Chapter 1: Beginning

I woke up before the sun even rose, my heart already racing with a mix of excitement and nerves. The room was still dark and quiet, but I couldn’t fall back asleep. I kept turning over, thinking about what tomorrow would bring, and the more I thought about it, the harder it was to stay still.

Tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday—the day everything is supposed to change. The day I’ll finally shift for the first time and meet my wolf. I can feel her, but only faintly. They call me wolfless because I’m an omega, the weakest of the pack. But I know she’s there. She’s been with me since I was a pup.

I’ve waited for this my entire life. People say the first shift is painful, that your bones snap and realign, but honestly? I don’t care. Pain is nothing new to me. What matters is that I’m so close to finally becoming who I was meant to be.

I threw off my blanket and stood in the middle of the tiny storage room I call my bedroom. The walls were cracked, and the floor creaked with every step. A single small window let in barely any light, and a stack of old blankets served as my bed. My clothes were folded in a milk crate—secondhand, worn-out pieces I’d been given because people saw me as charity.

And this was my life as the unwanted omega of the Silverclaw Pack.

I pulled on my oversized hoodie and jeans, ran a comb quickly through my hair, and headed to the pack house kitchen. I had to make breakfast before everyone else woke up.

“Skye,” a voice snapped from behind me as I stirred the eggs. It was Martha, the head maid.

“You burned the toast again. What are you, useless?”

“No, ma’am,” I said quickly, lowering my gaze.

“You’re lucky we let you stay here at all. You should be grateful we don’t throw you out with the trash.”

I hadn’t actually burned the toast. That was just Martha’s way of spiting me. Ever since I started living with the Alpha and Luna, her pay had been cut, and she never let me forget it.

And she wanted me to be grateful? Right. Grateful for the names, the shoves, the silence. Grateful for being the pack’s dirty little secret. I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded.

“I’ll make another one.”

“Hurry up,” she huffed before walking out.

Once breakfast was served, I slipped out of the kitchen and grabbed my worn-out backpack. I didn’t even bother to eat. There was no time, and if I was caught sneaking food again, I’d just get double chores for the week.

The walk to school was long, and I had to go through the woods alone since I didn’t have a car. Of course I didn’t. Omegas don’t get cars, or clothes, or anything that isn’t secondhand.

I walked with my hood up and my head low. This was the only part of my day I actually liked. The woods were quiet. No shouting. No ridicule. Just silence.

In times like this, I wished my mom and dad were here to see me shift. They would’ve wrapped me in warm hugs, kissed my forehead, and told me how proud they were. Maybe they’d even stay up all night, waiting for the moment my wolf finally surfaced. Just the thought made my chest ache.

I’m already an orphan. I don’t know where my parents are or if they’re even still alive. All I know is what the pack told me—that I was found abandoned just outside the territory line, left to die like a piece of trash no one wanted. No note. No explanation. Just me. Alone. Barely three years old.

The current Alpha took me in—but more like took me over. He didn’t do it out of kindness. He did it because the pack needed someone to clean up after them. I cleaned the pack house, did the laundry, scrubbed the bathrooms, cooked the food. I wasn’t treated like a member of the pack. I was the help. The weakest of them. The ghost no one saw unless they needed someone to humiliate.

But tomorrow, I’ll shift. And once I meet my wolf, I can leave this pack. I can go anywhere. Find a new pack—one that might actually treat me better. The law says once we’re eighteen and fully shifted, we’re no longer bound to the pack we were born into. I could finally be free.

That thought alone kept my feet moving. By the time I arrived at school, I was already haggard and out of breath, rushing to make it before class started.

School wasn’t any better than the pack house. I was the omega there, too. I had no friends, and everyone looked at me like I was the worst thing they saw in the morning. This school was for elite werewolves from different packs, sending their successors to a prestigious academy. I was only here because the Alpha wanted to boost his image—lucky for the chance to study, unlucky because I was the only omega. Everyone ridiculed me for being a charity case.

I pulled my oversized hoodie over my head to hide my hair, tucking my golden curls into a bun. They always drew attention—unwanted attention. All I had to do was survive one more day of school. Tomorrow I’d shift and be gone for good. Maybe things would be different once I left.

I kept my head down as I slipped through the school’s entrance, clutching my fraying backpack to my chest like armor. I was halfway to my locker when it started.

“Hey, Skunk!”

That was Lidia. Beautiful. Cruel. Proud of it. Her little clique of she-wolves giggled behind her, each one trying to outdo the other in pettiness.

I hurried to grab my books from my locker and was about to escape when Lidia strutted up beside me, close enough that her expensive perfume choked the air around me.

“Oops!” she said sweetly—and the next second, her hip slammed into mine like it was an accident.

My books spilled from my arms, scattering across the floor with a loud slap of paper and the thud of textbooks.

I dropped to my knees, trying to gather them before anyone could add to the humiliation, but I wasn’t fast enough.

“Oh no,” Lidia said with a mock pout, stepping right on top of my notebook with her designer boot. “Omega reflexes.”

Laughter echoed around me. I kept my head down and reached for my things, but another foot stepped on my notebook, grinding it into the dirt.

“Isn’t it cute how she still bothers with school? Like any Alpha would ever want to breed that,” a guy snorted.

Everyone laughed harder. I swallowed the lump in my throat and kept gathering my things, my hands shaking.

But something changed and the air shifted.

And then I saw him.

Damian Wolfe.

He was standing just a few feet away, leaning against the lockers with his arms crossed. Dark hair, steel-blue eyes, and that signature cold look on his face. The future Alpha. My future Alpha. And right now, he was watching the whole thing unfold like it was some boring scene on TV.

He didn’t say a word.

Not when Lidia poured her water bottle into my bag. Not when someone shoved me down as I stood up. Not when they walked away laughing like it was all just a game.

His gaze met mine for a split second. Just one. Then he turned away and walked off like I was nothing. He just watched me like I was some stray mutt that wandered into his territory.

I stood there, soaked and humiliated, in the middle of the hallway.

Tomorrow, I would shift. Tomorrow, I would meet my wolf. Tomorrow, I might even find my mate.

I just prayed to the Moon Goddess it wouldn’t be him.