Chapter 2
Two guards immediately stepped forward.
I stood up, wincing in pain. "Vera tripped me."
Vera's eyes grew red with tears. "I didn't. Elena, I know you're jealous that I get to stand by Lucian's side tonight, but you can't frame me."
Laughter echoed through the hall. "She's jealous of Vera?"
"A half-breed who can't even shift? Does she even have the right?"
I looked at Lucian.
He was right there. He saw it all happen.
But he just frowned, his voice cold. "Elena, stop."
Those words cut deeper than shattered glass.
Suddenly, a searing pain tore through my chest.
It wasn't the sting of humiliation. Something older, something primal, was awakening in my blood.
I could hear my heartbeat pounding louder.
Then, a strange, raspy woman's voice echoed in my mind. 'He is our fated mate.'
I froze.
Was that my inner wolf? I actually had one?
The voice sounded again. 'He recognized us.'
I looked up suddenly, meeting Lucian's gaze.
His eyes flashed gold—the unmistakable sign that a wolf had found their fated mate.
He knew. He knew I was his fated mate.
The werewolves in the hall quickly sensed something was off.
Moonlight poured down from the dome, casting an invisible silver thread between Lucian and me.
Adrian's expression shifted instantly.
Lawrence murmured, "The pull of fate."
Vera's face went pale in an instant.
I stood there amid the shards of broken goblets, blood still dripping from my fingers. I suddenly wanted to laugh.
It had been seven years.
I thought the Moon Goddess had abandoned me, but she hadn't.
She'd just kept her cruelest gift hidden for tonight.
Lucian walked toward me, step by step. Everyone's eyes were fixed on us.
According to werewolf tradition, he should take my hand and acknowledge me as his mate beneath the moonlight. Then I would become the future Luna.
Even though I was a half-breed, and I was wolfless, as long as the mating bond was true, no one could deny my claim.
Lucian stopped before me and reached out.
The pain in my chest turned to molten fire.
My inner wolf growled inside my head, 'Accept him.'
Just as I was about to reach for him, he stepped right past me and took Vera's hand instead.
The atmosphere in the whole hall became intense at once.
Lucian looked straight at me, his voice clear and cruel. "I, Lucian Silverpine, reject the mating bond with you."
In that instant, my world went silent.
It was like something vital was torn straight out of my chest.
My inner wolf howled in torment.
I fell to my knees, blood gushing from my lips.
The pain of the rejected bond crashed down on me.
Lucian's face turned ashen as well, but he gripped Vera's hand like his life depended on it and didn't back down.
He said quietly, "Elena, you don't belong by my side. The Luna can't be wolfless."
Vera instantly leaned into him, her eyes glinting with triumph she couldn't hide. "Elena, I'm sorry. Even fate gets it wrong sometimes."
The pain was so sharp that every breath felt like swallowing knives.
The voice of my inner wolf was fading away. 'Don't fall asleep, Elena. Don't lock me away again...'
I finally understood. I wasn't wolfless. My wolf had always been there.
They just never gave me the chance to wake her.
The guards seized my arms, trying to drag me away.
Just then, a cold voice rang out. "Let her go."
Cassian was standing in the center of the hall.
No one had seen him come over.
His crimson eyes fixed on my bleeding hand, his gaze growing even darker than before.
Adrian said, "Prince Vale, this is Silverpine Pack business."
Cassian looked up. "Her blood dripped into my wine glass."
Adrian sneered, "So what?"
"By the laws of the Blackthorn Coven, anyone who touches the Prince's blood pet without permission dies."
Gasps echoed through the hall. I was stunned as well.
Blood pet? Who was he talking about?
Cassian bent down and extended his hand out to me.
His fingers were long, pale, and cold, as if they were reaching out from a coffin bathed in moonlight. "Get up."
I didn't move.
He murmured, "Or would you rather die at their feet?"
Gritting my teeth, I slipped my hand into his palm.
An icy chill swept over me, but somehow, the crushing agony in my chest eased a little.
Lucian's expression darkened. "Let go of her."
Cassian didn't even spare him a glance. "You just rejected her."
"She's still part of the Silverpine Pack."
"From the moment you rejected her, she lost the protection of fate," Cassian said, wiping the blood from my lips. "She's under my protection now."
Vera shrieked, "She's a half-breed!"
Cassian finally shot her a glance.
With just that one glance, Vera's face drained of all color, like an invisible hand was choking her. She couldn't make a sound.
Adrian lunged forward. "Prince Vale!"
Cassian released his mental compulsion, his voice steady. "Keep your future Luna in line. The Blackthorn Coven doesn't like noisy prey."
I should have been scared. But when I stood next to Cassian and saw Lucian's face dark as a thundercloud, suddenly the pain didn't seem so hard to bear.