His Rejected Luna

The Beast Within: A Fire That Won't Be Tamed

Darkness swallows me whole.

There is no sky. No ground. No breath.

Just heat—an unbearable, all-consuming fire raging beneath my skin, crackling through my veins, burning away every piece of me that once felt familiar.

My bones ache as if they're trying to reshape themselves. My muscles tighten, stretching, twisting, changing.

I want to scream.

But there is no sound.

Only the thunderous pulse of something awakening inside me.

And then—

A voice.

"You are not meant to be caged."

My eyes snap open.

------

The Chaos I Left Behind

Pain ricochets through my body, sharp and wild, but the moment my vision clears, I realize—everything around me is destroyed.

The forest that once stood tall and unshaken is in ruins.

Trees lie snapped in half, their splintered remains smoldering as if they'd been struck by lightning.

The air is thick with the scent of scorched earth and something darker—something ancient.

And standing a few feet away, staring at me like I've just become the monster they always feared, is Kieran.

His golden eyes are wide, burning with something I can't name.

He doesn't move.

Neither does Caelum, though his expression is different. Calculated. Knowing.

As if he expected this.

As if this was always going to happen.

I try to stand, but my legs tremble, my entire body thrumming with a power I don't understand. My hands dig into the dirt, and I freeze.

My nails—no, claws—gleam under the moonlight.

Not the blunt, curved claws of a wolf.

Something sharper.

Something deadly.

A wave of panic crashes into me.

"What… what did I do?"

Kieran takes a slow, cautious step forward.

"Aria—"

"No."

I shake my head, scrambling back.

My breath comes in ragged, uneven gasps.

My entire body still feels wrong, too tight, too different.

My skin is burning, my vision sharper than it should be.

I can hear everything—the distant rustling of leaves, the uneven breaths Kieran refuses to take, as if he's afraid to startle me.

As if I'm the predator now.

Panic claws at my throat.

"Tell me what's happening to me."

Kieran's jaw tightens.

"You're shifting."

I frown.

"No.

That's not—" I shake my head.

"That's not a shift.

I've shifted before.

This is… something else."

Kieran doesn't deny it.

And that's what terrifies me the most.

Caelum exhales a slow, amused breath.

"She's finally waking up."

I snap my head toward him, eyes narrowing. "

What am I?"

Caelum tilts his head, his silver eyes gleaming.

"You already know the answer."

No. I don't.

I don't know anything anymore.

All I know is that my body isn't my own.

That something inside me is unraveling, shifting into something new, something forbidden.

And Kieran…

He's looking at me like he knows what it is.

Like he's afraid of it.

I swallow hard, forcing my voice to steady.

"Tell me."

Kieran hesitates.

His golden eyes flicker with conflict, with the kind of torment that shouldn't exist between rejected mates.

But after a long, heavy pause—

He says it.

"You're not just a werewolf, Aria."

The wind howls through the ruined clearing, carrying his next words like a prophecy I was never supposed to hear.

"You're something else entirely."

A Truth I Can't Escape

The air around us crackles with silence.

I barely feel the wind against my skin, barely register the way my body still hums with something unnatural.

I knew I was different. I knew the rejection wasn't normal.

That my body wasn't reacting the way it should have.

But this?

This is something else.

I take a shaky breath, trying to ignore the way my fingers still ache, how my body still feels too raw, too new.

"Then what am I?"

Kieran's expression is unreadable.

He doesn't answer.

But Caelum does.

"You are what the Council tried to erase," he murmurs.

"A relic of something ancient.

A creature that was never meant to exist." He takes a step closer, his silver eyes gleaming.

"You are Lunarborn."

A sharp ringing fills my ears.

Lunarborn.

I've never heard that word before, but it sinks into my skin like something familiar.

Like something buried deep inside me is waking up at the sound of it.

I shake my head. "No. That's not—" My voice wavers.

"That's not possible."

Kieran exhales slowly. "It is."

I stare at him, something heavy settling in my chest.

"And you knew."

He doesn't deny it.

Rage and betrayal twist together, searing through me like fire. "You knew."

Kieran's jaw clenches.

"I suspected. But I didn't know for sure."

I let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

"And yet you still rejected me."

A muscle ticks in his jaw.

"I did it to protect you."

"From what?" I demand.

His golden eyes flicker with something dark.

"From yourself."

The words send a violent shudder through me.

Because he means it.

Kieran isn't just afraid of what I am.

He's afraid of what I could become.

The fire inside me flares again, but this time, I don't fight it.

I let the anger rise, let it curl around me like a second skin.

I don't know what I am. I

don't know why the Council wanted me erased.

But I know one thing.

I'm done being afraid.

I take a slow step forward, my hands still trembling, my breath still uneven.

"I don't need your protection, Kieran."

His expression hardens.

"You have no idea what you're saying."

I lift my chin.

"Then tell me."

Kieran hesitates, his body coiled like a predator ready to strike.

But before he can speak—

A howl pierces the night.

It's distant, but it's wrong.

Not a wolf's call. Not a warning.

Something else.

Something hunting.

Caelum's silver eyes flick toward the treeline.

"Well, that's unfortunate."

Kieran stiffens.

"They found us."

A chill runs down my spine.

"Who?"

Kieran's golden eyes lock onto mine.

"The ones who wanted you dead."

A branch snaps in the distance.

And then—

A dozen figures emerge from the shadows.

Not rogues. Not pack warriors.

Something else.

Something that shouldn't exist.

I barely have time to react before the first one lunges.

The ones who hunted Aria's kind have returned. But will she survive long enough to discover what she truly is?