The Moon Goddess requires all wolves to receive a Moonlight Burial. It's sacred law—the only way our souls can reach her realm. Without it, we're condemned to wander as restless spirits, lost between worlds.

I sat beside my father's body, gently brushing his silver hair. The pack house was quiet, most members keeping their distance from death's presence. Only I remained, whispering final words to the man who had raised me, who had sacrificed everything for me.

"I'll make sure you reach her, Father," I promised, my voice breaking. "The Moon Goddess will welcome you home."

The door burst open. Two of Aden's enforcers entered, their expressions blank but their intent clear.

"Alpha has ordered the body removed," one announced.

My wolf stirred within me, grief transforming into rage. "On what grounds? He deserves a proper Moonlight Burial!"

"Alpha's orders," the second enforcer repeated, avoiding my gaze.

I stood, placing myself between them and my father's body. "I am still Luna of this pack, and I command you to stand down."

Their eyes flickered with uncertainty, but only for a moment. The first enforcer's radio crackled.

"Bring her to me," Aden's voice came through, cold and commanding.

---

Aden's office smelled of leather and power—a scent that once made me feel safe but now turned my stomach. He sat behind his massive desk, fingers steepled beneath his chin.

"You wanted to see me, Alpha?" I kept my voice steady despite the storm raging inside me.

"Emily." He gestured to the chair across from him. "We need to discuss your father's... arrangements."

"My father deserves a Moonlight Burial," I said immediately. "It's his right as a former Beta."

Aden's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Rights are privileges in this pack, Emily. Privileges I decide."

He slid a folder across the desk. Inside were legal documents—property deeds to my family's ancestral lands. The last piece of independence I had left.

"Sign these," he said casually, as if discussing the weather. "Transfer the Northern Territory rights to the pack, and I'll ensure your father receives a proper burial."

My hands trembled as I reached for the papers. "You're blackmailing me? Over my father's soul?"

"I'm offering you a choice." Aden leaned back, perfectly at ease. "Sign, and he finds peace. Refuse..." He shrugged. "There's always the Rogue Lands. I hear the scavengers there appreciate fresh meat."

The Rogue Lands—where soulless exiles rotted, where even the Moon Goddess's light couldn't reach. The threat was clear: sign, or condemn my father's soul to eternal darkness.

"You're a monster," I whispered.

"And you're practical." He pushed a pen toward me. "Your father raised you better than to let emotion cloud judgment."

I took the pen, my vision blurring with tears. Each signature felt like carving out a piece of my heart.

---

As I left his office, voices drifted from the conference room down the hall.

"She actually signed it," Allyson's voice, tinged with amusement. "I thought she'd put up more of a fight."

"Emily's predictable," Aden replied. "Too loyal, too trusting. Always has been."

"Well, she's been useful," Allyson said. "But honestly, I'm tired of her whining. When are you going to tell her?"

"Patience." Aden's voice lowered. "She's still a useful stepping stone. But once we've extracted everything we need..."

"The pack will be better off with a real Luna," Allyson finished.

I pressed myself against the wall, my heart shattering into a thousand pieces. Not just a mate who didn't love me—but one who saw me as nothing more than a tool to be discarded.

---

A week after the funeral, Allyson cornered me in the pack house kitchen.

"You look terrible," she said, her concern as fake as her smile. "All this grief must be affecting your health."

"I'm fine," I replied curtly, trying to move past her.

"Aden's worried." She blocked my path. "He's ordered a mandatory health check-up. Can't have our Luna falling ill, can we?"

"Aden doesn't care about my health," I muttered.

"Oh, but he does." Allyson's smile widened. "Especially now. Come on, it'll only take a minute."

She led me to the infirmary, where she had prepared a syringe filled with clear liquid.

"What's that?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just a vitamin booster." She tapped the needle. "You've been under so much stress lately. I'm worried you might have developed a latent blood disease."

Before I could protest, she grabbed my arm. "Alpha's orders, Emily. Don't make this difficult."

The needle slid into my vein, sending a burning sensation through my body. As the liquid entered my bloodstream, a strange numbness spread through me.

"What did you—" My words slurred as darkness crept into the edges of my vision.

Allyson's face was the last thing I saw clearly, her expression no longer hiding the malice beneath.

