THE BILLIONAIRE WHO REJECTED HIS LUNA

The night my mate rejected me, I was wearing the dress he once told me made me look beautiful. I wish now I'd chosen something ugly - something forgettable, something I could burn afterward without remembering how his eyes had looked when he first saw me in it.

Instead, I stood beneath the enormous crystal chandelier in the center of the Silver Moon Pack's grand hall, surrounded by hundreds of wolves, and waited for the man I loved to tell the world I was his.

My hands were cold. My heart wasn't - it slammed against my ribs so hard I was sure the whole room could hear it.

Across the hall, Adrian Sterling stood beside the Alpha Council, the most powerful man in the room, the future Alpha King, and - if the goddess had finally decided to be kind to me - my mate.

Our eyes met, and for one beautiful second everything else disappeared: the crowd, the music, the whispers, even the scent of champagne and expensive perfume drifting through the hall. There was only him. His black suit fit his broad shoulders perfectly, his dark hair pushed back from his forehead, and he looked exactly like the man everyone feared - cold, untouchable, perfect.

But I knew better. At least, I thought I did. I knew the way his eyes softened when he looked at me, the way he smiled when he thought no one was watching, the way he'd once held my hand beneath the moonlight and promised, *One day, Elena, I'll make you my Luna.*

My lips curved into a nervous smile, but he didn't smile back, and my stomach tightened.

Then he started walking toward me - one step, two, three - and the crowd slowly fell silent. Someone whispered, *It's happening.* My wolf stirred inside me: *He's coming.*

"Adrian," I said, swallowing hard.

He stopped in front of me, close enough that I could smell his familiar scent - cedar, rain, and something distinctly him. My wolf practically purred. *Mate.* I wanted to reach for him, but I didn't. Not yet.

The Alpha Council stood behind him, watching: his mother, his uncle, Victoria Gray, every important member of the pack. Tonight, Adrian Sterling was supposed to announce me as his mate.

My fingers trembled, and he noticed. For the briefest moment something flickered across his face - pain, maybe fear - and I frowned.

"Are you all right?"

His jaw tightened. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't make this harder."

My smile disappeared. "What are you talking about?"

He looked away, and that frightened me more than anything else that night. "Adrian?"

A silence fell over the hall, and then the Alpha Elder stepped forward.

"Adrian Sterling, son of the late Alpha Marcus Sterling - do you accept Elena Vale as your destined mate?"

My heart stopped. I looked at Adrian, and he looked at me, and for one tiny second I saw the man I loved. Then he became a stranger.

"I don't."

The words didn't register at first. "What?" I blinked.

The Elder frowned. "Speak clearly, Adrian."

"I said I don't."

A murmur exploded through the room, and my wolf went completely still. "Adrian-" I stared at him.

He didn't answer. The Elder's expression darkened. "Are you rejecting your mate?"

My heart began pounding again, faster this time. "No," Adrian said, his voice steady. "I'm not rejecting my mate."

Relief flashed through me - for exactly one second. Then he looked directly into my eyes.

"I'm rejecting Elena Vale."

Everything inside me shattered. The hall seemed to disappear; my ears began ringing. Someone gasped. Someone else whispered my name. I couldn't breathe.

"No." The word came out as barely a sound.

Adrian didn't move. "Say it again," I whispered, and his eyes flickered - for the first time I saw something in them, something like regret, but it vanished almost as fast as it came.

"I reject Elena Vale as my mate."

Pain ripped through my chest and I stumbled backward. My wolf screamed. I grabbed at my own chest as the mate bond snapped - as if someone had reached inside my body and torn my heart in half with their bare hands. I fell to my knees.

The room erupted.

"Elena!"

"Someone help her!"

"Her bond-"

I couldn't hear any of it. I couldn't see any of them. All I could see was Adrian - the man who had kissed me under the stars, who had told me I was beautiful, who had promised me forever.

My eyes filled with tears. "Why?"

His expression didn't change. "There's nothing to explain."

A broken laugh escaped me. "Nothing? You stood here and destroyed me in front of everyone, and there's nothing to explain?"

His jaw clenched. "Elena, go home."

*Home.* I stared at him. "Home? You mean the place where I've spent my whole life being told I'm nobody?"

His eyes hardened. "Don't make a scene."

That sentence hurt worse than the rejection itself. I looked around at the hundreds of people staring at me - some with pity, some with amusement, some with open disgust - and then I saw her.

Victoria stood beside Adrian's mother, one delicate hand resting against her stomach, and she smiled at me: not a kind smile, a victorious one. Something inside me went cold.

I looked back at Adrian. "Is this because of her?"

His expression changed, just slightly, but I saw it. "You don't understand."

"Then explain it."

"I can't."

"Can't?" I stepped closer. "Or won't?"

He said nothing. My tears finally spilled, and I hated myself for crying - hated that he could still do this to me after breaking me so completely. I lowered my voice. "Was any of it real?"

His eyes met mine. Neither of us spoke for a long moment. Then he said the words that would haunt me for years.

"No." He looked away. "None of it was real."

My heart didn't break a second time. It simply went quiet.

I looked down at the ring on my finger - a cheap little silver band Adrian had given me two years ago, one I'd treasured like it was worth more than every diamond in his family's empire. Slowly, I pulled it off and placed it in his palm. His fingers closed around it. He stared at the ring, then at me, and something in his expression cracked. I almost missed it. Almost.

"You should have just told me you stopped loving me," I said, stepping back.

His throat moved. "I never loved you."

I smiled - the saddest smile I'd ever worn. "Then I suppose this should be easy."

I turned around. My first step nearly buckled my knees. The second was worse. But I kept walking, and nobody stopped me. Not even Adrian.

I reached the doors. Then I heard his voice behind me.

"Elena."

I froze. For one foolish second, hope rose again. I turned. He was still standing beneath the chandelier, his face unreadable, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Forget me."

I stared at him. Then I nodded. "Don't worry." I wiped my tears. "I will."

I walked out, and the doors closed behind me. The moment they did, I collapsed against the cold marble wall, my whole body shaking, my wolf whimpering somewhere deep inside me.

*Why did he do this?*

I didn't have an answer. Not yet.

But there was one thing I didn't know that night: Adrian Sterling hadn't rejected me because he'd stopped loving me. He had rejected me because someone had given him a choice - break my heart, or watch me die.

And Adrian had chosen to break me.