For five years, I wore a mating band that never bound me beneath the moon.

There was no Moon Rite. No silver altar dusted with nightbloom petals. No packs gathered in ceremonial rows. No vows spoken beneath the blessing of the Full Moon. Only a thin iron ring and a private contract Thorne, the Alpha of Ridgefern Territory, claimed was enough.

We never once stood inside a Moon Hall. Each time I asked, he said we would “complete the bond later,” that formal recognition could wait until the borders were stable and the council stopped pressing him. Later never came.

I remembered it clearly—just a week ago.

I was folding his tunics in our shared chamber, smoothing the creases from fabric scented with frost and iron, when I finally found the courage to speak.

“Thorne,” I said softly, keeping my voice steady, “the fifth moon cycle since our bond is coming. Maybe… maybe we could hold the Rite this time? Properly. Just the two of us, even.”

He didn’t look away from the reports glowing beneath his claw-marked fingers.

“Why?” he said flatly. “We’re already bound. Ceremonies are for wolves who crave attention.”

“You promised we would,” I murmured. “You said once the territory wasn’t so strained—”

His fingers stilled.

“And now you’re whining,” he cut in coldly. “Enough, Rayna. We don’t waste silver and moonfire on pointless rituals.”

As always, I swallowed my words.

I let the silence stretch. I pushed the ache down where it wouldn’t trouble him.

But today—today was different.

Today marked five years since the night I believed I became his Luna. Thorne said he couldn’t mark the date. Border disputes. Council summons. Too much pressure. Not even an hour to spare.

I didn’t argue. I never did.

I told myself it wasn’t about recognition. That it wasn’t about standing beneath the moon while the pack acknowledged me.

I decided I would prepare his favorite meal instead. Light moonlamps. Burn calming herbs. Wait for him.

It wasn’t grand, but it was something. My quiet way of honoring a bond no one else had witnessed.

So I went to the market at dawn.

I moved slowly through the stalls carved from old stone, choosing herbs and meat with care, checking each cut twice. I even bought a bundle of white moon-lilies—the kind he once said reminded him of peace, back when he still visited my old den.

I held them close as I walked home, embarrassed by the small, fragile hope blooming in my chest.

I was only a street away from the Council Hall when I felt it.

A sharp pull in my core. A warning, instinctive and wrong.

I hadn’t planned to look. I had no reason to stop.

But my steps slowed anyway.

And then I saw them.

Thorne.

And Rionna.

My sister—who had vanished five years ago, abandoning her pack bond without a trace.

They emerged from the Council Hall together, her arm looped through his, their auras brushing easily, familiarly.

I froze.

The satchels slipped in my hands. The moon-lilies nearly fell.

Rionna held a parchment stamped with glowing silver runes.

A completed mate registration.

My stomach turned to ice.

Her voice drifted toward me, uncertain. “Are you sure this is allowed?” she asked him. “What about Rayna? She’s still bonded to you, isn’t she?”

Thorne didn’t hesitate.

“I don’t care about her,” he said. “That wasn’t a true bond. I never brought her before the Council for a reason. This—” he gestured to the parchment “—this is real. Now that you’re back, I’ll deal with her soon.”

The world rang in my ears.

Rionna’s voice trembled. “You still want me? Even after I fled? I thought you’d hate me. I was terrified back then.”

He turned to her with a softness I had once mistaken as love.

“It was always you,” he said. “You weren’t ready before. That’s all. Now you are.”

He bent and kissed her.

My breath lodged painfully in my throat.

She pulled back slightly. “And my sister… did you ever care for her at all?”

He laughed under his breath.

“Never,” he said. “She was convenient. She looks like you. She kept the den warm. That was her use.”

Something inside me cracked.

Five years ago, that Moon Rite was meant for them.

Rionna and Thorne.

The packs had gathered. The altar was prepared. The moon was full.

But then she disappeared.

No message. No explanation.

Gone.

Thorne had shattered that night. I found him drunk in a border tavern, shaking, staring into nothing.

