Chapter One – The Moon Chose Wrong

The flames of the festival torches painted the night in gold and crimson. Music swelled across the Silvermoon courtyard—drums, pipes, and the crackle of fire. Wolves danced in their human skins, laughter and wine spilled the grounds as the annual Moon Festival reached its height. This was the night the Moon Goddess was honored and the night fated mates were often revealed.

And yet, I stood at the very edge of it all, half-hidden in the shadow of a crumbling pillar, clutching my shawl as though it could shield me from the stares of those who would spit at my name.

“Do not linger here, omega,” one of the servers hissed as she brushed past me, balancing a tray of roasted meat. “You will ruin the wine with your presence.”

I ducked my head. “Forgive me.”

No one has ever wanted me here, yet every year I was forced to serve at this festival. Eara, the orphan. A nobody. The one whispered to be cursed. I had lived twenty years in silence, collecting herbs from the forest, tending wounds, cleaning tables and surviving. The wolves of Silvermoon pack never saw me as more than a shadow.

Tonight, I told myself it would be no different.

But when the drums deepened and the crowd parted for their Alpha, my heart tripped inside my chest.

Alpha Kade Silvermoon was tall, broad-shouldered with hair as black as the midnight sky. His silver eyes gleamed like blades under the firelight. Alpha Kade was the youngest Alpha our pack had ever known, a living legend, and every she-wolf in the courtyard gazed at him as if he had descended from the Moon Goddess herself. To say he was handsome would be an understatement.

And then, his gaze fell slowly on me.

That was when his scent hit me like a lightning strike. My soul screamed his name before I could control it. My knees buckled. My breath caught in my throat. The world stilled, and all I could feel was him.

Heat surged through me, searing and holy. My wolf howled, ecstatic, clawing toward him. Mate.

I pressed a hand to my chest trying to steady my wolf. “No…”

Kade’s steps faltered. For the barest heartbeat, his eyes widened. I saw recognition flare there—shock, disbelief—before his lips curled into a sneer.

“You.” His voice cut through the courtyard like a blade. “Bring her forward.”

The crowd turned, then parted ways as I was brought forward in my torn rags. Murmurs rippled.

“She’s his mate?”

“Impossible.”

“An omega? That cursed girl?”

I fell on my knees. “My lord.”

He raised a hand, silencing me. His jaw clenched, his silver eyes sharp as ice. “The Goddess mocks me by making you my mate. I will not accept it.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. “What?”

Kade’s voice rang loud, carrying across the festival flames. “Before the Goddess and before my pack, I reject you, Eara. You are no mate of mine.”

Gasps rippled. Laughter followed, cruel and shrill. Someone threw a crust of bread that struck my shoulder. Another spat at my feet.

“Yes my lord.” My voice cracked. What did I expect? For the high and mighty alpha of the silvermoon pack to throw his arms wide open and accept me? I knew better. I hated my fate but it is mine to bear.

His face froze in shock. Maybe he expected me to grovel and beg, but I've always known my place. I can't reach out for what I cannot grab.

His jaw tightened, anger simmering beneath his shock. “You dare accept this?” he growled, his voice low and dangerous. “You can’t even fight for your place? This confirms you are weaker than I thought. Pathetic.”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd, spreading like wildfire. She didn’t even beg… She just gave up… She's weak… Pathetic omega… The words slithered into my ears, each one cutting deeper than claws.

Kade lifted his goblet, his sneer returning. “I could never claim something so feeble. You will never be mine. Not today, not ever.”

“My lord.” I bowed and turned away, each step heavier than stone. My chest burned, my wolf silent and grieving, but still I walked. The murmurs swelled louder with every pace I took, following me like shadows. Pathetic… weak… rejected… unworthy.

Their laughter and whispers chased me as I passed the fire pits, the drums and the eyes that burned with scorn. I did not run. I only walked with my back straight, though my soul bled with every step.

By the time I reached my tiny cottage at the forest’s edge, my body shook with sobs. I collapsed by the hearth, clutching at the only thing I had ever called mine—the pendant around my neck. A delicate piece of silver, shaped like a crescent moon. My only link to parents I had never known.

I pressed it to my lips. “Why?” My voice broke. “Why would the Goddess give me a mate I couldn't keep? Why?”

The fire crackled. The forest outside whispered with the wind. And then a voice answered. Soft, chilling.

“Because your destiny has only just begun and he is the key.”

I froze. My eyes flew to the door. A figure stood there—cloaked in green, face hidden beneath a hood. The torches should have revealed her, but shadows clung to her like smoke.

“Who are you?” My voice trembled.

The woman stepped closer, her movements slow, deliberate. I caught the faint scent of earth and herbs. Her voice was a whisper that seemed to echo inside my skull.

“You are more than what they see, Elara. You are more than just an omega. More than a cursed child.”

I stumbled back. “How do you know my name?”

She tilted her head. I glimpsed pale lips curve into a strange smile. “Your bloodline carries the Wildlands’ Queen. The last Witch. Your power is hidden, waiting.”

My breath caught. “What are you talking about?”

The woman raised a hand. Smoke curled from her fingers, green and black, twisting into symbols I couldn’t understand. “You were never meant for him. You are the goddess vengeance. Soon, the world will remember your name.”

I laughed dryly. She was obviously mistaken. “No. You're lying. I am not the one you seek.”

Her eyes glowing faintly beneath the hood met mine. “The pendant around your neck will reveal your destiny. Protect it. Or you will die as she did.”

The fire flared. I gasped, shielding my face. And when the flames settled, the woman was gone—dissolved into smoke, as if she had never been there.

The cottage was silent. The night pressed in.

I clutched my pendant until my fingers ached, tears hot on my face. My wolf was silent inside me, gone. And her words echoed in my mind like a curse I could not escape.

Later that night, I couldn’t sleep. My mind reeled, my heart shattered. Depressed.

The pendant burned against my skin.

So I did what I always did when I couldn’t breathe—I pulled the floorboards loose beneath my bed and stared at the little box hidden there.

A box I had never opened. Left to me when I was a child.

The instructions were clear. Open this when you've found your mate. I thought that would never happen. That I'd never get to open this box. But today I found him. And I was rejected.

Hands trembling, I broke the seal.

Inside was a faded letter. The ink shimmered faintly silver in the moonlight.