The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: Crown of Thorns Chapter 01

The Alpha’s Rejected Luna: Crown of Thorns Chapter 01

He rejected me at the altar. In front of every Alpha. While my daughter screamed for me from the arms of his

mistress. And the entire Blood Moon Pack cheered.

The words still echoed off the stone walls of the ceremonial hall-“I, Kael Thornwood, Alpha of Blood Moon, reject

you, Sera Voss, as my mate and Luna.”

Pain detonated through the mate bond like a silver blade dragged through my chest. I doubled over, gasping, clawing at my ribs where the bond was shredding itself apart. Blood filled my mouth. My wolf howled inside me-not with rage. With grief.

“Mama! Mama, no!”

My daughter. My Lily. Four years old, thrashing in the arms of Kael’s chosen woman-Ravenna. His secretary. His

lover. The she-wolf who had slithered into my pack, my bed, my life, and smiled while she poisoned everything I built.

Ravenna held my child like a prop, one manicured hand gripping Lily’s arm, the other resting on the swell of her

pregnant belly-carrying Kael’s second child. The heir he actually wanted.

“Someone take this… creature out of my sight,” Kael said, adjusting his ceremonial cloak like I was a stain on his

evening.

The Alphas at the long table didn’t flinch. Some smirked. One raised his goblet.

“Mama!” Lily screamed again, reaching for me with both hands, tears streaming down her face. “Please-Mama-”

I lunged for her.

Two enforcers caught me before I made it three steps. Their grips were iron, bruising my arms as they hauled me

backward. My knees scraped the stone floor. I fought-clawed, kicked, bit-but without my wolf’s full strength, I was

nothing against trained warriors.

“Let me hold my daughter!” I screamed. “She’s terrified-Kael, please-”

He didn’t look at me. He was already walking toward Ravenna, his hand settling on her belly with a tenderness I hadn’t seen in years. Maybe ever.

“Ravenna is the true Luna of Blood Moon,” he announced to the gathered Alphas. “She carries my son. My heir The girl-” He waved dismissively toward Lily. “-is not of my blood. The paternity test confirmed it.”

A gasp rippled through the hall.

“That test was falsified!” I choked out, still fighting the enforcers. “Ravenna tampered with it-she bribed the pack

healer-

“Enough.” Kael’s voice cracked like a whip. He finally turned to me, and his eyes-those golden eyes I once thought

held the universe-were flat. Dead. “You’ve embarrassed yourself enough for one lifetime, Sera. Take whatever dignity you have left and crawl out of my territory.”

Ravenna leaned into him, her smile soft, her voice softer. “Don’t be too hard on her, my love. She’s clearly unwell. The

delusions… the lies… perhaps the rogue shelter would take her in.”

The Alphas chuckled.

My vision blurred. My wolf was clawing at my insides, howling, begging me to shift-but I couldn’t. Not here. Not

surrounded by wolves loyal to him.

“Lily,” I whispered. “Just let me take Lily.”

Kael’s jaw tightened. “That child stays here. She’ll be raised properly-by Ravenna. Not by a deranged, rejected

she-wolf with no pack, no status, and no mate.”

“She’s MY daughter-”

“She’s pack property,” he said coldly. “And you are no longer pack.”

The enforcers dragged me toward the doors. I screamed until my throat shredded. I screamed Lily’s name until the

stone walls swallowed the sound. The last thing I saw before the iron doors slammed shut was my baby’s face-red,

wet, terrified-and Ravenna’s hand clamping over her mouth.

Then darkness.

They threw me into the exile pit-a stone cell beneath the pack house, reserved for wolves sentenced to banishment.

No light. No warmth. The walls wept with moisture and the air tasted like rust and old blood.

I pressed my back against the cold stone, trembling, and pulled out the one thing they hadn’t taken-a small, cracked

phone I’d hidden in my boot.

One contact. One name I swore I’d never call.

My fingers shook so violently I could barely tap the screen.

It rang once. Twice.

Then-

“Damien speaking.”