Chapter One

POV: Bella 

"No. I refuse to accept this."

Sage’s voice rang out, sharp and filled with venom, cutting through the thick silence of the ceremony like a blade.

My breath caught in my throat. My body turned rigid, my heart pounding painfully in my chest. No. No, this isn’t happening.

I stared at him, my fated mate, my Alpha, my everything.

And he was looking at me like I was nothing, a piece of trash.

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake," Sage continued coldly, his piercing green eyes locking onto mine with pure disgust. His powerful frame stood tall, imposing, his jaw tight with fury.

 "I reject you, Bella Blackthorn."

The words landed like a physical blow. My knees nearly buckled, but I forced myself to stay upright.

A low murmur spread through the crowd. Gasps. Whispers. Laughter.

This isn’t real.

I tried to breathe, but I felt a crushing weight of humiliation pressed down on me, choking me. The sting of rejection burned through my veins like wildfire.

The pack elder had just announced it—the Moon Goddess had chosen us. And yet, Sage was rejecting fate itself. Rejecting me.

I swallowed hard, my throat raw, my vision blurring. I could hear people snickering, I felt the weight of hundreds of eyes watching, judging.

My mate didn’t want me.

And worst of all? He wasn’t even hesitating.

Sage took a slow step forward, his massive frame towering over me, his voice dropping to something low and menacing.

"I am an Alpha," he said, his tone lethal. "I don’t need a weak, stuttering little omega as my mate. You are beneath me, Bella. You always have been."

The words cut through me like claws.

‘Weak. Stuttering. Beneath him’.

Something inside me cracked.

A lump formed in my throat, hot and bitter, but I refused to let the tears fall. Not here. Not in front of them.

The pack had always seen me as a nobody. A mistake. But I had hoped, prayed, that my mate would see me differently.

But I was wrong.

A slow, mocking clap broke through the tension.

I turned just in time to see Liora step forward, her lips curled into a cruel smile.

"Well, well," Liora drawled, tilting her head in false sympathy. Her long, dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, her silver eyes gleaming with amusement. "How tragic."

A fresh wave of humiliation burned through my chest.

Liora had always been there, Sage’s lover, his plaything, the perfect she-wolf. And now, she was delighted in my destruction.

"Congratulations, Bella," Liora continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You’ve just made history as the most pathetic Luna this pack has ever seen. Oh—wait. You won’t be Luna, will you?"

The pack roared with laughter.

But my breath hitched. Pools of sweat gathering on my head

My hands curled into fists at my sides, nails digging into my palms. I could feel the sting, but I welcomed it. It was better than the crushing ache in my chest.

This was worse than rejection. This was annihilation.

I turned to Sage one last time.

Maybe, just maybe, there was something, some flicker of regret in his gaze. Some hesitation.

There was none.

His expression remained cold. Unyielding. Like I was dirt beneath his feet.

A shuddering breath left my lips.

Fine.

If this was how he wanted to do it, then I would give him what he wanted.

‘Dignity. Control. Strength’.

I lifted her chin. My voice—steady, clear, filled with every ounce of pain I refused to show. It rang across the clearing.

"Then I reject you too, Alpha Sage."

Silence, the crowd went still.

Sage’s eyes snapped to mine, the first flicker of something unreadable passing over his features.

I stepped back, my heart thundering in my chest.

"I reject you, and I reject this pack," I continued, my hands shaking but my voice was firm. "I will never bow to you. Not now. Not ever."

Sage’s jaw clenched, his body tensing.

For a moment, just a moment, it almost looked like he wanted to say something.

But he didn’t.

He just stood there, unmoving, watching me as I turned my back on him.

As I walked away from the only home I had ever known.

The laughter, the whispers, the cruelty, all of it faded as the wind howled around me, carrying my pain into the night.

But I refused to look back.

Because I was done.

With them. With him. With everything.

Later that night, I ran deep into the forest, my breath ragged, my feet aching.

The tears I had held in finally fell, hot and fast, as I collapsed against a tree, pressing a hand to my chest.

It hurt. Gods, it hurt.

My mate, the one person meant for me, had rejected me like I was nothing.

Like I was worthless.

My body trembled, the overwhelming weight of it all pressing down on me until I thought I might suffocate.

"Why?" I whispered, my voice broken. "Why would you do this to me?"

I had been so ready to love him. So ready to be his.

But Alpha Sage Wyatt had never been ready for me.

And now, I would never be enough.

Above me, the sky rumbled, thunder rolling across the heavens like a warning. The wind picked up, whipping through the trees, howling in a way that made the hairs on my arms rise.

Something felt different.

The air around me shifted, thick with something ancient and powerful.

A single bolt of lightning cracked across the sky, splitting the darkness in two.

I gasped, my entire body tensing as a strange, invisible force wrapped around my chest.

For a moment, it felt like something was being ripped from me.

My wolf.

It was gone.

I fell to the ground, gasping for air, my vision swimming.

And in the distance, miles away, I could almost swear I heard Alpha Sage let out a blood curdling howl.