Banished by My Pack, Chosen as the True Luna

The moment I stepped onto the Moon Goddess platform, something felt wrong.

Ryder wouldn't look at me.

Not once.

Hundreds of wolves surrounded the ceremony grounds.

Tonight was supposed to be our Luna Ceremony.

The night I would finally become Luna of the Silver Fang Pack.

Instead, Ryder looked like a man walking toward an execution.

The High Priestess stood between us.

"Alpha Ryder."

She nodded.

"It is time."

The crowd erupted into cheers.

I smiled nervously.

Then Ryder took a step forward.

His voice echoed across the entire square.

"I reject Olivia Blackwood as my Luna."

Silence.

Absolute silence.

For a second I thought I had heard him wrong.

"What?"

The word escaped my mouth before I could stop it.

Ryder didn't look at me.

"I reject her."

The crowd exploded.

Gasps.

Whispers.

Shouting.

I couldn't hear any of it.

Because something inside my chest snapped.

Pain tore through my body.

I stumbled backward.

The mate bond.

The connection between us felt like it was being ripped apart with bare hands.

"Ryder..."

My knees hit the ground.

I couldn't breathe.

"Why?"

He finally looked at me.

His expression was cold.

Almost detached.

"I'm sorry."

Sorry?

Sorry?

That was all?

After twenty years?

After my parents died protecting him?

After every promise he'd ever made?

"Why?" I repeated.

The High Priestess looked away.

The Elders remained silent.

Nobody answered.

Pain spread through every inch of my body.

Then everything went black.

________________

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in the pack hospital.

The room smelled like herbs and disinfectant.

My chest still hurt.

Every breath felt wrong.

A chair scraped against the floor.

I turned my head.

Ryder was sitting beside the bed.

For a moment hope flared inside me.

Maybe this was a misunderstanding.

Maybe—

"You finally woke up."

The hope died immediately.

His voice sounded businesslike.

Like we were discussing pack finances.

Not the destruction of my life.

I looked at him.

"Why?"

He sighed.

"The High Priestess discovered something before the ceremony."

I waited.

"You don't have a wolf."

I froze.

"What?"

"The Goddess never gave you one."

I stared at him.

That was impossible.

I couldn't shift.

That was true.

But my hearing was sharper than most wolves.

I could smell prey from miles away.

I could track better than pack hunters.

How could I have no wolf?

Ryder continued.

"The Priestess believes marrying you would doom the pack."

I laughed weakly.

"So that's it?"

"Olivia—"

"So you humiliated me in front of everyone because of one prophecy?"

His jaw tightened.

"You don't understand."

"No. I understand perfectly."

The door suddenly opened.

A familiar voice interrupted us.

"She looks better than I expected."

I turned.

And immediately wished I hadn't.

Sophia.

The woman every pack member already expected to become Ryder's next Luna.

Long blonde hair.

Perfect smile.

Perfect wolf.

Perfect future Luna.

She walked into the room like she already owned it.

Maybe she did.

She sat directly on Ryder's lap.

In