Forsaken Luna

Chapter 3 - A father's bargain.

Nyx

I thought the humiliation of the Moonrise ritual had broken me. I thought there was nothing left to shatter after Orion rejected me, after his voice cut the mate bond to pieces before the entire pack. But I was wrong.

The true break came the next night. The great hall was packed with bodies and firelight. The long timber walls echoed with the murmur of voices and the scent of too much perfume. I hovered at the edge of the chamber, half in shadow, clutching a tray of wine I’d been ordered to serve.

My wrists ached, my back burned from labor, but worse than the pain was the gnawing hollowness in my chest. The bond still bled inside me, raw and unhealed, like something had been ripped out and left gaping.

I tried not to look at him. At Orion. He stood tall at the head of the hall, with his father on one side and my grandfather on the other. The fire framing his hair like a crown again. The weight of his new title settling across his shoulders as if it had always belonged there.

And maybe it had. Maybe I was the fool for ever, thinking the Moon had dared give me to him. I lowered my gaze, forcing my breathing steady. But my wolf felt weak, fragile, almost silent. More than before. She twitched in my chest at his nearness, a phantom ache I could not kill.

The doors opened with a heavy groan, and silence spread through the room. Emissaries filed in, draped in dark furs. The rival pack. The Stormfangs. I knew little of them except the whispers. They were ruthless, sharp-eyed, ambitious. Their Alpha, Kaelen, walked at the front.

He was nothing like Orion. Where Orion’s beauty shone like sunlight, Kaelen’s was cut from shadow. Black hair brushed his collar, his eyes an iron gray that flicked over the hall with cool indifference. He did not bow. He did not smile. He only walked forward as if the earth itself bent to carry him.

“Stormfangs. You honor us with your presence.” The tray in my hands trembled. I gripped it tighter. Orion’s father, Aedric, lifted his arms in welcome. Kaelen inclined his head, though his expression did not shift.

“We came to hear your offer.” Kaelen got right down to business. Offer? My chest tightened. I had not been told why emissaries would arrive. Omegas were not told anything. We were meant to serve, to fade, to obey.

I edged closer, the tray clutched tight, pretending to refill goblets so I could listen. Aedric’s voice dropped into something measured and deliberate.

“Our pack strengthens under new leadership. But peace is fragile. Enemies gather. We require allies.” He spoke as though he was the alpha and I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.

“And you think Stormfang blood will bind such an alliance?” Kaelen’s tone was smooth, dangerous.

“Not just blood. Flesh.” Aedric’s smile cut sharp. The emissaries shifted, sparking interest in their eyes. My stomach turned cold.

“I offer you the girl,” Orion’s voice cut through my very soul. The tray nearly slipped from my hands.

“The girl.” My lungs seized. I slowly turned to find Orion pointing straight at me. Every face turned. My own burned under the sudden weight of their stares.

I wanted to vanish into the stone. Kaelen’s head tilted slightly, his gaze fixing on me for the first time. I hated how it landed. Heavy, assessing, as though I were no more than a horse on the auction block.

“She will fetch a fine price,” Aedric chimed in, his tone casual, cruel. “An omega with a Luna bond is valuable, even if the bond has been… refused.” Of course, they wouldn’t mention the fact that I was alpha born!

The words split me open. I couldn’t breathe. A prize. That’s all I ever was. That was why my grandfather kept me alive! Why he didn’t kill me alongside my father on the night I didn’t shift. Laughter rippled through the hall, low and mean.

I felt it claw at my skin. I felt it grind the remnants of my pride into dust. Orion said nothing. He stood rigid beside his father, his jaw tight, his eyes fixed on the fire. He didn’t glance at me again. He didn’t speak. He let it happen. He let his father take the lead.

Something inside me twisted, sharp and ugly. He had already broken me once. Now he would let them sell what was left. My voice burned in my throat, but I swallowed it back. Speaking would change nothing. Defiance only brought punishment. I had learned that too well.

Kaelen’s gray eyes lingered on me, unreadable. His silence stretched, thickening the air until every heartbeat seemed to wait on his answer. Finally, he spoke.

“And what makes you think I would take your refuse?” The word struck like a lash. Refuse. My cheeks flamed, humiliation flooding me until I thought I might choke. But beneath it, something darker stirred. Rage.

Aedric’s smile didn’t falter. “Because the Moon marked her. That mark does not fade. An omega touched by destiny is a weapon. A broodmare. A bargaining chip. She will bring you power.” My nails bit into the tray’s wood until they ached.

