Chapter 2: The Alpha’s Rejection
Three years earlier…
Liora stood in the center of the Moonstone Hall.
Hundreds of wolves watched her.
The room was silent.
At the opposite end stood Alpha Kael Draven.
Twenty-six years old.
The youngest Alpha ever to rule the Northern Territories.
He was everything Liora was not.
Powerful.
Respected.
Feared.
His black shirt stretched across broad shoulders, and his dark eyes remained fixed on her.
Liora could barely breathe.
Because the moment he had entered the room, something inside her had changed.
Her wolf had awakened.
For the first time in twenty-two years, she heard a voice inside her mind.
Mate.
Liora’s heart stopped.
Kael took another step.
His expression remained unreadable.
But his wolf had recognized her too.
She could feel it.
The bond between them was pulling at her soul.
“Kael,” Elder Rowan announced, “the Moon has chosen.”
Whispers filled the hall.
Kael looked at Liora.
Liora smiled nervously.
“I’m Liora.”
“I know.”
His voice was cold.
Her smile disappeared.
“You know me?”
“I know enough.”
The bond became stronger.
Liora took a step toward him.
“Are you…?”
She couldn’t finish.
Kael’s jaw tightened.
Then he said the words that would destroy her life.
“I reject you.”
Silence.
Liora stared at him.
“What?”
“I, Kael Draven, Alpha of the Northern Territories, reject Liora Vale as my mate.”
The words echoed through the hall.
Her wolf screamed.
Liora felt something inside her chest tear apart.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You can’t.”
Kael’s eyes briefly softened.
Only briefly.
“There is nothing between us.”
“But the bond—”
“Means nothing.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Then why are you shaking?”
Kael went still.
His hands were clenched at his sides.
For one second, Liora saw the truth.
He was hurting too.
Then his expression hardened.
“Because I am Alpha.”
He turned away.
“Take her out.”
Liora stood frozen.
The entire pack was staring.
Some looked sympathetic.
Others looked amused.
Her humiliation burned hotter than the pain.
She ran.
She didn’t stop until she reached the forest.
That night she cried until her voice disappeared.
The next morning, she left Blackthorn.
Kael watched from the castle window.
Nobody saw him standing there.
Nobody saw the blood dripping from his palm because his claws had cut into it.
And nobody heard the whisper that escaped his lips.
“I had no choice.”
