"Ruby Barnette, I, the Alpha, reject you as my Luna!"
The Alpha's voice thundered through the palace hall, shaking the air and silencing everyone inside. No one dared to move. No one even breathed too loudly.
Kneeling below the grand throne, a young woman in a simple white dress kept her head bowed low. Ruby Barnette didn't lift her gaze to the man sitting on that throne, Greysen Hortone, the Alpha and King of the Wridal Kingdom.
"Your Majesty, please think carefully before making a decision." the royal advisor, Edgar Greenway, pleaded as he dropped to one knee. "If you reject the Luna now, it could take years to find another mate."
Greysen scoffed, his face dark with fury. "I'd rather die than accept a cripple as my Luna."
His cold words echoed cruelly. "How can a weak woman like her ever be Queen of Wridal?" he spat.
Earlier that night, under a glowing full moon, the priest from the Moon Temple had arrived with a divine announcement: the Moon Goddess had chosen a mate for the Alpha.
As tradition demanded, every eligible woman in Wridal came to the palace dressed in white, hoping to be chosen.
But no one expected that the moon goddess would choose a weak and crippled werewolf to become Greysen's Luna.
Ruby Barnette.
A werewolf who couldn't shift into a wolf, and couldn't speak since she was born.
Ruby clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. Her ruby-colored eyes flashed with indignation and anger.
She couldn't speak, but that didn't mean she had no voice in her heart.
[I'd rather die than become your Luna!] she screamed silently in her mind.
Around her, people whispered and sneered. Some looked at her with pity. Others with scorn. Many agreed with Greysen, how could a girl like her ever be a Luna?
"The Moon Goddess must have made a mistake!" Greysen shouted again, "My decision to reject her is irrevocable! If anyone tries to contradict my decision, they will end up on the gallows!"
After Greysen said that, the royal advisor didn't dare to speak his mind. It was better for Edgar to follow the king's order than to end up with a death sentence.
Suddenly, Ruby's knees fallen onto the cold floor.
A crushing pain hit her chest. It wasn't just heartbreak, it felt like something sacred had shattered. As if her soul was being torn apart by thousands of knives.
It must be a curse of the Moon Goddess.
When an Alpha rejects his destined mate, the pain that follows is said to be unbearable.
There were even rumors that a rejected Luna might die because she couldn't stand the pain.
Tears spilled down Ruby's cheeks. The pain was so sharp, she could barely breathe.
In that moment, she hated everything—Greysen, the Goddess who chose her, the people who stared at her like she was nothing, and even her own body that still longed for his acceptance despite the hatred in her heart.
Ruby opened her mouth, trying to scream her curse, but only a soft whisper came out.
[I curse you, Greysen. I'll curse you until the day I die!]
"Guards! Get this cripple out of my sight! I'm sick of looking at her!"
Two palace guards stepped forward without hesitation. They grabbed Ruby by the arms, trying to drag her to her feet even though she was still in pain.
But Ruby didn't let them. With all the strength she had left, she pulled away from their grasp and shot a cold, piercing glare at Greysen.
Then, with her chin held high, she turned and marched toward the palace doors.
Gasps filled the hall. Hundreds of eyes followed her every step, judging her for daring to defy the Alpha, the king of the Wridal Kingdom.
But Ruby didn't care.
She had already been humiliated enough that night. She refused to let them toss her out like garbage. If she had to leave, she would leave with her head held high.
Holding the pain in her chest, Ruby walked toward the door of the hall. She tried to wipe away the tears that kept flowing, feeling that there was no point in crying over an asshole.
"Stop!" Greysen's voice boomed again. "How dare you act like this in front of me!"
He was the strongest Alpha in the kingdom, every werewolf under his rule was bound to his command. And so, when Greysen gave the order, Ruby's body froze against her will.
"Ruby Barnette! Didn't your family teach you any manners? Should I punish all of them for your behavior?!"
The hall fell silent again until a well-dressed man rushed forward and dropped to his knees in front of the throne.
