CLAIMED BY THE ROGUE KING

The wind howled through the cracked window of the Silver Moon's kitchen, carrying with it the scent of pine, woodsmoke, and the suffocating musk of five hundred expectant werewolves. It was the night of the Winter Solstice, the most sacred night of the year, and for Elara, it was the night she would finally be discarded.

Elara's hands trembled as she scrubbed a heavy iron pot, the icy water turning her knuckles a raw, angry red. She was eighteen today. In any other pack, an eighteenth birthday was a celebration of the first shift-the moment a wolf finally spoke to their human counterpart. But in the Silver Moon Pack, Elara was known as the "Mute Omega," a girl who had never uttered a word, not because she couldn't, but because she had chosen to lock her voice away the day her parents were slaughtered in a rogue raid ten years ago.

Even worse, she felt no stirring in her blood. No claws itching to break through her skin. No golden glow in her eyes. She was a defect.

​The kitchen door swung open with a violent thud, hitting the stone wall.

​"Still scrubbing, servant? Move faster. The Alpha's Luna Induction starts in ten minutes, and the floor isn't going to polish itself."

Elara didn't look up. She knew the voice: Tanya, a high-ranking Beta with a cruel streak as wide as the territory borders. Tanya grabbed Elara's shoulder, her claws digging into the thin fabric of Elara's tunic.

​"Did you hear me, mute? Or are you deaf as well as stupid?"

Elara finally lifted her head, her pale blue eyes meeting Tanya's amber ones. She didn't speak. She never did. She simply pulled away and picked up a rag, moving toward the dining hall. The silence was her only shield, a wall no one could climb, though many tried to tear it down.

As she entered the Great Hall, the atmosphere changed. The air was thick with the scent of sandalwood and leather-Alpha Kaelen's scent.

Kaelen was everything a leader should be: tall, golden-haired, and possessed of a power that made lower-ranking wolves bow instinctively. He was also Elara's childhood friend-the boy who used to sneak her extra bread when she was an orphan, the boy who had promised her, when they were ten, that he would protect her forever.

But Kaelen was the Alpha now. And Alphas didn't marry broken Omegas.

Elara knelt on the cold floor, beginning to buff the stone near the dais where the high-ranking members sat. She kept her head down, but she could feel his eyes on her. Kaelen was standing at the head of the long table, dressed in formal black furs. Beside him sat Cynthia, the daughter of a neighboring Alpha. She was beautiful, vibrant, and, most importantly, she had a powerful wolf.

The ceremony began with the rhythmic beating of drums. The Pack Shaman stepped forward, raising a chalice of consecrated wine.

​"Tonight, we celebrate the strength of the Silver Moon!" the Shaman bellowed. "Alpha Kaelen, stand forth to claim your Luna."

Elara's heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. This was the moment of the Bond. In the werewolf world, once an Alpha turned eighteen, the Moon Goddess revealed their fated mate. Elara had felt a pull toward Kaelen for years-a magnetic, spiritual tug that she had prayed was just a crush. Because if they were fated, her life was about to become a tragedy.

​Kaelen stepped forward. His gaze swept the room, momentarily snagging on Elara, who was still kneeling by his boots with a rag in her hand. For a split second, his eyes softened, a flash of the boy she once knew appearing in the amber depths. Then, his jaw tightened, and he looked away.

He reached out, but he didn't reach for Cynthia. He reached toward the air, his nose scenting the wind. The "Mate Bond" was snapping into place.

The room went silent. A low, vibrating hum began to emanate from the earth itself. The air around Elara began to shimmer. She felt a sudden, searing heat behind her navel, a golden thread pulling from her chest and connecting directly to Kaelen.

It was undeniable. The Mute Omega was the Alpha's fated mate.

Gasps rippled through the hall. Cynthia's face turned a ghostly white. The Shaman froze, the chalice trembling in his hand.

Kaelen stood paralyzed. He looked at Elara-at her tattered clothes, her red-raw hands, her silent lips. He looked at the "defect" the Moon Goddess had seen fit to give him. To him, she wasn't a gift; she was a death sentence to his political ambitions.

​"No," Kaelen whispered. The word carried across the silent room like a thunderclap.

Elara looked up, her eyes wide. She reached out a hand, her fingers trembling, wanting to touch his boot, wanting to feel the connection she had dreamed of.

Kaelen recoiled as if her touch were poison.

​"I cannot accept this," he said, his voice gaining strength, turning into the Alpha's Command that forced every wolf in the room to go still. "A pack is only as strong as its Luna. A Luna must lead. She must shift. She must speak."