POV: Asteria
The first thing I heard on the morning of my eighteenth birthday wasn’t my father’s voice or the usual rustling of birds outside my window. It was a voice inside my mind—cool, ancient, undeniably mine.
"My name is Ashlin," it said.
Everything changed with those four words. My skin felt too tight. My breath stilled. It was like waking up twice—once as the girl everyone thought I was, and again as something more. Something older. Something wild. My wolf had arrived.
I sat in bed for a long moment, pressing my hand against my chest like I could feel her curled up inside me. Ashlin. It was beautiful, strong, and nothing like me. Or maybe it was everything I was meant to be.
A knock came on the door. Two soft taps. Then it creaked open. My father’s scent arrived before he did—woodsmoke and morning coffee.
"Happy birthday, Asteria," he said with that warm, rough voice of his. He looked at me like I was still a little girl and not the woman fate had just reshaped overnight.
I rose and hugged him, hiding the swirl in my chest. "She spoke," I said. "My wolf. Her name is Ashlin."
His hands tightened briefly on my back. Then he pulled away, studying me. "So it begins," he said with a nod. "You’ll meet your mate soon. But Asteria—" his voice dropped— "be careful. Even the moon makes mistakes."
I smiled, but I felt that sentence settle somewhere low in my stomach.
After breakfast, after the long shower where I tried to make sense of everything, I slipped into the blue floral dress I always loved—soft straps, light fabric, something that made me feel like myself. I tied my hair back, not too tight, and slipped out of the house before my father could suggest I stay in. I needed space. I needed quiet.
I went to the one place I always did when I needed to think.
The garden wasn’t much of a garden anymore. Just an overgrown patch of wildflowers and weeds at the edge of our territory. People said it was cursed. But to me, it was sacred. A place that didn’t pretend to be something it wasn’t.
The moment I stepped past the tree line, the scent hit me. Not flowers. Not earth.
Orange and chocolate.
Bittersweet. Warm. And so completely unfamiliar it made my stomach twist.
Ashlin stirred inside me, more awake than ever.
"He’s here," she said. "Our mate."
I stopped moving.
My heart tripped in my chest. I looked around, scanning the familiar clearing, until my eyes landed on the figure standing beneath the chestnut tree.
He was tall. Broad shoulders. Jet-black hair that curled slightly at the ends. Even from here I could feel it—that raw, quiet power. It wrapped around him like a second skin.
And then he turned.
Damen Phoenix.
Of all the boys fate could have chosen—why him?
He was the Alpha’s son. The one who walked like he ruled the ground. The boy with the midnight eyes and the silence that made you feel like you were the only one speaking.
He looked at me.
Our eyes locked.
The bond snapped into place like a lasso around my chest.
I couldn’t breathe.
"So," he said. "You’re here."
I nodded. "It’s you."
His expression didn’t change. Not even a flicker.
"Asteria Griffin," he said, slowly. "Do you like me?"
The question came out of nowhere. "What?"
"Do you like me?" he repeated.
I stared. "Yes. I mean—I have. For a long time."
He let out a breath. Not a sigh. Just a breath. And for a second I thought I saw something crack in his gaze. But maybe I imagined it.
"So you think you can be Luna of this pack?"
My heart stopped.
"If I was chosen—"
"I, Damen Phoenix, reject Asteria Griffin as my mate."
I blinked.
The world didn’t tilt.
It collapsed.
Pain lanced through me like someone had shoved a knife between my ribs and twisted. My knees buckled. I dropped to the ground. Ashlin howled inside me, wounded. Disbelieving.
I couldn’t speak.
I couldn’t think.
Tears filled my eyes as the rejection settled into every inch of my body like frost.
"Why?" I choked out.
His voice was ice. "Because you’re weak. I need a Luna who can protect this pack. Not some fragile girl with no alpha blood."
He turned and walked away.
Like it meant nothing.
Like I meant nothing.
And I sat there, knees in the dirt, chest full of glass, watching the boy fate gave me walk out of my life before we ever had a chance.
Ashlin whimpered in my mind, quiet and low.
I didn’t respond.
I couldn’t.
I stayed there until the shadows stretched long and the sky began to shift.
When I finally stood, I felt hollow. My body moved, but the rest of me stayed behind.
I walked home in silence.
When I reached the front steps, my father was waiting. He smiled. That same soft smile he always gave me.
I smiled back, because what else could I do?
"Get dressed, angel," he said. "We’re having dinner with the Alpha’s family."
The ground disappeared beneath me.
Dinner. With the Alpha.
With Damen.
I nodded.
Because I couldn’t scream.