CHAPTER 1: The Sudden Encounter

SELENE

THE SINGLE FLAME on my cake flickered, dancing in the dim light of our small home.

I just turned twenty-one today.

I should be happy. I should be celebrating.

I blew the candle and the flame died, taking my last wish with it.

I looked at my family. There was my grandmother, my uncles, my cousins.

They were all smiling.

Or trying to.

Their eyes gave them away, full of a worry so deep it felt like a heavy blanket in the room.

Our house sat on the edge of the pack’s land, closer to the next territory than our own Alpha’s mansion.

We were outsiders, even at home.

“Selene,” my grandmother began, her voice thin, like old paper.

“Yes, Grandma?” I asked, my own voice gave away my shivering hands.

Here it comes. The bad news.

“The council… our dues…” she spoke, unable to look me in the eye.

“We couldn’t pay,” my Uncle Luis finished for her, his jaw tight.

“For years, child,” she added.

“I don’t understand please,” I pleaded. “What does that mean?”

My grandma inhaled deeply, and in a desperate attempt, she clasped my hands to her chest pleadingly. 

“I apologize, Selene,” she whispered. “I am so, so sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” I pressed.

“This was the only solution they offered us,” she finally said. 

“What solution?”

“A deal.”

“What kind of deal?”

Just spit it out. Just fucking say it.

“In five years’ time,” she spoke with a shaky conviction in her voice, “they can pardon our loans.”

“And?” I asked.

“And finally award us with the title of our land.”

“The title? We’d own this land?”

“Yes, my dear. Truly own it.”

I knew this was too good to be true, just being magically awarded our land… there should be a fair reason why and how—

There was always a catch.

“What’s the price, Grandma?” I asked quietly.

What do I have to give?

She looked away, toward the dark window.

“You, Selene.”

My stance suddenly dispositioned in shock. “Me?”

“You will be sent to the Alpha’s mansion,” my grandma blurted out.

“Sent where?” I choked out.

“To work,” my Uncle Floris said. He is the eldest among three of my uncles, even his voice was flat when he spoke. He already has a wife and a son, my cousin Lukas. 

“Work as what?” I blurted out. But in my head I was begging for them to tell me the truth or maybe just keep it to themselves. 

Don’t say it. Please…

My grandmother sobbed, “As a maid.”

I froze, then slowly I scanned their faces with a blank expression. “A maid?”

“Please, Selene, do this for our family. This will settle generations of debt. After the given time, we will all be free.” This time, it was Uncle Brian who spoke.

For years we weren’t able to secure a job at the packhouse, nor was able to make connections with our pack’s council members. We were just farmers, planting grains and selling it. But the funny thing is, we own nothing, not even the land that we are toiling.

A maid. A servant. For five years.

The only sound in the room was my grandmother’s soft sobs. 

My family members looked at me with sympathy on their faces.

My cousin Lukas looked furious, his fists clenched at his sides. He was restraining himself, but barely.

Across the small room, the neighborhood boys were trying to comfort Limuel.

Limuel, who had courted me for years.

Who had never worked up the courage to ask me on a proper date.

What chance does he think he has now?

He shoved his friends away, his eyes wild and fixed on me.

“No!” Limuel declared, stepping forward.

“Limuel, don’t,” his friend warned.

“They can’t,” Limuel growled.

His expression was a mask of desperation as he stared right at me. 

He begged, his voice breaking, “Let me marry you instead, Selene.”

I looked at his eyes.

Marry Limuel? To escape being a maid? Is that better?

My mind was spinning. I couldn’t even say a single word.

“They won’t have to send you away if you become my wife,” Limuel spoke while moving closer to me.

“I’ll work. I’ll pay the debt.”

“Limuel, stop,” Lukas warned, stepping between us.

“Get out of my way,” Limuel snarled.

He tried to reach for me again. “Selene, please.”

His friends grabbed him, trying to pull him back. “Come on, man, not now.”

“Let go of me!”

A sudden, gut-wrenching crack echoed through the room.

Limuel’s bones snapped and reformed. His clothes tore.

