Silverborn Luna

Alex

The head steward’s slap came hard enough to turn my face, sending me to my knees on the cold marble, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth.

For a second, the side hall went quiet—until Hailey’s sharp laughter broke the silence.

“Look at you, trash,” she taunted, stepping close enough for her heavy perfume to make me choke. “Kneeling on the floor, right where you belong.”

I slowly turned my face back toward her.

Hailey stood in the center of the servants’ corridor wearing a silver ceremonial gown that probably cost more than everything I had owned in my entire life. Diamonds glittered at her throat. Her dark hair had been arranged in polished curls, and not one person in the hall dared tell her how ridiculous she looked.

Behind her, servants carried flowers, wine, and polished silver toward the grand hall. Everyone was preparing for her brother’s ascension ceremony.

Everyone except me.

I was apparently tonight’s entertainment.

“You’re lucky my father lets you scrub our boots instead of throwing you into the Rogue wastes,” Hailey continued. “After everything this family has done for you, you still walk around as though you’re better than us.”

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. “I don’t think I’m better than everyone.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Only you.”

One of the younger servants choked on a laugh before quickly lowering her head.

Hailey’s expression twisted. “You filthy little—”

She grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head backward. Pain burned across my scalp, but I refused to cry out. Giving the Thornes my pain only encouraged them.

Her gaze traveled over my pale-blonde hair, which fell almost to my waist.

“This hair is far too pretty for a servant.”

A cold knot formed in my stomach.

Hailey looked toward the head steward. “Cut it.”

“No.” The word escaped before I could stop it.

Hailey smiled slowly. “What was that?”

I reached behind me, trying to loosen her grip. “Please don’t.”

It was the first time I had begged them for anything. Maybe that was why she enjoyed it so much.

The head steward retrieved a pair of shears from a supply cabinet. He hesitated only briefly before stepping behind me.

Everyone in Blackridge obeyed the Thornes. Even when they knew something was wrong.

The blades closed beside my ear. The first snip echoed through the hall. A long pale lock fell onto the marble. Then another.

Hailey released me and watched as the head steward hacked through my hair without care, leaving uneven pieces brushing my neck and jaw. With every lock that struck the floor, it felt like they were stripping away the last part of myself I had left.

My wolf, Calista, growled inside my mind.

Let me out. I will bite off his hand.

Tempting. But not yet.

For two days, her voice had been a constant, furious presence in my head, pressing against my skull like a brewing storm.

“Well,” a male voice drawled from the doorway. “That is certainly an improvement.”

Every muscle in my body tightened.

Callahan Thorne stood beneath the stone arch, already dressed for the ceremony.

A fitted black jacket stretched across his broad shoulders, silver embroidery tracing the cuffs and collar in the pattern of Blackridge’s wolf crest. His dark hair had been combed neatly away from his face, and the sharp angles of his features made him look exactly like the Alpha everyone expected him to become.

Powerful.

Untouchable.

Cruel enough to lead his father’s pack.

His eyes moved over my split lip, the red mark spreading across my cheek, and the butchered remains of my hair. For one brief second, something tightened in his expression, but it vanished too quickly.

“An orphan spared from death so she could serve at our feet,” he smirked. “You should count your blessings, Alex.”

He brushed past me, deliberately striking my shoulder with his. Pain shot down my arm.

I looked up at him. “I count them every day.”

Callahan paused. His gaze locked onto mine. His smile disappeared.

Perhaps he understood what I had not said.

That none of those blessings included him.

Hailey linked her arm through his. “Come on, Cal. Father is waiting.”

Before he disappeared around the corner, Callahan looked back at me once.

Something twisted beneath my ribs—the bond between us tightening once before settling into its familiar ache.

Callahan felt it too. I knew he did.

Ever since Calista awakened inside me two days ago, I had known Callahan Thorne was my mate.

For seven years, he had watched his family starve me, beat me, and treat me like something less than human. And for the last six months, he had watched them do it knowing exactly what I was to him. The bond should have made my suffering impossible for him to ignore.

Apparently, it hadn’t.

But tonight, it would finally end.

He wanted freedom from a bond that was probably the Moon Goddess’s idea of humiliation.

I wanted freedom from the son of the family that had held me captive for seven years.

For once, Callahan and I wanted exactly the same thing.

I should have been afraid.

Instead, I was counting the minutes.

***

Half an hour later, I was forced into the grand hall carrying a silver tray heavy with crystal glasses.

Blackridge banners hung from the balconies, silver chandeliers cast golden light across polished stone, and laughter filled the room.

