LYRIC POV
The moon hung full and heavy above the clearing, and Lyric's wolf was losing her mind.
She stood at the back of the crowd, three hundred wolves gathered in a circle around the ceremonial platform. The night air was cold enough to bite, but she barely felt it. Her whole body was trembling. Not from the cold. From him.
Kade Blackwood stood on the stone platform with his arms crossed, looking every inch the Alpha he was supposed to be. Twenty-four years old. Strong. Dangerous. The kind of wolf that made other wolves bend without him even trying. He had taken over Shadowpine Pack when his father died two years ago, and he had made himself legendary in that time.
But Lyric didn't care about his power or his reputation.
She cared about the way her wolf had been screaming his name for six months straight.
The bond had hit her like lightning during a pack run last spring. One second she was running through the forest like normal, and the next second it felt like someone had reached into her chest and gripped her heart. The feeling was overwhelming. Absolute. Like the universe had just whispered a secret that changed everything. That word echoed in her bones every second since.
Mate.
Not just any mate. Her fated mate.
She had watched him from a distance ever since, hoping. Praying. The bond pulled at her whenever he was close, a constant ache that wouldn't go away. She knew he had to feel it too. It was impossible not to feel something like that.
Lyric looked down at the dress she wore. It was blue, borrowed from the orphan house laundry where she worked. The hem was uneven. One sleeve was loose. It wasn't beautiful, but it was the best thing she owned. She had washed her dark hair and braided it carefully, hoping it might make her look less invisible.
She was invisible. She knew that much. Everyone in Shadowpine knew she existed only because she had to exist somewhere. The orphan. The unwanted. The girl who did laundry and kitchen work and tried not to take up space.
But tonight, she thought maybe it didn't matter what she looked like. Tonight, Kade would announce his chosen mate, and everyone would finally see what she could feel burning in her chest.
He would choose her.
He had to.
The pack elder stepped forward, his ancient voice carrying across the clearing. "Alpha Blackwood. The moon is full. The pack gathers. It is time to announce your chosen Luna."
Kade's eyes swept across the crowd. For a moment, Lyric thought he looked right at her. Her heart jumped so hard she thought it might break through her ribs.
He took a breath.
And then he spoke one name.
"Victoria Sterling."
The words hit like a physical blow.
Lyric's ears rang. Everything went quiet. Even the wind seemed to stop moving. The world tilted sideways, and for a second she couldn't remember how to breathe.
Victoria Sterling stepped forward from the crowd. Of course she did. She was beautiful in a way that made everything else fade away. Perfect bloodline. Perfect status. High-born and golden and everything an Alpha like Kade would ever want. She wore a silver gown that caught the moonlight, and she looked like she had been waiting her whole life for this exact moment.
Maybe she had been.
Kade took her hand.
And the bond shattered.
It wasn't slow. It wasn't gentle. It was violent and sudden, like something inside Lyric's chest was being ripped apart by bare hands. She gasped, and it sounded like a scream. The pain was everywhere at once. In her heart. In her lungs. In her bones. In the place where the bond had lived for six months like a second heartbeat.
The pack erupted in cheers. Three hundred wolves howled and celebrated as their new Luna stood on the platform, glowing like she was made of starlight. Kade's hand found the small of her back. He smiled down at her like she was the only thing he had ever wanted.
Lyric couldn't watch anymore.
She stumbled backward through the crowd, trying not to let anyone see her face. Her vision was blurring. Her hands were shaking. Every breath felt like swallowing glass. A she-wolf bumped into her shoulder and didn't even apologize. No one was paying attention to the invisible girl in the borrowed dress.
No one had ever paid attention.
She broke through the edge of the crowd and ran.
The forest swallowed her whole. Branches whipped at her face but she didn't feel them. Her feet knew the paths through the woods because she had run them a thousand times when she needed to escape the pack house, the pitying looks, the endless kitchen work. Her legs moved on their own, carrying her deeper and deeper into the darkness, away from the ceremony and the crowd and the sound of her own heart breaking.
She didn't know how long she ran. Time stopped making sense. Everything was just pain and running and the terrible, awful realization that she had been wrong about everything.
Finally, her legs gave out.
Lyric collapsed against an old oak tree, her borrowed dress torn and dirty, her borrowed life in ruins. She was gasping for air like she had just come up from underwater. Tears poured down her face. Her whole body was shaking so hard she thought her bones might crack.
The bond was still there. Even broken, even shattered, she could feel the ghost of it. Like phantom pain from an amputated limb. Kade had chosen someone else. He had looked at the crowd and made his decision, and not once had he acknowledged the bond that tied them together.
Which meant one of two things.
Either he didn't feel it at all.
Or he felt it and chose her anyway.
Both options were worse than death.
Lyric pulled her knees to her chest and let herself break completely. She cried until her throat was raw. She cried until there was nothing left inside her but emptiness. The moon watched from above, full and merciless. The same moon that had lit up the ceremony. The same moon that had witnessed her humiliation.
Footsteps crunched through the underbrush.
Lyric's head snapped up. She was deep in rogue territory now. No pack wolf should be this far out alone. She should be afraid. She wasn't. Fear required caring whether she lived or died, and right now she couldn't decide which one she wanted more.
An old woman emerged from the darkness. Iris. The pack healer who had noticed Lyric's gift for healing a year ago and started teaching her in secret. Omegas weren't supposed to have useful skills. But Iris had never cared about rules.
Iris didn't say anything. She just sat down beside Lyric, her ancient bones creaking a little, and stared out at the dark forest.
They sat in silence for a long time.
Finally, Lyric whispered, "What do I do?"
Her voice sounded broken. Like something that had shattered and would never be whole again.
Iris was quiet for another moment. Then she said something that would change everything.
"You leave. You leave this place, and you become someone he regrets losing for the rest of his life."
Lyric shook her head. She couldn't imagine ever becoming anything. She could barely imagine surviving tomorrow.
"You do not understand what he is," Lyric whispered. "He is Alpha. He is strong. He is everything. And I am nothing."
"You are nothing," Iris agreed quietly. "Right now. To him. But you will not always be nothing, child. The power is inside you. I see it. You just have to find it."
Lyric looked at the old healer. Iris's eyes glowed with something that looked like certainty. Like she could see a future Lyric couldn't even imagine.
"He will come looking for you," Lyric said. "The bond. He will have to feel it eventually."
"Maybe," Iris said. "Or maybe by the time he realizes what he lost, you will be someone so far beyond his reach that you will not care if he comes."
The old woman stood up, her knees popping. "Come. Let's get you home. You have three days to pack before you disappear."
Lyric let Iris pull her to her feet.
As they walked back through the darkness, one thought consumed her completely.
She would never come back to Shadowpine.
She would leave, and she would come back as something else entirely.
She would come back as someone powerful enough that even the Alpha who rejected her would have no choice but to acknowledge her.
Even if it took the rest of her life.
Even if it killed her.