Myra's pov

The first thing I felt was the pain.

It wasn’t sharp or fleeting. It was a deep, gnawing agony that started in my chest and spread outward, as if my soul had been ripped from my body and nothing but emptiness remained.

I gasped, but the air did nothing to ease it. My lungs burned. My throat felt raw, as though I had been crying or screaming.

My eyes fluttered open to darkness, shadows flickering on the stone walls of the infirmary. The room was cold. Silent.

Where was Aria?

Where were the healers?

Did nobody at all even care just a little about me?

I turned my head, the simple motion sending a wave of dizziness through me. The room was empty. Only me, lying alone on a narrow cot, the thin blanket twisted around my legs.

The door to the infirmary stood ajar. The faint light of the moon spilled through, pale and cold.

I tried to sit up, but my body protested. My muscles felt weak, as if the rejection had drained every ounce of strength I possessed. My head spun, and I had to grip the edge of the cot to steady myself.

His voice echoed in my mind, over and over, like a curse I couldn’t escape.

I, Alpha Malik Nightshade, reject you as my mate.

The memory of it crushed me anew, the humiliation, the betrayal, the disbelief. I clutched my chest, as if I could hold together the pieces of my shattered heart.

I couldn’t stay here. I had to see Malik, I needed to know what had changed between us. Why he had rejected me.

I stood up and took a shaky step.

One step after the other.

The pain followed me, relentless, but I pushed it down. I reached the door, my hand brushing the wood as I leaned on it for support.

I stepped into the corridor, the chill of the night air wrapping around me like a cloak of ice. The walls of the pack house seemed to close in, the shadows heavy.

Voices reached me low and familiar. I froze, pressing myself against a column, hidden by the deep shadows.

I recognised the voices instantly, it was Jennifer and Blake. My friends. The ones who had laughed with me as children, who had promised loyalty when my parents died.

“It was shameful, but necessary,” Jennifer said, her voice low but clear. “Having a Luna with no wolf, as weak as her, is dangerous as hell.”

“Malik had no choice,” Blake agreed. “We’d have lost respect in the alliance if he accepted her.”

“She should just leave,” Jennifer added. “She’ll doesn't belong here..”

My breath caught in my throat. The weight of their betrayal pressed down on me.

Was I really that bad. I would have devoted my whole self trying to be a good Luna, but I guess that doesn't matter.

I had thought… I had hoped…

I turned away, the tears I had fought so hard to hold back spilling down my cheeks.

Malik.

I had to see him. I had to make him see reason.

This couldn’t be the end.

The Alpha’s house loomed before me, dark and imposing. I crossed the courtyard, each step slower than the last. My strength was failing, but my will kept me moving.

The front doors were open. I climbed the stairs, the carved wood of the banister cold beneath my fingers.

I found him on the balcony, the wind stirring his dark hair, his broad shoulders tense as he stared out over the pack lands.

I stopped at the threshold, my heart in my throat.

“Malik,” I said, my voice barely more than a breath.

He didn’t move at first. Then he turned, his eyes finding mine in the moonlight.

For a moment, I saw the man I knew the one who had smiled at me, who had promised to stand beside me. But the moment passed. His face hardened, his gaze distant.

“Why?” I asked, my voice trembling. I stepped closer, every part of me aching. “Please, Malik. Tell me why.”

He looked away, his jaw tight. “I did what I had to do. The pack comes first. You know that.”

“I would have been a good Luna,” I said, the tears falling freely now. “I will be strong. I can prove it. Just give me a chance.”

His eyes closed, and for a moment I thought he would yield. But when he opened them again, the distance between us was a chasm.

“You don’t understand,” he said softly. “You never will.”

Footsteps echoed behind him. Evelyn emerged from the shadows, her golden hair shining in the moonlight. Beautiful like I would never be. She slid her arm around Malik’s, her smile as cold as the night.

“Run along, Myra,” she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “Before you embarrass yourself further.”

The final blow.

I fled, the sound of her laughter following me, my heart shattering anew with every step.

The forest swallowed me, the cold air biting at my skin. My strength gave out at last, and I sank to my knees, the earth hard and unyielding beneath me.

The pain inside me was too much to bear. I curled in on myself, the tears silent now, the sobs gone. There was nothing left.

Nothing.

The world blurred. My eyes drifted closed.

And then light soft and silver.

I opened my eyes to see her a figure bathed in moonlight, her hair like threads of silver, her eyes endless pools of night. I knew her immediately.

The Moon Goddess.

She knelt beside me, her touch gentle but powerful.

“The night has stolen much, child,” she said, her voice like the wind through the trees. “But you will not fall. You will rise above this, because you are the true Luna. My chosen one.”

Her image shimmered, fading like mist at dawn.

And I let the darkness take me, the words of the Goddess a faint echo in my mind as sleep claimed me on the cold forest floor.

