Rejected Luna

The scream tore through the silence of the Alpha floor like a blade, sharp and terrified.

I jolted upright in the guest bedroom I had been occupying for the last week—a temporary arrangement, Liam had promised, while the pipes in the master bath were fixed. The thunder outside rattled the windowpanes, but that human sound was far more chilling than the storm.

I recognized the voice instantly. Serena.

Throwing the duvet aside, I rushed into the hallway, my bare feet slapping against the cold hardwood. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and distress. At the end of the corridor, near the grand staircase, a huddled figure writhed on the floor.

"Get her off me! Please!" Serena shrieked, clawing at her own chest as if trying to rip an invisible weight from her ribs. Her silk nightgown was torn at the shoulder, revealing pale skin flushed with exertion. "Aurora, please! I didn’t mean to survive! I didn’t mean to!"

I slowed my approach, a frown tugging at my lips. My inner wolf, usually dormant and weak from years of neglect, stirred with a low, suspicious growl. There was no attacker here. The shadows were empty.

Suddenly, the door to the Alpha’s study burst open. Liam, my fated mate and the Alpha of the Silverclaw Pack, stormed into the hallway. He was shirtless, his chest heaving, his golden eyes wide with panic. The sheer force of his Alpha pheromones hit me like a physical wall—spiced amber and rain, a scent that should have comforted me but now only reeked of anxiety for another woman.

"Serena!" Liam roared, dropping to his knees beside her. He gathered her thrashing form into his arms. "I’ve got you. You’re safe."

Serena clung to him, burying her face in his neck, her sobs racking her small frame. "She was here, Liam! I saw her! Aurora… she’s angry. She hates me for living when she died! My wolf… she’s terrified, she’s slipping into the darkness again!"

Lights flickered on downstairs as pack members began to gather at the foot of the stairs, whispering. I stood frozen, watching my mate cradle the sister of his dead lover. He stroked her hair with a tenderness he hadn’t shown me in five years.

"Make room!" A sharp voice cut through the tension. It was the Pack Healer, a man who had always looked at me with pity rather than respect. He hurried up the stairs, a medical bag in hand. He knelt beside them, pressing a hand to Serena’s forehead and checking her pulse.

After a moment of tense silence, the Healer looked up at Liam, his expression grave. "It’s Fading Wolf Syndrome, Alpha. The grief is causing her wolf to detach from her soul. The night terrors are accelerating the process. Her wolf feels unsafe, unprotected."

Liam’s face went pale. "What do I do?"

"She needs stability," the Healer insisted, glancing briefly at me before looking back to Liam. "She needs to be surrounded by the strongest