Chapter 1

~CAMILLE~

The first ray of dawn diffracted through the window and landed on my face, causing me to twitch my eyes and open them slowly. I stared at it without blinking, scared to move or make a sound.

It was the morning of my birthday. I was nineteen—the legal age for every member of the Silverfang Pack.

To everyone in the pack, birthdays were more than just normal days, especially the nineteenth and twenty-first. It was more like a feast—a celebration of adulthood and mating. Females got mated to their mates at nineteen, while males at twenty-one. That explained why nineteenth and twenty-first birthdays were a big deal for everyone in the pack… except me.

It was just like every other day for me—ambiguous, cold, and lonely. Like a death sentence. I didn’t know what the day had in store for me, but I had to live it and endure whatever hardship came with it.

Sincerely, I had anticipated my nineteenth birthday. It wasn’t a birthday to me but an escape route. I couldn’t wait to meet my mate—the one created for me by the moon goddess. My other half. I looked forward to meeting him because that was the only way I could rewrite my story and leave this miserable life behind.

I dragged myself out of the dilapidated bamboo bed, bones aching from fatigue and memory. The floor was cold beneath my feet, the way it always was. I had adapted to it so much that I didn’t shudder from its intensity anymore. No central heating reached my room. Of course not. Omega rooms didn’t get heating. It wasn’t necessarily a room but a storeroom. One side was cleared so I could stay in it. Aside from sharing the space with the foodstuffs, the mice were also squatters.

That was the most benevolence I could get from my mistress, and I had to be appreciative no matter what. In Silverfang, there was nothing like maltreatment—not when you were the lowest of the low. Not when you were me.

My legs carried me to the half-broken mirror, and I gaped at my reflection. My eyes instantly fell on my greatest insecurity—the gift I got from him two years ago. The mark he gave me just because I didn’t bend my head while responding to his inquiries. He had slashed my cheek with a broken bottle, and the scar had remained ever since.

I stroked the scar gently with my fingers, my mind wild and beyond. I would be meeting him again tonight.

Him. Cassius Slade.

The first and only son of our Alpha.

He never missed an opportunity to taunt me and toy with me. That was his specialty—making me feel less of myself and hate my existence.

The Silverfang Pack held a mating ceremony once every six months. Every member who reached the legal mating age during that period would gather at the pack hall and get mated under the full moon. The ceremony happened to fall on my birthday this time.

Cassius would also be there tonight since he had turned twenty-one a month ago. The thought of setting my eyes on the same man who had made my life a living hell after my mistress sent chills down my spine. Surely, it would be another night of humiliation and torture. Maybe tonight would be the last time. There should be an end to every humiliation and misery after I met my other half tonight.

“Camille!!!” Kendra, my mistress’s daughter, interrupted my train of thought. Blinking, I moved away from the mirror and rushed toward the door. I aimed to evacuate the room before she got closer, but she beat me to it. The door swung open in my face before I could reach it, almost hitting me, but I was quick to take a step back.

“Oh! I thought you died in your sleep,” she uttered.

“Good morning, Kendra. I’m sorry I woke up late today. I missed the alarm,” I explained calmly, eyes fixed on her hands. One thing Kendra was fast at was swinging her hands. She could lift them and smack my face in a flash, and I didn’t want that. If I couldn’t get a birthday song and cake today, I shouldn’t get a brain-resetting slap either.

She raised her hand and shoved it in my face. “I don’t need any useless explanation from you. You have ten minutes to get my dress ready for the mating ceremony tonight.”

Oh! I had missed that. Kendra had also turned nineteen this month. She would be attending the mating ceremony too. For days, she and her mother had spoken tirelessly about the ceremony and her possibility of being mated to the Alpha’s son. My mistress had visited all sorts of places—shamans, witches, and seers—so she could link her daughter’s fate with the Alpha’s.

To them, the outcome of today’s ceremony would determine their fate.

“Okay, Kendra. I will get that ready.”

