything I wasn't.
Then she looked at me. Her eyes met mine and, for a second, I saw it—the satisfaction.
My gut twisted.
"Congratulations, darling," my mother said, stepping forward to embrace Circe.
Darling. She'd never called me that.
I should have been used to her coldness. It was all I had ever known. Circe's smile widened. The creeping darkness at the edges of my vision spread faster.
The pack celebrated.
I pulled and yanked against Draven's hold but he refused to let go. He wanted me to burn under their scorn and sardonic taunts.
Pain exploded through my wrist as my wrist came free.
A slave moved instinctively when I tore myself loose,trained to intercept any fleeing pack member but he froze mid-step as a young Vargan—Thal grabbed his arm, holding him back.
The chains binding them clattered softly in the sudden silence, mirroring the pounding in my ears. For one heartbeat, Thal met my gaze—wide-eyed, helpless, apology written in every trembling line of his body.
I fled into the woods, cold air knifing my lungs, the cheers of the pack fading behind me.
Through the woods, I could see eyes in the darkness waiting for me. I braced myself knowing the night was not yet over even if my heart had been ripped out of my chest.