Chapter 1 : A Twist of Fate

*Vanessa*

I don’t recognize the girl in the mirror.

She has my dark hair, bound up in a bridal half-up, half-down style, accented by crystal pins. Her skin is flush with nervousness. But the biggest thing that makes her hard for me to recognize, is the look of pure excitement on her face.

My face.

It’s not an expression I wear very often.

Around me, some of the female shifters who volunteered to help me get ready are talking amongst themselves about the coming mating ceremony. We’re not exactly friends but we are neighbors, and in this pack, that’s the closest any of us will get.

I look over my reflection in the mirror. I wanted something simple, a dress that would be an accessory to the main thing: the pendant around my neck. My mating-token.

Analogous to what humans would use as engagement rings, the pendant was Trent’s gift to me once we discovered we were fated mates – his promise to me that this day was going to come.

“Almost time,” says Kaira. She’s a few years younger than me and stays in the apartment above mine with her older sister, Lian.

Out of all my neighbors, she’s the one I think of as someone resembling an actual friend, though we aren’t close like Ramona and I are. There’s an innocence to her – all the pack hierarchy and politics haven’t dampened her kindness. She looks at me with curious blue eyes, and I know that she’s just as excited as I am for today.

All of us who were abandoned in some way or other to solitude live together in this apartment block. Though not officially designated housing, it’s pretty much expected that orphaned or widowed shifters, and the occasional straggler, all move here. We’re still part of the pack but are sort of relegated off to the side while others with strong bonds band together. We live closest to the woods and generally take on most of the grunt work.

And even though we don’t exactly make it a habit to talk about our misfortune, there’s an air of stubborn hope that permeates the block, pungent as the smell of the oak trees that construct the woodlands just outside of our little community.

If one of us could find happiness and belonging, well, that meant it was possible for everyone.

That’s what Trent was to me. He’d always been kind and patient despite the passive hostility of the rest of the pack due to my status. So, when we were discovered to be fated mates, it took little for me to fall for him. I know that with time, what I feel will only grow stronger. After all, this bond is rare enough, considered among wolf shifters as a kiss of luck from the Moon Goddess herself.

I give Kaira a tentative smile. “Yeah. I’m almost scared that it’s just a dream.”

She offers me a small, uncertain but genuine smile of her own and reaches out to pinch my arm. I yelp.

“Nope. Definitely not a dream then,” she says, and we both laugh a little. Moments like these make it seem like we have a place here. It’s easy to forget that we’re technically outsiders just waiting for the opportunity to be let in.

“Do you want to have the Alpha on your case for hurting his mate?” Lian asks, joining in on the light-hearted conversation. “I’d watch myself if I was you.”

“Well, when Vanessa becomes Luna, she can just convince him to spare me,” Kaira says conspiratorially. Her sister rolls her eyes.

“I don’t think she’s stupid enough to think her position would offer her that much power. No offense, Vanessa,” Lian adds, her nose upturned in a way that makes me think her comments aren’t as friendly as she claims.

Lian and I aren’t anything like friends.

But she does have a point. I’d never take my future position for granted. It was one of the reasons I put as much effort as I did into learning all I could about becoming a Luna worthy of the title.

“None taken,” I reply, deciding not to overthink too much. Not today.

It’s around the time to leave for the procession anyway. I take a deep breath and Kiara reaches out to give my hand a quick squeeze. It’s a small gesture, one that to those used to affection and friendship might not mean too much. To me though, it’s enough to settle some of the nerves twisting my insides.

The other shifters hurry out to take their place, and I look around for Ramona only to realize that I haven’t seen her for most of today.

“See you at the Grove, Vanessa,” Lian calls out, and I think I must be imagining the sneer in her voice as she leaves last.

But again, there’s no time for overthinking.

I make my way outside of the apartment, taking the paved trail that eventually leads into the woods. My senses fill with the fresh air and sights and sounds of the commune.

Hostile or not, I can’t deny that our community is beautiful. The buildings are as old as the pack, well-tended by our workers and reminiscent of art deco architecture.

But that serves mainly as a distraction from the magic of the woods.

At the center is the Grove, the steps marked by an ornate stone ring that looks like a small single-level amphitheater.

