Reborn Luna: Reject My Unwanted Alpha

Kaia POV:

A sharp shriek shattered the morning silence of my Mating Ceremony.

I snapped my head toward the sound just in time to see my cousin, Ferne Ferguson, hitch up her pristine skirts and fling herself into the freezing depths of the sacred lake.

Ice-cold water sprayed across the hem of my white silk gown.

Out in the dark water, Ferne thrashed, putting on a clumsy, rehearsed spectacle of drowning. I stood perfectly still on the bank, watching the violent ripples spread. The searing sunlight tore through the ancient cedar canopy, stinging my eyes, but the heat on my skin was real. The air in my lungs was real.

My throat still burned with the phantom agony of my past life-the suffocating smoke, the searing torment of being burned alive in silver fire under the crushing weight of false accusations.

It had all started on this exact day. In my previous life, Ferne's staged plunge into the lake had been the catalyst for my absolute ruin. Because of this very moment, I was stripped of my rightful title as Luna and forced into the humiliating role of a secondary mate. What followed was a nightmare of endless neglect. I was locked away, treated as nothing more than a vessel while they systematically drained my White Wolf bloodline dry to feed her ambitions.

But the Moon Goddess had granted me a second chance. I was back at the beginning, standing at the precipice of my destruction, and I refused to let history repeat itself.

My maid, Sadie Tucker, rushed to my side. She grabbed my arm with frantic hands, her breath catching in her throat.

"My Lady! Miss Ferne jumped! We have to help her!"

I reached over and closed my fingers around Sadie's wrist. My grip was firm and unyielding. Looking into her wide, loyal eyes, I shook my head once, silently commanding her to stay put.

Sadie froze, sensing the cold authority radiating from my touch, and stepped back into line behind me.

A murmur of panic swept through the gathered noble crowd. Deep within my chest, my dormant Inner Wolf let out a low, mocking growl at the pathetic theater playing out before us.

Bryce Mendoza sprinted down from the high ceremonial dais. He shoved startled elders aside, paying no heed to decorum, and leaped into the icy water.

The spray soaked his embroidered coat as he lunged forward, gathering Ferne's limp body against his chest. He swam toward the shallows, cradling her as though she were made of spun glass, his handsome face twisted with raw panic.

Bryce hauled her soaked form onto the muddy bank, his boots squelching heavily in the mire. He marched directly past me, not sparing me a single glance, treating the woman destined to be his Luna as nothing more than thin air.

Sadie took a furious step forward, her fists trembling at her sides. "How dare he-"

I raised a hand, pressing my palm lightly against the back of hers to anchor her. "Wait," I murmured under my breath. "The show has only just started."

Bryce dropped to his knees on the grass, frantically slapping Ferne's pale cheeks.

"Ferne! Ferne, wake up!" he shouted, his voice echoing over the whispering crowd. "Look at me!"

I took a slow, deliberate step forward until my shadow fell across the girl pretending to be on the brink of death.

"If she has truly drowned," I said, my voice carrying cleanly across the silent lawn, "you should summon a physician instead of screaming at a corpse."

Bryce snapped his head up, the veins in his neck bulging with rage. "Kaia! She nearly lost her life in that freezing water! Must you make such vicious remarks when she is lying here half-dead? Have you lost every shred of your humanity?"

I did not blink under his furious glare. Instead, I turned my gaze toward the edge of the pavilion and raised my voice. "Doctor Arthur Miller. Since you are Ferne's dedicated physician, this is precisely when you should earn your keep."

A slender man carrying a heavy leather medicine kit squeezed out from the crowd. Sweat beaded along his hairline, and his eyes darted nervously toward Bryce before he shuffled toward the girl on the grass.

Arthur knelt beside Ferne, reaching out trembling fingers to begin a customary pulse check.

Before his hand could touch her, I reached up and pulled a long, razor-sharp silver hairpin straight from Sadie's braided hair. I stepped into Arthur's space, holding the gleaming silver pin inches from his face.

"When a werewolf drowns, their Inner Wolf risks slipping into a permanent coma as the body's systems shut down," I said, my tone as sharp as winter frost. "Puncturing the fingertips with pure silver will trigger a severe survival response. The burning trauma is the fastest way to stimulate her dormant bloodline and shock the beast awake. Pierce her fingers, Doctor."

Arthur recoiled, his medicine kit slipping from his grip and thudding against the dirt. Every wolf in the pack knew the agonizing, burning torment of silver flesh wounds. Arthur's jaw trembled, and he stared at the pin, completely frozen.

On the ground, the moment the word silver left my lips, Ferne's eyelids fluttered violently. Her breathing hitched, and the rise and fall of her chest became ragged and fast.

Reacting to the sudden shift in her breath, Bryce immediately lunged to his feet, shielding Ferne behind his broad frame.

"Are you insane?" Bryce roared, reaching out to swat the silver from my hand. "You want to torture her with silver right in front of the Moon Goddess?"

I pivoted on my heel, letting his grasping fingers hit empty air. With a swift, downward snap of my wrist, I drove the silver pin deep into the soft earth, barely an inch from Ferne's left ear.

"As I just explained, Bryce," I said, my voice perfectly even. "The silver pin is the absolute best first-aid method to stimulate her bloodline and save her life. How could you possibly accuse me of trying to murder her?"

A low rustle of murmurs spread through the circle of aristocrats. Dozens of suspicious eyes darted between me and the shivering girl on the grass.

As if realizing her act could not withstand the threat of silver, Ferne gasped loudly. She let out a pitiful, exaggerated cough, spitting a mouthful of lake water onto the mud before clutching desperately at Bryce's wet trousers.

I looked down at her miraculous recovery, raising my chin as my voice rang out like iron striking stone.

"However, since she is awake, it brings us to a much darker truth," I declared, my gaze sweeping over the gathered elders. "If she fainted on purpose, then she intentionally interrupted this ceremony. To deliberately sabotage a Mating Ceremony blessed by the Moon Goddess is a massive disrespect to Her divine will. It is a gross violation of our wolf nature, and an absolute contempt for the rules of this pack!"

The entire clearing fell dead silent.

The weight of ancient pack tradition bore down on the gathering, wiping the sympathetic looks from the elders' faces and replacing them with deep scowls. Bryce's face drained of color, his grey eyes flashing with panic as he realized I had just trapped them in an unforgivable crime.

Before he could craft another lie to save her, Ferne's personal maid, Chloe Hicks, threw herself onto the ground, sobbing loudly as she cast a devastating accusation into the open air.