The Unwanted Historian: Claimed by a Better Alpha

He told me his Inner Wolf was dormant. He claimed he couldn't feel the Mate Bond, that divine connection the Moon Goddess gifts to us.

I believed him. For years, I waited in the shadows, protecting his secret, convinced my Alpha was just broken.

But the truth revealed itself in the middle of a fire.

During a rogue ambush, an explosion threw me into a ditch. My ankle was crushed in a hidden poacher’s trap, the silver teeth searing my flesh like acid.

I screamed for him.

Ethan sprinted through the smoke. He stopped, looking down at me. He saw the trap. He saw the blood. He saw the silver burning me alive.

Then he looked at Chloe.

She was sitting on the grass nearby, clutching a tiny, insignificant scratch on her forehead, wailing like a child.

He didn't hesitate. Not for a heartbeat.

He turned his back on me.

He scooped Chloe up in his arms, cradling her like she was made of precious glass, and ran to safety.

As the flames licked closer to my trapped leg, his voice cut through the Mind-Link, cold as a winter grave.

"You are too weak, Ava. You don't deserve to be my Luna."

He wasn't dormant. He never was. He just didn't want me.

I didn't die in that fire. I dragged myself out, leaving my love in the ashes.

The next morning, I limped into the Pack Hall. My leg was a ruin, but my mind was clear.

Ethan sat on his throne, Chloe smirking on his lap. He looked at me with annoyance, expecting me to beg.

Instead, I stood tall, letting my own wolf rise.

"I, Ava Miller, reject you, Ethan Reed, as my mate."

Chapter 1

Ava POV

I woke to the scent of damp earth and crushed pine needles drifting from the edge of the Moonstone Pack territory. The morning mist clung to the windows of my small cabin, blurring the world outside into a haze of gray.

I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, desperate to find that familiar, golden thread that should have connected me to him.

*Ethan?* I called out tentatively through the *Mind-Link*.

Silence answered me. Not a peaceful silence, but a wall of static—cold, impenetrable, and absolute.

He told me his Inner Wolf was dormant. He said he couldn't feel the Mate Bond, that divine connection the Moon Goddess gifts to Fated Mates. But I felt it. I felt it every time he walked into a room, a magnetic pull in my chest like the tide bowing to the moon.

I believed him, though. I had to. An Alpha with a sleeping wolf was vulnerable, and as his future Luna, my duty was to protect his secret and wait.

My mind drifted back to when we were pups. I was ten, and he was twelve. We had sneaked out to the ancient Laurel tree that stood sentinel on the highest hill of our territory. Under the silver light