Aria's POV
The zipper won't close.
I'm standing in front of my cracked bedroom mirror, struggling with Kira's borrowed white dress, and the stupid thing is too tight across my shoulders. My best friend promised it would fit perfectly. She lied.
Or maybe I'm just bigger than I used to be. Stronger. All those extra shifts at the pack hospital, lifting patients, moving supplies—my body changed while I wasn't paying attention.
Just like everything else changed while I wasn't paying attention.
"You look beautiful," Grandmother Celia says from her rocking chair in the corner. Her voice sounds tired, like always these days. She's been getting weaker for months, but she won't tell me why. Won't see the pack doctor. Just sits in that chair, watching me with sad eyes.
"I look like I'm playing dress-up," I mutter, finally getting the zipper up. The dress squeezes my ribs. I can barely breathe.
Perfect. Because tonight, I'll need to remember how to breathe when my whole world falls apart.
"Aria." Grandmother's hand shakes as she reaches for me. "You don't have to go."
"Yes, I do." I force a smile. "Everyone's expecting me."
That's not exactly true. Everyone's expecting something, but not what they think.
Tonight, the entire Blackwood Pack will gather in the Grand Hall for what they're calling a "Luna Ceremony." They think Alpha Thorne Blackwood—my fated mate of exactly one year—is finally going to publicly claim me as his Luna in front of everyone.
They're wrong.
I know because for the past three months, I've felt our mate bond dying. It's supposed to be this golden, warm connection between us, like a invisible thread linking our hearts. But ours has been growing thinner and colder every single day. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and can barely feel it anymore.
Last week, Thorne didn't come home for four nights in a row.
Yesterday, I saw Selene Ravenwood leaving his office at dawn, fixing her hair and smiling like a cat who ate a whole bowl of cream.
Selene. The Beta's perfect daughter. The girl everyone always said should have been Luna instead of me.
I'm not stupid. I know what's happening.
"The bond feels wrong," I whisper, pressing my hand against my chest. "Doesn't it? You can sense it too."
Grandmother's eyes fill with tears. "Oh, little moon—"
A knock interrupts us. Kira bursts through the door without waiting for an answer, wearing a sparkly blue dress and a huge grin.
"You ready?" she asks. Then she sees my face. Her smile disappears. "Aria? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I smooth down the white dress. "Let's go."
"Liar." Kira grabs my hand. "Talk to me."
But I can't. If I say it out loud—if I admit what I know is coming—then it becomes real. And I'm not ready for it to be real yet.
So I squeeze her hand and walk out the door.
The Grand Hall is packed.
Every single wolf in the Blackwood Pack must be here—hundreds of them, all dressed in their fancy clothes, filling the enormous room that's carved right into the mountain. Candles everywhere. Flowers on every table. Music playing softly.
It looks like a wedding.
It feels like a funeral.
"There she is!" someone whispers as I walk in.
Heads turn. People stare. I hear the whispers I've heard my whole life:
"The cursed girl..."
"Born under a blood moon..."
"Never thought she'd actually become Luna..."
I lift my chin and keep walking. Kira stays glued to my side, glaring at anyone who looks at us wrong.
At the front of the hall, on a raised platform, stands Thorne.
My mate. My Alpha. The man who's supposed to love me.
He's so handsome it hurts to look at him. Tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair and ice-blue eyes that could freeze fire. He's wearing all black, looking every inch the powerful Alpha everyone respects and fears.
Next to him stands Selene in a silver dress that probably costs more than everything I own.
Her hand rests on his arm.
My stomach drops to my feet.
"Aria," Kira hisses. "Why is she up there with him?"
I don't answer. Can't answer. Because the mate bond in my chest just went completely cold. Like someone dumped a bucket of ice water directly onto my heart.
Thorne's eyes meet mine across the crowded room.
For just one second, I see something flicker in his expression. Regret? Pain? But then it's gone, replaced by that cold, blank look he's been giving me for months.
He raises his hand. The music stops. Everyone goes quiet.
"Thank you all for coming," his deep voice carries through the hall. "Tonight marks an important moment for our pack."
My hands start shaking. The white dress suddenly feels like it's strangling me.
"Tonight, we honor tradition and make decisions that will shape our future."
No. Please, no.
Kira's fingers dig into my arm. "Aria, we should leave. Right now."
But I can't move. I'm frozen in place, watching Thorne like watching a car crash happen in slow motion.
His eyes lock on mine again. And this time, I see the truth in them.
He's going to do it. Right here. Right now. In front of everyone.
"I, Thorne Blackwood, Alpha of the Blackwood Pack—" he starts.
The air gets thick. Heavy. Wrong.
My chest burns where the mate bond lives.
"—reject you, Aria Moonshadow, as my mate and Luna."
The words slam into me like a physical punch. The bond—already weak—snaps.
Pain explodes through my entire body. I can't breathe. Can't think. Can't do anything except stand there while my heart tears itself into pieces.
Somewhere far away, I hear gasping. Crying. Kira shouting my name.
But I'm drowning in pain, and all I can see is Thorne's cold face as he destroys me in front of everyone I've ever known.
Then something else happens.
Something wrong.
The candles flicker. Every single one at the exact same time.
The air pressure changes. My ears pop.
And outside the Grand Hall, through the huge windows, I see the moon.
It's turning red.
Like blood.