<h4>Chapter 1: Forsaken</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    Tonight was supposed to be beautiful.


    The full moon was bathing the garden in silver light, illuminating the celebration in the pack. Laughter and music was filling the air as wolves danced, drank, and cheered for the future Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack - Ethan ckwood.


    <i>My Ethan</i>.


    My heart swelled as I watched him from the shadows, noticing how his golden eyes gleamed with pride. He stood tall, confident, like the very embodiment of strength and everything I had ever wanted. He was my beacon of light in this cruel world.


    For as long as I could remember, my life had been a never-ending nightmare. My mother died when I was young, and my father remarried a woman who despised me.


    My stepmother made sure I knew I wasn’t wanted, and my stepsister, Lillian, took every opportunity to remind me of my worthlessness. As for my stepbrother, Damian... at his very thought, fear gnawed at my insides. He was the monster in the shadows, and the reason for my deepest fears.


    But Ethan... he had always been my escape, my sanctuary. He had cared for me when no one else did. Andst night, he had made me believe I was his.


    I was still able to feel his touch on my skin, his lips on mine, the way he made my body and soule alive.


    And tonight, I was here to confirm what I already felt deep in my soulst night. Ethan was my mate.


    My hands trembled as I stepped forward, pushing through the crowd. I could feel their eyes on me, their sneers and murmurs. I had been theughingstock of these two packs ever since my sixteenth birthday when I failed to shift.


    I was the daughter of Alpha Greystone from the Shadowfang Pack, and yet, I was wolfless. It made me nothing more than a shame on my father’s legacy and name.


    But none of it mattered now as I was going to spend the rest of my life with the man who had never seen me as a mutt like everyone else.


    Ethan turned toward me as I reached him, and the moment our eyes met, something happened.


    A force unlike anything I had ever known crashed into me, searing through my veins like fire and ice. My body trembled, and I caught my breath as my vision blurred.


    The mate bond.


    It was real.


    It was <i>him</i>.


    I gasped. "Ethan..."


    And then everything went silent. Theughter died, the music stopped, and I felt the entire gardening to a still.


    At the same time, I noticed how Ethan’s expression hardened before a slow smirk curled his lips, but there was no warmth in it.


    "Are you serious?" His voice was cold, filled with amusement.


    Confusion twisted inside me. "Ethan, we are mates. Don’t you feel it?" I was excited to finally be mated to my boyfriend, but a strange feeling was starting to twist my insides.


    He chuckled, but it wasn’t the sound I knew, the one that used tofort me. Thisugh was cruel, mocking.


    "Feel what?" he drawled. "Disgust? Humiliation? Because that’s what I feel right now."


    A chill ran down my spine.


    My heart was pounding wildly, and I felt my chest tightening.


    No. No, this wasn’t right.


    "Ethan," I whispered, reaching for him, st night... we..."


    His smirk widened. "We what?" He leaned in. "Did you really thinkst night meant anything?"


    Something inside me cracked at these words. I felt dizzy, as if the ground had disappeared beneath my feet.


    Ethan turned away from me and his golden eyes locked on someone else. I followed his gaze and felt my blood turn to ice.


    Lillian.


    She was standing beside him in a shimmering silver dress with her brown eyes gleaming with triumph.


    Ethan wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close before announcing, "Because I have already chosen my mate."


    I stopped breathing... for real.


    Lillian smirked down at me, tilting her head. "Oh, Eva. Poor, pathetic Eva. Did you really think you deserved a happy ending?"


    The crowd roared withughter.


    But I was barely able to process what I was experiencing. Before I could have even wrapped my mind around the betrayal, a sharp, searing pain exploded in my chest as Ethan spoke the words that broke me forever.


    "I, Ethan ckwood, reject you, Eva Greystone, as my mate."


    Agony.


    It tore through me like a thousand silver des, ripping apart every fiber of my being. My knees buckled, and I copsed to the ground, gasping.


    No. No. No.


    This wasn’t happening.


    This was a nightmare.


    I clutched my chest, digging my nails into my skin as if I could physically hold myself together. My vision blurred with tears, and my body started trembling uncontrobly.


    And then... a heavy boot mmed into my back, shoving me face-first into the dirt.


    Laughter erupted around me once again while panic seized me as rough fingers tangled in my hair, yanking my head back.


    <fnbe97> Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n FιndＮovel</fnbe97>


    A voice, dark and sickeningly familiar, murmured against my ear. "She looks so pretty like this. Broken. Humiliated."


    My blood turned to ice. I knew this voice - it was Damian. My stepbrother. My worst nightmare.


    His grip tightened, causing his nails to dig into my scalp. "Did you really think Ethan wanted you?" His voice was low, meant only for me. "He was mine to control, just like you are. Just like you’ll always be."


    Terror flooded my veins.


    I struggled against his grip, but he only chuckled. "You have nothing now. No pack. No mate. No future." He leaned in closer, his breath hot against my skin. "And that means you belong to me."


    No.


    No.


    I had to get out of here.


    With thest of my strength, I twisted out of his grasp and ran.


    "Stop her!" someone shouted.


    But I didn’t stop.


    Wolves lunged for me, but I was faster... for once. Fueled by desperation, I tore through the garden.


    I didn’t stop running until I reached the gates. Until I crossed the borders. Until the darkness of the forest swallowed me whole.


    Only then did I copse to the ground, sobbing.


    I had lost everything. I had nothing.


    What I didn’t know yet... by morning, I was going to lose even more.