(Aria's POV)
I shouldn't be here.
The thought pounds through my head as I press myself against the cold stone wall at the very back of the Lunar Temple. Around me, hundreds of wolves in beautiful clothes laugh and talk, waiting for the ceremony to start. I tug at my borrowed dress—gray and too big, hanging off my shoulders like a sack.
"Stay in the shadows, Aria," my cousin Maya had warned before shoving the dress at me. "Don't embarrass us by being seen."
I wasn't supposed to come at all. Omegas from disgraced families don't get chosen as mates. We're lucky if anyone remembers we exist. But something pulled me here tonight. Something I can't explain.
The blood moon rises above the temple's glass ceiling, turning everything red. My heart starts racing. This is it. The Lunar Claiming happens once every seven years. When the moon reaches its peak, fate reveals the mate bonds—golden threads connecting souls that belong together.
I've never wanted anything as badly as I want to feel that connection. To have someone look at me and see value. To stop being invisible.
"The Alpha Prime is here," someone whispers nearby.
The crowd parts like water. My breath catches.
Zander Corvus walks through the center of the temple, and it's like watching a god move among mortals. He's tall and powerful, with black hair and eyes so blue they look like ice. Everyone steps back, bowing their heads. He doesn't smile. Doesn't acknowledge anyone. He just walks forward with this cold, perfect confidence that makes my stomach twist.
I've seen him before, at Council meetings where I served drinks that no one thanked me for. He never once looked at me. Why would he? I'm nothing.
The head Elder raises her hands. "Let the Claiming begin!"
The blood moon hits its peak. Red light floods the temple.
And then I feel it.
A pull. A golden thread yanking at something deep in my chest. It's like lightning and honey and coming home all at once. My whole body goes hot, then cold. The thread pulls tighter, dragging my attention across the crowded room toward—
No.
No, no, no.
Zander Corvus's head snaps up. His ice-blue eyes lock onto mine across the entire temple. One hundred people stand between us, but I see him perfectly. His eyes go wide. Shocked.
The golden thread blazes brighter, connecting my heart to his.
Mate.
The word whispers through my soul. This cold, powerful Alpha is my mate.
For one perfect second, hope explodes in my chest. This is it. This is when everything changes. My life of shame and servitude is over. I have a mate. The strongest Alpha in all five realms is mine.
The crowd realizes what's happening. Conversations stop. Everyone turns to stare at me—the omega in the ugly dress pressed against the back wall. Then they look at Zander.
He starts walking toward me.
My heart hammers so hard I think it might break my ribs. He's coming. He's actually coming for me. The golden thread pulls tighter with each step he takes. I can feel his emotions bleeding through the bond—shock, confusion, and something else. Something that feels almost like... fear?
The crowd parts for him. Every single person moves aside as he crosses the temple floor. His eyes never leave mine. I can't breathe. Can't think. Can barely stand.
He stops three feet away from me.
Up close, he's even more beautiful. Sharp jaw. Perfect features. But his expression is completely blank. The warmth I felt through the bond a second ago is gone, replaced by ice.
"Zander," I whisper. My mate's name on my lips for the first time.
His jaw clenches. The golden thread between us pulses, begging him to step closer. To touch me. To accept what fate has given us.
Instead, he takes a step back.
The temple is so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat. Everyone is watching. Waiting.
Zander's voice cuts through the silence, clear and strong enough for every person to hear.
"I, Zander Corvus, Alpha Prime of the Shadow Realm, reject—"
"No," I breathe. "Please—"
"—you as my mate."
The golden thread shatters.
Pain explodes through my chest like someone drove a knife into my heart. I gasp, stumbling back against the wall. The bond breaks in a way that feels wrong, unnatural. Something fundamental inside my soul cracks and bleeds.
Through the haze of agony, I hear him finish.
"You are weak, unwanted, and unworthy of standing beside me."
My knees give out. I collapse onto the cold marble floor, pressing my hands against my chest where the bond used to be. There's nothing there now. Just a gaping, screaming emptiness.
Someone in the crowd laughs.
I look up at Zander through tears I can't control. He stares down at me with those ice-blue eyes, face still perfectly blank. No regret. No emotion at all.
"Zander," I choke out. "Why?"
For just a second—so quick I almost miss it—something flickers across his face. Pain. Regret. But then it's gone, buried under ice again.
He turns and walks away without another word.
The crowd swallows him up. Whispers explode around me like knives.
"Did you see that?"
"A Thorne. Of course he rejected her."
"Poor Alpha Prime, getting stuck with trash."
I try to stand, but my legs won't work. The broken bond screams inside me, a wound that will never fully heal. I've heard about rejected mates before. Most don't survive the pain. The ones who do are never the same.
Hands grab my arms—temple servants pulling me to my feet, dragging me toward a side door. They're removing me. Getting rid of the embarrassment.
"Wait," I gasp. "Please—"
They shove me out into the night and slam the door.
I stand alone in the darkness, shaking and bleeding inside. The blood moon mocks me from above, red and terrible and beautiful.
And then I feel it.
Something shifts deep in my chest where the bond used to be. Not the bond itself—that's gone, shattered beyond repair. This is something else. Something old and powerful, uncurling like a sleeping dragon opening its eyes.
My hands start to glow with violet light.
I stare at them, terrified and confused. What is this? What's happening to me?
The light grows brighter. Power floods through my veins—foreign and ancient and abso
lutely mine.
Behind me, inside the temple, someone screams.