Friday Night

Destiny's POV

Cold air seeped through my bones as I kicked my legs faster. Growls and snarls from my packmates followed sharply behind me. This was definitely not how I had expected to spend my Friday night—being chased by the pack I had been born and raised in.

My pulse raced as I moved through the forest. The crescent moon in the thick indigo sky followed discreetly.

“Destiny, Destiny, what makes you think you can run from us?” a voice from one of the enforcers taunted beside me, and my breath hitched. Panic almost overwhelmed me. He swiped a claw that I dodged as I picked up speed.

There was no way I was going to let them get to me. No way.

But how exactly was a 21-year-old werewolf who had just shifted for the first time going to outrun five fully grown werewolves? My newly acquired advanced sight allowed me to see clearly through the darkness, and the speed that came with being a shifter helped me avoid the swipes of the claws of the terrifying wolves inching closely behind me.

Despite the chill in the air, a beaded sweat rolled down my back as I passed trees and thick bushes, not daring to glance back. There was little chance of me escaping this chase alive—so little chance, especially as I was still in my human form.

I gritted my teeth. “Please come out,” I said in between heavy breaths, willing my wolf to take over as I sprinted.

But my wolf didn't budge. How could she? She was too damaged, too heartbroken, too fragile. She whimpered in response, retreating behind the high walls around my heart.

Pain pierced through me as a claw swiped behind my legs, piercing the skin there. I took it as my cue to increase my speed; now the distinct smell of copper mixed with the earth followed me, coupled with the strong smell of adrenaline that filled the air. I let out a curse under my breath; I was just prey to them.

If only my wolf could just come—

Someone tackled me from behind before I could make a turn to the right—to the path that led to the river—sending me crashing hard to the ground. Despite my newly acquired strength, the air was knocked out of my lungs at the sheer force of the impact, and pain resonated through my entire being.

A huge dark-furred wolf pressed his paw onto my back; his claw dug into my skin as he growled into my ear, threatening me to stay down.

And as I lay on the ground, squirming in pain, I could only think that maybe this was how it was always meant to be—just like when my parents had died, when their bodies had been burned alive before my very eyes. Maybe it was meant to be like this for me too.

Maybe it was my fate.

****

Ten Hours Earlier

“In conclusion, Destiny not only lost control of herself because she was angry; she also attempted to murder Nicole,” one of our pack enforcers ranted.

Whispers and accusatory glances were thrown my way as my vision blurred with tears. The entire Venus Pack stood outside under the blazing sun, on the spot where the fate of an accused was usually determined.

It was where decisions like whether a wolf should be punished, killed, or even worse, banished, were established.

I was standing right in the middle with my hands chained together, still in the pink nightgown I usually wore to bed. Before now, some enforcers had barged into my house and dragged me into the streets despite my yells, pleas, and the one question I kept throwing their way-“What the fuck did I do?”

It had only earned me a few hits to my face. One would think that at least the rules of “not guilty until proven otherwise” would apply here in the Venus Pack. Well, it did; I was just an exception.

It was no surprise that this was happening to me. I was an outcast, the one whose parents had committed treason by going against the alpha.

So, even though I had no idea what that enforcer had sprouted out of his mouth against me, and even though I had never, for once in my life, been engaged in any violent activity (except for being on the receiving end of it), even though I had just been ten when my parents committed treason and had no freaking idea about what they had plotted, everyone still believed that, yes, just as my parents had attempted to go against the Alpha, I had also attempted to murder Nicole.

Nicole Donovan, the supposed victim in this situation, was bawling her eyes out, her hands in her brunette hair, with her head resting on her older brother's shoulders, Ethan Donovan, the beta and right-hand man of the Alpha. He had a scowl on his face, and something that looked like hate flashed in his eyes as he glared at me.

I pushed down the hurt that spiked through me from that look alone and averted my gaze.

“So you're telling me that Destiny, who hadn't shifted yet, attacked Nicole, who has shifted for a year now, with a silver blade that almost went through her heart?” our Alpha, Rex, summarized. He was sprawled on his makeshift throne; the elders and other wolves sat beside him.

“Yes, sir,” the enforcer affirmed.

Rex let his gaze fall on me, disdain etched on his face. “And what do you say about this?”

My heart dropped as I held his gaze for a second before letting it drop. There was no need to try to plead my case; he already believed the accusations. I clenched my fist.

“I didn't do any of those things. I was in bed throughout the night,” I let out.

“You bitch, you came at me with a blade and ran it through me!” Nicole's voice screeched in my ears, making my skin crawl.

I had always known that she hated me, just like most of the pack members. They believed that I was just like my parents, and they never ceased to let me forget it. My mere presence was a reminder of what my parents did, and since they could not kill me like they did my parents—since I was a kid when my parents did what they did—they resorted to using every other means possible to make my life miserable.

Over the past 10 years since my parents' death, I had been walking on eggshells, especially around Nicole. Not that it helped, as I was always a subject of their bullying.

“I have done nothing to you except mind my business where you were concerned, and almost killing me is how you return the favor?” Fake tears poured out of her eyes, and I couldn't help but drop my jaw in disbelief at her lie.

