MOONBOUND LIES

I never dreamed my mating ceremony would feel like a punishment.

The moon hung full and heavy in the sky, casting silver shadows across the stone platform where I stood. My fingers trembled at my sides, but I clenched them into fists. Not because I was cold though the wind bit through the thin fabric of my pale blue dress but because I could feel their eyes on me.

The Shadow Pack.

They watched in complete silence. Not a smile. Not a word of welcome.

I wasn’t one of them. I never would be.

And beside me stood the man who had just become my mate… by contract.

Alpha Derek Blackthorn.

He hadn’t looked at me once since we stepped onto the platform. His face was carved in stone. Hard jaw. Cold eyes. Black clothing that matched the bitterness in his voice when he spoke the mating vow.

“I, Alpha Derek Blackthorn, take Erica Hale as my Luna by oath and duty. May the moon witness our union.”

Oath and duty.

Not love.

Not fate.

I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and forced myself to speak clearly.

“I, Erica Hale, take Alpha Derek Blackthorn as my mate and Alpha. May the moon witness our union.”

The Elder, standing between us, nodded. He tied a thin silver chain around our wrists. A shimmer of light passed through it as the bond clicked into place.

It should’ve felt like magic.

It felt like a cage.

Derek yanked his hand back before the Elder finished the blessing.

“It’s done,” he said sharply, already turning to leave.

The crowd began to drift away, murmuring under their breath. No one clapped. No one smiled. I stood there alone on the platform, feeling like I’d just been buried instead of bound.

I was the Luna now.

But only on paper.

The mansion was as silent as the forest graveyard I used to sneak past as a child.

A maid led me through cold hallways and past rooms filled with shadows. She didn’t say a word until we reached a small room tucked far at the end of the east wing.

“This will be your room,” she said without meeting my eyes.

Not the Luna’s quarters. Just a guest room.

The mattress was stiff, the walls bare. No windows. No warmth. Just four walls and a heavy door that shut behind her with a final click.

I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at my hands.

They still trembled.

I tried to call out to the wolf inside me, but as always there was no answer.

No whisper. No movement.

Nothing.

I’d never heard my wolf’s voice. Not once. Most werewolves shifted by twelve. I was twenty-two. That fact alone made me weak in Derek’s eyes.

Broken.

Unworthy.

And yet, here I was… his mate.

Not by choice, of course. My uncle had made the deal offered me up in exchange for protection from rogue attacks. Our bloodline was fading, and I was the last Hale with any wolf left inside, even if she never surfaced.

A Luna without a wolf.

No wonder the pack hated me.

No wonder he hated me.

A soft knock at the door pulled me from my thoughts.

I wiped my face quickly, even though I wasn’t crying yet. “Yes?”

The door creaked open, and a familiar face peeked in.

“Erica,” Lyall whispered. “Can I come in?”

I stood so fast the room spun.

“Lyall.”

She rushed in and wrapped her arms around me. Her hug was warm. Real. Familiar.

The only thing in this house that didn’t make me feel like I was drowning.

“I can’t believe they did it like that,” she murmured. “No music. No celebration. Not even a toast.”

I pulled back and gave her a small, tired smile. “It’s fine. I didn’t expect more.”

“You deserve more,” she said firmly. “You always have.”

Lyall had been my best friend since we were girls. She’d grown up in the pack. Gorgeous, confident, quick with a joke. Everyone loved her. Especially the males.

Sometimes, I wondered what would’ve happened if Derek had chosen her instead.

Maybe he had wanted to.

But the moon had chosen me… hadn’t it?

Or maybe fate had just made a terrible mistake.

We snuck into the kitchen that night, just like we used to back home.

Lyall made tea with cinnamon bark and honey my favorite and we sat on the counter, legs swinging like children.

“I know he’s cruel now,” Lyall said softly, “but Derek used to be different. Before his parents were murdered.”

I nodded slowly. “I heard they were poisoned. Wolfsbane, right?”

“Yes.” Her eyes darkened. “Someone slipped it into their wine. The whole pack mourned for days.”

“Do they… know who did it?”

She shook her head. “No. But Derek’s been hunting for the traitor ever since. Obsessed with justice. Or revenge. Depends who you ask.”

I stared down at my tea, the warm scent suddenly bitter.

I didn’t need him to love me. But I wished he didn’t hate me.

“I think he wants to,” I said quietly. “But he can’t. Not when he sees me as a weakness.”

“You’re not weak,” Lyall said, voice sharp. “You’re kind. Strong in ways others can’t see. One day, he’ll see it too.”

I wanted to believe her.

But deep down, I didn’t.

For the next few weeks, I stayed quiet and tried not to be noticed.

I helped the older wolves in the garden. Cleaned up old scrolls in the dusty library. Stayed far from the training grounds, where Derek led fierce drills and never once looked my way.

When I passed him in the halls, he barely acknowledged me.

Sometimes, I caught him looking. Just once or twice.

But whatever he saw in me, it wasn’t good.

“You forgot to bow before the council, Luna,” he snapped one afternoon. “They see it as disrespect.”

I bit my lip. “I wasn’t told”

“You should’ve known.”

He didn’t wait for an apology. Just walked away, his cloak trailing like a shadow behind him.

The bond between us felt colder with each passing day.

Dead.

Like me.

The accusation came on a quiet morning.

I was helping the healer sort dried herbs in the apothecary. The scent of lavender and sage hung in the air. It was peaceful. The first peace I’d felt in weeks.

Then the door slammed open.

Beta Marcus stormed in, followed by two guards.

“Luna Erica,” he barked. “You are under arrest for the murder of Alpha Caleb and Luna Reina.”

I froze. “What…?”

He held up a silver vial.

“This was found hidden in your room. Wolfsbane. The same kind that killed them.”

My mouth went dry.

“I—I’ve never seen that before. I didn’t do anything!”

“The council will decide. Come with us.”

The guards seized me roughly. I stumbled, crying out, but they didn’t stop.

Outside, the pack had already gathered.

They knew.

They believed it.

“Murderer!”

“Traitor!”

“She poisoned the Alpha’s parents!”

“No please” My voice cracked. “You have the wrong person!”

And then I saw him.

Derek.

He stood tall at the head of the courtyard. His face pale, his jaw set in stone.

I searched his eyes for a flicker of doubt.

Anything.

But his voice was cold when he spoke.

“You were supposed to bring peace,” he said. “Instead, you brought death.”

The words cut deeper than the chains they placed on my wrists.

“I didn’t kill them!” I begged.

Derek looked away.

“Erica Hale,” he declared, “you are hereby stripped of your Luna title and exiled from the Shadow Pack. You are banished forever.”

“No please, Derek listen to me!”

But the guards dragged me out, kicking and screaming, while the only man I was bound to by fate turned his back on me.

They left me at the edge of the woods.

Beyond the pack’s border.

Beyond protection.

Banished.

The cold hit me first. Then the silence.

Then the heartbreak.

I dropped to my knees and screamed into the night, the sound swallowed by trees that didn’t care.

Tears blurred the stars above me. My chest burned. My hands scraped against the dirt.

“Why?!” I sobbed. “Why is this happening to me?!”

Then… something stirred.

Not in the forest.

Inside me.

A sound.

A growl.

It rose low and deep from my chest. My bones ached. My breath caught.

I froze.

“...You…?”

For the first time in my life, my wolf stirred.

Not fully awake. Not yet.

But she was there.

Alive.

And angry.