AYLA
"Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to my Luna, Calista," Rowan, my boyfriend, said, a smile curling on his lips as he stared at my sister.
My chest tightened immediately, and I could barely breathe. I staggered backward as my legs faltered, quickly gripping the edge of a table for support.
Calista walked toward him on the stage where he had just been crowned the pack’s new Alpha.
The room fell completely silent at first, everyone’s gaze settling on me. Everyone had known about Rowan and me since elementary school. They had all believed we would become mates and that he would make me his Luna. Even I believed it. But when we turned eighteen and realized we weren’t mates, we made a mutual decision to become chosen mates since neither of us could do without the other. Or so I thought.
He had kissed me this morning and told me that the next time he saw me, he would announce me as his Luna. That was after giving me a leather-bound journal with my initials engraved on it because he knew I loved to sketch and write.
My skin burned, the bitter taste of betrayal hot on my tongue as Rowan wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed the top of her forehead. Calista’s lips curved into a smug smile as she looked back at the crowd, her gaze settling on me.
"It’ll be an honour to be the Luna of this great pack," she said, as though the position had always been hers.
I lost it completely when Rowan tightened his arm around her and pulled her in for a deep, passionate kiss. That didn’t seem like their first.
"Rowan," I growled before I could even stop myself, walking quickly toward the altar.
Rowan, the man I had loved since I was a child, the only one who had ever treated me like I mattered in this pack, snapped his gaze to me. Something had shifted in the way he looked at me. He used to look at me with warmth and care, but now his eyes were cold. Icy cold.
"Please don’t do this to me," I said in a shaky voice. "This is a prank, right? You only wanted to see my reaction. Please stop it already. Calista has already been betrothed to the Lycan King. Tomorrow is their wedding. You can’t make her your Luna."
"Oh, we know you’re dumb, but please have some self-respect and stop being pathetic," Calista said in a bored tone, rolling her eyes.
My gaze remained fixed on my boyfriend, my voice barely audible as I asked again, unable to believe what was happening.
"Rowan... is this a joke?"
"Please understand, Ayla. The Alpha position is a very important one, and I need a strong Luna to support me. Calista is a Gemini wolf, the most powerful she-wolf in the country. I can’t pass up the opportunity to make the pack stronger. I need her. The Lycan King will have to take another bride," Rowan said. He was gentle even in his rejection and cruelty.
He was right. I must have been pathetically stupid to ever think he would choose someone like me to be his Luna. I was wolf-less, clumsy, and considered ugly by the pack members because of the white strands mixed into my black hair.
Calista, on the other hand, was the epitome of beauty. Blue eyes, blonde hair, and, to top it all off, she was the Gemini Wolf. Blessed with two wolves instead of one, she was the strongest and most sought-after she-wolf alive. It was a gift so extraordinarily rare that it was said to appear only once every millennium.
She had always been favoured over me. By my father and stepmother. By every pack member. I had always been a shadow, and Rowan was the only one who ever made me feel seen. But now... even he had betrayed and abandoned me.
My chest constricted. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think straight as different thoughts kept crashing through my mind.
I needed to get out of here. I clutched my chest as I took several steps backward. When I finally turned around to run away, I stumbled and fell face-first onto the floor.
Laughter. Mocking laughter and hushed whispers echoed through the room, the sounds like blades tearing through my flesh.
As I tried to stand up, my shoes tore through my purple dress. The one I had spent my entire life savings on because I thought today would be a special day for Rowan and me, only to be slapped with this cruel reality.
I picked myself up regardless and ran out of the hall. Everything was hazy, but when I finally reached outside, a gust of wind hit my face, and I exhaled sharply. I could finally breathe, but the burning ache in my heart and chest remained.
The only reason the pack had been somewhat bearable for me was because Rowan was the Alpha Prince, and everyone had been too afraid to openly bully me. But some still did it discreetly, and the comparisons with my sister were endless. My ego and self-esteem had been crushed ever since I was little.
Maybe I truly didn’t deserve love. Maybe I was meant to be alone forever. Maybe this was all my life would ever be.
I ran into the woods as fast as my legs could carry me. I had never wished I had a wolf as much as I did right now. Running in my wolf form would have cleared my head a little and helped ease the ache in my heart.
I didn’t stop running until I reached my safe spot by the cliff. When I collapsed there, my legs gave out beneath me, and I crumpled to the ground as tears—hot tears—streamed down my face.
I screamed as loudly as I could, hoping someone would come to my aid, hoping this was all a dream, hoping someone would wake me from this nightmare.
This couldn’t be my life. I had lost the only good thing I had.
I couldn’t continue living like this.
Suddenly, through my hazy eyes, I spotted what looked like glowing golden eyes in the water below. My heart leapt in alarm, and I quickly got to my feet, stepping closer to the edge to get a better look.
But nothing was there.
Just when I thought I must have imagined it, my feet slipped and slid across the rocks. Before my brain could process what was happening, I was already falling down the cliff.
A loud, shrill scream escaped my lips, but I managed to grab onto a rock, dangling three hundred feet above the water below.
"Help! Somebody! Help, please!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as the tears streaming down my cheeks increased.
Suddenly, every other worry I had disappeared, and only my will to survive remained.
Everyone was at the crowning ceremony with the music blasting. There was no way anyone would hear me, and there was no way I could survive a fall from this height.
Fear lodged itself deep within me.
Is this the end? I thought. Is this how I would die?
Footsteps suddenly echoed nearby, and I lifted my head to see a tall man standing over me. I barely had time to process his appearance before he grabbed my hand and pulled me up with sheer strength. My shoulders slammed painfully against the ground.
I was still trying to catch my breath from the near-death experience when—
"If you were serious about killing yourself, then you wouldn’t have held on to the rock," the stranger said in a terrifyingly calm voice.
My eyes snapped wide open, and I shot my gaze toward him.
My eyes met his dangerous golden ones, and a chill ran down my spine. A strong, powerful aura surrounded him, unlike anything I had ever experienced before.
He was terrifyingly intimidating, but I refused to show how much he affected me.
"Excuse me. I was basically screaming for help. I slipped. My life may be rough, but suicide is not on my mind!" I retorted sharply.
His brows furrowed. "This is strange. I can’t..." He trailed off.
He stared at me for a few seconds while I waited for him to continue. But without muttering another word, he turned around, his broad shoulders facing me as he dashed into the darkness of the woods.
I was still wondering who the mysterious man was when bright flashlights shone through the woods. I leapt to my feet immediately, ready to run in case of danger. But the pack warriors came into view, led by my sister.
"I knew you would be here," Calista said, a contemptuous smile on her face. She folded her arms across her chest. "Take her."
The two men marched forward and immediately grabbed my arms, dragging me away.
My weak, frail body struggled against them as I tried to free myself, but I stood no chance against their strength.
"Calista, what is happening? Why are they taking me?" I screamed.
"The pack council wants to have a word or two with you," she said.
I was taken to the pack hall and made to kneel before the pack council seated around me. Rowan was among them.
My father and stepmother were there too.
What did I do? Was it not enough that I had been dumped in front of everyone?
"As we all know, the pack made a deal with the Lycan King to restore peace between the wolves and the Lycans. Going back on that deal would mean the destruction of this pack," Alpha Tobias, Rowan’s father, began. "And so, we must proceed with the deal. But there will be some changes."
He fixed his eyes on me.
"You will take your sister’s place."