The night I was meant to become Luna, I learned that love can burn brighter than fire and destroy twice as fast.

The ballroom sparkled like a thousand caught stars. Crystal lights shimmered above my head, throwing bits of gold over the gathered Alphas and nobles of Los Angeles. My heart pounded so loud I could barely hear the music. Tonight was supposed to be my crowning, the night my bond with Lorenzo DeLuca became forever.

I had thought of this moment since I was a girl: the mark, the vow, the feeling of joining. But as I stood before him on the marble dais, beneath the carved silver moon crest of the DeLuca Pack, something in his eyes made my breath pause.

He wasn’t laughing.

Lorenzo’s jaw was tight, his shoulders rigid beneath his formal black suit. The air around him hummed with power, but his eyes… those cold gray eyes that once softened for me were nothing but storms.

“Lorenzo,” I whispered, trying to smile through the stress. “You’re scaring me. Everyone’s watching.”

He didn’t answer. The whispers in the hall began to rise like the stirring of restless ghosts. Cameras flashed from the press box. I reached for his hand, but he stepped back like my touch burned him.

Then he spoke.

“You were never meant to wear my mark.”

For a heartbeat, I thought I heard him wrong. The words cracked through the silence like thunder. The crowd gasped as one. I froze, looking up at him, my pulse screaming in my ears.

“What… What do you mean? ” My voice trembled. “Lorenzo, this isn’t funny. Say you’re joking.”

He turned from me, his voice booming through the microphone for all to hear. “Aria Moretti is not the rightful heiress of the Moretti bloodline. She misled this pack, and me.”

The ground seemed to fall away beneath me.

My lips parted, but no sound came out. My knees felt weak, the smell of roses and champagne turning bitter in my throat. “That’s not true,” I managed to whisper. “You know me, Lorenzo. You know my blood, my family”

“Enough.” His order struck through me like a whip. His Beta stepped forward, a stack of papers in his hand. “The truth has been confirmed,” the Beta stated. “The real Moretti heiress has returned.”

And then, like a ghost rising from the ashes, she appeared.

Aurora.

Her golden hair cascaded over her shoulders, her silver gown sparkling like moonlight. My twin. My lost sister. The one who went years ago. She smiled, sweet and toxic, her eyes meeting mine with cruel joy.

“Hello, sister,” she purred, voice dripping with poison. “Or should I say… impostor? ”

Gasps spread through the crowd. I felt hundreds of eyes slice through me, blaming, judging, hungering for scandal. I wanted to speak, to scream that this was crazy, that I’d never lied but the words twisted in my throat.

Lorenzo’s hand reached for Aurora instead.

The same hand that once swore to protect me.

My view was blurred. “Lorenzo, please. You know me. You can’t believe this.”

He paused, just for a moment. But then his face toughened into something unrecognizable. “Leave before I make you.”

A quiet sob broke from my chest. “You’re making a mistake.”

Aurora tilted her chin proudly. “No, darling. You were the mistake.”

Cameras flashed like bullets. Wolves muttered behind groomed hands. I turned in circles, lost in a sea of perfume and deception, until I could barely breathe.

Someone laughed. Someone whispered, “She’s finished.”

I wanted the ground to open and swallow me.

But even in that moment of shame, I caught something dark in Aurora’s eyes. Not success. Fear. And for a second, her smile faltered.

Lorenzo didn’t notice.

He lifted his glass. “To the true Luna,” he said, voice steady, eyes blank. “Aurora Moretti.”

The crowd roared in applause.

And his once beloved, his chosen mate stood there shaking, my soul breaking open under the weight of every cheer.

I turned away before anyone saw the tears running down my face. My heels clicked against marble as I left the stage, pushing through the crowd until I reached the hallway behind the ballroom. My breath came fast, ragged.

“Aria, wait! ” A voice called behind me, it was Marco, Lorenzo’s cousin. But I didn’t stop.

“Don’t touch me! ” I spun around, eyes wild. “You all knew, didn’t you? You planned this.”

He held up his hands, guilt flashing in his face. “It wasn’t supposed to go down like that.”

“Then how was it supposed to go, Marco? ” My voice broke. “Was I supposed to smile while he destroyed me? Bow while he gave my title to her? ”

Marco’s eyes darted away. “There are things you don’t understand. Orders were made. This is bigger than”

“Then what? ” I demanded. “Bigger than my life? My love? My name? ”

He didn’t answer.

I shoved past him, tears blocking my vision. The hallway swam in gold and dark, the sound of clapping still echoing from the ballroom. My chest ached so much I thought I might fall.

Outside, the night air hit me like a slap. My car was gone. Security guards stopped the exit. The city stretched before me, sparkling and cruel.

“Stop her! ” a voice shouted behind me Aurora’s, triumphant.

I ran.

My heels snapped against the sidewalk, my gown tearing at the seams. Flashbulbs followed me down the marble steps. Someone grabbed my arm, but I ripped free. “Leave me alone! ”

“Aria, wait” a journalist called, pushing a microphone toward me. “Is it true you falsified your lineage? ”

I didn’t answer. I kept running until the lights blurred into streaks.

