Chapter 1

I heard shouts of victory and noise from all sides, and I sighed in despair. Here they are, the rogue pack led by my father, Wilson, celebrating the spoils they have captured. Today’s victory was theirs. I felt sad that my father was the leader of these rogues.

What kind of parent is this?!

Curiosity drove me out, so I got out of my tent and walked through a crowded pile of trees with quick steps so that no one would notice me. I stood alone behind a huge tree trunk, watching them from afar.

How could I get closer?! I'm Sophia. The most ostracized member of the pack, I have reached sixteen years of age, and I have not transformed, and my wolf has not yet appeared, unlike my sister Lucia, who is loved by everyone, who transformed at the age of fourteen, and her wolf was one of the strongest wolves in the pack, and I do not know what my fault is in this delay!

Is that why everyone treats me so inferiorly?

My heartbeat quickened as I noticed him getting closer, and I felt like it had become loud enough to cover up the sound of the palms striking the tambourine. Instead of coming near me, he confidently moved in the direction of Lucia, who was dancing gracefully around the burning flames of some pieces of firewood, which had been collected for this vulgar celebration. All eyes looked at her in amazement.

I exhaled my breath slowly, trying to calm down the outburst of my strong feelings towards him. I loved him secretly, and I knew that my heart would only experience torment in this forbidden love of mine because Nikolai only sees Lucia as his mate.

After she turns eighteen and proves that she is the one chosen by the Moon Goddess, their marriage will be announced.

Suddenly, I was caught spying when Lucia's eyes fell on me while I was giving him loving looks. A sly smile appeared on Lucia's lips, and she approached him, taking his hand and pulling him with her to the dance floor. She leaned towards him seductively, and her gloating glances cast at me said a lot.

A groan of pain crept into my chest, and I felt as if a poisoned double-edged dagger had its blade expertly turned, penetrating my ribs. Tears gathered in my eyes when I saw my childhood love with someone else.

I have more rights over him than her. He had never been her dream. I made a mistake when I told her what was in my heart for him.

Where was my mind at that time?! I thought I was revealing what was bothering me to my sister and my well of secrets, but I did not know that her eyes were always looking at what I aspired to, and she was not satisfied with the beauty that was given to her by the gods.

She cast her magic on him and courted him until she convinced everyone that she was the expected mate of Nikolai, but my traitor heart was still in love with him.

My thoughts were interrupted by Lucia's sarcastic voice as she said to me, "Why are you hiding in the dark?! Are you ashamed of your ugliness, or are you hiding how low you are while looking at what is not yours?”

I hope my vocal cords obey me so that I can scream at them and declare to everyone that I loved him before her. And whoever she claims is not mine, she is the one who took it from me. But is anyone listening?!

I swallowed my angry words and decided to pick up the pieces of my disappointment and leave the fawning crowd. I didn't want to seem like a jealous bastard, especially after everyone's gazes turned towards me.

I felt naked in front of them. Some laughed mockingly, others looked at me with disdain, and some of them looked at me with pity.

I ran into the forest, escaping from their curious eyes, with tears streaming down my cheeks. I stumbled several times and almost fell, but all I cared about was getting as far away from the gazes of these bullies as I could.

Finally, I reached the lake, my secret place that no one knows about, and suddenly a severe flash of pain hit me. I closed my eyes and began to suffer in silence. I knew then that I was about to transform and that I had to endure all of this alone, without encouragement or support from members of the pack, without celebration as usually happens.

Although we are a pack of Rogers, we have rituals that we recite in our celebrations, but I do not want anyone to know about my conversion. I do not want to be part of their world, which I detest—the world of pursuers who have no land. We are shedding the blood of our own kind, plundering, and banditing the roads.

Yes, our pack is a traveling mercenary, and we ended up hiding in this remote forest because there are many who demand our annihilation.

I breathed hard as I listened to the sound of my bones crushing, and the pain inside me was unbearable, and every muscle in my body groaned as if it were about to explode. A frightening feeling like taking a soul.

Finally, after several minutes, it seemed like a lifetime that would never end. My suffering came to an end when the pain I felt stopped. I heard a voice saying, "Hello, Sophia."

At first, I was surprised and asked, "Hey, who are you?!"

After a few seconds, I received the reply: "Look at your reflection on the water to know the answer to this ridiculous question of yours. I am your wolf, Alora, you idiot."

Despite the pain and hardship I endured, I was so happy as I looked towards the water and saw something I had never seen before.

I wasn't in my human form. The image of Alora's body was dancing on the surface of the water, and I murmured admiringly, "Oh, Alora! You're amazing!"

My eyes turned, and I looked at us in amazement. She was a huge wolf, twice the size of the wolves in our pack, and she had the brightest white fur I had ever seen before, and her legs were covered in thick black fur.

My eyes went to that silvery wavy tail, and a strange marking tattoo caught my attention—a tattoo of a crown with a red crescent above it on the top of my left foot.

Alora shook her tail proudly, saying, "We are lucky. The moon goddess has blessed us with a great gift, the value of which you will not know now. Be patient."

I still felt the shock, so I remained silent, not knowing what to say, but I had a wonderful feeling watching our reflection in the water.

I gasped in horror, saying, "We must return before my father finds out I am gone."

I had not finished my sentence until the howling of a pack of wolves shattered the silence surrounding the place, except for the sound of trickling water falling from the top of a waterfall and pouring its water into the lake.

Thanks to the keen sense of hearing that we now enjoy, I heard one of them say, "The pack of rogues must be found and eliminated before sunrise, for what they did last night will not go unpunished."

A distinct scent attracted us, so Alora and I followed it until we found ourselves in front of a pack led by a huge, terrifying wolf with pitch-black fur and blood-red eyes.

As soon as he noticed our presence, he exchanged vague signals with those who joined him. Some of them picked them up, and others attacked us, but they froze when he shouted at them, and I heard him say, "Be careful not to let any of you harm her. She's my mate, Luna Alpha Alexander."

I stood there for a moment in shock, then said to Alora, "Damn, our mate! He's the alpha of the Red Moon Pack; what bad luck! If he finds out that I am Wilson's daughter, the one who demands his head, he will get rid of us immediately."

She answered me with frustration, "What a curse!! Next doom."