Chapter 1

The moon was exceptionally bright and round tonight. It was under this full moon that Leila stood watching. She looked around the open field where the entirety of the pack had gathered. There was a large bonfire lit in the middle of the field. Tonight was the annual moonlight ceremony and everyone in the pack had gathered to take part in it. The annual moonlight ceremony was when the moon goddess, through the moon priestess, revealed the mates of some of the unmated members of the pack. The ceremony was looked forward to by all in the pack, especially, but not limited to the unmated members of the pack. Aside from the mating of pack members, there were other activities that took place during the ceremony that the other members of the pack could take part in, like the rites to ask for children, for those who were mated but without children and the rites to ask for prosperity and favor in the pack. But the mating ritual was the highlight of the ceremony.

Leila watched as people scrambled all over the place trying to get everything ready for the ceremony to begin. She fingered the flower in her hand as she looked up to the sky. The flower was to signify those who were unmated so the moon priestess could easily find them out. Leila stared at the moon and uttered a silent prayer to the moon goddess,

'Please, oh moon goddess, show me my mate to please please'

"Look at that freak", Hannah, one of the girls around Leila's age muttered to her friends gesturing towards Leila.

"What is she doing here?", another girl asked.

"No way! Does she think she will get a mate today?", Hannah asked with mock surprise and the rest of them snickered.

"She doesn't even have a wolf so how can she hope to have a mate?", another girl mocked and they all burst out laughing.

Leila bit her lips and tried to ignore their comments. She was already used to this, there was no need to cry over their words. She gently placed the flowers in her hair and moved away from them to a spot that was a bit more secluded, away from everyone and waited for the ceremony to begin.

Leila was somewhat of an outcast in her pack. Reason being when she came off age and it was typically time for her wolf to manifest, it had not. She had not been able to manifest wolf, this had caused people to whisper as it was a rare occurrence in the pack and some people even began to speculate back then that she was wolfless. Leila herself had been worried and broken, but her parents had comforted her and shut down other people by saying she was probably a late bloomer. Leila and the people of the pack at first accepted this story after all, late bloomers was not something that was unheard of in the werewolf community but as the years rolled by and Leila had still not manifested her wolf, people began to whisper again. And soon those whispers turned to spite and hostility. She began to be hated on and people even began to say she was cursed, because why else would she be without a wolf? While her parents were still alive, it was easier for Leila to deal with the cruelty and hostility but then when she was seventeen, both her parents died suddenly, under mysterious circumstances, leaving her alone, to fend for herself. The death of her parents further added to the talk about her as the circumstance surrounding their death was so strange and people began to hamper more on the curse narrative thus increasing their hostility towards her.

And because she had no relatives and knew nowhere else to go, Leila had no choice but to stay in the pack that was hostile towards her. Every year she would pray that the moon goddess would give her a mate who would love and care for her but those years passed and each moonlight ceremony passed but she was still alone. She prayed this year, it would be different.

The ceremony soon began with the preliminary rites and rituals that followed the ceremony. And as the time for the mating ritual began to approach, excitement in the field began to reach a high. Leila herself joined in on the excitement as she stood up from where she sat before and moved closer to join the crowd. She noticed the people around her gave her nasty looks as she approached, she even caught Hannah sneering at her, but she ignored them. She was focused only on the moonlight ceremony that would soon begin.

The mating ritual soon began as the moon priestess finally stood up from where she previously sat and began to walk around, calling out different people who had the flower with them and matching them up with their mates.

Leila watched in anticipation as people were mated up. She continued to pray silently in her heart. The matchmaking went on for a while and with each time the moon priestess walked past her without calling on her, Leila, in spite of herself, slowly began to lose hope.

Suddenly there was an uproar among the young, unmated girls of the pack and Leila looked forward curiously to see what was causing it. But since she was of average height she couldn't really see what was going on from where she stood so she pressed forward, the people in front immediately made way for her when they saw her, moving as far away from her as possible. The young girls snickered when they saw her coming forward but still made way for her.

Once she got to the front, she finally saw what had caused the uproar among the girls. There, standing in the middle of the field, next to the bonfire, was Hendrik.

Hendrik was a very popular person in the pack. Not only was he extremely popular with the young ladies of the pack, he was also popular with the middle aged, and old folks of the pack as well.

Standing at 6ft tall, Hendrik had a pleasing face, with a lantern jaw that was fair and square. He had bristly eyebrows, etched on top of a pair of orb round eyes, a falcon's nose and half domed cheeks on tight skin. For build, he had taurine shoulders over a barrel of chest, a gladiator's biceps and iron muscles. He had wavy, gold hair that he always slicked back into a ponytail. All these features and more were the things that made him amazingly handsome and popular among the ladies of the pack. Aside from his good looks, Hendrik was also known for being very caring and gentle. He was a blacksmith but he was known for always wanting to help people. He was nothing short of the most wanted bachelor in the pack but curiously had remained unmated for such a long time so tonight when the moon priestess called him forward, not only were the young girls excited, the older folks were also quite happy to see that finally he would be getting his mate.

"Oh my moon goddess, please, please let me be Hendrik's mate", Leila suddenly heard the girl next to her pray and she glanced at her. The girl next to her wasn't the only one. Most of the other girls were also hoping and praying that they would be selected as Hendrik's mate as well.

Leila looked at Hendrik, she didn't have much of a personal impression on him. But she had seen him from time to time in the town, he always seemed so kind and gentle and also very happy. He had merry eyes that glittered whenever he smiled, a very kind smile. He wasn't a bad person, Leila thought to herself as she stared at him. Leila soon began to find herself joining the other girls around her, as she too began to pray that Hendrik would be her mate. Although deep in her heart, she mocked herself, 'What was the use of praying? Why would someone as good as Hendrik be her mate?'

But she prayed all the same because Leila was no fool. The hostility towards her from her pack wasn't limited to just the females, she knew the males also despised her too and she knew if she was mated here today, ninety percent of the males would reject her. But if it was someone like Hendrik, Leila thought to herself, someone as kind and gentle as he was, maybe he could accept her, take her as she was and love and take care of her.

Hendrik stood at the center of the field next to the bonfire. The moon priestess walked round the field muttering some words that no one heard as she walked. With each step she took, there was a hopeful girl praying she would stop and call her forward but the moon priestess didn't stop, she just kept on walking. Leila watched as the moon priestess approached where she stood. She heard the girl next to her hold her breath. The moon priestess suddenly stopped in front of where she stood and Leila's heart began to hammer in her chest. The moon priestess stood still for sometime staring intently at the ground as if listening to some unheard instructions then all of a sudden, she lifted her head and stared directly at Leila.

Leila swallowed instinctively, her heart pounding, there was no way the moon priestess was looking at her, right?

"You", the moon priestess said suddenly, pointing at her.

Leila breathed in sharply.