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Chapter 1 — The Mating Ceremony
Aria
“Do you, Alpha Lucian Kael Blackthorne, take Lady Aria Valen Greyborne as your chosen mate, to walk beside her through all trials, and honor the bond blessed by the Moon Goddess?”
The hall fell silent. Every eye was on Lucian. He opened his mouth… and then the doors burst open.
“Help! Miss Selene just fainted in her apartment! She’s not breathing!”
Lucian’s expression changed instantly, his hands trembling for the briefest second before he roared.
“Selene?! What happened to my Selene? Call the healers! Call the ambulance! Nothing must happen to her!”
The maid who had delivered the news stumbled forward, her voice shaking.
“Alpha… Miss Selene warned me not to inform you. She said she doesn’t want to ruin her sister’s mating ceremony…”
Lucian’s eyes darkened. Anger and disbelief flashed across his features.
“Selene would hate knowing she caused trouble,” Lucian murmured, his expression softening. “She’s always been so sensible, so thoughtful… I can’t just stay here while she needs me.”
Without waiting another second, he turned to the elders.
“The mating ceremony is canceled.”
I stood beside him, suddenly stiff.
On the outside, I looked calm, but my heart felt as if someone had carved it open.
Lucian brushed past me as if I were invisible and rushed toward the exit.
“Lucian,” I yelled, instinctively reaching for him.
He kept walking, pushing the guards on the way.
“Lucian Kael Blackthorne.”
He stopped finally but didn’t turn, only long enough to say:
“Aria, please, I don’t have the energy for a conversation right now. I need to get to Selene; she’s in danger.”
I stepped forward, forcing him to look at me.
“And if I don’t want you to leave?”
“This is our mating ceremony,” I continued, staring at him without flinching. “If she fainted, she should call the healers… the pack physicians. Why you?”
Besides, Selene had no medical condition.
Why did this have to happen on our mating ceremony day?
Lucian frowned. “Aria, it’s not the right time for you to be jealous This is urgent!”
My lips curved into a cold, humorless smile.
“Urgent? Today is supposed to be all about me. Are you standing here with me… or running after her? Tell me, Lucian, who is the mate you really want to marry?”
What annoyed me was the fact that no one could see through Selene’s antics.
She is extremely good at disguising herself. She always plots to ruin my happiness, and my family always chooses to believe her. As a result, I have become the most hated one in the whole pack.
They treated me coldly, favoring Selene at every turn as if I were the intruder in my own life.
My father, Alpha Roderick Greyborne, stepped forward, his voice deep and irritated.
“Aria, enough. Selene is your sister. Show some concern. She could be dying, and here you are, making it about yourself.”
“She is not my sister,” I answered calmly.
My words struck the room and shattered it like glass.
My brothers rushed over.
Damon scolded, “Aria! Have you lost your mind? Your jealousy is embarrassing! Selene has done nothing but be good to you! Why must you pick a fight every time she’s involved?”
“Good?” My lips curved in an icy smile.
“She replaced me in this family.”
Five years ago, on the night I was meant to awaken my wolf at eighteen, the pack was raided by the Bloodcrown rogues.
I was kidnapped, dragged to rival territory, and disappeared without a trace.
My family did search for me in the beginning. For a full year, every guard and scout was sent out to look. Then, just as suddenly, the search stopped. No explanations. No more hope.
I only understood why when I returned.
They had a new daughter.
A maid claimed she’d witnessed a baby swap years ago and brought home a girl they insisted was the true Greyborne heir. Compared to Selene’s supposed eighteen years away, my four years in Bloodcrown hands meant nothing.
The midwife who raised me was taken away before she could defend herself. Selene was embraced instantly.
And I was quietly replaced.
When I finally came home, they didn’t celebrate. They didn’t even look relieved. They simply reminded me they had already held my funeral.
No one cared to ask what I had endured in the rogue pack all those years.
No one noticed the changes or the coldness in my eyes.
They preferred Selene, a girl they had known for only four years, over the daughter they had raised for eighteen.
To the Crescent Moon Pack, traditions and powers mattered more than love or loyalty.
I had become nothing but a tool, and Selene was treated as the true heiress.
Even when they tried to strip me of my powers, performing painful rituals to transfer them to Selene, I bore it all in silence.
