Athena’s POV
I didn’t make it halfway to my room before I was summoned. Two guards stood at the bottom of the main staircase, eyes cold. “Alpha Castor has summoned you.”
Of course he does.
My father sat behind his desk, his hands folded neatly in front of him like he was preparing to make a business transaction. My mother stood to the side, her eyes trained on the fireplace, as if she couldn’t even bear to look at me.
My father didn’t speak right away. Just stared. And let the silence choke the air.
Finally, he sighed. “So you’re slapping Alpha now? Do you know how many elders came to me this week? With complaints. With questions. With shame.”
I stood still, trying to keep my breathing even.
“You walk around here like you’re still one of us,” he continued. “Like you haven’t brought disgrace to this family.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said quietly.
He slammed his fist on the desk. “You are unmarried. Rejected. And now pregnant with the child of a stranger. And you dare stand here and speak of right and wrong?”
I flinched. “I never asked to be married to Eryndor. I never wanted—”
“You never had to want,” he snapped. “You only had to obey. To keep your head down and do what was expected.”
My mother finally turned to look at me, her eyes empty. “You couldn’t even do that.”
Tears stung at the corners of my eyes. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
“No,” my father said, voice eerily calm now. “And I don’t care.”
I stared at him. He stood slowly, walked around the desk, and stopped just inches from me.
His eyes didn’t soften. Not even a little.
“There’s no room for weakness in this pack. No room for broken girls who are pregnant and don’t know who the father is..”
I swallowed hard. “Where am I supposed to go?”
He shrugged. “You should have thought of that before opening your legs.”
My breath hitched.
He stepped back. “Eryndor has already made the call. You’re to be cast out before sundown.”
***
I stood at the edge of the Crescent Moon Pack’s border with a worn-out bag over my shoulder and my hands clenched around the only coat I owned. The air was cool, the sky fading to gray. My feet ached. My stomach turned. I had nowhere to go.
I was pregnant. Alone. And no longer welcome in the place I used to call home.
Even Emma had been warned. One more act of disobedience and she’d be banished too. I didn’t let her say goodbye. I wouldn’t drag her down with me.
The wind rustled through the trees, low and steady. It sounded like pity. Or maybe I was just imagining it.
No one came to stop me. Not a single word. Just silence and orders.
“Get out by sundown,” Eryndor had said. “You don’t belong here.”
And my father? He didn’t say anything at all. Just turned his back and walked away like I never existed.
I tightened my grip on the coat and looked down the road ahead. I didn’t know where I was going. I just knew I couldn’t stay.
I took a step. Then another.
And then I heard it—the sharp rhythm of hooves hitting dirt.
I turned as a black carriage approached, drawn by two massive horses. The wheels moved in perfect rhythm, polished silver gleaming in the dying light.
It stopped in front of me.
The door opened.
And out stepped him.
Varianth.
His cloak shifted in the wind, his eyes locked on mine. He didn’t speak right away. He didn’t need to.
“Come with me,” he said.
Three words. That’s all it took to shake the ground beneath me.
Behind me, I heard gasps from the packhouse. Movement. Voices rising. One of the elders came running down the steps.
“Your Majesty!” he called. “She’s been cast out for good reason. She’s carrying the child of a rogue—”
“She’s disgraced our name!” another barked. “She’s wolfless. She can’t be Luna.”
My face burned. My fists curled at my sides. I looked down at the dirt, wishing I could disappear.
Then Varianth turned.
“Silence.”
The word cut through the courtyard like a blade. Everyone froze.
He looked at them—every elder, every guard, every wolf who had turned their back on me.
“You think I care what you whisper behind my back?” he said, calm but cold. “You think your judgment matters more than mine?”
No one answered.
He stepped closer to the elder who’d spoken first. “You presume to tell the Alpha King who is and isn’t worthy?”
The man took a step back, eyes wide.
Varianth looked at me again. I couldn’t read his face. But something in his eyes had changed.
“She’s under my protection now,” he said clearly. “From this moment forward, she belongs to me.”