Chapter 1: A Mate Bond Created in Cruelty 

                         ~ IVY ~

I didn't cry, not anymore, not in front of them because that's what they have always wanted. I knelt on the cold floor in the training yard, they made me kneel cause they felt I'm unworthy to be in the training yard with them. I could feel their eyes on my back, whispers and laughter were all over.

  “You're  too small,” one boy said behind me.

  “She doesn't even have a wolf, “ another added.  “ What is she doing here?”

I didn't turn or speak, all I could do was stay down with my weak self. One more bruise wouldn't change anything after all I'm just a dirt of the bloodfang, the only mistake to be born with no wolf, no rank and future.

 “You should’ve been drowned at birth,” someone muttered. I knew that voice, I looked up to confirm if it was Mara and I was right, she is the daughter of the Alpha. She's pretty, strong and mean, she's always the first to throw a stone. Also she's the loudest.

 “You think they’ll let you train beside us?” she sneered, circling me like I was just an object. “You don’t belong here.”  I looked down and said nothing.

  “You can’t even shift, You’re not one of us.” I was still quiet. I moved back when the first kick landed on my Ribs, the pain was sharp and fast, I tried standing up again when another came on my shoulder, side and stomach. I didn't scream nor make a sound not this time 

 “You don’t fight back,” Mara said, disgust in her voice. “Not even worth the pain.” She leaned close, her hand grabbing my hair, pulling my head up.

  “You know why no one stops us?” I stared at her. “Because they want this. They want you gone.” Then she spat in my face. I hit the ground so hard as she let go, I hit my face on a stone and my face was covered in blood. They left laughing and I could hear their footsteps fading, silence returned 

I wiped my face with my sleeve. Blood stained with spit. I pulled myself to my feet slowly, one breath at a time, The yard was empty now, They’d gone back to training.

I staggered toward the edge of the field, I knew where I wanted to go, somewhere quiet. Somewhere no one else ever came. The old den which was already abandoned because it got burnt years ago.

I dropped onto the floor, curled up with my back to the wall, and finally let my chest cave in. I didn’t cry but I shook, the pain was making it hard to breathe, my ribs ached, my shoulder pounded and my heart didn’t even beat right anymore because today wasn’t just another day of being ignored or mocked and being hit. Today was my Seventeenth birthday, The age when most wolves awakened their bond, Their power and shift while i'm still empty and a runt.

I closed my eyes and I heard her voice again, My mother's, she was already dead for years now.

“You’re stronger than you think, Ivy. Even without the wolf.” She lied, If I had any strength, it would’ve shown up by now.

I pressed my forehead to my knees. There was nothing left to hope for, Except maybe death. A quick and quiet one that doesn't hurt this much. I stood up and took some steps forward and I heard a male voice.

 “Thought I’d find you here.” My blood froze.

Killian Wolfe.

The Alpha’s son.

The new Alpha of the Black Moon Pack.

Born from war, Raised to rule.

And now… standing in front of me.

I turned.

He stood with arms folded, dark hair falling into sharp eyes.

 “What do you want?” I asked quietly.

His lip curled, Not with a smile but a warning.

“You.”My heart stopped.

“You’re joking.” He stepped closer.

 “I don’t joke.” I said, I couldn’t breathe.

“The Moon marked us,” he said, voice sharp. “Fated Mates.”

“No, No.” I shook my head. “You’re lying.”

He didn’t move. “Do you feel it?”

I did feel a pull like gravity, I felt my heart beating faster and it's drawn to him. 

But he didn’t smile. He looked disgusted.

“You’re nothing,” he said.

I stepped back.

“I didn’t ask for this,” I whispered.

“Neither did I.” He moved closer, His hand reached out for my wrist, I felt pain but I didn't pull away then he suddenly dropped my hand like it burned him

  “I reject you,” he said. “You’ll never be mine. Not now. Not ever.”

Something inside me cracked,Not my heart but something older.

And then he said, “I won’t claim a mistake.”

He turned and walked away.

I was left standing there like a statue covered in shame, I couldn’t breathe or move. I felt the world spinning, I fell and hit my knees. I screamed out loud not for them but for me, For what broke inside me and would never come back.

