Bound to the Alpha, Crowned as Luna

The moon had never looked kind to me.

It hung in the sky like a silent judge—bright, full, and merciless—watching as I stood at the edge of the Silver Fang Pack grounds, my hands clenched into trembling fists. Tonight was supposed to be sacred. The Awakening Night. The night every wolf dreamed of from childhood.

The night fate decided who you were.

For everyone else, it was a celebration.

For me, it was a sentence.

“Why is she even here?”

The whisper reached my ears easily. Wolves were terrible at pretending. Their voices were low, but their contempt was loud. I didn’t need to turn around to know who said it. I had heard those words in a hundred different forms my entire life.

Wolfless.

Useless.

Disgrace.

I was Ariella Moonshade, nineteen years old, and still without a wolf.

In a world where children awakened as early as thirteen, my existence was an embarrassment to the pack. My mother had died giving birth to me, and ever since, I had been treated as if I carried a curse in my veins. No wolf. No strength. No future.

Only survival.

The pack grounds were alive with music and laughter. Fires burned high, casting dancing shadows against the ancient trees that circled the clearing. Wolves gathered in groups, dressed in ceremonial blacks and silvers, their excitement sharp in the air.

I stood alone.

My thin gray dress clung to my body, already worn and faded from years of use. It was the best I had. No one had offered to help me prepare for tonight. No one ever did.

“Move aside.”

A sharp shove hit my shoulder, and I stumbled forward, barely catching myself before I fell into the dirt. Laughter followed.

I swallowed the sting in my throat and kept my head down.

Don’t cry, I told myself. Not tonight.

Tonight, if I was lucky, the Moon Goddess would finally take pity on me. Either she would awaken my wolf… or put an end to this slow humiliation.

A sudden hush rippled through the clearing.

The laughter died. Conversations stopped mid-sentence. Even the wind seemed to pause.

I felt it before I saw him.

Power flooded the air—dark, commanding, undeniable. Every wolf straightened, instinctively lowering their heads. My heart began to pound, not from fear, but from something deeper… something unfamiliar.

Then he stepped into the firelight.

Alpha Kael Blackthorn.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and carved from pure authority. His black hair brushed his collar, his sharp jaw set in stone. His eyes—burning crimson—scanned the crowd with cold precision.

The Alpha of the Silver Fang Pack.

The strongest Alpha in the realm.

The man every wolf feared… and obeyed.

I had seen him before, from a distance. He rarely appeared among the pack unless it was necessary. But tonight, standing so close, his presence was overwhelming.

My chest tightened.

The air shifted.

And then it happened.

A scent—dark pine, fire, and something dangerously intoxicating—hit me all at once. My breath caught