Myra’s POV

It was very cold.

It seeped into my bones, numbing my fingers, my toes, the very core of me. My eyes fluttered open, but the world was blurry.

The forest canopy above me was a patchwork of dawn’s pale light and dark, tangled branches.

I lay still for a moment, my body too sore and stiff to move. My limbs felt like they belonged to someone else, heavy and useless. My skin prickled where the damp earth clung to me, my dress torn and stained with mud.

I had clung to hope through the long, dark night. Hope that it had been some terrible mistake. That the Moon Goddess’s words had been real that I was chosen, that I had a purpose. That Malik would come, apologize, tell me he was wrong.

But as the light of dawn crept through the trees, that hope died.

This wasn’t a bad dream. This was my reality.

And it was colder than the forest floor beneath me.

I tried to sit up, gasping as pain shot through my ribs. My muscles protested with every movement, but I forced myself upright. My head spun. My vision darkened at the edges.

The Moon Goddess’s voice the promise she had given me felt like a distant memory now, like a dream slipping from my grasp.

Maybe it had been just a dream, and this was the reality.

“You are the true Luna. My chosen one.”

Was she real? Or had my broken mind conjured her in my moment of despair?

A crack of twigs made me freeze.

I heard voices and footsteps.

I turned my head, heart pounding, as two figures stepped into view. Pack warriors.

But they didn’t look relieved to see me. There was no kindness in their eyes. Disdain was the only thing I could discern from them.

I didn't have enough mental capacity to be embarrassed at my situation, I was too tired.

“There she is,” one said, his voice flat.

The other nodded, his expression hard. “You can’t stay out here. The Elders have ordered that you be locked up for now, since this you're useless enough to do this.”

I noticed how callous their words were, they could speak like this to my face meant that I had really sunk low.

I opened my mouth to explain, why I was here, but they didn't give me a chance. One of them just hurled me up forcefully.

Their meaning was clear enough.

I wasn’t a Luna. I wasn’t even a pack member worth protecting. I was a problem to be contained.

The walk back to the pack house felt longer than it should have. Every step jarred my aching body.

The other warriors kept their distance, as if my supposed weakness was something they could catch.

They led me past the Luna’s quarters, past the rooms where I had once been welcome, to a small, windowless chamber. The door creaked as they shoved it open. Inside, it was empty except for a thin blanket in one corner.

“This is where you’ll stay,” one said.

The door shut behind me with a final, echoing thud.

Time passed in a blur.

A healer came once, their expression as cold as the warriors’. He barely looked at me before delivering a diagnosis.

“You’ll live,” he said, as if it was an inconvenience, and left without another word.

Food appeared twice a day through a small hole at the bottom of the door. Bread. Water. No one spoke to me. No one visited.

I lost track of time.

Suddenly

A guard stepped inside, his face unreadable.

“Come,” he ordered.

I hesitated, fear knotting in my stomach. But I followed. What choice did I have?

He led me through a back passage I didn’t recognize. The stone walls were rough, the air cool and stale. We stopped near what looked like an old storage alcove.

“Stay here,” the guard said.

I pressed myself against the shadows. Through a narrow crack in the stone, I could see the courtyard beyond, filled with pack members.

Malik stood before them, tall and proud. His face was carved from stone, his eyes unreadable.

“My pack,” he began, his voice clear, carrying across the crowd. “You all know of the rejection that took place. I acted not for myself, but for you all. For the good of our people. An alpha must make sacrifices for his pack.”

The pack murmured their approval.

“I name Evelyn Ashe as my future Luna,” Malik continued, his voice steady, but hollow. “She has strength, courage, and the blessing of our Elders.”

The cheer that rose from the crowd was deafening. It echoed through the stone, through my bones, through my heart.

Every word was a dagger.

I pressed my hand to my mouth to stifle the sob that rose.

The guard grabbed my arm roughly.

“Luna Evelyn wanted you to witness that,” he hissed, dragging me back the way we’d come.

He shoved me back into the small room, the door slamming shut behind me.

My knees gave way. I crumpled to the floor, bruised, broken, defeated.

I wept until there were no tears left.

That night, voices outside my door roused me from a restless, painful sleep.

“Imagine being stuck guarding this weakling,” one voice sneered.

“Don’t worry,” another replied. “I guarded the last Elders’ council. They’re going to send her away soon. The council’s meeting to decide. She’ll be banished by soon enough”

I gasped

“Good. We don’t need her here.”

“Let's leave, no use standing there not like she can escape.”

Myra's POV

The first rays of dawn pierced the cracks in the stone, and with them came the sound I feared most. Hard footsteps just in front of my door.

They slammed it open.

Heavy boots stormed across the cold floor and before I could even sit up fully, rough hands grabbed my arms.

"Up. The Elders want you."

