I stared at myself in the tiny mirror nailed to the back of the storeroom door. My dress was plain and slightly loose at the waist, patched at the sleeves and a little frayed near the hem, but I tried to smooth it down like that would change anything. My fingers were shaking and my breath kept coming too fast.

This was it.

The day the Moon chose.

The day Kael said everything would change.

I touched the spot over my heart, where the warmth of our bond had first sparked the night he held me like I was his universe. I still felt it, like a thread tied between us, thrumming faintly under my skin.

“Don’t embarrass the pack,” one of the older omegas hissed as she walked past me, with arms full of linens.

“Keep your head down. Don’t stare too long. No one wants to see the help fawning.”

I didn’t answer. I just turned away and exhaled, slow and trembling.

Outside, the ceremony drums began to echo.

The halls shimmered with golden candlelight, flower garlands hung from archways, and the scent of pine and fresh herbs filled the air. Wolves filled the great room in elegant clothes, velvets and satins, embroidered sleeves and glittering brooches. Laughter rose from every corner. Well not mine, of course.

“Look at her,” one girl near the food table sneered. “She actually dressed up.”

“She probably thinks she’ll be chosen,” another said with a giggle. “Imagine that. An omega Luna.”

“I heard she’s been sniffing around Kael,” the first whispered louder, on purpose.

I kept on walking, ignoring them and the heat rising to my cheeks.

“I bet she doesn’t even know how bonds work,” someone behind me muttered. “She probably thinks moonlight alone can make a prince fall in love.”

I reached the back corner of the room, trying to steady my breath. But the voices still circled.

“Maybe she’s cursed,” a third voice added. “That would explain everything.”

Kael was already at the altar, tall, regal and dressed in deep forest green with intricate gold stitching climbing his sleeves like roots. His hair was pushed back from his face, sharp and unreadable. The Alpha’s son. The warrior prince.

And mine.

Or so I thought.

He didn’t look at me as the High Priestess stepped forward. Her voice cut cleanly through the crowd.

“Tonight, the Moon shines full. Tonight, she binds soul to soul, mate to mate. Let her light choose the bond that shall lead this pack.”

My chest tightened.

I stared at Kael, willing him to meet my gaze. Begging for that one moment with him, to assure me, to comfort me. But he didn’t look.

The crowd hushed.

Moonlight poured in through the skylight above the altar. The light narrowed to a single beam, then it widened and spread, catching Kael first.

He stiffened.

Then it touched me.

Warmth bloomed under my skin, like a shiver crawling up my spine and my breath caught in my throat.

A flicker of golden light arced through the air.

Gasps broke out around me.

The bond snapped into place, magic crackling like thunder, unmistakable, ancient and divine. Every soul in that hall felt it.

The Moon had chosen.

Me.

I took a step forward, tears prickling behind my eyes, my heart expanding with a feeling close to relief…it is joy. Kael was mine, just like he said.

My lips parted as I raised my hand, moving through the stunned crowd, closer and closer to him…

“Kael,” I said.

His head finally turned.

But the eyes that met mine weren’t warm and loving, they were cold, sharp and empty?.

He moved not to reach for me.

To strike.

His hand closed around my throat, swift and ruthless, and he lifted me off the floor like I weighed nothing.

My feet kicked once before he flung me sideways.

I hit the marble hard, the sound of it ringing louder in my head than the screams.

Silence swallowed the room.

Then whispers started, low and fast, horrified, confused, and thrilled.

“Why would he?”

“She’s just an omega”

“It must be a mistake”

“Why would he do that, even if it was a mistake”

“That's cruel, even for an omega”.

Kael turned his back on me and walked toward Astra.

She stood at the edge of the altar, with her hands folded like royalty, a soft smirk tugging her lips. She didn’t look surprised, not one bit.

Kael reached her and took her hand.

“I choose Astra,” he said.

The room froze.

“She is the one I love. The one I want at my side and anyone who questions that,” He paused, gaze sweeping the crowd, “Is free to challenge me… and die.”

Murmurs died instantly.

“But the bond…” someone dared to mutter.

Kael turned back to me, where I still lay on the floor, with ragged breath and blurred vision.

“The bond was an accident,” he said.

His voice sounded like ice cracking over a frozen lake.

Then, the final blow:

“I, Kael Thorn, reject you, Eva Morrow, as my mate.”

The words slammed into me with a force I didn’t know existed. Pain ripped through me like a blade tearing through every nerve, my chest caved and a scream tore free from my throat, raw and wild, echoing through the hall.

I curled into myself, my fingers clawing at the floor, trying to hold onto something, anything.

The bond shattered and so did I.

Laughter rose around me, snickering and mocking. A voice near the front said, “She actually believed he’d pick her.”

Someone else laughed, “Poor thing thought a prince would ever love a rat.”

“She’s pathetic,” Astra’s voice rang out suddenly, sweet as poison. “I almost feel bad… almost.”

I couldn’t move.

But I wouldn’t cry.

I wouldn’t give them that.

I pushed myself up on trembling arms. Every bone in my body screamed, but I stood. One step. Another. My knees barely held. My eyes stared ahead, unblinking.

Someone near the back whispered, “She’s still standing?”

“She should be unconscious,” another murmured.

“Maybe she really is cursed.”

I walked out of the hall in silence, past the roaring crowd that cheered their new Luna, past the banners and the gold and the music.

The doors shut behind me.

And as soon as I hit the open air, the cold struck my chest and I dropped to my knees. A wave of nausea hit me and I threw up immediately, but when I looked down it was…”Blood”.