Chapter 1

Ruby's POV

My wolf felt restless, constantly rubbing against me. She was on edge and I could sense her unease and it was rubbing on me.

" What's wrong with you Lilly?" I asked for the umpteenth time but all I got was silence. She knew something I didn't and was keeping it away from me.

" Something is going to happen to us tonight." She said quietly and I shrugged.

" Of course, we are going to find our mate and he will save us from this hellhole." I answered back, she shook her head. If she was feeling like this then something is bound to happen tonight.

" What is wrong Lily? Don't you think we are going to find him?"

" Of course, it's our eighteenth birthday, we are bound to find our mate tonight." She paused for a while and continued, " I just feel that something's not right about tonight."

" You've been feeling like that for the past two weeks and nothing unusual has happened." I tell her as I dashed into the room.

" I know but it's stronger tonight. Maybe you're right, I need to rest more." I nodded at her.

" Do you think that our mate would like us?" I said suddenly feeling insecure,what if he turned out to be just like everyone?

" Of course he will, even if he doesn't want to, he will, because of the bond." She assured me and I stared at my fingers.

" But I want him to like us the way we are, not because of some mate bond."

" He will, Ruby, now you're the one being paranoid." She said and I nodded. This was our eighteenth birthday, the only chance we have to escape from this hellhole. We can do this. The moon goddess wouldn't pair us with someone who didn't want to be with us. She knows what's best for us and I trust her.

I applied some lip gloss on my lips. This was the first time I was putting on makeup but I didn't mind, I wanted to look attractive for our mate.

I stared at the moonlight, it was time. I sighed.

" He would love us." She urged me and I nodded. I could still feel her anxiousness. Something was going to happen tonight. I hope it benefits me. Maybe the moon goddess had finally heard my prayers and decided that I had been in pain for most part of my life and had decided to grant me rest.

I stared at all the pack members. They all looked happy. Their shining faces booming under the moonlight. This was where mate bonds were accepted and also where they were rejected.

The younger ones around my age were anxious. It was our first shift and we get to meet our mate. I watched as the older ones calmed them, some rocked them whispering sweet words into their ears. I, too, was feeling anxious but I knew there was no one to comfort me. I only had my wolf who had gone silent.

Why couldn't I have that?

The moon was at its peak, it was finally time. I watched as some of them started shifting, comforted by their parents and others around as they went through the pains of shifting. I watched Teresa shift into a big brown wolf and everyone clapped before she shifted back to her human form. My anxiety was getting to the better part of me but I knew that I would never have that. My eyes twitched.

I waited and waited but nothing happened. I closed my eyes and opened them, I was still on my feet. I stared at my hands, no fur yet. I blinked back the tests threatening to drop knowing that there would be no one to comfort me or wipe them for me.

" What's happening Lilly?" I asked my only companion but got no response. She had left me too. It was official, I was now the lonely werewolf.

Suddenly, there was a change in the atmosphere. I could feel it. The intoxicating scent of cinnamon mixed with the scent of the forest hit my node hard. I sniffed harder wondering what the mouthwatering scent was.

I could feel my legs move. I could feel the presence of my wolf as she urged me to follow the scent. As I moved closer, the scent grew stronger until I stopped in front of someone.

" Mate." I called out in a rough voice I couldn't recognise as mine before I couldn't stop myself. I closed my mouth realising who the voice belonged to, it was my wolf.

" Mate." She called out again and I looked up to meet the forest green eyes of Gonzalo.

Wait! The Alpha's son is my mate? I waited for him to move, my wolf watching him through my eyes but he stood where he was as though he were rooted to that exact spot.

I moved closer to him in an attempt to see him. I had finally met my mate, the one who would save me from the cold hands of Danika and her mate and he turned out to be the Alpha's son. The moon goddess definitely did have me in mind. 

But he stepped away from me as though my touch would burn him. I felt myself falling and I closed my eyes hoping to fall in the arms of my mate but my lips on kissed the rough ground causing me to whimper.

" He doesn't want us." Lilly whined but I ignored her. Gonzalo was a good man. He wouldn't shove us away like that. He wasn't like the others.

I expected him to offer me his hand but he stood watching me with calculative eyes.

I struggled to my feet and dusted my dress then I saw his eyes filled with…disgust! My mate was disgusted by me. I felt my wolf whimper. She was also hurt by the look on his eyes.

" I, Gonzalo Kanderdust of the Silverwood pack, reject you, Ruby Michaels, as my mate." He voiced out, hate dripping out of every single word.