A weapon. A broodmare. A bargaining chip. Never Nyx. Never a girl with a name. Kaelen’s eyes slid over me again. They lingered, colder this time, sharper, as if measuring not just my flesh, but the wolf buried beneath it.

And though he said nothing, though his face remained a mask, something in his gaze told me he was already deciding. The hollow in my chest hardened into something jagged. If they sold me, I would never come back.

If they bound me to Stormfang, I would vanish into shadow, a possession with no voice, no freedom. I could not let it happen. I had to escape. As the men leaned together, their voices dropping into low negotiation, my mind spun.

The walls of the hall seemed to close in, the air thick and suffocating. My pulse hammered as if urging me to run now, right now, while no one was looking. But Kaelen’s eyes snapped back to mine, and held. The tray felt like iron in my hands, heavy, burning.

I dropped my gaze, but I could still feel his stare, pressing into me like a weight I could not throw off. At last, his voice cut through the hall. Calm. Inevitable.

“We will take her.” The words felt like a death sentence. A hush swept the room, then murmurs rose, eager and hungry. Orion’s father grinned, satisfaction sharp as a blade. My grandfather looked away. My heart plummeted.

Kaelen turned away, speaking terms I could not hear, but his decision rang louder than any bargain. I wasn’t a girl. I wasn’t even a wolf. I was a transaction. And no one, not Orion, not his father, not even the Moon herself, would save me.

I would have to save myself. Even if it killed me. Kaelen’s acceptance was final. The emissaries sealed it with the clasp of arms, the terms murmured low, swift, merciless. To them, it was only a deal, an exchange of power, nothing more.

To me, it was exile. The tray slipped in my grip. Glass shattered as it hit the floor. I jerked my head down quickly, praying no one saw the tears that blurred my vision. Two Stormfang guards crossed the floor toward me.

They grabbed my arms. Their grip was bruising. I tried to pull back, to protest, but the weight of the hall pressed in. Every face turned to watch, every sneer cutting sharper than claws.

“No!” The word tore from me before I could stop it. “Please.” The guards didn’t slow down. They dragged me forward, my feet stumbling across the stone. I looked for him. For Orion. He didn’t move. He stood rigid, his blue eyes fixed anywhere but on me.

His jaw was a line of stone, his expression unreadable. He didn’t speak. He didn’t fight. He didn’t save me. Something inside me finally snapped. The last fragile thread of hope, the part of me that still clung to the bond, to the belief that the Moon had chosen me for something, for someone.

All of it disintegrated in that moment. I wasn’t his. I wasn’t anyone’s. Not until they put me in chains. The guards hauled me to the center of the hall. The flames licked high, throwing my shadow long across the stone.

I felt stripped bare under the weight of so many eyes. Omegas smirking, warriors sneering, elders nodding approval. My own grandfather stood among them, arms folded, his mouth curved in cold satisfaction. He had always said I was nothing. Tonight, I had proven him right.

Kaelen’s gaze met mine again. For the briefest instant, I thought I saw something shift in those gray depths. Curiosity, calculation, maybe even pity. But it was gone in a blink, replaced by the same impenetrable mask.

“She’s yours now,” Aedric declared, his voice heavy with triumph. “Stormfang property.” The word cut like a blade. Property. I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. The guards pushed me toward the doors, their steps relentless, dragging me from everything I had ever known.

My heart pounded so hard it hurt, my breath shallow and sharp. The air outside was colder, crueler, the night wind slicing against my skin as if to remind me this was real. The pack’s howls rose behind me, not in mourning but in celebration.

I was not their Luna. I was their offering. The heavy doors closed, shutting out the firelight. Ahead, Stormfang cars waited. The sound of the cuffs and chains cut through my soul as they were snapped around my wrists.

“No,” I whispered, the sound broken, desperate. “Don’t.” I begged. His grip was merciless. Cold metal bit into my skin. My breath shook, my vision blurred. I had never felt smaller. I lifted my head, forcing my eyes back toward the hall one last time.

The doors remained closed. Orion did not come. I was alone. Kaelen slipped into the back seat of his black SUV with a fluid grace. His expression carved from stone. He didn’t look at me as the guards shoved me in beside him.

But when the command was given, when the car pulled out into the night and the trees swallowed us whole, I felt it. His gaze. Gray eyes on me, lingering, watching. Not with desire, not with warmth, but with something else.

Possession. A bargain had been struck. The bond had been shattered. And I was no longer a girl of my pack. I was Kaelen’s.