Marked for Ruin, Chosen for Rebirth

On the night of our five-year bond anniversary, I watched my mate wrap his arm around another she-wolf.

His hand rested low on her waist—possessive, practiced. Her fingers grazed his chest with the kind of ease that only comes from long-standing secrets.

They laughed—too close, too familiar. Like I was the stranger. The intruder. The one who no longer belonged.

Her name? Selene.

Golden-haired. Silver-tongued. Daughter of the North Wind Alpha. The perfect Luna in their eyes. The perfect liar in mine.

And Kieran— my Alpha.

The male who once marked me as his, who promised to protect me— Looked at her like she hung the damn moon. While I stood there, invisible. Unwanted. Five years of loyalty crushed beneath his boots.

But the betrayal didn't end there.

Selene accused me of theft.

Kieran told me to apologize.

She handed me a glass of wine.

He let me drink it.

And I— I lost everything that night.

My child. My dignity. My illusion of love.

While they toasted their alliance, I lay bleeding in the healer's tent, discarded like a broken vow.

But I remember who I was before the mark.

Before I let love silence me.

Before I became something soft for someone who only saw me as a shadow.

Now, the Blood Moon is rising. And this time, I want revenge.

...

Tonight was supposed to be special.

The fifth anniversary of my mating with Alpha Kieran—and the welcoming ceremony for the North Wind delegation.

I stood by the bonfire, dressed in a silver-white Luna gown, trying to keep a smile on my face. As the Luna of the Silver Moon Pack, this should've been a moment of pride. But the sting in my chest returned the moment I saw Kieran laughing and chatting with Selene.

Selene—daughter of the North Wind Alpha. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed. Everything about her screamed highborn and powerful. She stood too close to Kieran, her lips curved in a knowing smirk, her fingers brushing against his arm as if she belonged there.

And my Alpha—my fated mate—didn't seem to mind. In fact, he looked like he enjoyed every second of it.

"So this is Silver Moon's Luna? Looks more like a stray someone dragged in," Selene said, her voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.

I held my smile, though my fingers curled into tight fists.

It's been five years. Five long years of giving everything I had to this Pack. But no matter how hard I tried, many still saw me as an outsider—a rogue wolf marked out of pity.

"I heard she doesn't even know what pack she came from. Alpha only marked her out of mercy," Selene went on, her voice dripping with malice.

I turned my eyes toward Kieran, silently begging him to say something, to defend me.

But he just looked at me with cold indifference.

Then he turned to Selene and said, "There's no need to waste your breath on the Luna. She's nothing but an empty