Chapter 1
THE NIGHT OF BROKEN DREAMS
Myra’s pov
Today was my eighteenth year birthday, and tonight my mating ceremony, the day I would get rejected by my mate and my life would change.
The reflection in the mirror didn’t look like me.
My hair was pinned up, dark curls falling in loose tendrils around my face, and a thin silver chain circled my brow, a single moonstone resting at the center of my forehead. I should have felt beautiful. Regal. Like a Luna about to claim her destiny.
But all I saw was the hollow look in my eyes, the stiffness in my smile, the way my fingers trembled as they smoothed down the fabric of my dress.
“Stop fussing. You look perfect,” Aria said softly, coming up behind me and squeezing my shoulders. My best friend’s reflection met mine in the mirror. Her bright blue eyes, usually so full of mischief, were gentle tonight, full of hope for me. “He’s going to see you and remember why the Moon Goddess chose you to be his mate.”
I swallowed hard. “If only everyone else believed that.”
Aria’s smile faltered, just a little. I couldn’t blame her.
I knew what the pack thought, what they whispered when they thought I wasn’t listening. The orphan girl. The Beta’s daughter who couldn’t even shift. The future Luna with no wolf, no strength.
They pitied me. And worse they doubted me.
The only reason I stood here tonight, preparing for my mating ceremony, was because of my parents’ honor. My father and mother had died protecting the Alpha King during the great rogue invasion seven years ago. They’d been heroes. Respected, everyone loved them.
And I was what was left.
“I’ll prove them wrong tonight,” I whispered, more to myself than to Aria. “I’ll be a good Luna. I’ll serve the pack. I’ll make Malik proud.”
Aria’s hands slid down my arms, and she hugged me from behind. “He already is, Myra. And after tonight, everyone else will be too.”
I nodded, trying to draw strength from her words, from the soft warmth of her embrace. But as I turned from the mirror, I caught the faintest sound voices outside the chamber.
“She looks the part, but we all know it’s a joke,” someone murmured.
“A Luna who can’t shift? What will she protect us from? Goddess above, we are werewolves…” another snickered.
They thought that because I couldn't shift I didn't have werewolf perks like enhanced senses, but I did. I could hear every single word of their whispers.
Aria looked like she wanted to go defend me, I didn't want a fight today so I just caught her wrist and shook my head.
Aria’s eyes flashed with anger. “Fucking assholes, ignore them. They don’t matter.”
But their words burrowed deep, echoing every secret fear I’d tried so hard to bury.
I squared my shoulders. “Let’s go.”
---
The clearing was alight with torches, the full moon high above, casting silver over the gathering of my pack.
Hundreds of eyes turned to me as I stepped onto the sacred stone path.
There were stiff polite nods with tight, forced smiles on their faces as they watched me walk down the aisle.
But Malik would come. He would take my hand, and everything would change.
I lifted my chin, my heart pounding in my chest like a drumbeat.
And I waited.
And waited.
The minutes stretched, endless. Murmurs rose among the crowd. I could feel their eyes on me…
Where was he?
Why hadn’t he come?
Was he… changing his mind?
I clenched my hands together, trying to still their shaking. I felt Aria’s presence behind me, steady, a silent support, but it wasn’t enough to stop the cold dread creeping through my veins.
The crowd stirred.
A figure broke through the trees at the edge of the clearing, his dark form outlined by the moonlight.
Malik.
His hair was tousled, his ceremonial tunic rumpled and half-unfastened, his boots dusty as if he’d been running. His face was pale, jaw tight, dark eyes stormy as they met mine.
He staggered towards me like a drunken man.
The whispers grew louder.
What had happened? Why did he look… like this?
Malik walked toward me. My heart had leapt at the sight of him, but the joy was short-lived, drowned beneath the weight of the expression on his face.
Resolve.
“No…” I breathed, before he even spoke. I knew what was going to happen.
He stopped before me, towering, his scent cedar and smoke filling my senses, familiar and beloved. I reached for his hand, but he didn’t offer it.
“Myra Sunrose,” he said, his voice carrying across the clearing, steady and clear.
I shook my head, unable to stop the tears that burned my eyes. “Please—Malik—”
“Stop…No…please.” I tried.
“I, Alpha Malik Nightshade,” he continued, voice hardening, “reject you as my mate.”
The words hit like a blade, slicing clean through me, leaving me hollow.
A gasp rippled through the crowd. Aria let out a soft cry behind me.
“No,” I whispered again, but I could feel the bond the beautiful thread that had tied my soul to his, fraying.
The pain came, swift and brutal, searing through my chest, my head, my very bones. My knees buckled. The world spun.
The last thing I saw before the darkness claimed me was Malik’s face, haunted and broken.
---
The world returned slowly, blurred and full of ache.
I was lying on a cot, the soft glow of lanterns casting shadows on stone walls. My chest throbbed. My head pounded.
“Malik…” I croaked, the name torn from my lips without thought. My heart called for him, the bond shredded but the longing still raw and alive.
I heard a small sharp laugh.
I turned my head, vision swimming, and saw her.
Evelyn Ashe.
The she-wolf who had always hovered at Malik’s side. Very popular in the pack, she was everything I wanted to be, beautiful, graceful, fierce.
She sat beside the cot, arms folded, a smirk twisting her perfect mouth.
“Why would our Alpha choose a weak girl like you to be our Luna?” she said, voice dripping with venom. “Someone who can’t even shift? Someone who has always been a weak pampered little brat? You don't deserve Malik.”
The words stung more than they should have. I tried to sit up, but my body wouldn’t obey.
Tears blurred my sight. I wanted to be strong, to tell her she was wrong, to fight back. But I couldn’t.
I was weak and useless.
And he had seen that. He had rejected me.
Sobs tore from my throat, ragged and unstoppable. The grief, the humiliation, the shame all of it crashed over me like a wave, pulling me under.
Evelyn’s laughter followed me as I wept, as the pain dragged me down into darkness again.