That’s where I’ll meet Trent and say the vows that will acknowledge our bond and bind us for life. The thought of it speeds up my heartbeat and every step I take towards the Grove seems to push me back even further. But I know the second I see his face, my nerves will disappear. I just need to reach him, to feel his hands in mine and hear his voice reassure me that the Moon Goddess chose well, that I was meant to be his lover and his partner.

Usually, I’d be accompanied by one or both of my parents. But I lost them at a young age and was raised by a distant aunt and uncle who claimed they had business that would take them out of town this entire month. So instead, I walk alone. But I keep my head high, knowing that I’m walking toward the start of my new family and new future.

When I start to see the clearing, I immediately know that something’s off. From the look of things, there’s already something occupying the audience’s attention. I try to make out what I can, but the crowd of wolves obstructs my view from the center.

As I draw near and some of them begin to notice that I’m there, the feeling of dread in my stomach only intensifies. I’m regarded with odd looks and even some poorly concealed laughter. Contempt. I’m used to being ignored, but not flat-out mocked.

I swallow hard and continue to push through the crowd, however, not wanting anyone to see my confusion or fear until I finally reach the center. Trent is there right where he’s supposed to be waiting for me … but he’s not alone.

Where I am supposed to be standing is Ramona.

My throat tightens and confusion muddies my mind.

“Trent?” I ask uncertainly, trying as hard as I can to keep my voice steady. “What’s going on? What is this?”

He turns to face me, but there’s no shock in his expression. There’s no shame, embarrassment, or anything that can suggest he feels bad about whatever this is supposed to be. Instead, he looks perfectly content. As though everything is normal and my entire world has not just been turned upside down.

“This is my mating ceremony, what else?”

A few snickers go up from the watching wolves and my eyes dart to the crowd. Somehow, they find Kaira, who looks at me with concern. But beside her, Lian is bearing a knowing smile. I feel like I’m going to be sick.

“How are you having a mating ceremony without your mate?” I turn my attention back to Trent.

The look he gives me sends chills down my spine. I might as well be a stranger for the indifference in his green eyes.

Sharp pain pierces my heart as though he’s driven a knife right through it.

“You’re no longer my mate, Vanessa,” he retorts, using the authoritative voice he reserved for directing lower wolves. My mouth goes dry.

“What are you saying?” My voice is quiet, but the dead silence around the Grove seems to amplify it.

For the first time, Ramona draws my attention. She flounces, an annoyed look on her face as she touches his arm. Her betrayal is almost as painful as Trent’s.

How did this happen? How could the two people I trusted more than anyone else do this to me? How could I have missed this?

My mind is a flurry of thoughts, and only the next words from my Alpha slice through the noise.

“Regardless of whether we’re fated to be together or not, I claim Ramona as my mate. I reject you formally as both my mate and Luna.”

I take a step back as though the declaration is a physical thing that slammed into me. This was unheard of. It was impossible.

Everyone knew that finding one’s fated mate was a rare but blessed occurrence that only very few wolves were lucky enough to experience in their lifetime. It was an object of jealousy from those who were denied this bond. How could he cast it aside so easily?

“You don’t mean that.” I sound pathetic to my own ears, and the tinkling laughter from Ramona only confirms it. “You can’t mean that. If the Goddess—”

“Whether the Goddess has ordained this or not, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re ill-suited for being this pack’s Luna.” He turns to face the rest of the crowd, drawing them into his speech. “This pack needs a strong wolf to stand as my partner and you don’t meet that metric. Your weakness will mean their ruin. I have no choice but to choose someone who will help me take this pack from strength to strength.”

Behind him, Ramona turns her poisonous grin on me and I resist the surge of fire that leaps in my belly. I want to rage against this. I want to defend myself, but I can’t find the words. Perhaps he’s right, maybe I’m too weak to even protest his rejection and to put to use the fury I feel in my veins.

Tears of anger and pain well up my eyes, and the strongest thing I can do is to keep them from falling.

***

Months.

It’s been months before Trent finally decides to reach out to me. He’s asked me to meet him in the woods and I don’t think twice before agreeing to seeing him.

Trent’s rejection of me wasn’t his alone. Instead, the entire pack seems to have rejected me too. Whereas before I was bothered but not broken by their indifference to me, active disdain now turned every single day of my life into a nightmare.

I was reallocated to custodial work, the lowest branch of labor. No one spoke to me anymore unless it was to spit an insult at me, not even those in my apartment. Even Kaira, who tried to greet me once, was immediately whisked away by her sister as though my low standing was contagious.

