Athena’s POV
The moment I stepped past the borders of the Crescent Moon Pack, reality struck me like a slap to the face. The gates loomed before me, cold and unwelcoming.
The guards barely spared me a glance as I passed through the entrance. They knew who I was. Or at least, who I used to be.
Not their Luna. Not as Alpha Eryndor’s mate.
Just a woman with no worth.
I took a deep breath and lifted my head, doing my best to ignore the whispers that stirred as I passed. They didn’t bother hiding them anymore. I kept walking, even though every step felt heavier than the last.
I already knew what was waiting for me.
My father had called this meeting himself—lined up potential suitors like I was something to be claimed. He’d made it clear before I left the house: my only use now was to secure another mate. That was all I was good for.
The double doors creaked open, revealing the hall beyond.
It was full of men. Alphas. Strong, proud, powerful. All of them here for one reason.
Me.
Their eyes turned toward me as I entered. Some curious. Some cold. Some sizing me up like a deal on the verge of falling through. I stood still, every part of me screaming to run, but I didn’t move.
For a second—just one—I hoped.
Maybe one of them would see something else. Someone else. Maybe they’d look past the rejection. Past the scars no one could see. Maybe I wasn’t completely worthless.
Then the first man turned his back on me and walked out. Followed by another. Then another. One by one, they left.
No one said a word. No one asked my name. No one stayed.
The last man paused in the doorway, glanced over his shoulder, and gave me a look that made my stomach twist.
His lip curled.
“No man in his right mind would ever take you as a mate.”
And then he left too.
My mother scanned me with distaste. Her lips barely moved as she let out a sigh that sounded like disappointment wrapped in shame.
“Fix your hair,” she said quietly. “You’re showing that mark. You’re scaring them.”
My fingers instinctively reached for the dark strands that shielded the birthmark across my left eye. They hated it. Just like they hated me.
***
It had been an agonizing month since the last group of suitors. A month since I stood in that cursed hall, pretending not to care as man after man turned his back on me. None of them stayed. None of them even tried. Just curled lips and muttered insults, like they couldn’t believe they’d been summoned to look at me.
I wasn’t surprised.
No Alpha wanted a discarded Luna. No wolf wanted a she-wolf who had already been claimed—and then rejected. I had no power, no wolf of my own, and worst of all, I still carried the invisible mark of Eryndor’s humiliation.
I was damaged goods. And they all smelled it on me.
But my father wasn’t done trying. Not because he cared about my future. He didn’t. He never had.
He cared about alliances. Leverage. Reputation.
“You’ve failed enough,” he said to me that morning, voice cold and sharp. “This next suitor is different. He’s powerful. Respected. If he accepts you, it could save our family and our reputation–what’s left of it.”
I wanted to scream. To ask him why my life, my body, my dignity had to be traded like a coin for his political gain. But I didn’t say a word.
Instead, I stood in front of the mirror and pulled on the dress my mother laid out. Soft gray silk, tight at the waist, cut too low across the chest. I hated it. Hated the way it clung to me, made me feel like a doll dressed for show. But of course, that’s exactly what I was.
None of this was for me. It never had been.
By the time the carriage arrived, the courtyard had been transformed. Soldiers lined the stone path like we were expecting royalty. The Elders were dressed in their ceremonial robes, standing in a perfect row. My parents stood at the center of it all, heads high, smiles polished.
And me?
I waited off to the side. A statue in silk. Heart pounding. Palms sweating.
The air felt too still, too quiet—like even the wind was holding its breath.
Then, the black carriage rolled through the gates. The wheels crunched over gravel, slow and deliberate, until the carriage came to a stop at the base of the grand staircase.
A servant rushed forward and opened the door.
And he stepped out.
Tall. Broad. Sharp lines and quiet power. His coat was tailored, dark fabric stretched over a frame that didn’t just suggest strength—it demanded respect. His steps were slow, measured, and confident. Not arrogant. Certain.
He looked up.
And my breath caught.
No.
It couldn’t be.
The man from the hotel. The one whose hands had mapped every inch of my skin. The one who kissed like he owned me and left before I could ask his name. The one I hadn’t been able to forget.
He stood beneath the banner of the Crescent Moon Pack. And now I saw him for who he truly was.
The black crest stitched to his coat. The way the Elders bowed without hesitation. The hush that swept over the courtyard like a wave.
One of his attendants stepped forward, cloaked in midnight black, voice low and commanding.
“Kneel before Varianth Zyrith,” he said. “The Alpha King of all Packs.”
He wasn’t a freaking escort!
He was the Alpha King.
And I…I gave him my virginity. I had slept with him.