The Moon between Two Worlds

The moon hung low and angry over Erevelyn Woods, casting a silver glow over the Circle of Elders. Selara knelt in the dirt, her once proud Luna cloak torn and bloodied, her silver hair tangled with leaves and ash. The markings on her skin sacred and ancient pulsed faintly, a reminder of the power she carried but was no longer allowed to wield. The verdict echoed like a death sentence through the night air: "By blood and moon, Selara of the Stormhowl Pack is hereby banished to the realm of men. Stripped of rank. Stripped of bond. Stripped of mate."

She didn't plead. Didn't cry. Didn't even look up at Alpha Kael, the very one who had sworn to protect her. His cold amber eyes met hers with something worse than hate indifference. Once, they had danced under the full moon, whispered promises into the wind. Now, he stood unmoved as she was branded a traitor for refusing to hand over the last surviving human child taken during a raid. Her heart broke not from the exile, but from the silence in Kael's soul as if love had never passed between them.

The crossing into the human world was agonizing. The ritual burned her skin, bent her bones into a new shape. Her wolf fought it, screamed at the stripping of magic, but Selara endured it all for the child she'd saved, for the truth she would one day expose. When she stumbled into the empty road at the edge of the woods, the city lights in the distance blinked like stars she didn't recognize. The forest was silent behind her now. Her pack was gone. Her power, sealed. All she had was the name she whispered to the night: "Selara."

The city smelled strange of metal, smoke, and hurried lives. And yet, there was a peculiar peace in its chaos. Selara found an abandoned building and collapsed inside, her body trembling from the shift, the betrayal, the shame. In her exhaustion, she didn't notice the soft light that crept in through the broken window... or the quiet footsteps that approached her. In the shadows stood a man tall, olive-skinned, eyes the color of dusk. He stepped forward, crouching beside her with careful concern. "Are you hurt?" he asked. She looked up into the eyes of her future and whispered the first human word she could manage. "Help."