His Rejected Luna

The Door I Shouldn't Have Opened

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The sky is breaking.

The silver fracture spreads, splitting across the heavens like shattered glass, glowing with an unnatural light. It pulses—not like the moon, not like the sun, but like something alive, something breathing.

And something is moving on the other side.

A shadow shifts within the mist, massive and silent. It isn't bound by flesh, isn't trapped by a body the way we are. It flows—a presence, a force, an entity beyond my understanding.

And it's watching me.

The weight of its attention slams into my chest like a tidal wave. My breath stutters. My body locks.

The voice comes again, deep and endless.

"Lunarborn."

The word coils around my bones, a command and a warning all at once.

This isn't just a crack in the sky.

It's a door.

And I opened it.

"Aria!"

A strong hand grips my arm, yanking me back.

Kieran.

His golden eyes burn with something wild, something I never thought I'd see on his face—fear. Not fear of me. Not fear of the Council.

Fear of what's coming through.

"We need to go. Now." His voice is sharp, urgent.

But I can't move.

Because the thing behind the fracture is still watching me.

And for the first time, I feel something through the bond—something I shouldn't be able to.

Not rage. Not hatred.

Curiosity.

Recognition.

Like it knows me.

Kieran pulls me harder. "Aria, we need to—"

The fracture explodes.

A pulse of pure power rips through the clearing, knocking me off my feet. The world tilts. The ground beneath me shudders like an earthquake is ripping it apart.

I hit the dirt hard, gasping.

Above me, the fracture has widened, silver mist spilling through like smoke, swirling with a restless energy. The shadow behind it shifts closer—not stepping, not walking, but moving as if it doesn't need to.

And then—

A hand pushes through the mist.

A hand, but not.

It isn't flesh. It isn't solid. It's made of shifting darkness, its fingers elongated, curling like the talons of a beast. The moment it breaches the veil, the air grows thick with something ancient, something that makes my lungs struggle to expand.

A sharp, guttural snarl tears through the clearing.

Kieran.

I barely have time to react before he's in front of me, his body tense, claws extended. His wolf is on the surface, golden eyes burning, his entire form vibrating with raw, unrelenting aggression.

But even he hesitates.

Because this isn't something we can fight.

The hand reaches further, and the ground beneath it withers. The grass shrivels into dust. The trees nearest to it twist violently, their bark cracking like they're screaming.

I don't understand what I'm looking at.

But I know one thing.

This isn't a god.

It's something worse.

"Well," Caelum murmurs, watching with mild curiosity, "this is certainly unexpected."

I snap my head toward him, my pulse roaring in my ears. "Unexpected?"

His silver eyes flick to mine, unreadable. "That isn't what was supposed to come through."

A chill rips down my spine. "What do you mean?"

Caelum's lips curl into something dangerously close to amusement. "You didn't just open a door, little wolf." He nods toward the creeping void-hand, its fingers curling into the soil. "You woke up something that was locked away."

Locked away.

Not sealed.

Not hidden.

Locked away.

I feel sick.

Because if something was locked away, it wasn't meant to be found.

It was meant to be forgotten.

The shadow behind the fracture shifts, its unseen form rippling against the mist.

And then—

It speaks.

Not in words. Not in sound.

In thought.

"You are not whole."

A sharp, searing pain flares in my chest, so sudden and brutal that I collapse to my knees. It feels like something inside me is being pulled forward, dragged toward the mist like a chain I never knew I carried is suddenly yanking me home.

I gasp, clutching my ribs. "What—"

The voice whispers again.

"You are missing a piece."

My head pounds.

Flashes of something not mine flicker behind my eyelids.

A burning city. A silver crown falling to the ground. A hand reaching for mine before being ripped away.

I don't know these memories.

But they know me.

Kieran's voice cuts through the haze. "Aria!"

I snap back, my vision swimming, my body still trembling. Kieran grips my arms, his touch warm, grounding. But there's something desperate in his eyes, something I've never seen before.

Panic.

Like he thinks he's about to lose me.

The mist thickens, the presence behind it pressing forward. The weight of it is unbearable, like it's testing me, like it's deciding something.

Then—

A final whisper.

"You will seek me out."

The fracture slams shut.

The mist vanishes.

The shadow is gone.

And I am left gasping in the ruins of what should have never been opened.

I sit in the dirt, my limbs weak, my breath shallow. The weight of the thing that watched me, spoke to me, knew me still lingers in my chest.

Kieran kneels in front of me, his hands still gripping my arms, his golden eyes searching my face. "Are you—"

I shake my head. "I don't know."

Because I don't.

I don't know what just happened.

I don't know why it knew me.

And I don't know why I felt like I knew it, too.

Caelum exhales slowly, his expression unreadable. "Well, that was dramatic."

Kieran snarls, his eyes flashing. "What the hell just happened?"

Caelum tilts his head. "A mistake."

The wind howls through the trees, whispering through the destruction. I stare at my hands, my fingers still tingling from the power I didn't know I had.

The thing behind the fracture recognized me.

It wants me to find it.

And worst of all?

I think I want to.

The door has closed, but Aria is forever changed. The presence in the void has marked her, and whether she wants to or not—she will seek it out.