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.

Myra's POV

The wolf's jaws hovered inches from my throat, its teeth bared, eyes burning gold in the darkness.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream. The weight of its massive body crushed me into the forest floor.

This was it.

After everything, this would be how I died, killed by a wild wolf.

I had run from the only home I’d ever known. Betrayed and rejected. Left to rot like discarded prey. And now nature would finish what my pack had started.

I blinked up at the wolf. Its breath blew hot and foul across my face. Its growl vibrated through my ribs, making the pain there pulse and throb.

No, I will not die here, sudden will sparked up in my chest.

Just as the beast lunged, that spark became a flame.

A strange light flared behind my eyes. Silver. And then I heard something in my mind not aloud.

A voice whispering.

"Speak, Chosen. Command."

My lips moved before I understood the words.

"Go. Leave me in peace."

The voice that came out of me wasn’t mine. It was layered, as if I spoke with a hundred echoes behind me. The forest itself seemed to still.

The wolf froze.

Its growl died. Its ears twitched. Its golden eyes widened. Then, slowly, it lowered its head.

And backed away.

I stared in disbelief as it slinked into the shadows, disappearing into the thicket as if it had never been.

Then the pain rushed back.

Everything crashed down again the freezing cold, the ache in my limbs, the burning in my stomach. I rolled onto my side, heaving, coughing up water and bile.

I was alive.

But I wasn’t sure that mattered.

I crawled until I couldn’t anymore.

Lightning flashed above, lighting up the forest like a terrible dream. Every crash of thunder felt like it cracked through my chest.

I found a tree with enough cover to crawl under. Barely. The branches above did little to block the rain, but it was shelter enough.

I curled into myself, wrapping my arms around my belly.

I was shaking. Not from fear this time.

From a fever.

Cramping rocked through me, fierce and relentless. I threw up again, the bitter taste sticking to my tongue. My hands shook as I wiped my mouth.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

To the baby growing inside me. To the life I hadn’t meant to create in this world of cruelty and cold.

"I'm so sorry."

The storm went on for hours. Or maybe minutes. Time was useless. All I knew was the rain, the wind, and the heat under my skin that made me feel like I was burning and freezing at once.

And then the memories came. Until I was delirious with the barrage of them. Malik’s voice as he rejected me.

Evelyn’s laugh in the hall.

The elders’ words.

The sound of my own sobs echoing in a stone cell.

The laughter of children when I failed to shift. When I stood there, on my sixteenth birthday, while everyone else transformed and I... didn’t.

My mother’s gentle hands. My father’s voice calling me brave.

"Why?" I screamed into the storm. Why had everything changed so much.

The wind carried my voice away.

"Why did you choose me? What am I supposed to be without a home, a mate, or a wolf?"

I swore I saw her again.

The Moon Goddess.

Silver light in the trees. A figure standing with eyes full of sorrow.

But she didn’t speak this time.

She only watched and then she was gone. The world slipped away and I let it.

Warmth.

That was the first thing I felt.

Softness under my head. A blanket over my body. The smell of herbs and something cooking.

I opened my eyes.

Wooden walls. Straw on the floor. A small window letting in the golden light of morning. A fire crackled softly in a nearby stove.

I was inside a house, not in the forest. Not dead.

I sat up too quickly. Pain shot through me, but I didn’t care.

Where was I?

A folded cloth dropped from my forehead to my lap. I clutched the edge of the mattress.

The door creaked open.

A tall figure stood in the doorway, a man with broad shoulders, shaggy hair and rough clothes.

Not pack.

A rogue.

And he was staring right at me.