The Silver Wolf (Diana and Talon) novel Chapter 1

“I, Asher Stormrider, Alpha of Crimson Fang, reject you, Diana Nightshade, as my luna.”

The words struck like a blade forged from ice and fire.

For a heartbeat, the world did not exist. The bonfire crackled somewhere far away. The murmurs of the pack faded into a dull, ringing void. Then the pain came—violent, consuming, merciless.

It tore through Diana’s chest as though invisible claws were shredding her from the inside. Her knees buckled, breath leaving her lungs in a broken gasp. It felt as if her soul were being ripped from her body, dragged out through her heart inch by agonizing inch. She clutched at her chest, fingers trembling, nails biting into fabric as tears burned behind her eyes.

No pain—no wound, no broken bone, no punishment she had ever endured—compared to this.

She would not wish this on her worst enemy.

“Why…?” The word slipped from her lips, barely more than a whisper.

This was supposed to be her night. Her eighteenth birthday. The night she would celebrate with her pack, surrounded by warmth and laughter, waiting for the moment her wolf would step forward under the full moon. The disappointment of midnight passing without a shift had already weighed heavily on her heart, but that pain was nothing compared to this.

Nothing compared to finding her mate…

And losing him in the same breath.

Asher Stormrider stood before her, tall and unyielding, his alpha presence filling the clearing like a storm cloud. His expression was cold, distant—calculating. Not once did he reach for her. Not once did his eyes soften.

“I cannot have a wolfless for a mate,” Ash said, his voice carrying easily through the silent crowd. “A luna must be strong. She must be able to protect the pack in my absence. How can you protect anyone when you do not even have a wolf?”

The words were not shouted. They were calm. Measured.

And infinitely cruel.

“I am not wolfless,” Diana choked out, forcing herself to stand upright despite the pain tearing through her. “I can hear her. She’s here. She said it’s just not time yet. Please…” Her voice cracked as desperation seeped in. “You are my mate.”

The bond screamed in protest between them, wild and frantic, like a living thing refusing to die quietly.

“Do not make this more difficult, Diana,” Asher’s jaw tightened. “Accept the rejection. If you fight it, the pain will not stop.”

Diana turned slowly, her gaze sweeping across the gathered pack—faces she had known her entire life. Wolves she had laughed with, trained beside, trusted.

One by one, they looked away. Some shifted uncomfortably. Some stared at the ground. Some wore expressions of pity thinly veiled with judgment.

So this is what they think of me, she realized.

Weak.

A burden.

A luna was unworthy because they believed she had no wolf.

Her chest tightened further, grief piling atop humiliation. They cannot scent her, Diana realized bitterly. Artemis is hiding herself.

Her parents broke through the stunned stillness then. Her mother’s arms wrapped around her shoulders, trembling but fierce, as if she could shield her daughter from the entire world through sheer will alone. Her father stood in front of her, shoulders squared, eyes blazing with fury as he glared at the alpha.

But they were only pack members.

Her mother is a helper in the pack kitchen.

Her father is a guard in the dungeon.

And Diana knew nothing they said would matter.

'It’s better this way,' a familiar voice murmured gently in her mind.

Artemis.

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