At the edge of the land, a dark car idled by the gate. The driver’s window rolled down and an unknown man with a scar across his cheek met my gaze. “Miss Moretti,” he said quietly. “Get in. Now.”

Something in his low, commanding tone made me obey without question. I slid into the back seat, my heart pounding.

The door slammed, and the car sped off into the night.

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to breathe. “Who are you? ”

He looked at me through the mirror. “A friend. Sent by someone who still believes in you.”

I frowned. “Who? ”

He didn’t answer.

The city blurred past street lights dimming, rain beginning to fall. My image in the glass looked like a stranger: pale, hollow-eyed, mascara bleeding down my face.

I touched the spot on my neck where his mark should’ve been. An empty ache spread through me.

“He didn’t even ask if I was okay,” I whispered.

The driver said nothing.

I turned my face toward the window, hiding the tears. The rain outside looked like silver fire, falling from heaven to wash me clean of everything I’d ever known.

But the ache inside wouldn’t fade.

I had lost everything. My title. My mate. My name.

And yet… a strange calm fell over me, somewhere between sadness and fury.

If Aurora wanted war, she would have it.

I straightened in my seat, wiping my tears with shaky hands. “Take me anywhere no one will find me.”

The driver nodded. “Understood.”

The car turned down a small road heading away from the city lights. I stared out the window, repeating Lorenzo’s words over and over until they became a blade in my chest.

You were never meant to wear my mark.

A sob slipped past my lips. “Then why did you make me believe I was yours? ”

The driver’s phone buzzed. He frowned. “We have company.”

“What do you mean? ”

Before he could answer, headlights flared behind us. Black SUVs closed in from both sides.

My heart lurched. “Who are they? ”

He cursed under his breath. “DeLuca guards. They were supposed to wait.”

“Wait for what? ”

“To take you back.”

“No! ” Panic flared. “I’m not going back there. I won’t face them again! ”

The driver’s jaw clenched. “Hold on.”

The car veered sharply into an alley. Tires screeched. I clutched the seat as the car sped through the rain-slick streets.

Bullets broke the rear glass. I screamed as bits flew past my face.

“Why are they shooting? ” I cried.

“Because someone doesn’t want you alive, Miss Moretti.”

The words chilled me to the bone.

We turned another corner, the SUVs still chasing. I felt the weight of my ruined cap slipping from my hair. I yanked it off and threw it out the window.

The driver shouted, “Down! ”

A bullet hit the rearview mirror. The car skidded violently, spinning before slamming to a stop beside an abandoned building.

Smoke hissed from the tires. My pulse roared in my ears.

“Out,” the driver barked.

We stumbled into the rain, running for cover as the SUVs screeched to a stop behind us. Men poured out armed, fast, and effective.

“Why are they doing this? ” I gasped, slipping on the wet pavement.

“Because you’re not supposed to survive tonight.”

He grabbed my hand and dragged me toward a side door. We burst inside the warehouse, a dark, vast place reeking of rust and gasoline.

He pressed a gun into my hand.

“I don’t know how to use this,” I said, shaking.

“Then point it at anyone who isn’t me.”

Voices echoed outside. Footsteps.

We hid behind a stack of boxes as shadows moved along the walls. My heart thundered so hard I thought they’d hear it.

Through the cracks, I saw one of the attackers step into view. My breath caught.

It was Marco.

Lorenzo’s cousin.

He spoke into his headset. “Target’s inside. Orders are to bring her in breathing. Barely.”

I felt sick. “He said he wanted to help me.”

The driver’s eyes hardened. “He lied.”

Everything was a lie.

Family. Love. Loyalty.

The floor creaked. A figure moved closer.

The driver pointed, fired two shots. Screams followed. “Go! ” he shouted.

We ran again, through passageways smelling of oil and rot. Rain poured through cracks in the roof. My gown snagged on a nail, tearing. I left it behind, my bare feet slapping against the ground.

A gunshot cracked behind us then quiet.

I turned. The driver was gone.

“Hello, Aria.”

Marco stepped from the darkness, rain dripping from his coat. The smile on his face was cruel. “You didn’t think you could outrun blood, did you? ”

“Why? ” My voice trembled. “Why are you doing this? ”

“Because you were never supposed to exist,” he said simply. “Aurora was the chosen one. You were the mistake they tried to bury.”

He raised his gun.

I closed my eyes, preparing for death

Then the explosion came.

A thundering roar tore through the building. Fire and smoke swallowed everything. I fell backward, smacking into debris, pain burning through my arm.

When the smoke cleared, Marco was gone.

I crawled toward the broken door, coughing, bleeding, shaking. The rain outside felt like knives against my skin.

I stumbled onto the empty street. The city lights were faraway now, blurred through tears and smoke.

Behind me, the building burned my past going up in flames.

I pressed a hand to my belly, the ache spreading deeper than I understood. And then, barely, I felt a strange flutter beneath my palm.

My breath hitched.

No. It couldn’t be.

Tears spilled down my face as understanding crashed over me.

I wasn’t just running for my life.

I was running for another.

