Chapter 1

xian'na pov

Today is my eighteenth birthday, but it doesn't feel like a day for celebration. It feels like any other day: cold, hard, and smelling like wet rags and bleach.

​I am a maid for the Blue Moon pack. I scrub floors and clean clothes. I live in a small, windowless room behind the main kitchen. I’m nobody. Worse than nobody. I am the outcast—the one who should have a wolf inside her, but doesn’t.

​Eighteen years. The year my wolf should finally show itself. But there is only silence inside me. The other pack members call me "Empty" or "Human Skin," but my blood refuses to be small. Even without a wolf, the Alpha and Goddess in my veins refuse the urge to kneel. I keep my back straight, knowing my silence is not fear, but pure defiance.

​I was bent over a stone basin, my hands raw from the freezing water, when the heavy kitchen door slammed open. But this time, something was different.

​The air that rushed in was not just cold evening air; it was an invisible wave of scent. It was earth, rain on hot rock, and something else—a deep, perfect spice that called to the lonely spirit hidden inside my bones. My breath caught. It was the scent I didn’t know I was waiting for. It was the scent of my mate.

​I spun around, my heart suddenly beating a frantic, wild rhythm. I stopped scrubbing and slowly stood up, letting my eyes search for the source of that impossible, magnetic pull.

​And then I saw him.

​It was Jerick.

​The future Alpha stood there, smelling like my destiny, but looking like my deepest shame. He was the most perfect disaster I could imagine.

​The mate bond, the sacred pull of my blood, had led me straight to the hands of my worst

tormentor.

My body should have burned, my bones should have cracked, and my wolf should have leaped out to claim him. But the wolf remained silent. The space where it should be was empty. My defiant Alpha heart slammed against the Goddess blood, screaming in denial. No. Not him.

​"Well, well. Look at the birthday girl," he sneers.

​I meet his eyes, my gaze steady and cold. My wolf-spirit wanted to submit, but my pride screamed, Defy. I let my eyes tell him exactly what I think of him: You are weak, and I hate that you are mine.

​"I said, look at me, Empty," Jerick says, his own wolf-instinct confused by my lack of submission. He kicks the stone basin. The cold, dirty water sloshes up and hits my chest and face, soaking my hair and the thin shift I wear.

​I don't wipe the water away. I let it drip from my chin.

​"Eighteen, and still just a simple maid," he mocks, trying to sound bored. "If that wolf hasn't come out, you're just a broken human trying to fake it. What is the point of you, Xian'na?"

​He reaches out and grabs a handful of my hair, pulling my head back sharply. The pain is brutal, snapping my neck. But the raw force of his touch—it wasn’t just hate. It was recognition. The mate bond was singing a dark, broken song in my skull, urging me to find comfort in his hand. I fought the urge to close my eyes and lean into the pain, to submit to the man who was designed to be my protector.

​"Is that all you have, boy?" I challenge, my voice low and smooth. The mate pull made the word taste like fire and betrayal on my tongue.

​His face goes instantly red with rage. He shoves my shoulder hard, and I hit the cold stone floor, the air rushing out of my lungs.

​"Clean that up, and clean your floor again," he spits out, his control breaking. "If I see a single drop of mud on the path to the dining hall, you won't eat for a week."

​He stomps out, his guards scrambling to catch up.

​I push myself up immediately, ignoring the ache. My hands shake not from fear, but from the raw Alpha rage trapped inside me. They called me Empty, but the stubborn feeling deep down was the roar of my mother’s blood. It was fighting against the strongest, most sacred pull in my life: Jerick. The mate bond was fully active, yet my true Alpha power my wolf.was still absent, making my destiny a cruel joke.

​I am Xian’na. I will not bow to any wolf, especially the one who is supposed to love me.

​

Jerick pov

​My name is Jerick, and I am the most important wolf in the Blue Moon Pack. My father is the Alpha. My blood is the Alpha blood—pure, ancient, and strong. My path is set: inherit the pack, marry a powerful Luna, and make my territory the largest. I am superior to every wolf here.

​I walked to the washroom, needing to vent my anger. My target: Xian’na, the worthless maid. She was a constant reminder that not all werewolves were perfect.

​I kicked the door open. The sharp, cold air hit my face, but a second, far more dangerous wave hit my soul. It was a scent that instantly made my knees weak: earth, perfect spice, and the deep, rich smell of home.

​Mate. Luna. My powerful Alpha wolf roared with primal joy. The sound shook my bones.

​I saw her. Xian'na. The maid. The Empty.

​My soul’s perfect match was the girl who scrubbed my floors. The realization was pure, disgusting horror.

​This is a mistake. My Alpha mind screamed. I was meant for royalty, not for this broken vessel. She had no wolf; she was just human skin. My pack would laugh. My father would see my weakness. My perfect future was ruined by the simplest, lowest person in our territory. I felt superior to everyone, and now fate chose her? It was an insult to my powerful blood.

​I had to crush the feeling. I had to make her disgusting. I forced a cruel sneer onto my face, trying to silence my traitorous wolf.

​"Well, well. Look at the birthday girl," I sneered, the words tasting like ash in my throat.

​She turned to face me. Her eyes were not scared. They were judging me, seeing my weakness. Her scent, now closer, was suffocatingly perfect, and my anger flared hotter. Her defiance was an offense. A maid should cower before her Alpha.

​"I said, look at me, Empty," I snapped, trying to cut through the bond with anger. I kicked the basin, soaking her. Serves her right, I thought, ignoring the pathetic whimper of my wolf.

​When I grabbed her hair, the truth burned straight into my core. The mate bond was real. It was sacred. But when I expected her to submit, she only hardened.

​"Is that all you have, boy?" she challenged.

​The word boy from her mouth.my mate's mouth-was a sound of power. It was the low, dangerous tone of a true Alpha. It shocked me. Where did a wolf-less maid get that confidence? She was nothing. I was everything. I shoved her to the floor, needing to put her back in her place, the dirt.

​"Clean that up, and clean your floor again," I spat, running out the door.

​I hated her because she dared to be my mate. I hated her because she was nothing but a maid, and yet her scent was the only thing that mattered. I had to destroy her to save my life. I was superior, and she would learn that lesson.