THE REJECTED LUNA'S FOUR KINGS

POV EMMA BELLE

The bond snapped like a whip of fire across my soul, and for a second, I couldn't even scream.

"I, Caleb of the Eclipse Pack, future Alpha and heir, hereby reject you, Emma Belle, as my mate and future Luna."

His voice boomed through the Great Hall, amplified by his Alpha aura, pinning me to the cold stone floor. I gasped, my lungs seizing as the golden tether that had briefly connected our spirits shattered into jagged, white-hot shards. The physical agony was unlike anything I had ever felt-it was a spiritual execution.

I looked up through a veil of tears, my chestnut hair matted with the sweat of my pain. Caleb stood over me, his golden eyes cold and devoid of a single drop of mercy. Beside him stood Sasha, a high-ranking warrior whose scent of musk and arrogance filled the space where my belonging should have been.

"You are a defect, Emma," Caleb sneered, loud enough for the hundreds of pack members to hear. The same people I had served, cooked for, and bled for since my parents died. "A Luna must be a pillar of strength, a beacon for our warriors. You? You are a scentless Omega. A servant with a broken lineage. I will not weaken my bloodline for a girl who can barely shift."

Laughter erupted. It was a cruel, rhythmic sound that echoed off the rafters. My heart, already fractured by the rejection, felt like it was being trampled under their boots.

"Get out," Caleb's father, the current Alpha, growled from his throne. "A rejected female is a curse upon the pack. Run, little wolf. Run before the hunters decide to practice their aim on a stray."

I didn't wait. I couldn't. I scrambled to my feet, the agony in my chest radiating with every heartbeat. I bolted. I ran past the sneering faces, past the golden-boy who had just murdered my future, and out into the freezing bite of the Blood Moon night.

"Hunt her!" I heard Caleb's voice roar behind me, followed by the terrifying sound of wolves shifting-the cracking of bones and the growls of predators. "Give her a head start, then bring me her head as a trophy to celebrate my new union!"

Fear, sharp and cold, replaced the pain of the rejection. I pushed my legs harder than I ever thought possible. I wasn't running toward something; I was running for my very life.

I crashed through the underbrush of the forest, the thorns tearing at my thin servant's tunic and my skin. Behind me, the rhythmic thud of heavy paws and the snapping of twigs told me they were closing in. I could smell them-the copper scent of their bloodlust.

I was heading toward the Forbidden Forest. It was suicide. No one entered the dark woods of the North and came back. But dying by a monster was better than being torn apart by the man I was destined to love.

"There she is!" a