LUARA

REJECTED LUNA

The Rose the Alpha Broke

Prologue + Chapter 1

My name is Luara Althea Silvermoon.

I'm eighteen years old.

And inside my own pack, I learned way too early what it means not to belong.

It's not something anyone says out loud.

It's the way their gaze slides past too fast when they see me coming. The silence that settles when I sit nearby. The laughter — always held back — that bursts out the second they think I'm not watching.

Here, everyone has a wolf.

Everyone but me.

My wolf never woke up.

And that's not just an absence — it's a brand. A label. A flaw carved into my skin.

Too white.

Too blonde.

Too big.

Too fat for a future she-wolf.

Too slow for a hunt.

Too wrong to ever be chosen.

I learned to count my steps, measure how much space I took up, breathe quietly. I learned to exist like someone apologizing for being in the world.

If there's one place where it doesn't hurt, it's home.

My father, Eron Silvermoon, calls me "my moon" even when I try to hide my face behind my hair. He says it like I'm something rare, precious, untouchable. Like the world out there doesn't have teeth.

My mother, Maelis, touches my face gently when she thinks I'm asleep. She kisses my forehead like she could erase everything I heard that day. She never asks too many questions. She just stays.

They love me.

And that love is the only thing that never asked me to change.

But outside these walls…

Out there, I'm the mistake everyone sees.

I have a sister.

Lisa Silvermoon.

Lisa was born ready.

She never had to learn to defend herself because no one ever came for her. Never had to bow her head, because the world always bent for her first. Hair red as a living flame. Green eyes that always knew exactly where to aim. A thin, light, correct body.

Lisa never raises her voice. She doesn't need to.

She destroys with smiles.

When we were kids, she'd shove me out of the play circles. As teenagers, she switched to words. Now, too grown to fake innocence, she just watches while everyone else does the work.

"You should try looser clothes," she told me once, pretending to care. "Just so you don't draw attention."

I already drew attention just by existing.

At Wolf Academy, inside the pack, the contempt has a smell. A sound. A routine.

The hallways stretch too long when you walk them alone.

The classrooms go too quiet when you step in.

And the comments always come — sooner or later.

"She still hasn't awakened."

"Imagine if she became a luna."

"She'd have to run twice as hard."

I'd smile. Always smile.

Because I learned that crying in public hurts worse.

There's a name that echoes through all of it.

A name woven into my story since childhood.

Kael Draven.

The alpha's son.

The future alpha.

My oldest mistake.

I fell for Kael back when I still believed kindness was something natural. We were kids and he held my hand — just once — pulling me close during a game. That was enough. I tucked his name somewhere no one else could reach.

Kael grew up.

And I learned that some men are only good when someone's watching.

Around the elders, he's polite, steady, respectful. The kind of leader who inspires trust.

Around his friends… around me… he's something else entirely.

"You'd never keep up on a hunt like that, Luara."

"Your wolf must be sleeping out of shame."

"I don't even know why you bother."

He'd laugh every time. Always laughing.

I never cried in front of him.

Not once.

At night, I'd talk to the moon. Not because I believed she answered, but because her silence hurt less than the voices here. I'd whisper, asking if my wolf existed. If she could hear me. If she was scared too.

Sometimes I thought maybe she was waiting for me to survive first.

At the academy, every day was a test I never signed up for.

Training sessions that left me behind.

Stares that measured me.

Laughter that trailed after me.

Lisa moved through the hallways like she owned everything. And maybe she did. She never had to fight for space. The world always cleared a path.

I watched. I stored it all away. I swallowed it down.

I'd come home with slumped shoulders and a tired heart. My mother always noticed. My father always pretended he didn't. They protected me the only way they could.

But love can't silence an entire pack.

Sometimes I'd stand in front of the mirror and try to see what they saw. Try to find something beyond the big body, beyond the missing wolf, beyond the label of failure.

And still, I kept showing up.

Kept waking up.

Kept going.

Kept existing.

Because deep down, something in me still held on.

Something that still believed the moon doesn't make mistakes.

That the goddess doesn't play games.

That every rose bleeds before it blooms.

And maybe — just maybe —

this pain was only the beginning.

Chapter 2 — Where I Learned to Shrink

I woke before the sun.

