BETRAYED

Moira’s POV

The first thing I felt was the pain.

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

Where was maria?

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 Kaleb 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 Kaleb. I needed to know what had changed between us. Why he had rejected me.

I stood up and took a shaky step.

I stepped into the corridor and the chill of the night. The walls of the pack house seemed to close in, the shadows heavy.

Familiar voices reached me. I froze, pressing myself against a column, hidden by the deep shadows.

I recognised the voices instantly—it was Jennifer and Valentine. 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.”

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

“She should just leave,” Jennifer added. “She 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 didn’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.

Kaleb.

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.

The front doors were open. I climbed the stairs.

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.

“Kaleb,” 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, Kaleb. 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. Rosa emerged from the shadows, her golden hair shining in the moonlight beautiful like I would never be. She slid her arm around Kaleb’s, her smile as cold as the night.

“Run along, Moira,” 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.”