Limuel has transformed into a wolf, fur bristling, teeth bared.

It happened so fast.

The other young men shifted, a blur of motion and tearing fabric, all turning to their wolf forms. 

The room exploded into a chaos of fur and claws.

A short, brutal fight.

It ended with Limuel on the floor, bleeding from a deep gash on his shoulder. He whimpered, shifting back into a man.

God, what a mess.

Without thinking, I rushed to our medicine cabinet. I grabbed a handful of dried herbs.

Everyone knew about my skill with herbs. It was the one thing I was proud of. While my family toiled our land, I was focused on exploring what plants we can use for our daily living, foraging herbs that I had only seen in our family’s books we considered as heirlooms. 

I knelt by Limuel and aided him, patching his wounds after cleaning it. 

Then I said nothing to anyone. 

When the house was at last—quiet later that evening, I broke down in tears. 

My cheeks began to burn as the tears fell silently.

I’m not ready. I can’t do this.

But I have no choice.

I have no fucking choice.

The walls of our house felt like they were closing in. I had to get out.

I slipped out the back door and ran, not stopping until the sounds of the village faded.

I wandered toward the boundary, the forbidden line between our territory and the next.

Then I saw it. The river. The moonlight. 

The river was so solemn it didn’t even create a single sound as it continued to flow in an endless stretch. The bright full moon shone on the water and as it glistened, I breathed out a sigh.

Just for a moment. Just to feel something else other than the heaviness on my chest from what went on today.

I stripped off my simple dress, leaving it on the grass. I felt the cold air caressed my body as I began walking to the river.

The cold water was a shock, stealing my breath. It washed away the tears, the shivering, the feeling of being trapped.

What my family says, must be followed. No matter how I try to not accept their request, I bore the biggest responsibility now, to keep our family afloat from our massive debt to the pack.

We are just simple werewolves, wanting to get by. But when you have nothing, you hold on to just anything. No one has left our village to witness the center of our pack land. We are in a far flung area, and news tends to just travel through time. About our Alpha and our packs’s position in various fights regarding territories…

I closed my eyes not wanting to continue thinking about the reality. If only I could escape this life for a few moments.

I submerged my whole body in the water, then swam a couple of times. Finally, I was able to smile. 

Happy Birthday to me.

For a few minutes, I was just enjoying the silence of the night and the comfort of swimming in the river. 

Then a howl cut through the night.

It was distant, but close enough to make the hairs on my arms stand up.

And it wasn’t from our side of the river. It came from the other land.

Shit. I need to go.

I attempted to get up from the water, reaching for my clothes but I paused when I heard footsteps getting near.

That’s when I saw a figure emerge from the trees on the opposite side.

A man.

Even from a distance, the presence of the man was… powerful.

He walked closer to the river.

The full moon could not light up the whole place for me to see his face. But his aura was strong and different.

The man’s build was astounding, all broad shoulders and solid muscle.

And then I saw the blood.

Oh my god.

Deep wounds covered the man’s chest, dark gashes against his skin. His arm was bleeding freely, dripping red onto the ground.

He didn’t make a sound.

The man knelt and began to cleanse his wounds in the river.

They were deep cuts. Vicious.

I would be screaming. Crying. With that kind of wound? He should be dead.

But the stranger did not flinch. The stranger did not even wince. He just washed the blood away with an unnerving calm.

I froze, hidden by the deep water and the darkness.

Don’t move. Don’t breathe. He can’t see me.

I sank lower, trying to disappear. I ducked my face under the surface.

But it was a mistake.

Before my eyes were fully submerged, I looked up one last time.

Our eyes met.

His were dark, intense, and they pinned me in place.

He saw. Shit. He caught me staring awed at him.

Panic clawed its way up my throat.

I got up from the water.

My naked body was on full display for the man. For the stranger.

There was no thought. Only instinct.

In a single, fluid motion, I turned. My bones cracked and shifted, my skin giving way for my fur to show.

I turned into my wolf form.

And I ran, crashing through the tall grasses around the area, back towards my side of the land, leaving the wounded stranger standing alone by the river gazing at me ‘till I disappeared.