Not because I liked mornings, but because I'd figured out early that the world was less cruel when it was still quiet. The silence of the house was the only moment I didn't have to brace for anything. Didn't have to put on invisible armor. Didn't have to pretend it didn't hurt.

The room was still dark when I sat up in bed. The floor was cold under my feet, and that small shock reminded me I was awake. Alive. Present. Even when it seemed like nobody noticed.

The mirror watched me from across the room.

I avoided looking for a few seconds. Not because I hated my reflection — I'd learned to live with it — but because I knew exactly what I'd find. The body everyone commented on. The curves that never fit the pack's standard. The absence no one let me forget.

I took a deep breath before facing it.

It was me.

It had always been me.

I wore loose clothes out of habit, not shame. They made me disappear a little. And disappearing, sometimes, was a form of survival.

I came down the stairs to the smell of fresh coffee. That smell always reached me before the words did. Before the judgments. Before the world.

My mother was in the kitchen.

Maelis always woke early, even when she didn't have to. She said she liked watching the day break slowly. When she saw me, she smiled in that way that asked for nothing in return. As if my presence were enough.

"Good morning, my moon," she said, like she was saying a prayer.

She handed me a hot cup with both hands, as if she were offering me something precious. And maybe she was. Maybe it was just coffee. Maybe it was care.

My father appeared shortly after, straightening his shirt, still half-asleep. Eron Silvermoon always looked tired, but when he saw me, the tiredness faded a little.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

I lied with ease. "Yeah."

They never pressed me. Never asked for details. They just let me be there, sitting at the table, breathing.

It was the only place where I didn't have to explain myself.

The sound of footsteps on the floor above announced the moment the air shifted.

Lisa descended the stairs as if she were stepping onto a stage. Always polished. Always flawless. Red hair loose, posture confident, her gaze passing over me like I was part of the furniture.

"You're going to be late," she remarked, pouring juice for herself. "Some people have important things to do."

She didn't look at me. She didn't need to.

"Good morning, Lisa," my mother said, trying to keep things normal.

She answered with a distracted wave.

"You're going like that?" Lisa finally turned her eyes on me, her green gaze sizing up my body as if it were a problem to be solved. "Don't you get tired of pretending you don't care?"

My father cleared his throat. "Lisa."

She shrugged. "I'm just being honest."

I didn't respond. I'd learned that any word became ammunition. I swallowed the hot coffee along with everything I wanted to say.

At home, I was loved.

But not all love can fill every space.

We left together. The walk to the academy was short, but it felt far too long when I knew what waited for me. Lisa walked ahead, surrounded by curious stares. I stayed a few steps behind. Always behind.

At Wolf Academy, everything ran like a well-oiled machine. Everyone knew exactly where they belonged. Who led. Who followed. Who was watched. Who was ignored.

I knew my place.

The hallways filled as the day went on. Laughter. Conversations. Wolves my age, brimming with energy, strong scents, unmistakable presence.

And then I passed by.

The conversations dimmed. They didn't stop — they never stopped — they just changed tone.

"She still hasn't awakened, right?"

"Poor thing."

"Must be waiting for a miracle."

I didn't look. I didn't respond. I walked as if I couldn't hear. As if I couldn't feel.

In the training room, I always stayed in the back. Not by choice, but because nobody wanted to share space with me. During exercises, I was the last one picked. Every time.

"Think you can keep up?" someone laughed.

I tried. I always tried.

My body ached. My muscles burned. The exhaustion hit fast. But I kept going. Because giving up would've proved them right.

Lisa passed me during the break, surrounded by people. She didn't say anything. She just wore that smile that said it all.

And then, like always, Kael appeared.

He entered the room as if everything adjusted automatically to his presence. Laughter swelled. Postures straightened. Every eye turned.

When our gazes met, he raised an eyebrow.

"Still here?" he said. "Admirable. Or stubborn."

His friends laughed.

I didn't respond.

I'd learned that silence was my only defense.

The day dragged on. Class after class. Stare after stare. When the sun finally began to sink, my body felt heavy, but my mind was empty. Maybe that was better.

I walked home with slow steps.

My mother waited with dinner ready. My father asked how my day went. Lisa talked about victories, laughter, attention.

I said, "It was normal."

And for me, that was the truth.

Because pain, when it becomes routine, starts to go by another name — normal.

I went up to my room early. I lay staring at the ceiling. The moon hadn't appeared yet, but I knew she was there. She always was.