I could not for the life of me fathom why she would go this low. I knew she hated me, but this was far-fetched.

“Why did you do it?” Rex rasped. He was asking the wrong question; what he should be asking was how on Earth I, a werewolf who hadn't even shifted yet, had gotten the strength to attack a full-blown wolf without any of my blood spilling or without receiving any serious injury. There was even no proof of the dagger I had supposedly rammed through her chest.

I, for one, knew that if I had actually attacked Nicole like she said I did, I wouldn't be standing here, but I didn't dare open my mouth. I didn't dare question the Alpha.

He raised a brow. “I asked you a question.”

As I opened my mouth to speak, a surge of pain spiked through my body, and I fell to my knees. All the hair on my skin stood on end as tingles grazed every single ounce of my cells. My breath hitched, and my heart pounded at an alarming rate. A sound of agony escaped my lips.

What the fuck was happening to me?

Around me, the others seemed to give me a wide berth, as if I were some infection they didn't want to contact. With a force, both my arms fell to the floor; the snap of my bones filled the air, and every single crack resonated as dark fur replaced skin. My joints broke with a pop.

It was obvious I was having my first shift.

The shackles that bound my hands together broke as my bones expanded. My jaw contracted slowly, forming in place to contain my wolf’s canines, and after what felt like an eternity, my wolf was fully formed.

She was no doubt smaller than most wolves. My vision was sharper. My wolf's dark fur gleamed in the sun as she sniffed the air.

Shampoo. Meat. Sweat. Hate.

But there was something else. Something that smelled so good. Sparkles bubbled up inside me as my wolf’s gaze collided with Ethan's.

He smelled like he had been dipped in roses, combined with the dewy scent of the morning. It made my wolf want to rub herself all over him, so she took a step further.

Ethan's eyes widened as he, too, noticed it.

Mate. He was our mate.

Hope swirled inside me. Ethan was the beta. He could let everyone else see reason—see that I shouldn't be suffering for my parents' decisions. He could convince them to accept me.

As my wolf got closer to our mate, Rex spoke, the alpha command strong in his voice, “Shift.”

Energy surged through me, and against my will, my fur turned agonizingly slowly into skin, and my human form snapped into place.

My torn nightgown lay on the floor, and I became hyper-aware of my naked form. But I didn't move to cover any bits of myself; it would only intensify my embarrassment.

“She’s my mate,” Ethan said, his fist clenched, the disdain not leaving his eyes.

My hope dwindled.

Gasps and sounds of disgust filled the air as the others whispered amongst themselves.

“What are you going to do about her being your mate?” Rex asked Ethan, his eyes still on me.

Ethan closed his eyes as if struggling with himself before he opened them, determination etched in his brown orbs. “She tried to kill my sister; there's no way I'd take someone who tried to kill my family and whose parents tried to kill my Alpha as my mate.” He snapped; the venom he spat sent pain that threatened to dissect my heart in two. It shot through my entire being.

My wolf almost howled from the intensity of his words.

“W-what?” My voice croaked as I took a step backward; his words had hit me like a truck.

Beside him, Nicole smirked, her eyes twinkling with wicked delight.

“I'd never accept you as my mate.” Ethan's hardened brown eyes were filled with disgust as he let his gaze wash over my naked form.

My wolf winced, and my heart broke into a tiny million pieces. Tears pooled in my eyes.

“But I didn't do any of those things Nicole said I did. I would never.” I tried to reason with him, anything that could ease the burn in my chest, the agony my wolf felt.

“Are you calling my sister a liar?” he snapped back, and Nicole's smirk widened.

I wanted to yell, to scream, to beg, to cry, to do anything to make him believe me. I didn't care if no one else did; as long as he believed me, everything would be fine, and my wolf would be calm.

“What do you suggest we do to her?” Rex's cold voice interrupted my thoughts, and dread ransacked through my bones.

“Please, I did nothing to her. Please believe me.” My pleas fell on deaf ears as the whole pack discussed among themselves, deciding my fate.

“Banish her.”

I froze.

It was Ethan who had spoken.

No. No. Not banishment. The rejection had been enough to weaken my wolf to the point of almost losing my mind. The fact that Ethan, my mate, had been the one to suggest it… it hurt.

I didn't hold my tears back as they dropped to the ground. The others seemed to like this idea as they nodded in agreement. I looked around in bewilderment. No one, not one person, seemed to have my back.

I let my gaze land on Ethan's again, hoping he would see the truth in my eyes. He was my only hope.

He held my gaze for a bit before he dropped it. “I, Ethan Donovan, reject you, Destiny Levine as my mate." Then he turned and left.

Immediately after those words left his mouth, a tremor ran through my body, forcing my knees to the ground. A howl escaped my lips as the bond that had seemed to form between us cracked, and anguish raced through me.

As if that wasn't enough, the words that left my Alpha's mouth became my undoing, both for me and my wolf:

“You’re banished from the Venus Pack. You are not allowed, under any circumstances, to step foot back on this ground.”