"Your Majesty, please forgive my family," he said desperately. "My daughter Ruby is a little retarded and doesn't always know her place. If Your Majesty allows, I'll handle her myself."
Ruby scoffed in her heart. [Of course. Now you speak up. Not when I was insulted, not when I was rejected, but the moment your reputation is on the line, suddenly you care.]
The man was Jacob Barnette, Ruby's father.
Greysen let out a long sigh, and his face relaxed just slightly. "Very well, Marquess Barnette. Because of your past service to the crown, I'll let it go for now. You can discipline your daughter however you see fit."
"But let me be clear," Greysen continued sharply. "If she ever acts out in front of me again, I won't be so forgiving."
Jacob bowed even lower, trying to hide the shame and bitterness burning in his chest. "Thank you, Your Majesty. Your kindness humbles me."
Greysen leaned back lazily in his throne. "What a shame," he said coldly. "If only your daughter weren't a cripple, maybe you could've gone far. But instead, she's nothing but a stain on your name."
Jacob clenched his jaw, rage bubbling beneath his calm expression. But instead of defending his daughter, he agreed with the king's words. "Your Majesty is right. It is ... a disgrace."
• • •
Thwack!
The sharp crack of a rattan cane echoed through the room as it struck Ruby's back.
The force made her body jolt forward slightly, but she didn't cry out. She just gritted her teeth, trying to bear the pain she'd grown far too familiar with.
"Shameless girl!" Jacob Barnette shouted. "His Majesty rejected you, and you still dare to act proud?"
Thwack!
"Why did a cripple like you have to be born into my family?!"
Thwack!
"At the last banquet, the nobles laughed behind my back and mocked me for having a useless child! And tonight, the king humiliated me in front of everyone!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Again and again, the cane came down on Ruby's back. Each strike tore through her thin clothes, scraping her skin until blood started to seep through.
The rough edges of the rattan left red lines down her back.
She had endured countless beatings before, but tonight felt different.
The pain wasn't just physical, it clung to her heart like a curse, wrapping tightly around her soul like the Moon Goddess's rejection wasn't enough.
"Dad, why don't you just throw her out already?" whined Liliana Barnette, the Marquess' second daughter. "It's embarrassing every time my friends find out I'm related to her!"
Taylor, the oldest son, didn't hesitate to add, "Yeah, what's the point of keeping trash like her around?"
After being satisfied with beating Ruby, Jacob finally tossed the cane aside with a loud clatter, then kicked Ruby in the ribs, sending her sprawling onto the cold marble floor.
"You're right," he said bitterly. "As long as she lives under this roof, the Barnette name will keep getting dragged through the mud."
Demetria Barnette, the Marchioness, nodded in agreement. "And we should get rid of that lunatic mother of hers too. It's about time this family took out the trash."
Ruby trembled, her body aching from head to toe, but what hurt the most wasn't the beating.
It was hearing them talk about her mother like that.
Her hands clenched into fists, her jaw tight with rage. Her eyes, filled with fury, locked onto the Marchioness, who leaned closer and whispered coldly in her ear.
"You and that insane woman should've died years ago … Just like your brother, Oscar."
At that moment, something in Ruby snapped.
Her eyes blazed with a rage so fierce, it made her forget the pain. But before she could even do something, a loud smack echoed in the room.
Slap!
Within seconds, a brutal slap landed on Ruby's cheek. "How dare you look at me like that?" the Marchioness hissed.
Due to the increasingly unfavorable situation, Marquess Barnette finally decided to have Ruby removed from the room.
"Enough. Guards! Take her to Concubine Helena's room. Let them both sleep tonight, tomorrow we throw them out."
The guards moved fast, grabbing Ruby roughly by the arms. She didn't fight them this time because her body was too weak and her spirit had been broken.
As she was pulled from the room, Ruby looked back at her family.
Each of them was surrounded by a faint color that only she could see.
Green.
The color of disgust.
It glowed around them, so strong, so thick, it was almost suffocating. They couldn't even look at her without feeling sick.
[If I had a choice,] Ruby thought bitterly, [I'd never want to be part of this disgusting family either.]