Chapter 2 THE WALK

The word “banish” hung there like a guillotine blade catching moonlight, and something inside me snapped.

“It’s a lie!” I screamed, the words ripping out raw and desperate.

My voice echoed off the stone walls of Moonview Hall, bouncing from every corner and crystal like the moon was laughing at me. Hundreds of eyes swung toward me, pack members I had laughed with, warriors I had trained beside, elders who once treated me like family, and allies from the eastern territories. I stood frozen in the middle of the petal-strewn aisle, white rose petals clinging to the hem of my dress like they wanted to drag me down.

I clutched my silver clutch tighter, knuckles turning bone-white, my heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst through my ribs. “It’s all a fucking lie!” I shouted again, throat burning. “He’s the one lying! Him and Serena... both of them! For months!”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. A chair scraped loudly in the back. Little Mia’s cousin, the girl I baked cookies with last week, pressed her hands over her mouth in horror. Elder Thorne’s kind face turned cold and hard. My wolf surged forward, claws scraping inside my throat, urging me on. "Show them. Make them see."

“I have proof!” I yelled, yanking the clutch open with shaking hands. “Right here! Messages between them, videos from the Moonview Inn, her notebook with every sick plan to get rid of me! They were going to banish me and let hunters finish the job once I was rogue. I swear on the Goddess...it’s true!”

I held up the phone, screen glowing with Lucifer’s texts to Serena, filthy words, cold plans, dates lined up like bullets. The USB stick and photocopied notebook pages peeked out too.

For one breathless second, the hall froze. The full moon poured silver light through the skylight, making my white dress glow almost holy. My wolf pushed harder, rage burning in my veins. Maybe, just maybe, they would believe me.

The silence that followed felt heavier than any scream.

Lucifer stared down from the dais, head tilted, his cold mask cracking into something amused. Then he laughed... low, dark, and cutting. It slithered through the room like poison, making the fairy lights flicker.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he drawled, stepping down slowly, each shoe clicking against the stone. “You’ve really lost your goddamn mind, haven’t you?”

The pack murmured louder. Warriors shifted uneasily. Serena sat still, perfect tears shining on her cheeks, but I caught the quick flash of triumph in her eyes.

Lucifer shook his head like I was a stupid pup. “How dare you stand here, in front of your pack, our allies, under the full moon and spit this bullshit at your Alpha? At me?”

His voice dropped colder. “A useless little girl with no bloodline, no rank, nothing but the scraps we threw you after your parents dumped you in the woods like trash. And you think you can accuse me? Accuse Serena, who wiped your tears and made you feel like you belonged?”

Heat flooded my face. Shame crawled up my neck. Whispers exploded around me.

“Did she just...”

“No bloodline? I always knew something was off.”

“Orphan trash trying to take down an Alpha? After everything we gave her?”

The same girls who curled my hair this morning now stared at me like I was disgusting. Marcus stood rigid, jaw tight, eyes burning with helpless fury. Vera’s gaze screamed "run". The allied alphas watched with disappointed, stony faces.

Lucifer stepped closer, alpha power pressing down on me like a weight. “You really thought you could pull this off? Fake evidence and sob stories? Pathetic.” He spat the word. “You’re not even a real wolf...you’re a stray we took in out of pity. Now you stand here in that pretty white dress we paid for and spit lies at the man who was about to make you Luna?”

He leaned in, eyes glittering with disgust. “Newsflash, Lyra: you don’t get to talk back to your Alpha like some entitled bitch who thinks she’s owed the world just because she warmed my bed for two years. You’re nothing. You’ve always been nothing. A nobody playing dress-up in someone else’s fairy tale. A pathetic little orphan who spread her legs thinking it would get her a crown. How fucking embarrassing. Look at you, crying and screaming like a desperate whore in front of everyone.”

My wolf shattered.

The mate bond snapped with a pain so sharp it dropped me to my knees in the aisle. White petals scattered under me. A broken sob tore from my throat...raw, humiliating, animal. It felt like claws ripping out everything inside me. The golden thread I had clung to for two years exploded, leaving jagged, bleeding holes. The full moon pulsed overhead, turning my white dress into a spotlight on my destruction. Tears streamed down my face, blurring the judgmental stares.

I clutched my chest, fingers digging into the lace. The phone slipped from my hand and cracked loudly on the stone floor. No one moved to pick it up.

Lucifer’s voice rang out, calm and merciless. “I, Alpha Lucifer Kane of the Shadowmoon Pack, reject you, Lyra Voss, as my chosen Luna and as my mate. I cast you out from this bond, from this pack, from everything.”

The rejection hit like a truck. Agony tore through my soul. My wolf curled into a whimpering ball, broken and bleeding. I gasped on the floor, unable to breathe, the hall spinning around me.

Lucifer’s cruel half-smile returned. “And I do it because you dared to lie against your Alpha. Because you dared to lie against Serena, the only one who ever gave a damn about a worthless stray like you.”

The hall stayed dead silent except for my soft, broken sobs. No one defended me. The trap I built had closed around my own throat.

Two warriors grabbed my arms and dragged me down the aisle. My dress ripped with a loud tear. Petals stuck to my skin like mockery. I kept my head up, cheeks burning, until the double doors slammed shut behind me.

The cold night air slapped my face.

They shoved me down the stone steps, leaving me on my knees in the gravel. My torn white dress pooled around me like a fallen flag.

“Get the fuck off our land, stray,” one growled, spitting near my feet. “You’re rogue now. Good riddance.”

I stayed there, chest heaving, tears mixing with dirt. Every cruel word replayed in my head — stray, trash, entitled bitch, pathetic orphan, whore. The humiliation burned deeper than the pain. I wanted the earth to swallow me.

But something stubborn rose inside.

I stood up slowly.

Barefoot. Dress torn and filthy. Heart in pieces.

I started walking into the dark forest. Pine needles stabbed my feet. Branches snagged and ripped my dress more. Every step hurt, but I kept going, deeper into the trees, away from the lights and laughter still coming from Moonview Hall. Behind me, the music started again. They were probably cheering for their new Luna.

The pack bond stretched thinner with every step, pulling painfully at my chest like wires cutting into flesh. When I crossed the border, it snapped.

Pain exploded through me like fire in my veins. I screamed, raw and ugly, collapsing against a fallen log. Sobs shook my body so hard I couldn’t see. It felt like every connection, to the pack, to home, to the only family I knew had been ripped out.

That was when the strange warmth bloomed in my chest.

Not my wolf.

Something older. Deeper.

The faint silver graze on my arm from an old hunters’ bullet began glowing soft silver, like liquid moonlight. Right before my eyes, the scar smoothed out. The wound closed completely, skin knitting together perfect and new.

I stared, breath caught, tears still falling.

My wolf, silent since the rejection, stirred.

Not broken, she whispered, voice hoarse but growing stronger. Never broken. The moon sees. The moon remembers.

I didn’t understand it fully yet. I didn’t need to.

I wiped my dirty face, pushed up on shaky legs, and kept walking into the night.

Behind me, Shadowmoon was laughing and toasting their perfect new Luna.

Ahead of me, something powerful was waking up in my blood.

For the first time since they dragged me out, I wasn’t just the worthless stray they threw away.

I was the girl who would make them regret every single second ... slowly, painfully, under the same merciless moon that watched me fall.