I closed my eyes.

And I wondered, in silence, how much longer I'd have to keep learning to shrink…

before I finally learned to stand my ground.

Chapter 3 — Lisa

My name is Lisa Silvermoon.

And before anyone tries to paint me as the villain, let me be clear: I never lied about who I am.

People hate that. They hate it when you don't fake kindness, when you don't hide behind guilt or false humility. They prefer monsters dressed up as angels. I never needed that.

I was born knowing exactly where I fit.

While Luara cried about not being seen, I learned how to be watched. While she hid in baggy clothes, I learned to use my body as a language. While she silently begged for acceptance, I understood that the world respects those who ask for nothing.

It's not my fault she was born… wrong.

We'd been different since we were little. Very different. She was always too big, too slow, too sensitive. She cried over anything. I observed. I always observed. Weak people reveal so much when they think no one's looking.

Luara never knew how to compete. Never knew how to stand her ground. And in a pack, that's a death sentence.

My parents tried to balance things out. Tried to protect Luara as if the world were fair. But it isn't. And it's not my responsibility to pretend it is.

I never pushed her physically. Never had to. All it took was saying the right thing, at the right moment, to the right person. The rest followed on its own.

At the pack school, at Wolf Academy, I was always welcome. Teachers respected me. Students followed me. I knew how to smile. How to listen. How to time my words.

Luara never learned any of that.

She walked like she was apologizing for taking up space. Head down. Shoulders hunched. It's impossible to respect someone like that.

And then there's Kael.

Kael Draven was always different from the other boys. Even as a kid, he carried something in his eyes. A quiet certainty. A weight that didn't crush — it shaped. He was born to lead, and everyone always knew it. Including me.

While Luara confused a childhood gesture of kindness with eternal love, I watched Kael grow. Watched how others reacted to him. Watched how he reacted to power.

I fell for him the right way.

It wasn't some silly dream. It wasn't fantasy. It was admiration. It was desire. It was a choice.

Kael never looked at Luara the way she wanted. Never. He tolerated her. Sometimes not even that. And still, she insisted on gazing at him like he was something unreachable, sacred.

That always irritated me.

Because I knew he could be mine.

At the academy, things got clearer. Kael became harder. More demanding. Less patient with weakness. And I liked that. I liked it because it meant he was becoming who he was supposed to be.

Luara, on the other hand, stayed frozen in the same spot.

She didn't awaken her wolf. Didn't evolve. Didn't change.

And I got tired of pretending that didn't bother me.

That morning, when I came downstairs for breakfast and saw her sitting at the table, filling space with that dim presence of hers, I felt the urge to say something. Not out of pointless cruelty. Out of honesty.

"You still insist on going to the academy like something's going to change," I said.

My mother gave me that tired look, as if I were the one in the wrong for stating the obvious.

But I don't take back true words.

On the way to the academy, I walked a few steps ahead. I always did that. Not by accident. By choice. I don't share the spotlight.

When I slowed my pace, I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

"I'm in love with Kael."

I didn't raise my voice. Didn't dramatize it. Just said it.

I watched her face change. An almost imperceptible tightening. A heavy silence. That satisfied me more than I'd like to admit.

She needed to know.

She needed to understand that she wasn't just rejected by the world — she was replaceable.

Kael deserves someone on his level. Someone strong. Someone admirable. Someone who stirs something beyond pity.

And no, I don't feel guilty.

At the academy, I walked through the hallways and people greeted me. Laughter. Glances. Comments. Luara trailed behind, as always, pretending not to hear the things everyone said.

Sometimes I wondered why she insisted.

Maybe because she didn't know how to do anything besides survive.

I, on the other hand, wanted to live.

I wanted to be seen. I wanted to be chosen. I wanted to stand beside someone who carried power without apologizing for it.

Kael and I… we had chemistry. Always did. We talked. We laughed. He looked at me in a way he never looked at her. And that wasn't imagination. It was reading behavior. It was reality.

Luara lived on hope.

I lived on strategy.

And in the end, strategy wins.

I'm not cruel for pleasure. I'm honest by nature. If that hurts, the problem was never mine. The world doesn't reward those who hide away waiting for someone to take pity on them.

It rewards those who claim their place.

And I always knew exactly where to stand.

LISA — 20 YEARS OLD, TWO YEARS OLDER THAN LUARA