After I returned, even Lucian, the wolf who grew up beside me, the one I’d once been promised to, let his heart tilt toward Selene.
Everyone saw it. I saw it.
But the mating seremony made me think he finally chose me. After everything was taken away by Selene, I was left with him alone.
At this moment, I realized I was wrong. Here, I had nothing left.
Yet for reasons I still can’t understand, he chose to make me his official mate. I agreed, not out of hope, but because refusing would have cost me what little position I had left in this pack.
“How dare you! You insolent girl! My daughter is suffering right now, and here you are making a scene!”
Luna Catherine’s voice cracked as she swung her hand across my cheek.
I caught the movement, my lips curling into a cold, humorless smile.
I had expected this.
Funny how quickly a mother can turn. Since Selene appeared, Luna Catherine has treated me like an intruder who stole Selene’s place. Sometimes I wonder myself. In her eyes, every hardship Selene faced was somehow my fault—as if I’d lived the life meant for their “real” daughter.
Lucian’s jaw tightened, impatience flashing in his eyes.
“I’m not in the mood for your tantrums, Aria… Selene is…”
“Whether Selene lives or dies is none of my concern! After all, I was dead in your eyes for four years, and not a single soul noticed!”
My brother Rowan’s voice cut in, sharp and accusing.
“No wonder the rogues took you that night, Aria. You’ve always been… so cruel!”
I stepped closer, my eyes flashing with anger.
“Mark my words: if you walk through that door thinking this is your chance with her, I’ll break the bond.”
For some reason, I was calm. Anyone in my shoes would be tense, but not today.
I would not allow Selene to have the upper hand like she had all these years.
“Why are you acting like a child? This is just a mating ceremony. It’s someone’s life we are talking about here! The ambulance just arrived! We need to hurry!” someone shouted from the crowd.
At that moment, Keira my best friend burst through the crowd, looking on the verge of shifting from anger. Red Claw Alpha’s daughter, she had the freedom to speak her mind, and the only one who never hesitated to stand with me.
“I have an honest question for you, Lucian: how did you even become an Alpha when you’re nothing but a puppet in Selene’s hands?”
Keira knew how much this wedding meant to me and had been the only one there for me when everyone else abandoned me.
“Watch your words, Keira! Or else…” Lucian yelled, clenching his fists.
“Or else what? You’re going to hit me like you do Aria, just to please your precious Selene? If Selene fainted, so what? Does she faint every time you’re near Aria, or every time she needs attention?”
“Keira,” Luna Catherine warned, “stay out of the family…”
“No!” Keira shouted. “All of you are acting as if you have lost your minds since the day Selene walked in with that ridiculous baby-swap story!”
Gasps filled the room as Lucian’s eyes darkened.
“Watch your mouth.”
“Oh, please,” Keira growled. “Selene says she’s dizzy, and the whole pack panics. But Aria gets kidnapped, tortured, missing for years, and none of you even flinched!”
I took a breath, my expression unreadable.
“If you leave now, Lucian,” I said softly, straightening my spine, “we’re done.”
Silence engulfed the hall.
Lucian turned back to me, panic rising.
“Aria, don’t say things you’ll regret. Let me just see Selene. We’ll talk once I return.”
He walked away without looking back.
The entire Greyborne family rushed after him, as if Selene, the girl who arrived with a lie, was the one born of their blood.
I remained exactly where I stood, watching the crowd whisper and judge me.
I knew nothing would ever make a difference, even if I tried.
So I knew this was the end.
Chapter 2 — Rogues Attack
Aria
The moment my supposed family and mate left me standing alone in the hall, the whispers began.
First soft… then loud. Loud enough that they didn’t even bother hiding it.
“So Aria is still forcing herself on the Alpha?”
“Desperate girls always embarrass themselves. The man doesn’t even love her.”
“Exactly. Everyone knows Selene is the one he wants. Aria is just… in the way.”
“Honestly, she shouldn’t even be here. She’s not their real daughter.”
“Her parents are taking a huge risk keeping her in this pack. Who knows what kind of rogue blood she came back with?”
“Right? Disappears for years, returns suddenly, and now she wants to be Luna? She should be grateful they even let her stand beside him.”
Dozens of eyes turned to me, waiting for a reaction. But I didn’t move.