I sat beside him.

I listened.

I stayed.

When he cried, I didn’t move away.

When he leaned close, I didn’t stop him.

And when he kissed me, I let it happen.

A week later, he asked me to become his mate.

I said yes.

I thought I was saving him.

I thought I was choosing love.

I thought I mattered.

But standing there, hidden behind the stone pillar of the Council Hall, I finally understood.

Every touch.

Every whispered promise.

Every claim of love.

They were echoes. Borrowed. Never mine.

Then more voices joined them.

Arion. And Axton. My elder brothers.

“You already sealed the bond?” Arion said approvingly. “Fast work.”

Axton laughed. “What about the public Rite? We should move Rayna out first. She’ll cause trouble if she finds out. Maybe exile her to a border pack.”

My hand clenched against the stone wall until my skin split.

Arion added lightly, “Best to deal with her soon. She’s unstable.”

They laughed.

All of them.

The same brothers who once cursed Rionna for running. The same ones who swore to protect me.

Now they were laughing about erasing me.

A strange numbness settled over me.

I wasn’t just unwanted.

I was a substitute. A mistake.

I turned away.

My feet carried me forward without thought.

I ran. Past the gates. Past the market. Past the ringing in my ears.

My lungs burned. My vision blurred. The world narrowed to motion and noise.

I heard nothing clearly. Except… a horn. The screech of brakes. And then…

Impact.

The world collapsed inward.

And everything went black.

Pain was the first thing that greeted me when my eyes finally opened.

It seeped through my body like slow-burning moonfire—my arms aching dully, my leg screaming with sharp, vicious intensity. I tried to sit up on instinct, but a firm yet gentle hand pressed me back down.

“Easy,” a healer said, her voice calm and practiced. “You were caught in a collision near the eastern road. Your ankle is fractured, and the rest are minor wounds. Your wolf hasn’t recovered yet. Don’t move.”

A collision.

The word echoed hollowly.

And then everything rushed back—Thorne. Rionna. The glowing council parchment in her hands. My brothers laughing. The way my heart felt like it had been torn open. Running. The blare of a warning horn. White light.

The carriage.

I swallowed hard. “How long… have I been here?”

“Nearly a full day,” she replied, checking the rune-lit crystal beside my bed. Then she slowed, her expression softening. “There’s something else you need to know.”

My pulse spiked. “What is it?”

She paused only briefly. “You were carrying a pup. Just over two months along. I’m sorry—the impact severed the moon thread.”

The words didn’t register at first.

I stared at her. “A pup…?”

She nodded and gently squeezed my fingers.

“I didn’t know,” I whispered. “I really didn’t…”

My mind went eerily still, while something inside my chest shattered completely. In one night, I had lost everything I never even knew I had.

“Would you like me to summon someone from your pack?” the healer asked softly.

My thoughts drifted to Thorne—the Alpha who had claimed me in name only. Then to Arion and Axton, the brothers who once swore blood-oaths to protect me, who now laughed about discarding me.

But I couldn’t bear the emptiness.

“I… need my communicator,” I said hoarsely.

She placed it in my hand. The first name I called was Thorne’s.

No answer.

I tried again.

“The bond you seek is unreachable.”

Again.

Nothing.

The tears came fast and unbidden. He wasn’t coming. None of them were. Rionna had returned—and I had already been erased.

Later, the healer returned and placed a small basket on the table.

“Someone left this for you,” she said quietly. “Food, moon-lilies. He said he was a healer… the one who brought you in.”

I frowned. “A healer?”

She nodded. “He didn’t give his name. Just told me to make sure you rested.”

After she left, I stared at the basket. The scent of food turned my stomach. I pushed it aside and picked up my communicator, opening the pack network feed—desperate for anything. Guilt. Concern. Proof I still mattered.

That was when I saw it.

Images.

Recordings.

Arion. Axton. Thorne. Rionna.

Laughing beneath enchanted lights. Holding sugarfruit and festival bread. Standing before Silvercrest Palace like a perfect family unit.

