When the Hidden Luna Rises novel Chapter 1

**Chained by Fate**

**Eliza Rowan**

**When the Hidden Luna Rises**

**Chapter 1**

For five long and wretched years, Kelsey Evans had been trapped in the role of Alpha Ryan’s clandestine Luna, a title that felt more like a shackle than a blessing. Today was no exception; she found herself once again in the cold, unyielding confines of the werewolf precinct, facing the same stinging accusation of being the “other she-wolf.” It was a label that clung to her like a second skin, one that never truly fit.

As she was unceremoniously shoved into a cold metal chair, Kelsey winced at the pain radiating through her bruised body. One side of her face throbbed painfully, swollen and marred with unsightly hues of purple and blue, a testament to the fury of another she-wolf’s wrath. The echoes of that furious roar still reverberated in her ears, a haunting reminder of the violence she had endured.

“Bitch! Still sneaking around after someone else’s Alpha? You deserve whatever beating you get!” The words sliced through her, sharp and venomous.

Her gaze remained fixed on the door, her heart racing with a mixture of fear and longing. There, leaning against his sleek car, stood Ryan Mitchell. A cigarette dangled from his fingers, smoke curling into the air like the tendrils of her hope. His face, a chiseled mask of cold beauty, revealed nothing—no anger, no concern, just an unsettling emptiness.

He had been right upstairs when they dragged her through the streets, hair in hand, a spectacle for all to see. Now, battered and humiliated, all he offered was a detached glance, his voice flat with indifference as he uttered the words that shattered her heart further.

“You deal with this.”

By the time the formalities had concluded and she was finally free to leave, Ryan’s car had long since disappeared into the distance, leaving her feeling more abandoned than ever.

“Where’s Ryan?” Kelsey forced the words out, her voice strained and raw, each syllable a struggle against the weight of her despair.

The Beta attendant frowned, a flicker of impatience crossing his features. “The Alpha is tied up. He cannot be disturbed.”

“What could possibly be more important than his own mate being beaten and tossed into a cell?” Her voice trembled with frustration, the injustice burning in her chest.

The Beta hesitated, his eyes darting away as if the truth were too heavy to bear. Finally, he relented. “He’s with… Luna Claire.”

The name struck her like a physical blow, a dagger to her already bruised heart.

Luna Claire.

Of course. In the eyes of the Stormclaw Pack, she was the true Luna, the rightful mate.

And Kelsey? She was nothing more than a dirty secret, hidden away in the shadows of Ryan’s life.

In that moment, a bitter wave of regret washed over her, overwhelming her senses. Regret for the choice she had made five years ago, for the love she had believed was worth any sacrifice, any pain.

***

Five years ago, she and Ryan had just begun to acknowledge the bond that tied them together as mates. Both of them had come from fractured families—Kelsey, an orphan with no one to call her own, and Ryan, raised in a single-parent home, struggling to find his place in a world that often felt hostile.

Cast out by the other pack kids, they had become each other’s refuge, a sanctuary from the cruelty that surrounded them. Their friendship blossomed in the lonely corners of childhood, slowly weaving itself into something far deeper—a bond forged through a decade of surviving as two against the world.

Then came the day that changed everything. Five years ago, Luna Evelyn had tragically died in a car accident, and in that moment of loss, Ryan’s mother had held his hand tightly, revealing a truth that would alter the course of his life forever.

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