Beneath the burning sky, Aria whispered to the night, “He rejected me… but he left something of himself inside me.”

And somewhere far away, Lorenzo DeLuca raised his head, his wolf stirring uneasily without knowing why.

They said the mark of a rejected Luna fades in time but no one told me it would take my soul with it.

The rain hadn’t stopped since the ceremony.

It fell hard and cold, washing the blood off my hands but never the shame from my skin.

My body ached with tiredness as I stumbled through the narrow alleys of Los Angeles, the city that once sparkled for me now nothing but smoke and shadows. Every corner smelled of oil and deception. Every echo reminded me of the moment my name was pulled from me like skin torn from bone.

Somewhere far behind, the DeLuca guards still searched. I could hear the growl of their engines, the barked directions over radios.

I pressed myself against a collapsing brick wall and swallowed a sob.

“This can’t be happening,” I whispered. “It can’t.”

The rain dripped into my hair, sealing it to my cheeks. I remembered Lorenzo’s face cold, detached, merciless as he crowned Aurora in my place. The pain felt fresh, sharp, alive.

You were never meant to wear my mark.

Those words looped in my head like a curse.

A shadow moved at the end of the alley. My muscles tensed. I turned, ready to run until I recognized him.

The scarred driver from before.

He approached slowly, his dark coat soaked through, his face opaque beneath the falling rain. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said quietly.

I laughed bitterly. “And where should I be? Buried under the DeLuca estate?”

He didn’t move. “They’re searching every street. There’s a reward on your head.”

My stomach twisted. “Lorenzo wants me dead?”

He paused. “Not Lorenzo. His council. But they’ll use his name to excuse it.”

I felt dizzy. The world tilted around me. “Who are you?”

He looked around before answering. “Matteo Rossi.”

The name hit me like a spark. “Rossi… as in the Rossi syndicate?”

His look was sharp. “I see you know the name.”

“Everyone does,” I said. “Your family runs half of California’s underworld.”

“And yet here I am,” he said, “helping a Luna with nowhere to go.”

I didn’t believe him. But I didn’t have a choice. “Why are you helping me?”

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Because I owe someone a debt. Someone who believed you were innocent.”

I frowned. “Who?”

Matteo looked away. “You’ll find out soon enough. For now, we need to move.”

He looked toward the end of the alley where lights flashed. “They’re closing in.”

I felt fear rush through me. “Where will we go?”

He pointed toward a rusty grate at the ground. “Down there.”

My heart sank. “That’s a sewer.”

“Better dirty than dead,” he said simply, prying the grate open. “Move.”

The smell hit me like a punch. I paused at the edge, looking down into darkness.

Matteo gave me a small, impatient push. “Go.”

I dropped into the cold water below, biting back a cry as the filth soaked my torn gown. He followed, slamming the grate shut above us. The world turned black except for his small flashlight beam.

The air was damp, thick, and smothering. The tube stretched forever ahead.

We started walking.

My shoes squelched in the water. My breath rang against the stone walls.

“Why is this happening?” I whispered. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Matteo’s voice came from behind me, calm and short. “Truth doesn’t matter when power’s involved.”

I turned to face him, anger and sadness colliding. “They humiliated me in front of everyone! My mate, my family, my entire world gone in one night. And you’re telling me to just accept it?”

His face relaxed, barely. “No. I’m telling you to survive it.”

His words hung heavy in the silence.

We walked for what felt like hours. At times, I thought I could still hear the guards above their boots, their snarling dogs, the faint metallic smell of silver guns.

My body shook from the cold and fear. But Matteo never slowed.

“Why did Aurora come back?” I asked suddenly. “She was gone for years. Everyone thought she was dead.”

“Maybe someone needed her alive again,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

He didn’t answer.

The flashlight flickered. I saw his scar catch the dim light and old cut that seemed to hold its own story.

We reached a junction. He stopped listening. “They’re above us. We’ll take the lower passage.”

I followed him down a steep path. My gown snagged on the edge of a pipe. I tore it free. “Do you work for the Rossi syndicate or against them?” I asked.

He smirked weakly. “That depends on who’s paying me.”

“So I’m just a job to you?”

He looked at me for a long time. “Not exactly.”

The way he said it made my pulse skip. But before I could ask more, the roof rumbled. Dust rained down.

“They’re detonating the access tunnels,” Matteo mumbled. “We need to move.”

I stumbled as we ran. My legs screamed with pain.

“Why are they doing this?” I cried. “They already destroyed my name!”

“Because dead Lunas don’t tell secrets,” he said grimly.

We turned another corner and froze.

A group of armed men stopped the path ahead, flashlights cutting through the dark.

Matteo swore. “Stay behind me.”

He drew a gun from his belt, his moves quick and sure. Shots echoed, loud in the cramped space. Water splashed. Someone screamed.

I pressed against the wall, shaking, covering my ears.

When quiet fell, Matteo turned to me, gasping. “Come on.”

My heart was hammered. “You killed them.”

He looked at me coldly. “They would’ve done worse to you.”

I followed in silence. My gut churned not just from fear, but from something deeper, heavy.