 I walked into the square alone, No cloak. No shoes. Just my skin and the bruise on my ribs, still purple from the last fall.

The whole pack was there. Bloodfangs and their guests from Black Moon,Warriors, Betas, Elders. Even pups, pulled by their mothers' hands to the edges of the ring to watch and to witness.

I knew what today was.

The choosing.

Every year, wolves crossed lines, New alliances, New pairings. Fated mates revealed under the Moonstone, the one time the goddess’s pull burned too loud to ignore.

They said it was sacred, I said it was cruel.

I didn’t want to go.

But the summons wasn’t a choice.

I stood at the edge of the stone circle while they whispered.

“That’s her.”

“The Sinclair girl.”

“She’s still wolfless?”

“Seventeen and still nothing?”

“Maybe the Moon finally gave up on her.”

Killian stood at the center of it all. He wore black with no crest or crown

He looked calm. His gaze scanned the crowd like they weren’t worth his time.

Then it landed on me.

And he didn’t blink.

My stomach dropped.

A seer stepped forward. Her eyes were white as bone, voice low and flat as she read the names of new bonds, new pairs stepping forward to claim fate. Cheers followed each name.

Then it was quiet again.

And the stone she held began to glow.

A thread of silver light stretched from her palm to the center of the circle.

Killian stepped forward.

The light turned black.

Gasps and Murmur could be heard from the crowd.

The seer didn’t move.

She turned slowly, her finger lifting and pointing at me

The crowd parted. And I walked barefoot on stone, my chest barely moving, I stopped three steps from him. Killian didn’t smile or blink, he looked at me like I was filth stain on his personality 

The seer spoke. “The Moon has chosen.”

Killian’s voice cut her off. “I refuse.”

The silence became broken and voices were heard.

“Did he say…”

“She’s his mate?”

“He rejected her?”

“Out loud?”

Killian turned slowly facing the crowd, His voice was sharp and final.  “I reject the mate bond.” His eyes burned into mine. “I will never claim her, Not now, Not ever.”

My knees shook.

The Moonstone dimmed.

The seer lowered her hand.

“Let her go,” someone muttered.

“She has no place.”

“She’s not one of us.”

The first rock hit my leg.

I didn’t cry out.

I bit the inside of my cheek, Blood filled my mouth. The second one hit my side, I was in so much pain, the crowd didn’t stop it but also joined in. Someone pushed me forward and I fell hitting a stone, my palms scraped. Killian was watching them all and he didn’t blink

“Take her out,” one warrior said.

“She’s a curse,” another growled.

Someone kicked me in the ribs so hard that air flew from my lungs, they pulled my arms, dragged me through the dirt like trash

“Please…” I whispered but no one listened, They threw me into the mud outside the circle. 

I coughed and was choking, blood dripped from my mouth. And still, I watched him, Killian, he did move, speak or turn away. He just stared at me like I was already dead. My chest screamed, my heart cracked and then I felt something broken inside me like chains cutting off.

And the world changed,The earth trembled. The air was thick, The shadows behind the trees leaned closer, I wasn’t breathing anymore.I was burning and no one saw it, Not even him. I pushed myself to my feet, i left the circle behind and walked into the woods. The pain was so much that I collapsed on the leaves, my fingers grabbed in dirt and I felt something within me, something cold and mine

                 ~ KILLIAN~

She looked at me like I made a mistake in my choice or like the Moon hadn't made a mistake, like fate meant something and I hated it, I hated the way her eyes didn't move when I spoke or when she didn't beg. I hated the quiet way she broke when I said the words. “I reject the mate bond.”  I was expecting her to cry out loud or scream but she did none. The bond should have broken when I said those words but it didn't, it bent and clung to me like a wound that refused to close. 

The crowd didn’t care. They roared, Cheered, Some of them laughed. The runt was rejected.

The Black Moon Alpha had spoken.

And still… I could feel her, every breath, every heartbeat. Even as they dragged her off the stone, Even when her body hit the mud or even when blood painted her mouth and she disappeared into the dark. I turned before anyone saw my face and see a bit of sadness on my face or noticed I didn't celebrate because I didn't win anything. I just killed something I was never supposed to love.