Hundreds of wolves had gathered to watch Callahan become Alpha.

Apparently, becoming Alpha of Blackridge was important enough to summon Alphas and Lunas from neighboring packs. Even Alpha King Roland Kingsley had bothered to attend.

I was sure Callahan’s ego was having the best night of its life.

The Alpha King sat at the royal table near the front of the hall.

The seat beside him was empty.

I stared at it a second too long and nearly walked straight into one of the guests.

“Watch where you’re going, mutt!”

I jerked the tray back before the glasses could topple.

“Sorry.”

The man gave my butchered hair and servant dress a disgusted once-over before turning away.

Right.

Keep moving. Keep my head down. Blend in.

I hurried toward the serving tables and slipped among the other servants before anyone else could decide I was worth noticing.

Everyone was celebrating Blackridge’s bright future.

I was just trying to ignore the pain in my raw hands and the sting of the cut on my lip.

Thunderous applause shook the hall when Callahan mounted the ceremonial dais and knelt before the Elder.

I watched him accept the ceremonial blade. Watched his father place the Alpha cloak across his shoulders. Watched wolves bow as he accepted the title he had always wanted.

The bond tightened between us with every step of the ritual. As if it knew what was coming.

So did Calista.

It will hurt, she warned.

She didn’t need to tell me.

The Elder raised his hands, and the room fell dead silent.

“Callahan Thorne,” he announced, “you have accepted the authority and responsibilities of Alpha. Before the ceremony ends, you must declare your Luna before the assembled witnesses.”

The unmated she-wolves in the hall stood a little taller, each hoping to hear her own name.

But Callahan’s gaze swept past them until it found me.

Something flickered across his face—guilt, maybe—before his mask slid back into place.

“Alex Lee,” he called out.

Every head in the hall turned. For a moment, I couldn’t move.

Alex Lee.

The name had kept me alive for seven years.

I had been eleven when the Blackridge Pack destroyed my home, Lunar Crest, and my mother shoved me beneath the nursery floorboards.

I could still remember her hands trembling as she pressed one finger against her lips.

“Never tell them who you are,” she had whispered.

The last thing I saw before she lowered the panel was blood spreading across the front of her dress.

I stayed beneath the floor until the screaming stopped.

Alpha Darius Thorne found me among the ruins, covered in soot and my mother’s blood. When he asked my name, I lied.

“Alex,” I had whispered. “Alex Lee.”

For seven years, I’d kept that secret, serving the very family that had destroyed mine.

And now their son was calling it across a room full of Alphas and Lunas.

“Alex Lee,” Callahan repeated.

I stepped away from the wall and forced my feet forward, feeling the weight of hundreds of eyes on me as I stopped beneath the dais.

Callahan measured me with his eyes, probably expecting me to bow, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

His voice echoed off the high stone ceilings.

“I, Callahan Thorne, Alpha of the Blackridge Pack, reject you, Alex Lee, as my mate and future Luna.”

Shock rippled through the crowd.

The first crack in the bond tore beneath my ribs. Pain ripped through me so violently that my knees nearly gave out, but Calista braced herself inside me, holding me upright.

Callahan’s face tightened. He felt it too.

“A servant cannot lead Blackridge,” he continued coldly. “You have no rank, no family, and no claim to protection beneath my authority.”

His father watched from the dais with cold approval.

Callahan looked down at me.

“You will leave Blackridge before sunrise. You are exiled beyond North Ridge. Whatever becomes of you afterward is no concern of this pack.”

A murmur swept through the hall. Everyone knew what waited beyond North Ridge.

Rogues.

It wasn’t just exile—it was a death sentence.

The Elder turned to me. “Alex Lee,” he said, “do you accept your Alpha’s rejection?”

My Alpha.

The words almost made me laugh.

Callahan had never been my Alpha. His father had never been my Alpha. Blackridge had never been my pack.

They expected me to collapse. To plead for Callahan’s protection. To promise that I could become quieter, weaker, and more obedient if he allowed me to remain at his feet.

Instead, I straightened my shoulders. Just as the daughter of Lunar Crest had been raised to do.

“My name,” I said, “is not Alex Lee.”

Callahan’s expression changed.

I lifted my chin and looked directly into his eyes.

“I am Alexandra Delacroix.”

The room exploded into whispers.

“Delacroix?”

“Did she say Delacroix?”

Callahan’s face drained of color.

“I, Alexandra Delacroix, daughter of Alpha Lucien Delacroix and sole surviving heir to the Lunar Crest Pack, accept your rejection.”