forbidden Alpha

The night sky glittered with stars, but Luna felt none of its beauty. The grand hall of the Mooncrest Pack was alive with music, laughter, and the scents of newly bonded wolves. Couples clung to one another, eyes glowing with the fresh burn of mate bonds.

Luna stood at the edge of it all. Alone.

Her best friend, Maya, twirled on the dance floor, her mate's hands resting securely on her waist. Aria sat nearby, glowing with the quiet pride of someone who carried new life within her. Their joy should have made Luna happy - and it did, in a way. But it also hollowed her.

She sipped her drink, avoiding the curious stares and whispered words:

"Still unmated?"

"Poor thing... the Moon Goddess must have forgotten her."

Her younger brother, Elias, brushed past with his mate, smirking just enough for her to notice. He had bonded at eighteen. Eighteen. Meanwhile, she was nearly twenty-one, her father's only daughter, and still empty-handed.

From the dais, Alpha Kael's watched her with the same stern disappointment he always wore when he looked at her too long. Her uncle leaned toward him, whispering words Luna knew were meant to soften his edges. It wouldn't matter. In her father's eyes, every day she remained unmated was a day wasted - a weakness, a liability to the pack.

Only Rylan, her childhood friend and warrior, dared approach her. His dark eyes lingered a little too long, filled with a longing he never voiced. "Ignore them," he murmured. "Your mate will come. The bond can't hide forever."

Luna smiled weakly but didn't answer. She wished she could believe him. But as she stood there - surrounded by warmth she could not touch - she felt the cold truth pressing in on her.

She wasn't chosen.

Not yet.

And maybe... never.

had never dealt kindly with Luna.

Her mother, Selene, had been the only soft place she'd ever known. When the war broke out with the Silverfangs, Selene had been among the first casualties. Luna had been only fifteen, forced to grow up too fast, forced to bury the one person who shielded her from her father's relentless expectations. Since then, the halls of the Alpha's house had felt cold, echoing with absence.

Her father threw himself deeper into leadership, into strategy, into forging alliances that could strengthen the pack. But to Luna, his gaze had only sharpened with disappointment as the years dragged on and she remained mateless. He never said it aloud - but she saw it every time his jaw tightened, every time he avoided speaking of her future in council meetings.

And through it all, there was one name that stained her heart black with hatred.

Damian Nightshade.

Alpha of the Silverfangs. The very man whose warriors had spilled her mother's blood.

Luna hated him with every fiber of her being. She hated his name, the fear it stirred, the way wolves whispered it like a curse. She hated that he still lived, thrived, while her mother lay in the ground.

Whenever the border tensions rose, whenever another skirmish ended with her pack wounded or worse, Damian's shadow loomed larger in her mind. He wasn't just an enemy Alpha - to Luna, he was the embodiment of all the injustice the Moon Goddess had dealt her.

Her friends had mates, love, families.

Her brother had respect, strength, and a future.

And Luna? She had loss. Loneliness. And hatred.

Hatred that burned so brightly, she sometimes wondered if the Moon Goddess had denied her a mate because her heart was already too full of vengeance.

Every dawn, Luna rose before the rest of the pack. It wasn't because she wanted to - it was because sleep rarely came easily anymore. Nightmares plagued her: the scream of her mother as the Silverfang warriors stormed their lands, the metallic tang of blood in the air, and the silhouette of Damian Nightshade carved into her memory like a scar.

She would train until her muscles burned, until her fists bled against the wooden posts, until she could barely stand. But no matter how hard she fought, there was always a whisper:

"She's strong, yes, but strength without a mate is wasted."

"What Alpha daughter reaches twenty-one and still hasn't been chosen?"

"Maybe the Moon Goddess has cursed her line."

Luna heard them. Every word. Wolves thought whispers carried lightly, but in a pack, nothing stayed hidden.

Even her father did little to shield her. He expected her to carry herself with pride, to act like she was above such gossip. But his silence cut deeper than their words. It was proof that he, too, believed she had failed him.

At gatherings, she was always the shadow in the corner. When new wolves from allied packs arrived, she felt their eyes on her, their curiosity mingled with pity. Some even tried to mask their disgust. She could almost hear them thinking: the Alpha's daughter, untouched by fate.

Her friends tried - gods, they tried - but it was never enough. Maya dragged her to celebrations, forcing her to smile and drink and pretend the sting didn't reach her heart. Aria, already swollen with new life, offered quiet reassurances: "The Moon Goddess has not forgotten you, Luna. She's saving you for someone extraordinary."

Extraordinary.

The word tasted bitter.

But the whispers didn't stop. The loneliness only deepened. And every night, when she lay awake staring at the ceiling, Luna wondered if she had been marked by the Goddess not for love... but for tragedy.

The night air was cool when Luna finally escaped the noise of the pack house. She slipped outside, past the laughter, past the warm glow of torches and music that didn't belong to her. Alone, she wandered to the edge of the forest, where the trees whispered with secrets only the Moon Goddess knew.

The moon hung high, silver and full, casting its cold light over her. She tilted her head back, eyes burning, fists clenched so tight her nails broke skin.

"Why?" Her voice cracked into the silence. "Why them and not me? Why did you take her from me? Why leave me with nothing?"

Only silence answered. Only the shadows.

Her chest ached, but beneath the ache burned that familiar, relentless hatred. Hatred for the wolf who had stolen everything from her. Hatred for Damian Nightshade.

Her breath misted in the night as she whispered his name like a curse.

"I will never forgive you."

But as the words left her lips, the wind shifted. A cold, unnatural breeze swept through the trees, carrying with it the faintest trace of something that made her wolf stir uneasily.

A scent. Distant, almost imperceptible... but enough to send a shiver crawling down her spine.

Her heart lurched, though she didn't yet understand why. She shook her head, swallowing the unease. She turned back toward the pack house, forcing her steps steady.

She didn't know it yet.

But the path of her life had already begun to twist.

And the very wolf she swore to hate forever was drawing closer