Prologue

Loud cheers rang out from the hallway. Students, fleeing from the prom dance floor, ran towards the scene, grinning. Following the footsteps of the cheers, a strange heaviness knotted my gut. My heart was throbbing, daring to rip out of its cage. With slow and heavy steps, I approached the direction of the cheer.

What’s going on? I wondered, placing a hand on my chest. My classmates had formed a big circle around something going on  then I heard my boyfriend’s voice say: “to the love of my life..” 

“What the heck?” I pushed through the heaviness of prom dresses, earning groanings and frowns. Then I made my way out and stood at the center. 

“Will you be my girlfriend and chosen mate?” Roger, my boyfriend, asked a petite blonde (Emily), one knee on the ground as he held a clearly fake diamond ring to her finger. “I promise I can’t live without you.’ 

“Yes, baby!” She grinned, sliding her finger into the ring.

My entire body began to tremble, a loud ringing sound filled my ears. Roger got up, grabbed her waist, and kissed her. 

‘No, mo way.’ Maya, my wolf screamed, shaking vigorously within me. 

I wanted to yell, fight, jump on them, yet my body betrayed me and did nothing but quiver. Roger’s back faced me as he tasted the flavors of her lips. Her hand rummaged through his already-disheveled brown curls like they were on a TV show. The crowd around us cheered them on.  

I scurried and grabbed his shoulder, forcing his heavy figure to spin around. Once my eyes came in contact with those sparking ocean blue eyes, I burst into tears. “R-Roger. How dare you? We promised to get married. It’s our third anniversary, and our prom night!” I clutched his collar, pulling him to me. “we…We’re supposed to be self-chosen mates today! My family…our families… They already prepared for the ceremony. We are to perform our mate ceremony. Wh-what is this?” I stuttered. 

His eyebrows creased up and he yanked my hands from his body. “Stop with this childish nonsense. We’ll talk when we get home.” 

He attempted to turn around, but I held him. “Please.” My eyes welled up. 

Flashes from our classmates’ phones had surrounded us, laughter thundering from them, yet the only thing that I looked onto was my Roger. 

I cupped his face, forcing him to look at me. His eyes were usually filled with hope that pushed me through the past three years, the love and care that made me melt in his presence. However, this time, they read nothing but emptiness and something that seemed like… disgust. “It's a prank, right?” A nervous chuckle escaped my lips and I forced a smile. 

“Right.” He nodded. No relief came from his words; judging from his tone, there was more. “Whatever we had was a prank. How could you be so foolish and naïve?” His friends laughed, cheering him to continue. “You were always this quiet kid that vowed to protect her virginity till marriage and made life hard for all the boys around. What did you think? That you’re Cinderella and your prince has come to save you.” He scoffed while our classmates burst out laughing, hollering chants at him..”Idiot.” That made something crumble inside of me. “The only thing you and your family can boast of, is your generational poverty and misery. Did  you think I, the Gamma son, walking up to you  and showing interest out of the blues was ordinary? You were nothing but a bet.”

My heart sank further, the hair on my skin rising from the chill.  Suddenly, from the point of contact of his skin, I felt a strange spark, one I had never felt before. It was an electrocution that jolted over my body. With it, my wolf screamed, ‘MATE!’ Wow, destiny. You just had to do that right now?

His eyes widened and he pushed me away, making me land butt flat against the hard, wooden floor that had never been cleaned for decades. 

“No freaking way we’re mates!” he groaned, turning to hit the locker on the side. His announcement triggered gasps and indistinct chattering from the crowd surrounding us. 

He glared down at me, his face a shade of hot red. “I, Roger Brown…” my body began trembling tremendously. I shook my head,  trying to snap him out of this. 

“Don’t you dare play with me like that.” I warned. 

He ignored me and started again, “I, Roger Brown, reject you, Lyric Ashton, as my mate. I disagree with such a stupid bond, and I hope we never have any dealings together again.” He spat. 

My heart was struck with a sharp , unseen object. I held my chest tightly, my eyes widened in shock. 

“Yeah, man. That was good.” One of his friends laughed, giving him a high five, and he had the audacity to laugh back!

“I mean, she was never worth it in the first place.” Another said. 

Emily snaked an arm around his shoulder, and he leaned down to kiss her forehead, a proud smile on his face. 

My entire body was hurting, confirming that it was reality. I wanted to force myself to zone out and snap out of this world, but I couldn't. The pain from the rejection burned me from  the depth of  my soul. 

Scanning the room with tear-filled eyes, I observed the flashes from phones, and the mocking laughter directed at me. 

One last glance at Roger kissing Emily was all I needed to jerk to my feet and run, ignoring the heaviness of my floor-sweeping, silver prom dress. As soon as I bursted out of the doors of the school, I kicked my heels off my feet. 

“Hey, watch it!” a couple hollered at me. 

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. My attention was divided. Not only was my chest heavy, every fiber of my being burned from the rejection, my vision was blinded by my tears, images of Roger’s action kept sprawling in.

My wolf forcefully took control of my body, ripping my prom dress. With that, I was able to run faster in my paws, yet even in my wolf form, an unseen fire was laced around me.

The moment I got home, I kicked the door open, ignoring the horrible stench of alcohol and fell in my Mom’s lap. 

“What's wrong, baby?” she asked, her voice raspy and reeking of alcohol and horrid substances. 

I switched back to my human form and just cried in her laps. “”I’ll never have a mate again! Never! All these stupid werewolf things, never again!” I wailed. 

“What's wrong?” she coughed, lifting my head up to catch her worry-filled gaze.  

“I should’ve listened to you last year and given up on my werewolf life to just move away and live a normal life, but I stayed back for stupid Roger.” With trembling hands, I held her hands tightly. “Let’s move far away and never come back. No mates, no stupid pack, and no werewolves. I just want to be normal.” I sobbed.