The caption read:

“First outing as a true Alpha family. Long overdue.”

My chest locked painfully.

True family?

Then what had I been?

I cried until my vision burned, until my throat ached, until there was nothing left inside me but hollow exhaustion.

By morning, my communicator buzzed. It was Thorne.

I stared at the name before answering.

“Rayna!” His voice sounded sharp, almost frantic. “Why didn’t you say you were in the infirmary? Why didn’t you contact us properly?!”

Us, he said?

Before I could reply, the door opened.

Thorne entered, with Arion and Axton close behind, all three wearing carefully measured expressions of concern.

“We rushed over as soon as we heard,” Axton said, adjusting my pillow as if he’d always been there.

“I only noticed your missed call late last night,” Thorne added. “You should’ve kept trying.”

I looked at them quietly. “Where were you?”

“Council matters,” Thorne answered too quickly. “You know how it is.”

No, I don’t.

Because it was our bond anniversary.

Because you claimed my sister.

Because you replaced me without hesitation.

But I stayed silent.

“I’m here now,” he said more gently, brushing my hair back. “I won’t leave.”

I turned my face away. “I need the washroom.”

“You can’t walk,” he said at once. “I’ll carry you.”

He lifted me carefully, and for one dangerous moment, it felt like the past—like the Alpha I once loved hadn’t vanished.

Then the illusion broke.

Arion burst through the door.

“Thorne! Hurry!” he shouted. “Rionna collapsed!”

Thorne froze.

“What?”

“She fainted,” Arion repeated urgently.

And just like that, Thorne’s arms slackened.

He let go.

I fell hard onto the stone floor, my back slamming down, my injured ankle screaming in agony. But he didn’t look back. Not even once.

He ran out, already calling Rionna’s name.

Then what about me?

I curled inward, shaking, humiliated, shattered—until a different pair of arms carefully lifted me up.

I blinked through my tears and looked up.

Dark hair. Warm brown eyes.

“Ardyn…?” My voice barely carried.

The healer I once knew.

Ardyn Valemont.

The one who once stayed. The one who disappeared without explanation.

A faint smile touched his lips.

“Still finding ways to get hurt?” he murmured.

I couldn’t speak.

He brushed a loose strand of hair from my face.

Then, softly, sincerely, he said—

“Rayna… do you want to disappear with me?”

I stayed at the infirmary far longer than I expected.

Part of it was the fractured ankle, which pulsed with pain no matter how still I lay. But the real reason was quieter, heavier—there was no one waiting to bring me back to the pack estate.

No one, except Ardyn.

Ardyn, who had once shared lecture halls with me at the Academy.

Ardyn, who had confessed his feelings years ago and stepped back without resentment when I told him my heart already belonged to another. To Thorne.

And now, somehow, he was the one sitting beside my bed when the nights stretched too long. He brought meals gentle enough for my weakened body. He stayed silent when I cried, never asking questions, never demanding answers. He appeared without making me feel indebted.

The morning the healers finally cleared me to leave, he wheeled me into the small moon garden behind the infirmary. Sunlight filtered through silverleaf trees, warm and calm. We sat in silence, listening to the wind brush the branches.

“I meant what I said before,” Ardyn spoke at last, watching me carefully. “You don’t have to return to Ridgefern Territory. If you want to leave… I’ll help you build a new life.”

I lowered my gaze to my hands.

They looked thinner. Slightly unsteady. Like hands that had clung too long and were finally letting go.

“Give me five days,” I said quietly. “There are things I need to settle. After that… if you’re still willing, I’ll go with you.”

His smile was soft, edged with something sad. “I won’t move an inch.”

***

By the time I reached the estate, the sun was already high.

Everything felt cruelly ordinary—wolves passing through the streets, guards changing shifts, neighbors tending courtyards—while something inside my chest twisted tight.

The cane tapped softly against the stone path as I limped toward the door. Each step reminded me how broken I still was.