I kept my expression blank, as if their words didn’t have enough weight to reach me.
Keira, beside me, clenched her fists.
“Aria… just ignore them, okay?”
She was genuinely worried. She always was whenever people attacked me.
I opened my mouth to say I didn’t care but my phone buzzed. A message from Selene.
> “I won…”
A small disdainfully laugh escaped me.
If Selene wanted scraps, she could have them. I was done with Lucian, she could keep him.
This mating alliance was never born out of love. It was politics — Crescent Moon and Nightshade tightening ties. I would never cling to a bond already rotting.
Without giving myself time to think, I reached up and removed the Luna crown from my head.
For the first time tonight, I looked at it. It was made from pure silver and rare moonstone diamonds.
My fingers tightened and then I slammed it against the marble floor.
CRACK!
Gasps filled the hall instantly as phones came up and cameras flashed in my direction.
“Oh my God, that crown is worth millions!”
“She’s insane! Alpha Lucian will lock her away for this!”
“She’s an impostor, so ungrateful!”
Keira grabbed my arm, voice trembling.
“Aria… what are you doing?”
“Ending a mistake,” I said simply.
Then I turned and walked out, leaving the shattered crown behind.
I walked straight to the Nightshade Royal Infirmary, the air was thick with wolfsbane, herbs, and soothing portions.
Selene lay on a healer’s cot, looking fragile and perfectly pitiful.
“Lucian,” she whispered weakly, “I’m sorry… you should go back. It’s your mating ceremony…”
Lucian shook his head, gentle as always with her. “Just rest. You’re what matters.”
Catherine fussed over her as if Selene were glass. “Spiritual shock… poor girl. Always thinking of others.”
“There’s… something I need to tell you all.”
Her voice wavered. “I’m… pregnant. That’s why I fainted.”
Everywhere fell silent immediately. Even her brothers froze, exchanging uneasy looks.
Selene lifted her chin, tears shimmering.
“I… I’ll terminate it.”
Lucian’s voice cut through the room like steel.
“You will never terminate my heir.”
More looks were exchanged as the atmosphere shifted.
Then, Luna Catherine spoke with a cold, shallow smile.
“Aria isn’t my biological child, so I don't care what happens to her. This is what we’ll do: we keep the child a secret, take what we want from her… and eliminate her when the time comes.”
I saw Selene bowing her head, a slight curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.
She wanted the Luna title before her twenty-fifth birthday.
And she didn’t care who got hurt.
I walked away quietly not wanting them to notice my presence or the fact that I heard of their precious pup on the way.
But little did I know that Selene still had another “unpleasant event” ready for me. It arrived the moment I stepped past the pack-house gates.
“Aria, wait…”
A broken howl cut Keira off.
Not fully wolf. Not human. It sounded twisted.
Mist slid across the clearing, curling between the trees. My wolf stiffened.
Two half-shifted wolves stumbled out, their eyes glowing with sickly violet light. Their movements were jerky and tortured.
They were spirit-bound. Hexed. Sent.
Keira whispered, “Someone did this on purpose.”
They lunged fast—too fast for any ordinary wolf—but instinct surged through me like lightning. I moved before thought could catch up, disarming one, grounding the second, and breaking the third’s momentum. All three hit the earth before the curse had a chance to spread.
When the mist cleared, the wolves trembled violently. One rasped, “She… told us… hurt the older Greyborne girl…”
The other one said “ she promised to give us….” Then he began to cough.
“Selene,” he choked out before collapsing.
That was all I needed.
I snapped photos of the curse marks. “Call the Enforcers,” I told Keira. “Someone used forbidden magic.”
She nodded, dialing.
I turned toward the pack house, my voice like ice.
“So much for delicate Princess Selene.”
If she wanted a war — she had just declared it.
****
The next day, I returned to the Greyborne estate alone.
Inside the main hall, Selene sat surrounded by my family, milking her “injury” for every drop of sympathy.
My lips curved into a slow, mocking smile.
Of course she had planned the attack.
Selene sensed me. Her eyes met mine, and she gave me a tiny smile, and I knew exactly what she meant.
A piece of me shifted out of alignment—quiet, final. Like a door I never noticed closing for good.
I walked toward her, my wolf restless beneath my skin.
Selene shrank back just a little. Not in fear but calculation.
