Alpha's 52 Rejections

1.

For five years, I was supposed to be Kael's Luna.

Instead, he used fifty-two marking ceremonies to prove to the Moon Goddess that he didn't deserve me.

The first time, the Omega girl he’d rescued, Elara, got "lost" during a hunt. He immediately stopped the ceremony to find her, leaving me alone on the ritual altar as the power of our unfinished bond faded into the cold wind.

The second time, during tense negotiations with a rival pack, he felt Elara being bullied through their mind link.