“Do not make any stupid mistakes on my dress, Camille. I will blame you if I don’t get Cassius as my mate today.” She poked my nose with her finger and vacated my room.

What in the hell was Kendra thinking? She would blame me if she couldn’t get Cassius? Who am I—the goddess who matches werewolves?

⸻

“The ugly, shapeless maid is here!” Cassius’s voice ripped through the air, causing an abrupt silence in the hall. He clapped and flashed a devilish grin at me.

Everyone turned their heads in my direction. The moment they recognized me, they burst into hysterical laughter and pointed fingers.

Their lips moved, and voices echoed in my ears. My feet stuck to the ground. I couldn’t take another step. Maybe it wasn’t a wise decision to come to the mating ceremony tonight.

But I shouldn’t blame myself. I should blame the goddess who made Cassius twenty-one at the same time I turned nineteen. This man never liked me, and I obviously hated his guts too, but our paths kept crossing even when I never wanted them to.

Shutting my eyes, I tightened my lips and let out a deep breath, pushing the tears lurking in my lids back. Shedding tears on my birthday wasn’t part of my to-do list. I just wanted to meet my mate and get accepted by him. I recited my favorite statement, “It is well, Camille. Do not beat yourself over what cannot be controlled,”

A few minutes later, my eyes pried open. A loud gasp escaped my mouth when I saw Cassius in front of me, hands tucked into his pockets, his minions behind him.

“What! Are you that afraid to see a handsome man? Is it because this is your first time?” Cassius taunted with a smile that was neither wide nor narrow but reached his eyes. His followers burst into another peal of laughter. Truth be told, he was good-looking. However, behind those good looks was a devil incarnate.

“I’m sorry, Master Cassius. I… I wasn’t expecting you,” I explained, clutching my dress to relieve the tension building within me. It was so aggressive that I felt I could black out if he didn’t leave my presence soon.

He grabbed my chin and tilted my face to the side. “Oh! You should thank me for giving you a mark that complements your ugly look,” he said and chuckled. “Don’t be an ingrate, Fatty. I did you a lifetime favor,” he grunted.

I blinked, my pulse throbbing in my throat. I was scared he might cut the other side of my face again. “I… thank you, Master.”

He didn’t let go despite that. He squeezed my chin for a few more seconds before yanking it away. “Tell me, Mutt. What poor soul will be cursed to be your mate tonight?” He paused for a second before continuing, “If I were you, I wouldn’t be here tonight. There is no way any man in his right mind will accept an ugly, shapeless bastard like you as a mate. You are certainly going back home with a rejection.”

Every word, every statement, pierced into my skin like needles. It pricked the irritable part of me, and the urge to speak back surged within me. Regardless, remembering what happened the last time I summoned the courage forced me to keep quiet.

“It sucks to be you, Fatty. You should do something about your pathetic life… Just swallow some poison or something,” he added, patted me roughly, and strolled away.

A lump clogged my throat. My chest throbbed painfully. He was right. I wouldn’t be escaping my misery. No man in his right mind would accept somebody like me as a mate. I was ugly and shapeless.

But beneath the pain and doubt were desperation and determination.

No matter what, I was getting mated tonight, and I wouldn’t be rejected. I would do whatever it took.

A sharp scent slapped my nose at that moment, pulling me out of my train of thought. An inexplicable hunger swelled within me, and my wolf jerked violently. The scent was intense but relieving and enjoyable. It had an alluring edge like bergamot, pine, and smoky incense, which caught my attention immediately.

My eyes scanned the hall. People had started meeting their mates. The most awaited moment was here.

The smell hovering around me right now was my mate’s, but I didn’t know who he was. My body was aroused and elated. Lyra, my wolf, growled excitedly. He’s here, I heard her say, and my body instinctively veered around.

“Mate!”

The last person I expected. Scratch that—I never expected him to be my mate, not in this life or beyond. He wasn’t supposed to be my mate. Cassius was standing in front of me right now, and he had just called me his mate.

That could never be!!!