“Aria… why are you looking at me like that?” she whispered, trembling for her audience.
I didn’t hit her.
Instead, I reached out and grabbed the pendant at her throat, the moon-shaped charm she never removed and yanked.
The chain snapped.
It hit the marble floor with a sharp clatter.
Every wolf froze.
In our world, ripping a personal talisman wasn’t small.
It was a threat. A declaration. A line crossed.
“Aria!” Catherine screamed. “Have you lost your mind?!”
“Step away from Selene,” My Father boomed.
I didn’t move.
I turned just enough to meet his eyes — and something in mine made him hesitate.
Damon stepped forward. “Aria, what’s wrong with you?!”
I didn’t bother answering.
I let my wolf flare, just a flicker, enough to crack the air around us.
Damon recoiled. Rowan fell silent.
Good.
I crouched and picked up the pendant. The metal was warm, too warm still humming with dark magic.
Selene reached for it. “Give it back…”
“Stop acting,” I said.
She froze mid-reach. My mum reminding me she's my sister.
“She’s not my sister,” I added, rising to my feet.
Gasps swept the room.
Selene’s tears flowed, so perfectly timed.
But her eyes… her eyes betrayed her.
“You know exactly why I’m here,” I said.
Her breath stuttered. “Aria… I never wanted to fight with you. I was so worried last night…”
I stepped closer, forcing her to look directly at me.
My voice dropped to a razor’s edge.
“Selene,” I murmured, “you know exactly why.”
The pendant pulsed again in my hand.
“The hexed rogues you hired already told me everything.”
At that, my Father’s brows furrowed. “What rogues?”
Chapter 3 — The Supreme Alpha
Aria
“I was almost killed last night,” I said coldly.
My voice echoed through the Greyborne household like winter steel.
Selene’s face drained of color before she quickly forced out a trembling whimper, clinging to Luna Catherine like a fragile flower. “Aria… why are you accusing me? I was in the infirmary all night... I would never hurt you.”
Luna Catherine stepped in front of her immediately, glaring at me as if I were a feral rogue. “What nonsense. Selene is still recovering! How dare you slander her like this?”
Damien let out a mocking laugh, arms crossed. “Aria, have you lost your mind? You’re so desperate to drag Selene down that you’ll grab at anything.”
I looked at each of them…my “family.”
Then I laughed.
Not loudly, not hysterically.
Just a quiet, bitter sound that seemed to chill the entire room.
“You don’t believe me?” I said. “Fine. Ask the pack enforcers. I already reported the attack.”
My eyes cut toward Selene like a blade.
She trembled and hid behind Luna Catherine again…the perfect little actress. If I didn’t know better, even I might pity her.
“I’m done arguing,” I said flatly. “It’s her or me. If she stays in this house, I leave. If I stay, she goes. Choose.”
For a moment, the room froze in stunned silence.
Then the wolves showed their true faces.
Alpha Roderick’s roar cracked through the hall. “You ungrateful brat! Selene is our daughter. This will always be her home. You, Aria, have brought nothing but shame!”
Damon added sharply, “Do you even understand how lucky you are that we took you back after you disappeared for years? You should be grateful!”
Rowan sneered. “Gi—Selene is our sister. What are you? Just a stain on the Greyborne name.”
Their words piled on top of each other until something inside me finally snapped.
I felt my wolf stir beneath my skin, cold and furious.
“Perfect,” I said quietly. “Since you’ve chosen her… then hear me now. From this moment, I cut ties with this family. We are strangers.”
I turned and walked out, each step sharp and final, like I was severing a bond thread with every stride.
“Get out!” Alpha Roderick roared behind me. “We don’t need a daughter like you!”
“And to think we brought you back,” Luna Catherine snapped. “Worthless child!”
Selene grabbed her arm, pretending to cry, her voice trembling like a saint being martyred.
But behind her tears, I caught it…that tiny flash of triumph.
Her voice cracked sweetly. “Mom… Dad… please don’t say that. After all… Aria is actually the daughter who has lived with you for 18 years. Maybe… maybe I should leave instead.”
Alpha Roderick immediately shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, Selene. You belong here.”
Catherine stroked her hair lovingly. “You’ll always be our little girl.”
Selene sniffed softly. “But what about the territory rights… and her council seat? Grandpa entrusted both to Aria. If she leaves…”
And there it was.
