Chapter 1 The Mate Ceremony

The silk clung to her trembling hands. Selena smoothed it down again, though the gown had no wrinkles left to tame. The fabric shimmered pale silver in the lantern light, catching glints of moon. She caught her reflection in the mirrored surface of the ceremonial bowl and forced herself to hold her gaze. Storm-gray eyes stared back—haunted, uncertain.

Tonight, it changes. Tonight, I’ll finally belong.

“Stop fidgeting.” Clara Winters leaned close, her perfume sweet and sharp. She tugged at the sleeve of Selena’s gown, fixing a tiny slip. “You look beautiful. Adrian will see that. Everyone will.”

Selena tried to smile. “You think so?”

“Of course.” Clara’s grin was dazzling, almost too bright. “Just breathe. The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes.”

Selena clutched the pendant at her throat, her late mother’s gift, and nodded. The courtyard filled with murmurs—the pack gathering in semicircles, eyes lifted to the glowing full moon overhead. This was the night every unmated wolf dreamed of. Tonight, the goddess would confirm bonds. Tonight, rejection and loneliness were supposed to end.

Her stomach fluttered with nervous excitement. She could feel Adrian’s presence before she saw him. Tall, confident, his aura brushed over hers, demanding attention like a tide pulling at the shore.

“Look.” Clara’s whisper carried a thrill. “He’s coming.”

Selena’s heart slammed against her ribs.

Adrian Vale strode forward, dressed in black ceremonial robes edged in silver thread. His blond hair caught the moonlight, and his eyes—sharp gold—swept the crowd before finding Selena. A hush fell. Whispers rippled through the pack.

“She’s the one?” someone muttered.

“The wolfless girl?” another voice scoffed.

Selena’s knees wobbled as he stopped before her. The bond snapped into place, a tug at her chest, fierce and undeniable. It was real. It was him. Relief flooded her so hard she almost cried.

“Adrian Vale,” Elder Theron’s voice boomed, “the bond has revealed itself. Do you accept Selena Frost as your mate?”

The silence that followed stretched long enough for Selena to taste the tension in her mouth. She lifted her eyes, searching his face, waiting for the words that would anchor her to this world at last.

Adrian’s mouth curved. Not into a smile. Into a sneer.

“No.”

The word rang like a blade striking stone. Gasps erupted.

Selena blinked, not understanding. “W-what?”

“I said no.” His voice carried, deliberate, cruel. He pivoted, looking at the crowd, then back at her. “The goddess must be mistaken. I will not accept her.”

Her chest cracked open, the invisible tether between them burning as though scorched by fire. She staggered back a step. “Adrian… you—”

He cut her off with a cold laugh. “You? A wolfless outcast? You think I would tie myself to weakness? To someone who has nothing to offer this pack?”

Gasps and murmurs spread.

“She’s cursed.”

“Knew it.”

“Wolfless—he’s right.”

Selena’s lips parted, words trembling out. “Adrian, please… don’t do this. You know me. You’ve known me all my life. I—”

“You embarrass yourself further,” he snapped, his voice sharp enough to silence her. “I don’t want you.”

Clara stepped forward suddenly, slipping her hand into Adrian’s. Her expression was wide-eyed and false, dripping pity. “Adrian deserves someone who can stand at his side, Selena. Someone strong. The pack deserves it too.”

Selena’s breath caught. “Clara…”

Her best friend leaned into Adrian, as though she had always belonged there. Adrian squeezed her hand, lifting it high like a declaration.

“I choose Clara Winters,” he announced, his voice triumphant. “She is my mate in everything that matters.”

The crowd roared with approval and shock, voices tumbling over one another.

“What about the goddess’s will?” someone shouted.

“She’s wolfless, she was never worthy,” another spat.

“This is a disgrace!” an elder muttered, but his voice was drowned out.

Selena heard one sharp voice cut through: “Of course. Wolfless girls don’t deserve mates.”

Her body turned to ice.

Clara wouldn’t even look guilty. Her lips curved into a smile that dared Selena to call her out.

Selena’s throat burned as she forced words out. “You… betrayed me?”

Clara tilted her head, feigning sympathy. “Don’t be naive. This was always bigger than you.”

Selena’s voice shook, louder this time. “I trusted you! You knew what this night meant to me, and you—”

“Stop pretending,” Clara interrupted, her tone sweet and venomous at once. “You never deserved him. Everyone here knows it.”

Adrian smirked, adding fuel to the fire. “This pack needs power, not pity. You’ll thank me one day.”

The crowd broke into laughter, harsh and cruel, the sound like claws raking over Selena’s skin.

“No one will ever thank you for this,” Selena whispered, but her words were swallowed by more jeers.

Elder Theron’s voice rose again, strained but official. “Then it is done. Adrian Vale rejects Selena Frost. The mate bond is broken.”

Broken.

The word echoed in her bones.

Selena couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t stand in the weight of all the stares, the whispers circling like wolves scenting blood.

“She’s nothing now.”

“A failure of the goddess herself.”

“Wolfless and unwanted.”

Adrian kissed Clara’s hand for the crowd, sealing his choice. Their triumph was unbearable.

Selena’s lips trembled. “How could you do this to me?”

Adrian’s eyes glinted with mockery. “How could I not?”

Clara leaned her head against his shoulder, smiling as if she had already won. “Run along, Selena. Spare yourself more humiliation.”

The sound around her blurred, a tide she couldn’t fight. Her body moved before her mind could catch up. She turned and ran.

“Selena!” someone called—whether pity or mockery, she couldn’t tell.

Her gown caught on the stone path, tearing as she fled past the courtyard, past the lanterns, past the voices that cut into her like knives.

Her feet hit the forest floor, twigs snapping under bare skin. She didn’t care. Pain tore through her chest, heavier than the branches scraping her arms.

Wolfless. Unwanted. Nothing.

The whispers followed, phantom voices carried on the night wind.

“Wolfless.”

“Worthless.”

“Not meant for us.”

Tears streaked down her cheeks. The forest swallowed her whole as she stumbled deeper, the moonlight painting silver across her broken path.

Still, she ran.

She ran until the whispers blurred into one

cruel chorus.

Wolfless. Wolfless. Wolfless.

And she kept running, storm-gray eyes flashing with pain, straight into the dark.