Bound to the Bar. Crowned as the Moon Dance Queen Chapter 01

Bound to the Bar. Crowned as the Moon Dance Queen Chapter 01

The last day of gymnastics team training, my childhood friend tied me to the horizontal bar for everyone to see.

For a full day and night, I hung in the gym like a monkey.

Everyone laughed at my body, smacked my butt, and cackled like there was no tomorrow.

Rhys finally showed up.

“Delia said you’re too cocky, told me to teach you a lesson for her,” he said casually, as he unfastened me. “It was just a joke. You aren’t actually mad, are you?”

Delia was the gymnastics team’s star, everyone’s favorite she-wolf—every time she shifted, her silver fur glowed under the moonlight.

Oh right.

My dignity?

It was just entertainment.

A punchline.

Something they could humiliate for fun just to impress a pretty she-wolf.

I didn’t say another word. I quietly quit the competitive gymnastics team and transferred to Moon Dance Academy, a thousand miles away.

Delia could keep playing her loyal knight.

As for me? I was gonna be my own Queen of the Moon Dance.

…

When I realized I was tied to the horizontal bar, my mind went completely blank.

My hands were strapped tight to the bar with athletic tape, feet off the ground, strung up spread-eagled.

It was lunch hour.

The busiest time of the whole day.

And there I hung, like some cursed carnival decoration for the Blood Moon Festival.

“Is this the best the future Luna can do to free herself?”

“Has she gained weight lately? No wonder her landings after flips keep getting heavier.”

“Look at her struggling, huh? Doesn’t she look like a pig waiting for slaughter?”

My teammates’ jeers rolled in wave after wave, phone flashes popping nonstop.

I fought like hell to break free, but only swung back and forth like a pendulum—which just made them laugh harder.

Rhys stood at the edge of the crowd, hands in his pockets, a faint, amused smirk playing on his lips.

Delia looped her arm through his and purred, “Rhys, look how funny Maren is. She always acts so cold and untouchable, but she seems way more approachable now, doesn’t she?”

She was too overexcited. She tried to hold back her laugh and failed completely.

In that moment, I got it.

This whole thing was for her.

My humiliation was her entertainment.

I stared at Rhys. Stared so hard it burned.

“Do something, Rhys! Does twelve years of friendship mean absolutely nothing to you?”

Where was the wolf who once told me my body moved as graceful as moonlight dancing?

But he just shrugged. “Delia’s right. We’ve all been training so hard, a joke’s a good way to loosen up.

“Maren, you won’t get mad, right?”

The crowd roared with laughter even louder.

What broke me even more was when someone actually touched me.

“Lemme feel if she’s really that curvy,” one of the guy teammates grinned and reached out.

I thrashed wildly, screaming in terror. “Don’t touch me! Rhys, make them stop!”

Rhys frowned and finally spoke up, “C’mon, that’s enough, don’t go too far.”

But his voice was so soft, it sounded like he was just commenting that the weather was nice today.

The guy pulled his hand back awkwardly.

Delia jumped in right on cue. “Alright, that’s enough for today. It’ll be hard to explain if the coach shows up.”

She walked up to me, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered so only I could hear, “Maren, don’t blame me. You were always hogging Rhys, what did you expect?

“Today’s just a little lesson to teach you to know your place.”

I was shaking all over—not from fear, but from white-hot rage.

So this wasn’t a joke after all. It was a carefully planned humiliation.

And Rhys, the person I trusted most?

He was the accomplice.