Chapter One

Lana.

I crossed my legs and lifted my chin, schooling my expression to indifference. While, in fact, every part of me was screaming.

I will not cry.

I will not cry.

I will not cry. 

“There she comes!” Mother clapped her hands as she bounced in her seat like a wolf pup high on moondust. I bit my lip, tearing my gaze from her to my sister. “She looks like a princess. Isn’t she breathtaking?”

“Absolutely,” my aunt gushed, elbowing my mother. “And not just a princess, no. A luna.” 

They weren’t wrong. As much as it felt like a dagger slicing through my heart each time I looked at my sister, I wasn’t going to deny what was right in front of me; she was stunning. 

She wore her dream wedding gown, a mermaid snow-white dress encrusted with thousands of tiny diamonds. It must have cost a fortune. But, considering she was marrying the alpha of our pack, you couldn’t expect any less. 

The exact alpha–who, until last week–had been my boyfriend for five years. Until last week, I was convinced he was planning to propose and claim me as his mate. Until a week ago, I bared my soul to him while he secretly prepared to choose someone else as his mate, as I wasn’t deemed fit to rule by his side as a luna. 

“You don’t have a wolf,” his voice cut through my thoughts, resulting in heat pressing behind my eyes. “And you’re too much of a wild card to rule by my side. Sorry, Lana, I hate to say this. You’re not made to be a Luna.”

Don’t cry, damn it!

The dress clung to Valerie’s hips, swaying by her feet as she moved down the aisle with grace fit for a queen. 

On the other end of the aisle, Raymond waited, his shoulders drawn back and a proud expression lit on his face. He hadn’t acknowledged my existence since he dropped the news on me. 

Knowing the whole situation, my parents told me to put on my big girl panties and deal with it while praising my sister for how proud they were of her. 

As for my sister, she apologized profusely and told me she didn’t want to lose me while also admitting that she did like Raymond. A lot. Which, despite the pain it caused me, was a good thing. Because if she didn’t go through with this, she would also get shunned. 

Like me. 

It was hardly fair, considering I didn’t do anything to deserve it. I woke up one day and got rejected by the alpha of our pack. And in the eyes of a werewolf, there was no greater dishonor than getting rejected. The other one was being wolf-less when you turn eighteen. 

The punchline of my big, fat joke of a life? Today was my eighteenth birthday. I would have been shipped off already to some random school for werewolf delinquents hadn’t it been for Valerie’s sheer determination to have me attend the wedding. 

But only for the ceremony. By the time the cake was cut, I would be long gone and a ghost of a memory.

I caught a light scent of vanilla as my sister floated past, her eyes flicking briefly toward me, and a soft smile crept onto her lips. I nodded, offering her a reassuring smile. 

When she faced her attention to her soon-to-be-husband, I sucked in a sob. 

I will not cry.

The ceremony dragged on forever. Raymond’s wedding vowels took up half of it, of how beautiful he deemed my sister and how he had fallen for her the day he’d met her.

That would be the day we went on our first date five years ago. To add insult to injury, my family gushed at that part. 

There was no mention of me, of course. 

My sister’s vowels were short and brief but as good as she could offer for a man she barely knew. 

After they kissed and everyone departed to get to the reception, my Mother turned to face me, her lips drawn tight as she stared down in disdain at me. “The driver is waiting outside. All your belongings are in the trunk. If you find anything missing, message the butler, and he’ll send it over for you.” 

“I need to change into normal clothes first,” I replied, fighting the thickness in my voice. I refused to show her how much I was hurting. “I can’t walk into the academy wearing—”

“The changing rooms are for invited guests only.”

I was invited by the bride, but I had no energy left inside me to argue with my Mother. “Very well.” I squared my shoulders as my father made his way over to us. “Guess this is it, then.”

Mother didn’t hear me or chose not to listen to me, twisting around to throw her arms around my father’s shoulders. He shot me a brief frown, then focused on my Mother. “She looked beautiful, didn’t she?”

“Absolutely breathtaking!” Mother gushed, squeezing his shoulders. “Raymond couldn’t have chosen a better woman to be the pack’s Luna. He picked the right one.”

They kept gushing over how wonderful my sister was and how handsome Raymond looked, completely ignoring my existence. Even when I offered a steady-voiced “Goodbye,” They didn’t acknowledge me. I took that as my cue to leave and walked, shoulders tightly squared and chin raised, out of the back of the church. 

I didn’t show emotion as I marched through the crowds of guests, shooting me dirty looks as I passed them. I didn’t waver when someone amongst them shouted, “Filthy creature.” 

Nor did I flinch when a group of girls from my old school gathered beside my ride, throwing snide comments of, “How can she even walk like that? How embarrassing,” and, “Valerie is so much prettier. No wonder he didn’t want her.”

It all went smoothly until I slid into the back of the dark car with its tinted windows, and the driver locked the doors. 

“Could you please close the screen? I need some privacy back here.” My voice sounded sharp and demanding. Of a woman who got up after falling to her knees and dusted off the dirt like it was nothing. 

The driver inclined his head, pressing the button that made the screen blocking me from his view. The click barely sounded as the screen locked in place when my head dropped into my hands, and silent sobs exploded in violent waves from me. 

I didn’t stop crying for hours until day faded into night, and the last thing I saw was a full moon mocking me from the dark sky in her full, graceful glory.