“I, Alpha Kavriel Alister of Ashfall Pack, reject you, Iris Hawthorne, as my mate and Luna,” he declared, his voice echoing through the hall of people. My heart seized in disbelief. I gazed up at him from the floor, my chest tight with a mixture of shock and pain. His eyes were filled with cold indifference that clashed with the emotion rewritten all over my face.

"Kavriel..." I managed to utter, my voice trembling as my palms grew clammy. "What..."

But before I could finish, a familiar figure strode onto the dais and into Kavriel's embrace. With venomous green eyes and a crown of red curls, it was Lyra – my stepsister.

"Stepsister..." I whispered, struggling to comprehend what was happening. The pieces of the puzzle eluded me, leaving me bewildered and hurt.

At that moment, I watched as the man I loved pressed his lips to my stepsister’s, my heart shattering into a million pieces. The pain was unbearable as he tore my heart from my chest and trampled on it without a second thought.

When their kiss finally ended, Kavriel turned to face the crowd, a glint of satisfaction in his blue eyes. "I choose Lyra Hawthorne as my mate and Luna," he declared.

The hall fell into a stunned silence, the pulse of it almost tangible. Then, as if on cue, cheers erupted from the onlookers and guests, celebrating my despair. They reveled in my agony, their jubilation like a knife twisting in my already wounded heart. And then, all eyes turned to me, a silent condemnation in their gaze.

I looked up at Kavriel, hoping that I could get answers. Today was supposed to turn out differently. Today, on the night of the sixth full moon of the year. The night of the mating banquet. Kavriel was supposed to announce me formally as his mate and Luna. We already had the bond marks engraved by the goddess herself on our backs. I was his mate, I was to be his Luna. But everything had gone horribly wrong.

What about my sacrifices? What about what I had to give up for him to become Alpha? Now, he had chosen someone else. And of all people, my stepsister.

Kavriel read my confusion and I watched him roll his eyes. “Iris, do you wish not to accept your Alpha's rejection?” He asked, his voice hard.

“I… I… I…” I stammered, unable to form a tangible statement in the face of his coldness towards me.

“You are as dense as you are wolfless,” came a snide comment from Kavriel, his lips curling into a bitter sneer that almost made me reel back. I felt my knees buckle beneath me. I would fall.

“Did you really think I would choose you to be a Luna of a pack?” He questioned.

“Wolfless, powerless and without a goddess-bestowed gift?” It was Lyra who spoke this time. Her green eyes gleamed with malicious delight as she stepped forward, her hand intertwined with Kavriel's. "You are nothing, Iris. You are not worthy of a throne by the Alpha.”

The weight of her words crashed over me like a tidal wave, leaving me gasping for air. Betrayal, humiliation, and devastation swirled within me, threatening to consume every fiber of my being.

"I loved you," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the din of the crowd. "I trusted you. After everything, I…’’

Kavriel paled to the shade of paper as he knew what I was about to reveal to the members of the pack. Just then, a hand came to cover my mouth.

By the roughness with which the hand forced me not to speak, I knew who it was. “You will utter not a single word. Unless it is an acceptance of the Alpha's rejection.” He whispered harshly in my ear.

Tears pricked my eyes. “Father…” I mumbled against his hand.

“It does not matter whatever you think you might have done, your sister will become Luna. So keep your wits about yourself and submit to the rejection.”

I could feel the piercing gazes of the hundreds of onlookers as they witnessed my humiliation. I knew my father favored his mistress's daughter, but to take it to this level was a new extreme.

My father forced me to my knees.

“She is ready to accept the rejection now, Alpha,” he assured the guests. “Aren't you, my daughter?”

I gulped, my tongue feeling heavy in my mouth. But I knew by now that there was no point. My tears fell, salty streams down my face. “I, Iris Hawthorne, accept you, Alpha Kavriel's rejection as your mate and Luna.” There was a burning ache on the spot of my bond mark. I knew that the goddess was erasing it. The bond had been broken. I had lost Kavriel to my stepsister forever.

Without a second word, I got on my feet and raced out of the great hall and straight back to my chambers. I heard the celebrations go on after my exit as if nothing had happened. Like my life had not come crashing down.

My tears fell freely as I sobbed. Everything I had worked and loved for had been pulled from my grasp. And I was left with nothing but an empty void that threatened to eat me alive. Hours went by in a flurry of weeping and heartache as the banquet went on.

Then the door of my chamber suddenly opened. I did not need light to know who had just stepped in. I knew his steps just as well as I knew my own mother's scent.

“Iris,” Kavriel said as he walked towards me.

I could not bear to look at him. I wished to summon anger, but a wave of despair washed over me and I wanted nothing more than to curl up and die.

He sat by me on the bed. “What you almost did was unacceptable.”

I turned incredulously in his direction. His features hardened with harsh lines of anger.

I was the one who had been cheated and betrayed, but he was the only infuriated.

“Just because you found a cure for the fever does not mean you should try and disgrace me or my reign.” He retorted.

His sharp tone made me flinch. “I did not find a cure, and you know that. I used my blood. I almost died!” I raised my voice higher than intended. “It was my blood that cured the pack members of the fever. Yet, I let you take credit for what I did because I love you. They made you Alpha because of me. I made you Alpha!”