I became a pariah, someone the pack despised and treated accordingly.

But despite the hurt and confusion I feel, I know that I’m owed answers. And if Trent is going to make me trek toward the very edge of our territory line, then I will get them.

It takes me a few hours to reach the meeting point and by the time I get there, I’m almost delirious with both the heat of the baking sun and the foolish hope that he’ll apologize. That may be the reason he’s called me out this far is because his pride and ego won’t let him confess that he was wrong anywhere others can hear it.

I don’t have to wait for long.

He finds me soon enough, his familiar handsome face looming out of the tree line. It’s tempting to be charmed by those features again, but I brace myself against that with the memory of his betrayal. I do not know the stranger behind that face like I thought I did.

“What have you done to me?” I ask, not bothering to address him by his formal title.

“No respect for your Alpha, Ness?” he asks, the use of his old nickname for me grating on my ears. I scowl.

“I want answers,” I demand. “An Alpha doesn’t override an important bond like that without an explanation.”

His face darkens. “You don’t get to tell me what an Alpha would or wouldn’t do.”

“You lied about me to the entire pack. You called me weak when you know how hard I’ve worked to earn my place. How much strategizing did I help you with? How much intel did I collect for you? You—”

“I don’t need to explain anything to you.” He reaches me in three long strides and, for the first time, fear clutches my heart. His voice is wrong. There’s no warmth, no familiarity, nothing that makes me feel even slightly safe with him.

Instead, like his face, his tone is deadpan. He grabs my chin, his fingers splayed against my jaw and squeezing hard enough to cause me pain. I cry out and he backs me up until I’m pressed against a tree.

“But seeing as I brought you all the way out here, I’ll oblige. Do you know why I chose to replace you? Because you’re boring. God, it was fun while it lasted, but the novelty wore off. I never loved you. And you were so desperate for a crumb of it that you couldn’t even tell.”

I now know I’m not safe with him and that I never really was. The memories begin to flash through my mind and I rush to look for any sign that I missed of this monster lurking beneath my mate. I let the pain turn to anger.

“You’re a coward,” I say, knowing that it’s risky. I know that he can hurt me and that he probably will if he’s brought me out this far. I’m a loose end, a problem that needs to be solved to quiet down the pack politics and cement his place as a leader.

But I refuse to go down like that.

“You’re nothing but a coward playing at being an Alpha and you’re never going to be able to lead this pack, with or without Ramona,” I spit.

That’s when I see the change in his eyes. My reflexes register the arcing of his fist a split second before it’s driven toward my face and I allow myself to shift, the force of my transformation deflecting his blow and pushing him back.

He’s confused for a second before turning too, and once he’s in his wolf form, I know that this will not end well for me. His hackles are raised as he growls, the honey-brown fur matching his human hair color as my own dark coat matches mine.

I’m capable enough against lower wolves, but Trent is an Alpha. He’s bigger, stronger, and faster than I am and he has a bristling anger that I never recognized before. Still, despite this knowledge, I’m shocked when he leaps at me, not holding anything back.

I try to parry his attack, but it’s a lost cause.

I feel his teeth and claws everywhere, digging into my skin and the coppery scent of my own blood soon fills the air. I fight back, as hard as I can, but none of the blows I manage to land is enough to get him off me until I’m lying on the ground, weak with blood loss to the point that I can no longer maintain my form.

I shift back, naked and bloody.

Something grabs Trent’s interest because his ears prick up before he bolts back into the treeline toward our pack.

Any pain I can feel is beginning to numb and my vision is fading in and out of focus.

I’m in trouble, I know it. The tears I held back for so long begin to flow over my cheeks as I try desperately to drag my body forward. I don’t know where I’m going, I just know that I don’t want to die this way.

I push myself, stones digging into my exposed stomach and thighs, but I barely feel any of it. All I can think of is that I need to stay awake. I need to keep moving and find help.

I refuse to be left for dead.

I must be fading in and out of consciousness because at some points, I know I’m alone in the woods, and at others, I think I see someone with me.

I see snippets of them: unusually dark blue eyes and thick, black eyelashes. A glance of a black tattoo sprawling along a strong-looking forearm. I try to call out to ask for help, but I’m not sure how much of my slurred speech manages to get out.

I don’t have time to think about it though, because just as I try to catch a glimpse of the stranger’s face, the world falls into complete darkness and I black out.