Choosing Ardyn felt like stepping into the unknown.

But staying in a place where no one saw me felt worse.

I opened the door. Laughter greeted me.

I froze.

They were all there—Thorne, Arion, Axton… and Rionna. Sitting comfortably in the main hall, drinks in hand, like nothing had ever shattered. Rionna leaned easily against Thorne’s shoulder, her body angled toward his.

My mate.

My sister.

My brothers.

Together. Relaxed.

Their expressions shifted the moment they saw me.

“Oh,” Thorne said blankly. “Right… you’re back. How are you feeling?”

He had forgotten.

The urge to laugh rose sharp and bitter in my throat. None of them had visited me. Not once.

Before I could speak, Rionna stood, moving toward me with a gentle, practiced smile.

“Ray,” she said sweetly. “I missed you. I’m sorry we didn’t come—I've been unwell. But I’m better now. What about you? Are you alright?”

I stepped back instinctively, my skin crawling.

“No,” I said flatly. “I’m not.”

Her smile faltered as she reached for me. “Rayna—”

I knocked her hand away.

“Don’t touch me.”

Axton stood immediately. “What’s wrong with you?” he snapped. “You know she’s fragile right now.”

Arion joined him. “She’s suffering. You don’t get to act like this.”

My voice cut through the room. “I was in the infirmary. I was hit by a carriage.”

Thorne exhaled sharply, irritated. “That was your fault,” he said. “You ran into the road. But Rionna—she’s ill. She’s not like you.”

“I’m still her sister,” Rionna said softly, eyes shimmering. “We’re both hurting. We should support each other.”

I shook my head. “I was hurting too. None of you came. I lost my pup and—”

Rionna suddenly swayed, clutching her abdomen.

Axton rushed forward. “She’s sick again.”

They moved instantly.

Thorne caught her. Arion fetched cloths. Axton murmured softly, holding her as if she might break.

And I stood there.

Unseen. Unheard. Invisible.

No one acknowledged what I’d said. I considered screaming it—forcing them to listen. But exhaustion settled into my bones.

I was fighting for space in a den that had never saved a place for me.

So I turned away.

I walked slowly toward the bedroom.

When I opened the door, my breath stopped.

Everything that belonged to me was gone.

My clothes. My keepsakes. My framed memories.

All replaced.

Rionna’s scent filled the room. Her cosmetics on the dresser. Her gowns hanging neatly by the mirror.

My hands trembled so badly I nearly dropped the cane.

I stepped back—and she was there.

Rionna.

Smiling. Not the fragile mask she wore for others. This smile was sharp. Satisfied.

“I really tried to be kind,” she said lazily. “But kindness never gave me anything. While I was gone, you took my life. My position. My mate. Even my brothers.”

She moved closer.

“I’m only reclaiming what was always mine. I should’ve done it five years ago.”

Her eyes were cold.

Then she added lightly, “I’ll give you a few days to leave. I’m not cruel. It wouldn’t look good if you ended up on the streets.”

I stared at her. My voice was quiet. “Are you truly ill?”

Her eyes snapped. “What do you think?”

But memories surfaced—fake collapses, invented pain, tears used like weapons.

“You think I’m pretending?” she raised her voice, loud enough to carry.

I didn’t answer. I didn’t need to.

Footsteps rushed down the hall. Arion and Axton appeared.

“She’s doing it again,” Rionna sobbed instantly. “She keeps saying I’m lying.”

Axton’s gaze hardened. “You’ve always been venomous,” he said. “No one ever liked you growing up. This is why.”

Arion stepped forward.

He grabbed the chain around my neck and tore it free—the pack pendant he’d given me years ago, swearing it meant loyalty.

“You don’t deserve this anymore,” he said coldly.

I didn’t resist.

I didn’t cry.

I just stood there, empty.

One by one, they left.

I lowered myself to the floor, my ankle burning, my side aching. I stayed silent. Because in a few days, I would be gone.

And when they finally understood what they had done…

It would already be too late.