Lycan Saves Rejected Mate

The morning light filtered through my bedroom window, casting long shadows across the white dress that hung from my closet door. My mate ceremony dress. Today was supposed to be the most important day of my life—the day Maverick would finally mark me as his Luna, completing our fated bond in front of all the neighboring packs.

But my hands wouldn't stop trembling.

I pressed my palms against the cool glass, watching pack members scurry across the grounds below, setting up chairs and decorations for the ceremony. Their excited chatter drifted up to my window, but I caught the whispered doubts that made my stomach clench.

"Do you really think the Alpha will go through with it?"

"A wolfless Luna? It's unheard of."

"Poor thing doesn't even know what's coming."

I pulled away from the window, wrapping my arms around myself. They were wrong. Maverick loved me. He'd saved my life during that rogue attack years ago, held me as I grieved my parents' deaths, promised me that our bond was stronger than any pack politics. My missing wolf didn't matter—not to him.

A sharp knock interrupted my thoughts. "Come in," I called softly.

Luna Scott swept into my room without waiting for permission, her perfectly styled hair and immaculate dress making me feel even smaller in my simple nightgown. Maverick's mother had never hidden her disapproval of me, but today her contempt seemed especially sharp.

"Still not dressed?" She clicked her tongue, circling me like a predator. "The ceremony begins in two hours, and you're dawdling like a child."

"I was just—"

"Getting cold feet?" Her laugh was cruel. "How fitting. Though I suppose even you must realize how inappropriate this whole charade is."

I lifted my chin, trying to summon courage I didn't feel. "Maverick and I are fated mates. The Moon Goddess herself—"

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake." Luna Scott's voice cut through mine like ice. "A wolfless girl as Luna of the Silvermoon Pack? You'll be the laughingstock of every Alpha family here today. My son should have rejected you the moment he discovered what you were—or rather, what you're not."

Each word was a dagger to my heart, but I forced myself to stand straighter. "Maverick loves me."

"Love?" She laughed again, the sound echoing off my bedroom walls. "Child, you have no idea what's really happening, do you? But you'll learn soon enough."

With that cryptic threat, she swept from my room, leaving me alone with my racing heart and growing dread.

Two hours later, I stood at the back of the pack house's great hall, my white dress feeling more like a shroud than a celebration. Hundreds of werewolves filled every available space—Alphas, Lunas, and pack members from across the region had come to witness our ceremony. Their eyes followed my every movement as I walked down the aisle, some curious, others pitying, a few openly skeptical.

Maverick waited at the altar, devastatingly handsome in his formal black suit. But something was