"Just a little something to help you relax," she whispered as I collapsed onto the examination table. "You've been so tense lately."

The last coherent thought I had before consciousness slipped away was that I should have trusted my instincts—that something was very, very wrong.

Pain tore through me like liquid fire. I awoke screaming, my body convulsing as if electricity coursed through my veins. The infirmary ceiling swam above me, blurry through tears I didn't remember crying.

"Emily, calm down," Allyson's voice cut through my agony, her hands pressing on my shoulders. "You're going to hurt yourself."

I tried to speak, but another wave of pain crashed through my abdomen, stealing my breath. Something was wrong—terribly wrong. I could feel it deep inside me, a burning sensation that seemed to be eating me alive from within.

"What did you do to me?" I gasped, finally finding my voice.

Allyson's expression shifted to practiced concern. She smoothed back my hair with gentle fingers that made my skin crawl.

"You had a reaction to the vitamins," she said softly. "I had to perform an emergency procedure to save your life."

"Emergency procedure?" I tried to sit up, but my body felt hollow, violated. "What procedure?"

Her eyes flickered with something—triumph? Pity?—before she leaned closer.

"I'm so sorry, Emily," she whispered, her breath hot against my ear. "The infection had spread further than I thought. There was nothing I could do to save your womb."

The words hit me like physical blows. "My womb? What are you talking about?"

"Concentrated wolfsbane poisoning," she said, her voice dropping even lower. "Someone must have exposed you to it. I managed to save your life, but..." She shook her head sadly. "You'll never be able to carry pups."

I stared at her, unable to process what she was saying. Wolfsbane? Barren? This couldn't be happening.

"You're lying," I whispered.

Allyson's mask slipped for just a moment, revealing the satisfaction beneath. "I'm afraid not. You should be grateful I acted quickly."

---

The whispers started the next day.

"Poor Luna," they said, not bothering to lower their voices when I passed. "The Moon Goddess cursed her."

"I heard she can't have pups," someone else murmured.

"It's because of her father's failures," another added. "The Alpha's been patient, but..."

I kept my head high, though each whisper felt like a knife twisting in my chest. My wolf whimpered inside me, sensing the shift in the pack's attitude.

"Emily," Allyson approached me in the hallway, her smile sympathetic. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like I've been poisoned," I replied coldly.

She laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "Oh, you're still so dramatic. Come, let's get some tea."

I refused to move. "What have you been telling them?"

"Telling who?" Her eyes widened innocently.

"The pack. About my... condition."

A shadow passed over her face before she recovered. "Only what they need to know. That you're unwell, and that perhaps the Moon Goddess has her reasons for everything."

Through the pack mind-link, I could feel the whispers spreading like wildfire. Allyson had been busy, planting seeds of doubt, turning my private trauma into pack gossip.

"They're saying I'm cursed," I said flatly.

"Some people will always find reasons to talk," she replied, her voice dripping false sympathy. "But the Alpha stands by you."

---

Three days later, I stood in the Great Hall, surrounded by the entire pack. Aden had called an unexpected gathering, and the tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.

"Brothers and sisters of Silver Lake," Aden's voice boomed across the hall. "We gather today to address an important matter."

He stood on the raised platform, every inch the powerful Alpha. Beside him, Allyson smiled serenely, her hand possessively on his arm.

"Our pack has always valued strength and continuity," he continued. "A pack needs an heir to secure its future."

My stomach twisted as his eyes found mine across the crowd.

"Emily," he called, gesturing me forward.

The crowd parted as I walked to the platform, my legs somehow supporting me despite feeling like water. Something was terribly wrong. I could feel it in the air, in the way the pack watched me with a mixture of pity and judgment.

When I reached him, Aden took my hand, his touch cold and formal.

"It is with great regret," he announced, his voice carrying to every corner of the hall, "that I must inform the pack of our Luna's condition."

He turned to face me directly, his eyes hard as flint.

"I, Alpha Aden, reject you, Emily, as my Luna and mate."

The formal words of rejection hit me like physical blows.

"You are a dry branch that bears no fruit," he continued, the ancient phrase echoing in the silent hall.

The mate bond between us snapped with an audible crack that only I could hear. Pain exploded through my chest, radiating outward until every cell in my body screamed in agony.

I gasped, doubling over as the bond—the connection I had cherished despite everything—died within me.