My legs buckled beneath me. Sleep hadn’t eased the ache, hadn’t dulled the agony inside me. Everything still burned my muscles, my heart, my pride.

I tried to speak, to ask why, but my lips were cracked, my voice caught somewhere in my throat.

They didn’t care. They pulled me along the stone corridors like I was a criminal, not the girl who had once been promised Luna.

The main hall felt like a cavern. Torches flickered against the high ceilings. Five stone chairs stood elevated on the dais, This was the revered Council of Elders.

I was dragged before them and pushed to my knees.

I didn’t look at anyone. I kept my head bowed.

"You fainted and ran off like a coward," Elder Karr spat, his voice sharp as a whip. "You have disgraced yourself and this pack."

"She has no wolf," said Elder Naren, one of the younger ones. "No strength. No shift. How could she ever be Luna? We need power and dignity to lead this pack."

My lip trembled. I tried not to cry, but the sobs broke through, shaking my shoulders.

"Look at her," another muttered, not even hiding his disgust. "Still weak. Still useless."

"And yet," Elder Remi, one of the older women, said coldly, "we remember who her parents were. Heroes of the last war. Beta Orion and his mate, Sunna."

"It is only because of them," Elder Naren added, "that we will not banish you, throw you out to the rogue lands."

"You’re a curse on this pack," Elder Karr snarled. "But we’ll tolerate your presence. For now, only if it is hidden. Forgotten."

I couldn’t lift my head. I couldn’t move. I barely even breathed. They were sentencing me to live like a ghost.

"That is all," Elder Remi concluded. "Take her away."

I dared a glance.

Evelyn stood to the side, arms folded, her smirk gleaming like the moonlight on a blade.

And beside her… Malik.

He didn’t look at me. Not once.

His face was carved from stone, but his eyes were cold like ice. He had once proclaimed love to me and now… now he watched me be discarded.

My soul cracked.

The guards pulled me to my feet again, dragging me down another hallway, away from the main house, away from the Luna quarters, away from the life that had once been mine.

They shoved me into a small room.

A narrow bed. A small cracked mirror. Bare grey walls. The servants’ quarters.

They didn’t say anything as they shut the door. But the message was clear.

I curled into the corner and let the tears fall. Quiet, desperate, endless.

I didn’t know how much time had passed when I heard the door creak again.

It wasn’t a guard this time.

It was Elder Lyra. The only one who hadn’t spoken during the tribunal.

She entered silently, her sharp gray eyes taking in the small space, then settling on me.

She didn’t offer pleasantries. Her first words pierced like a knife.

"You’re pregnant, girl."

I blinked, stunned. I shook my head, confused. "I—what?"

"Your scent. It’s subtle, but I’m not blind. Who is the father?"

My breath stopped.

I remembered.

The night of the full moon, during Malik’s rut. His eyes filled with endless lust… for me. The way he lost control. The way I did, too. The kiss we shouldn’t have shared. The night I gave myself up to a mate that would one day throw me aside like I meant nothing.

I hadn’t known. I hadn’t even suspected. I pressed a hand to my abdomen.

"Malik," I whispered.

Elder Lyra’s expression didn’t change.

"Then the council must know."

But I closed my eyes, the weight of the decision slamming into me. I was pregnant. Oh moon goddess why?

My baby. A child, half mine, half his. Born into a pack that hated me.

What if the child couldn’t shift?

What if they mocked it?

What if they broke it, like they had broken me?

I looked up at Elder Lyra, voice cracking. "Don’t tell anyone. Please. I will. I’ll tell them myself. When I’m ready."

Her gaze lingered on me for a long moment. Then, she nodded once. She left the room without another word.

That night, I couldn’t sleep.

The walls felt like they were closing in, choking me.

I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t bring a child into this hate.

I rose on trembling legs. With no plan, no belongings I left the room. No one stopped me.

No one noticed me slip into the trees.

Thank the goddess for me having a subtle scent and with my knowledge of how the watchers were usually stationed, I was able to slip past the patrol.

The forest was dark. The sky threatened rain. The wind whipped through my torn dress.

I walked until my legs gave out, then I crawled. I didn’t care where I went, only that it was far, far from this wretched pack. I cursed when the rain started.

Rain came in sheets. The ground turned to mud.

Thorns tore my skin. I bled. I shook. My vision blurred.

Then I heard a growl, very close to me. I stiffened, stopping every hint of motion.

I turned slowly. A wild wolf gray and massive stood just feet away, teeth bared.

My heart thundered. It lunged at me.

I stood and with a small scream slicing the air I ran. It caught me in seconds, slamming me into the ground. Its jaws opened above me. Foul smell of its breath made me shudder.

I was going to die.

My baby. My child. I hadn’t even had the chance to see them, I had killed my baby.

I gasped, lungs burning.

Everything went black.