Lyanna's POV
The moment I stepped into the clearing, I knew something was wrong.
My wolf whimpered inside me, a soft warning I should have listened to. But I pushed the feeling down, clutching the fabric of my grandmother's white bonding dress. Tonight was supposed to be perfect. Tonight, Alpha Dante would finally tell everyone I was his mate.
The entire Shadowpine Pack gathered around the ceremonial fire, their faces glowing orange in the flames. I searched for Dante and found him standing on the raised platform, looking powerful and handsome in his black Alpha ceremonial clothes. My heart skipped when our eyes met.
Then he looked away.
"Welcome, pack members!" Dante's voice boomed across the clearing. "Tonight, we celebrate the Bonding Moon ceremony!"
I made my way through the crowd, smiling nervously. Wolves stepped aside, but not in a respectful way. They moved like I was something dirty they didn't want to touch. My best friend Seraphina stood near the front, her arms crossed. When I waved at her, she turned her back to me.
My stomach twisted, but I kept walking. Dante had asked me to come. He'd promised this was the night he'd announce our mate bond to everyone. For three months, we'd kept it secret because he said the pack "wasn't ready" to accept an omega as their future Luna.
I reached the front of the crowd and stopped, waiting for Dante to call me up to the platform.
"I have an important announcement," Dante said, his voice cold. So cold. "There's been talk about who my mate is. Tonight, I'm going to make it clear."
My heart pounded. This was it. Finally, I wouldn't have to hide anymore.
"Lyanna Frost, step forward."
Everyone turned to stare at me. I climbed the platform steps on shaking legs. When I reached Dante's side, I smiled up at him. He didn't smile back.
"You've been telling people we're mates," he said loudly, and my smile froze.
"W-what? No, I—"
"You've been spreading lies, embarrassing me with your pathetic omega dreams." His eyes were hard as ice. "Did you really think I would choose someone like you?"
The world tilted. "Dante, what are you doing?"
"You're weak." His words cut like knives. "You're pathetic. You embarrass me every time you speak. You cry over everything. You can't fight. You can't protect. You're gentle when you should be strong. You're everything a Luna should never be."
"But we're mates," I whispered, my voice breaking. "The Moon Goddess chose—"
"I don't care what the Moon Goddess chose!" he roared, and I flinched. "I won't be tied to someone who makes me look weak!"
Behind me, the pack started laughing. The sound felt like claws raking down my back.
"Dante, please," I begged, tears streaming down my face. "Don't do this."
He grabbed my arm, his grip bruising. "I, Dante Blackwood, Alpha of Shadowpine Pack, reject you, Lyanna Frost, as my mate. I sever our bond and cast you from this pack!"
The rejection hit me like lightning striking my chest.
I screamed.
Fire exploded through every nerve in my body. My wolf howled in agony inside me, the sound so broken it made my heart crack. I fell to my knees, clutching my chest, unable to breathe. The mate bond ripped apart like someone tearing my soul in half.
Through the pain, I heard the pack laughing louder.
"Look at her cry!"
"Pathetic omega!"
"Did she really think an Alpha would want her?"
I looked up at Dante through my tears. "Why?"
He stared down at me with disgust. "Because you're not worthy of standing beside an Alpha. You never were."
Seraphina climbed onto the platform, moving to Dante's side. She smiled at me—my best friend since childhood—and there was nothing kind in that smile.
"He's mine now," she purred, wrapping her arms around Dante's waist. "He was always meant to be mine. You were just too stupid to see it."
"Seraphina?" I choked on her name.
"Did you really think we were friends?" She laughed. "I only talked to you because Dante asked me to keep you distracted. Every secret you told me, I told him. Every tear you cried, we laughed about together."
The betrayal hurt almost as much as the rejection.
"Guards!" Dante snapped his fingers. "Remove this omega from my territory. She's no longer pack."
Two huge warriors grabbed my arms and hauled me to my feet. My legs wouldn't work right. The rejection pain still burned through me, making everything blurry.
"Wait!" I gasped. "My things—my grandmother's books—"
"You take nothing," Dante said. "You leave with what you're wearing, and you should be grateful I'm letting you live."
They dragged me through the crowd. Wolves I'd known my whole life spat at me as I passed. Someone threw dirt. A child stuck out her tongue. Their laughter followed me all the way to the pack border.
The warriors threw me across the boundary line into the Forbidden Forest. I hit the ground hard, my grandmother's dress tearing on thorns.
"Don't come back," one guard growled. "Next time, the Alpha said we can kill you."
They disappeared back into the trees, leaving me alone in the darkness.
I lay there sobbing, my body shaking from rejection pain and heartbreak. The Forbidden Forest was where rejected wolves came to die. Everyone knew that. Rogues hunted here. Wild animals attacked anything that moved.
I was going to die here.
A twig snapped somewhere in the darkness behind me.
I froze, my wolf too broken to even warn me of danger.
Glowing red eyes appeared between the trees, watching me. Then another pair. And another.
Rogues.
I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't hold me. The rejection had stolen all my strength.
The eyes moved closer, and I heard low growls.
"Please," I whispered to the Moon Goddess, even though she'd clearly abandoned me. "Please, I don't want to die like this."
The rogues stepped into the moonlight, their teeth bared—
And everything went black.