Through tears of pain, I saw Allyson step forward, her hand sliding possessively into Aden's as the pack watched in stunned silence.

The Great Hall fell silent as Aden's words echoed off the stone walls. The rejection—the formal severing of our mate bond—had left a gaping wound inside me that I could feel bleeding with every breath.

"Kneel," Aden commanded, his Alpha tone washing over me like ice water.

My legs buckled against my will. The Alpha command was too powerful to resist, especially now that our bond was broken. I collapsed to my knees before him, my body trembling with the effort to remain upright.

"Brothers and sisters of Silver Lake," Aden's voice boomed across the hall, "today marks a new beginning for our pack."

He turned to Allyson, who stepped forward with practiced grace. She wore a silver dress that hugged her curves—a dress I recognized as one Aden had bought for me last season. Around her neck gleamed my mother's emerald pendant, the one I'd kept in my jewelry box since her death.

"Allyson has proven herself worthy of the Luna title," Aden continued, his eyes never leaving hers. "Her loyalty, strength, and dedication to this pack deserve recognition."

Allyson's smile was radiant as she gazed adoringly at him. "I accept this honor with humility and gratitude," she said, her voice carrying a rehearsed tremor of emotion.

Aden leaned down, his lips brushing against her neck. I knew what was coming—the marking that would seal her position as Luna. The same mark he had placed on me years ago, when promises of forever still hung in the air between us.

"By the power vested in me as Alpha of Silver Lake Pack," Aden growled, his teeth baring, "I claim Allyson as my Luna and mate."

His teeth sank into her flesh, and the pack erupted in cheers. I watched, frozen in place, as my world crumbled around me.

---

"One hour," the Beta announced, his face impassive as he delivered Aden's orders. "You have one hour to leave Silver Lake territory, or you will be hunted as a rogue."

I stood in what had once been my bedroom—now Allyson's domain. Already, her scent was replacing mine, her possessions claiming the space that had been mine for years.

"What about my things?" I asked, my voice hollow.

"The Luna has already sorted through them," he replied, not meeting my eyes. "Anything deemed valuable to the pack remains."

Of course she had. Allyson had always wanted what was mine.

I moved mechanically to the closet, pulling out a single bag. There was little left to take—most of my possessions had been "reclaimed" by the pack. My fingers brushed against my father's leather-bound journal on the nightstand.

"This is all I need," I said, tucking the journal into my bag.

As I walked through the pack house, wolves who had once greeted me with respect now turned away or worse—spat at my feet.

"Traitor," someone hissed.

"Cursed by the Moon Goddess," another whispered.

"Good riddance," a third added boldly.

I kept my head high, though each word cut deeper than the last. These were wolves I had cared for, healed when they were sick, celebrated with when they found mates. Now they couldn't wait to see me gone.

---

The forest grew denser as I approached the border. Every step sent waves of pain through my body—the wolfsbane still burning in my veins, the severed mate bond leaving an empty ache in my chest.

"Almost there," I whispered to myself, though my wolf remained eerily silent within me.

She had retreated deep inside after the rejection, wounded beyond words. I couldn't blame her. We were both broken now.

A twig snapped somewhere to my left. Then another to my right.

"They're tracking me," I realized with growing horror.

Aden had sent rogues after me—wolves who owed him favors or simply enjoyed the hunt. He wanted to make sure I never reached safety, never had the chance to tell anyone what had really happened.

I pushed myself harder, ignoring the burning in my lungs and the blood trickling down my legs. The river was just ahead—the boundary between pack territories and the neutral zone beyond.

"Just a little further," I urged my battered body.

Behind me, I could hear them gaining ground—their hungry breaths and excited yips carrying through the trees. They were playing with me, enjoying the chase.

The river appeared through the trees—wide and rushing with spring melt. On the other side lay the Royal Territory, where even Aden's influence couldn't reach.

I gathered what little strength I had left and plunged into the icy water. The cold shocked my system, but I forced myself forward, each stroke carrying me closer to safety.

"Almost there," I gasped as my feet touched the opposite bank.

With one final push, I dragged myself out of the water and collapsed onto the muddy ground of the Royal Territory. Behind me, the rogues howled in frustration at the border they couldn't cross.

I had made it—but at what cost? And what awaited me in this strange new land?