The reason they cared.
It was never about me. It was never even about Selene.
It was the territories…power, control, and the status that came with them. That was the daughter they truly wanted.
The Greybornes were wolves, yes, but their real desire was status.
“Hmph,” Alpha Roderick said. “If she’s no longer part of this pack, we’ll take these back.”
I almost laughed. They really thought I was that easy to fool.
As long as I didn’t sign anything, they couldn’t touch my birthright.
I’d fight them to the end if I had to.
My phone buzzed, it was Keira calling just as I stepped outside the pack gates.
I answered, but before I could say a word…low hum of engines rolled through the trees—steady, powerful, nothing like the clattering human vehicles that sometimes strayed near our borders.
A convoy.
Three armored black cruisers slipped between the pines, moving with a precision that made the air feel colder. Their headlights cut through the fog in clean white strips.
These weren’t rogues.
These were elite wolves with resources.
The lead cruiser eased to a stop directly in front of us, smooth and controlled like a predator choosing where to land. I didn’t step aside.
The driver jumped out and dipped his head politely. “My Lady…apologies. We weren’t expecting anyone here.”
Before I could respond, another door opened.
A man stepped out—quiet, controlled, carrying the kind of dominance that didn’t need to be announced. His aura pressed against my wolf immediately, cold and heavy, like a storm waiting for permission to break.
He scanned the clearing before his gaze finally met mine. Dark, unreadable.
I didn’t know who he was, but power clung to him like a second skin.
One of his guards stepped forward and bowed.
“Alpha Bullard, the perimeter is clear.”
My pulse hitched.
Vincent Bullard.
The ghost-Alpha of Obsidian Fang. Wolves like him didn’t appear in crowds; they were one-of-a-kind, the sort of leader others only heard about in rumors.
And now he was here—standing a few feet away from me. The moon goddess must be trying to compensate me.
Vincent's aura was strong, but beneath it… something was wrong.
His scent carried a faint metallic drag, an undertone of rot buried beneath layers of discipline and strength.
Poison. Old. Stubborn.
He hid it well, but not well enough to fool someone who’d survived rogue territory.
“You’re in my path,” he said, not harsh, simply stating a fact.
“I heard the engines,” I replied. “Didn’t expect Obsidian Fang to be the ones using them.”
One of his guards stepped forward. “Alpha, allow us to clear the way.”
Vincent lifted a hand, stopping him. His eyes narrowed slightly—not in anger, but as if he’d just noticed something he hadn’t expected.
“You’re injured,” I said.
He stilled. “No.”
“You are. The scent gives it away. A blend of nightshade residue and silver rot.” I nodded toward his stance. “And you’re hiding the limp in your right leg.”
The men around him stiffened, a ripple of restrained growls moving through the clearing.
Vincent didn’t react outwardly, but the shift in his aura was sharp. “You’re observant.”
“I’m right,” I said simply.
“What makes you think you understand my condition?”
“Your wolf scent fractures every few seconds. Your heartbeat skips on the fourth beat. And your energy is collapsing in on itself.” I met his gaze steadily. “You’re dying.”
The guards bristled again, but Vincent’s attention didn’t leave mine.
He wasn’t offended—he was calculating.
“What do you want in return for this… diagnosis? Money? Resources?”
“I don’t need your gold.”
His brows lifted, the smallest sign of surprise.
I took a step closer. “I need protection. A real alliance. One that keeps Crescent Moon from trying to break me again.”
“That,” he said slowly, “is not a small request.”
“And curing your poison isn’t a small offer.”
We stood a breath apart, studying each other. His aura pressed against mine—testing, measuring, deciding if I was bluffing.
“Do you understand,” he murmured, “that aligning with me will be seen as a declaration of war? Your Alpha will consider it betrayal.”
“My Alpha stopped being mine a long time ago.”
Something shifted in his expression—interest, faint but undeniable.
Finally, he extended his hand. “Show me you can keep me alive. And you’ll have the protection you seek.”
I took his hand, firm and steady.
“Deal, Alpha Vincent.”
His grip tightened, and the balance of the world tilted—subtle, but unmistakable.
This wasn’t just a bargain.
It was the first step in rewriting the fate they thought they’d chosen for me.
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