Chapter 1

Grin, grin, grin, grin.

The alarm wouldn’t shut the hell up.

I groaned and slapped around blindly, hand smacking the nightstand until I found the damn thing and hit it. Silence. Thank the Moon. My eyes were still closed, my body glued to the thin mattress like I could sink through it and vanish. I didn’t even need to look to know it was still dark outside—no one else in the world was up at this hour unless they had a death wish or, like me, they were cursed with omega duties in the Alpha’s house.

Five in the morning. Every single day.

No wolf. No rank. No future. Just me and the bottom of the pack, kissing dirt with a smile.

I laid there for another minute, staring at the ceiling even though I couldn’t see it. The air was cold and stale. It smelled like wood and forgotten dreams—whatever that smells like. I could hear the quiet wheeze of the heater trying to work. It didn’t. It hasn’t in years.

Whatever.

I sat up slowly, every muscle in my back stiff from the rock-hard cot. My room was a closet. Four walls, no personality. One dresser, barely standing. A cracked mirror I refused to look in most days. What was the point?

If you’re wondering who I am—fine. I’m Selene. Eighteen in three days. Five feet of nothing special. Sleek black hair that does what it wants, hazel eyes that don’t sparkle, and a face people only remember to sneer at. My wolf has never showed up

In a pack like Silver Claw, that makes me a joke. An embarrassment. The kind of girl people think it’s okay to shove into lockers, dump their food on, trip in the hallways, whisper about like I can’t hear them.

I hear everything.

My mom died when I was little. I don’t remember her much—just the smell of her perfume when she hugged me and the sound of her humming at night when she thought I was asleep. She was warmth.

Dad... he tried. For a while. Then he met Lilian.

She was human, which was rare enough in this world, but somehow, she made him smile again. Made our house feel like it had walls instead of just shadows. I expected her to hate me, like everyone else did. I waited for it. But she didn’t. She loved me. Really loved me. Not out of pity. She just... did.

Then Rhea came along—my little sister. Eight years old now, all sunshine and toothy grins, like the world hasn’t bitten her yet. She’s everything I’m not. She looks at me like I’m someone worth loving.

I’d burn the world down before I let anything happen to her.

I got dressed in the dark, like always. Same pants, same shirt, same tight braid pulling my red hair back so no one could grab it when they got bored at school. I knew how to dress for survival, not attention.

I moved through the hallway quietly, careful not to wake anyone. Lilian didn’t deserve to be up this early, and Rhea—she needed sleep. She had a field trip today or something. I’d promised I’d try to get home in time to hear all about it.

If no one beat the crap out of me before then.

Outside, the cold slapped me in the face the second I stepped off the porch. The sun wasn’t even up yet. Just that icy blue nothingness before dawn. My breath fogged in front of me, and the path to the Alpha’s house stretched ahead like a trail of punishment.

Up the hill. Past the guards who never looked at me. Through the servants’ door like the help I was.

The Alpha’s quarters were all stone and glass, luxury stacked on top of power. Even the damn floor smelled expensive. I didn’t belong there. But I still had to clean every inch of it like my life depended on it. Because it kinda did.

Kitchen. Dining room. Polishing the staircase banister. Scrubbing bathrooms used by people who wouldn’t even spit in my direction unless it was on purpose. That was the routine.

And if I missed a spot?

They’d make sure I knew.

Some days it was verbal. Most days it wasn’t.

They liked keeping me bruised and quiet. It made them feel stronger.

By the time I was finished, my shirt was soaked with sweat, my fingers red and raw, and the sun was finally dragging itself up over the treetops. I still had to get to school. Because gods forbid I miss a day of being reminded just how unwanted I was there too.

Silver Claw High. A beautiful blend of fake smiles, real claws, and endless reminders that I was less than everyone else. Classes were half normal subjects, half pack training. Everyone else trained with their wolves. I sat in the corner, watched them shift, and took notes like a loser.

“Selene,” someone called as I stepped into the courtyard.

Damian

Of course.