The moon hung like a heavy silver coin over the Silvercreek clearing, but Aria's world had gone black. Kael Thornwood didn’t look at her as he spoke the words that severed twenty years of promise.
"I, Alpha Kael of Silvercreek, reject you, Aria Vale, as my mate and future Luna."
His voice, once her sanctuary, was a shard of jagged glass. Beside him, Selene preened, her fingers digging into the leather of Kael’s vest. The pack's collective gasp left Aria shivering in the humid night air. Elder Thorne stepped forward, eyes gleaming with triumph. He wanted her erased. Two Enforcers grabbed Aria by the shoulders, their grip bruising as they tore the grey wool Vale family cloak from her back. It hit the dirt with a muffled thud. Don't cry. A strange, molten heat pooled at the base of her spine. It wasn't the mating bond, but a searing gold that made the edges of her vision flicker. They dragged her toward the northern markers, where the forest gave way to the skeletal trees of the Dead Lands.
The Enforcers shoved her across the salt-line, the sting of exile humming in her marrow. As the pack’s torches receded into a distant amber glow, the silence of the wasteland pressed in. Aria turned toward the darkness, her breath hitching as a low, guttural vibration rumbled through the earth beneath her boots.
A massive obsidian wolf stepped into the moonlight, wearing an unknown scent.