Inside the Alpha's hall, warriors poured wine, betas toasted but none of them dared speak to me. I sat in silence, staring into the flames like they might erase her eyes from my mind.

They didn’t.

“You did the right thing,” Blaine said beside me. I didn’t answer. “She’s nothing,” he added. “Wolfless and Weak. You’re the Black Alpha now. You need a queen who can rule.”

I gripped my glass harder. “She was a mistake,” I said flatly. “You fixed it,”  He said. But I hadn’t because even now, my chest burned. Not from pride but from the bond that would die completely.

“She didn’t shift,” I said. “She didn’t howl. There’s no wolf in her.”

“Exactly.”

“But I felt something,” I said.

Blaine looked over. “What?”

“Right before I said it. Her heartbeat… it didn’t sound weak.”

“She’s just stubborn.”

I shook my head.

“No. There was something else.”

He leaned back, cautious now. “Killian, the council watched you do what they demanded. She’s done. Forget her.” Forget her, As if it were that easy. As if my body hadn’t locked onto her scent the second she stepped into the circle. As if my wolf hadn’t clawed to the surface the moment her eyes met mine. As if part of me didn’t want to undo it.

But I couldn’t, Because an Alpha doesn’t bend for weakness. He breaks it.

And she—

She wasn’t supposed to survive that rejection.

She wasn’t supposed to walk away.

She was supposed to bleed out under the weight of what I’d done or maybe she had but something else had stood up in her place and I felt it, she is still alive somewhere in the dark. I downed the wine and stood, Because the truth I wouldn’t say aloud? Was simple.

I didn’t reject her because she was weak.

I rejected her because something in her scared the hell out of me. I left for my chamber but I couldn't sleep not after what I'd done. 

The rejection should’ve cut the tie. But that night, i can still feel the bond Like it was breathing. I closed my eyes but I kept seeing her. Ivy, on the ground bleeding and still alive. She didn’t die, she was supposed to. The rejection should’ve crushed her. She was wolfless and mean nothing to me, I told myself that again. Louder.

But the scent of her still clung to my skin, And every time I breathed, I felt her somewhere out there in pain and alive.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

I’d followed the council’s word. I did what was expected.

No Alpha binds himself to a runt. Especially not one who never shifted. It would’ve been weakness. A stain on the Black Moon Pack.

She was a stain and so I scrubbed her out.

Did it publicly, Clean, Brutal.

But now

Now I couldn’t sleep because my heart kept twisting like she still had a hold on it. I walked to the window. The snow fell light outside.

I was Killian Wolfe.

Warborn. Alpha.

No one questioned or disobeyed me but she did.

She didn’t cry when I rejected her.

She didn’t beg.

She looked at me like I was nothing.

I turned away from the window and reached for the glass of wine on the table, I downed it in one goal.

The burn in my throat didn’t help.

I gripped the glass harder and it cracked.

I needed to bury her.

 Not her body.

The memory.

I needed her gone, out of my head and blood. I crossed the room, pulled open the door, and stepped out into the cold.

The snow hit me like hard but I don't care, all I want is to get rid of the scent on my skin. I walked fast, past the silent barracks, past the iron fence and down the east trail toward the old war training ground.

No one came here anymore since the previous battles. I stepped into the ring, cracked my knuckles, and dropped into a crouch.

If I couldn’t kill the bond, I’d beat it out of me. I struck the post first. The wood split under my fist, I hit again and again. The pain sharpened and made me focused but still yet her face still came followed by her voice. “I didn’t ask for this.”

Neither did I, all I wanted was power and victory not a mate or a heart. But none of those things stopped her from getting under my skin.

The post cracked in half. I stood there, bleeding, breathing hard, and still feeling her name behind my teeth.

Ivy.

I said it once, out loud, just to see what it did to me.

It hurt.

I walked back through the dark, slower this time. Feeling the cold on my skin as the snow fell.

And when I opened the door to my chambers again, I knew something had changed. Because for the first time in years, I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right choice.