Kavriel slapped me just as the words fell out of my mouth. “Watch your fucking tone with me. I am your Alpha!” He screamed in my face.

The whole world came to a stop at that moment when his palm made contact with my face. My face stung, and my ears were ringing. I cradled my face as I stared up at him, flabbergasted.

I saw his mouth moving, but I could not hear what he was saying. An incessant ringing has filled my ears. He was shouting at me, I could tell.

Slowly my hearing came back and I finally heard him. “You should not have angered your Alpha,” There was perverse pride in the way he spoke of a position that I acquired for him. Only for him to toss me away.

I needed to leave the Alpha's castle. I needed to run away. The thought of staying after everything I had been put through made my eyes sting with more tears. But my heart still longed for the man who had crushed it under his heel. Could not leave Kavriel. I still loved him. But…

“And don't you dare think of leaving me,” his voice was rough and domineering. “You will stay as my mistress. What if the fever comes back, but you have already run off? Their demise will be on your neck.”

He was just ensuring their pack would be strong with a great Luna by his side. What if I found my wolf, and he came to his senses, but I had been too impatient to weather the storm?

“You made a vow to me to stay by my side. Will you break your promise?” His eyes were softer, but something dark lurked in his azure gaze.

I shook my head. “No, I will be your mistress. I will stay.”

His lips slammed against mine in a rough kiss. But for the first time, I knew that his kiss would leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

*****

A year later You are pregnant, Iris,” My mother told me, her brown eyes glistening with tears. “You are with child.”

I could not believe my ears. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I am.”

I knew she was sure. Mother always knew things like that.

“This could be what you need.”

I understood my mother's words before she completed what she was saying.

“You got pregnant before your step-sister. This could help you solidify your place. You deserve it. You did so much for him and yet…”

I reached out and grasped my mother's hand both to silence her and assure her. “I will be fine. It will be fine.” Thanks to my unknown sacrifice, the fever had been kept at bay longer than any newfound tincture has been able to.

For as long as I can remember, a curse cast by the sinister Lunaris pack has caused the spread of a nearly incurable sickness that ravaged multiple packs. It did not merely kill. It transformed the infected into cravens. Feral beasts that only killed and destroyed. Because killing the Cravens was almost impossible, families had to make the heartbreaking decision to end the lives of their infected loved ones before they fully transformed.

Tinctures, brews and concoctions only ever slowed down the process but never cured it. But my blood had been able to cure it. But it was something that only three people knew. Me, Kavriel and my mother. And by curing people using my blood, Kavriel became Alpha as the pack’s savior.

I was still yet to find my wolf and Kavriel had grown more and more distant over the years. He never came to my room unless he wanted my body. I just hoped that an heir would be able to make him look at me the way he used to before everything changed.

“Tell at his birthday feast today. Announce it…”

“What should she announce, dear mother?” The voice made both of us freeze, instantly filled with dread.

Lyra walked into the room and towards my mother. “What is the big surprise?” She asked, her green eyes flashing with curiosity and a hint of malice. Lyra and I had anything but a cordial relationship. I tried to be peaceful, but she enjoyed making me suffer. It was as though she had something against me despite being the apple of father's eye. If it had been a random woman that Kavriel had chosen as his Luna, maybe it would not have broken me the way it did.

My mother hesitated, glancing at me with worry etched on her face. I could see the internal struggle in her eyes, torn between protecting me and obeying the luna, her step-daughter. The daughter of her husband's mistress Before my mother could reply, I spoke up, forcing a smile on my lips. "It's nothing, Lyra. Just a small announcement for later."

Lyra narrowed her eyes, clearly unsatisfied with my response, but she didn't press further. Instead, she turned to leave, shooting me one last scrutinizing look before she turned back again to look squarely at me.

“Why are you just lying around? The feast is not just going to organize itself, is it? What use do you have except as a bed warmer? Go out and work, bitch.”

I nodded and followed her out to work preparing for the feast. Maybe it was high time I did something for myself. I would announce my pregnancy at the feast.

****

Everyone was seated at the long feast table, eating and engaging in hushed conversation. The atmosphere was light and festive, but my heart pounded with nervous anticipation as I waited for the right moment to make my announcement.

As the chatter began to die down, I stood up slowly, my hands trembling slightly at my sides. All eyes turned to me, including Kavriel's, his gaze flickering with curiosity, perhaps a hint of suspicion and an annoyance that I hated that I was getting used to.

I opened my mouth, threading my clammy hands in the faded gown that I usually wore for this type of occasion. I looked directly at Kavriel, the rest of the novels and guests fading away. “I am…”

Then out of nowhere, Lyra stood up from her seat, her hand on her stomach. “I am pregnant. I am with child.” She announced gleefully. I watched as Kavriel stood up to cradle her face in his hands. Tears glistened in his azure depths. “Really, Lyra? An heir?”

She nodded and Kavriel pulled her in for a tender embrace. Before Lyra’s eyes found mine, boring into me from across the table. There was a glint of sinister triumph in her expression. A cruel satisfaction that twisted her features into a mocking smirk.