The Blood Moon bathed the fest in a deep glow, beautiful, and cruel.
Aria stood in the center of the stone circle, her wrists bound, her white ceremonial dress torn and stained with the blood of betrayal. The wind whispered through the trees. The pack surrounded her, silent. Dozens of eyes stared at her with something she never thought she'd see from her own people. "Fear, Disgust, Hatred."
She could feel it — pouring off them like poison.
The same people she had protected. The ones who once cheered her name, who once lowered their heads in respect. Now, they looked at her like she was filth. Like she was the monster in the prophecy.
Every face was a knife.
At the front of the circle, standing tall and unhinged, was Alpha Xavier. Her mate. Her love. The one who used to cradle her under this very moonlight, whispering promises of forever. The one whose scent once brought her comfort… now turned her stomach.
He wouldn't even look at her.
She searched his eyes for something — anything. Doubt. Pain. Regret. But there was nothing. He looked carved from stone.
> "By the decree of the Alpha, and in the name of the Moon Goddess," the Elder announced, his voice sharp and final, "Aria of the Blood Moon Pack is hereby banished. Her title as Luna is stripped. Her bond is severed."
The words hit her like a knife to the chest.
Aria's heart didn't just break.
It shattered.
There was no protest from the crowd. No gasp. No hesitation.
Just silence.
Her vision blurred, and for a moment, she thought she might collapse. The ground beneath her swayed. Everything felt distant, like she was watching her own life unravel from outside her body.
She had faced death before. She had faced rogues, pain, blood.
But nothing had prepared her for this.
A slow, painful crack spread through her chest. One moment, she was Luna. Loved. Chosen.
The next… nothing.
> "Xavier," she managed to whisper, her throat dry. "You know I'm not cursed. You know I didn't—"
He cut her off with just a glance. Cold. Empty. Like she was a stranger.
The man she had loved was gone.
> "You brought danger to the pack," he said simply. "This is mercy."
Mercy? She wanted to laugh. Or scream.
She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms.
> "Mercy?" she repeated, bitterly. "After everything I gave? After all I've done for you?"
She could barely keep the tears from falling, but she refused to break in front of them. She would not cry. Not here. Not now.
He didn't reply. He didn't flinch. He just turned away.
That silence hurt more than words ever could.
He was rejecting her.
Banishing her.
All because of a prophecy.
A vague, twisted warning that claimed a Luna would bring ruin to the Alpha's bloodline.
One vision. One lie. And suddenly she was the enemy.
She could still remember the night it all changed — the night the seer screamed her name during a vision, her eyes rolling back, blood dripping from her nose.
Aria had been called cursed ever since.
And now, the final blow.
They believed it was her.
She shook her head slowly. "You'll regret this," she said, her voice shaking but steady enough to carry. "The Moon sees everything."
---
The forest swallowed her.
No one followed. No one looked back.
Not even Xavier.
(Xavier's POV)
Back in the pack after she was vanished, Xavier kept thinking to him self "did I make the right decision"?, "should I have listened to her and not the pack". But just one he was lost in the thought one of the elders came. He said "don't regret this what we did was right and she deserves it for wanting to bring a curse into the pack.
(Aria's POV)
She ran until her feet were blistered, until her lungs burned, until the trees blurred and the cold bit into her skin. Her wolf cried out inside her, begging to return — but there was no bond to return to anymore.
The connection… snapped.
It felt like someone had ripped her soul in half.
She fell to her knees, gasping. The pain of the bond breaking wasn't just emotional — it was physical. It twisted through her ribs and spine like fire.
She screamed then. Not for help, but from the raw agony.
She clutched her chest. Nothing.
He was gone.
It was over.
The snow started to fall. Light at first. Then heavier.
Each flake melted on her burning skin before turning her numb. But she didn't move. She didn't care.
No one would look for her. No one would even mourn her.
The wolves she once called family had already buried her in their hearts.
She had nothing left.
Alone. Broken. Forgotten.
---
She lay in the snow until her tears froze on her cheeks. Until the cold numbed her body, but not her soul.
Her mind replayed every memory — Xavier smiling at her in the moonlight, their first kiss after the mating ceremony, his promises to protect her. All of it felt like a dream now. A cruel lie.
And then…
She screamed.
Not a cry for help.
Not a whimper of pain.
A scream filled with everything inside her — rage, betrayal, grief, and power she didn't yet understand. Her voice echoed through the forest, fierce and wild, vibrating through the very ground beneath her.
Birds flew from the trees. The wind howled in response. The moon above pulsed with energy.
She collapsed forward, chest heaving. Her throat raw.
And then — silence.
A silence so deep, it rang in her ears.
She waited, broken and shivering… but something in the air had shifted.
Until something answered.
A voice. Deep. Ancient. Not from the Moon Goddess. Not from the pack.
Not from anything she had ever known.
> "You were never meant to be theirs."
The voice rumbled through her bones like thunder, but it didn't frighten her.
It awakened something.
Aria's eyes flew open.
The wind stopped.
Her wolf stirred — but differently this time. Stronger. Wilder. Untamed.
She didn't feel broken anymore.
Something had changed.
Something… had awakened.
And this time, it wasn't just a Luna who rose.
It was a storm.