Rejected & Reckoning: Twin Flames

Lysara's POV

The moon should have blessed me tonight.

The elders said a Luna's first moon ceremony was sacred-where the Moon Goddess touched your destiny, sealed your bond, and united you with the mate written in your blood. I grew up studying the traditions, memorizing every chant, stitching my ceremonial silver dress with trembling fingers. Tonight was meant to be my beginning.

Instead, it became the night my life shattered.

The courtyard blazed with silver torches, the air thick with pine smoke and chanting. Wolves packed the stone arena-Alphas, Betas, Omegas-waiting to witness my bond with Alpha Kaelan Varyn, the future ruler of the Crescent Dominion. He stood on the sacred dais like a carved god, tall, cold, perfect. The kind of mate every girl prayed for.

Except he never prayed for me.

"Step forward, Lysara," Elder Mara called. Her voice echoed through the moonlit courtyard.

My legs trembled as I approached Kaelan. He didn't look at me-not even once. His jaw locked, eyes fixed on the moon as if trying to pretend I wasn't the one fate had chosen for him.

I told myself it was nerves. Pressure. Leadership. Anything but rejection.

But the pack felt it.

Hundreds of eyes followed my every breath. My bare feet brushed the glowing runes etched into the stone, and the magic pulsed-warm, eager, ready to bind us.

This should have been beautiful.

Instead, it was a funeral I didn't know I was attending.

When I reached Kaelan, he shifted slightly away, just enough for the closest wolves to whisper. My chest tightened.

"Alpha Kaelan," Elder Mara began, "do you accept your fated mate, Lysara of the Silverlight Clan, as your Luna, your equal, your bonded-"

"No."

The word snapped through the air like a blade.

Then silence fell. Not even the fire crackled. Every head turned. Elder Mara's mouth froze mid-sentence. My lungs locked.

Kaelan finally looked at me.

And his eyes were full of hate.

"I reject this ceremony," he said, voice cold enough to frost stone. "I reject her."

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Someone dropped a goblet. My heart dropped faster.

Elder Mara's voice trembled. "Alpha, this is forbidden. The Moon Goddess-"

"I do not want her," he cut in. "I will never accept her."

A sharp ache stabbed my chest, the bond tearing before it even fully formed. I felt it-the ripping, the burning, the humiliation. My knees nearly buckled.

But Kaelan wasn't done.

He raised his voice so the entire pack heard him clearly.

"She is weak. Unmarked. Unworthy. The Moon Goddess made a mistake."

My breath left me in a broken whisper. "Kaelan... why...?"

He didn't flinch. "Because I already have someone else."

The crowd parted as a woman stepped forward-Althea, the flawless beauty from the rival Bloodfang Pack. Her crimson dress shimmered like spilled wine, and her smile could slice skin.

Of course.

Of course it was her.

Rumors had whispered about them for months, but I refused to believe them. I thought fate mattered.