CHAPTER ONE

The Moon Ceremony

Emery’s POV

The ceramic bowl cracks apart into tiny pieces on the stone floor, the dirty water inside splashing across my worn leather boots.

“Watch where you’re going, ground-crawler,” Keith, a low-ranking pack warrior sneers down at me, not bothering to look back as he joins the laughter of his friends.

I don’t say a word as I let out a sigh and kneel to clean up the mess. I feel a slight tingle behind my eyes but the tears don’t come. Crying is a luxury that the Silver Moon Pack has beaten out of me years ago.

I begin gathering the shards to the side and then wiping at the floor when a show falls over me.

“The sight of you on your knees in the dirt is something I will never get tired of,” says a voice that has me tensing instantly.

“It serves as the perfect reminder that filth like you belongs beneath me.” Alicia’s nasally cold tone bears down on me and I look up at her.

As usual, she is impeccably put together, her honey-blonde hair falling in perfect waves that frame her face in a way that gives an almost innocent appeal to her clear blue eyes.

If evil conniving shrews were your sort of thing.

The giggles of her posse behind her almost make me roll my eyes, but I am in no mood to get beaten up today.

Alicia takes a step forward, a sharp pain travels up my hand as she presses her foot hard on my fingers.

“You should hurry and clean this up before Silas walks by. He shouldn’t have to look upon this mess.” Her eyes roam the entirety of my body as she says this and walks away.

I hold up my throbbing hand and wince as I pull out a stray shard of ceramic from my palm and carefully mop up the water and gather the pieces in the rag and stand, heading downstairs.

In a few hours, the Moon Ceremony would begin, and the fated mates of the pack would find each other.

It is an event that every pack takes seriously because it is when the moon is at its zenith and it is said that the Moon Goddess shares her blessings among the worthy of our kind.

It is also the night when the Pack’s alpha, Silas, will finally find his mate after years of searching.

As soon as I think of him, Alpha Silas emerges down the hall and everything in me instantly goes still. It is like electricity sparking and humming beneath my skin the moment his steel-grey eyes land on me. It feels like some cosmic force has taken hold of me and held me in place and I cannot think or breathe being this close to him.

He is a mountain of a man, towering over everyone at six-foot-eight, his rippling muscles only adding to his massive size.

His strides are measured in his powerfully built body, his inky black curls falling to his shoulders, the colour matching his wolf and I forget to move as he walks around me, not sparing me a second glance.

An insistent buzz tugs at my insides the moment I smell him, not the core scent of a wolf that is an essential part of our identity, but his cologne of spice and sandalwood. It tightens in the pit of my stomach and the space begins to spin slightly, making me sway slightly and drop a few slivers of ceramic to the floor.

What was that?

“Look at you. It’s genuinely pathetic.”

The silky-smooth voice cuts through the silence of the hallway. I don’t need to look up to know that it is Noelle. A subtle, hypnotic warmth brushes up against my senses, a small hint of her Siren’s Howl that she uses to keep the pack wrapped round her irritatingly perfect little finger.

Along with being an insufferable pain in the behind, Noelle was also born with the Siren’s Howl, powers to force her will onto others without them even realizing it. A word or a whisper from her could make you do absolutely anything she wants, which made her very dangerous but also incredibly valuable to our pack.

It also made her a nightmare to deal with as a sister.

Noelle nudges a piece of broken ceramic with the toe of her pristine stiletto heels. She doesn’t look angry, just profoundly disgusted, but what is new?

“You are pushed into the mud, Emery, and you just stay there and clean it up,” she whispers, coming to stand in front of me. “You take every insult, every blow like a dog waiting for scrap,” She titles her head and her pale, moon-white hair, the same colour as mine, falls over her shoulder.

“That pathetic martyred look in your eyes makes my stomach turn. If you had an ounce of pride, you’d walk into the woods and let the rogues have you. But you won’t. You’ll just stay here, a silent wolfless stain on our family, taking it all.”

I finally looked her in the eye, this time not hiding my eye roll. “The ceremony is tonight, Noelle.”

“And what of it? You can’t think that you belong there with the rest of us especially since you’re such a disgrace to our kind, never having shifted or even felt your wolf before,” she scoffs.

“Oh wait,” she laughs, a sharp ugly sound that would feel like music to anyone else because of her magic. “You don’t think an Alpha like Silas is going to claim a broken mate, do you? Keep dreaming, sis.”

To this day, it was hard for some, me included, that Noelle and I are related. Where I am timid and weak, her presence fills a room in a way I cannot put into words. We both had pale hair but that is where our similarities end. Where I am on the shorter side for a wolf with wide hips and a full chest, she balances the lithe figure of a warrior, strong and formidable. Her eyes, a cool ocean blue and mine a deep amber, veering on gold.

It wasn’t completely foolish to hope that Alpha Silas would realize I was his true mate, our lineage hails from a line of wolves that have provided the strongest alphas and lunas so we essentially are raised to hopefully be a mate to the Alpha of the pack.

A bit weird if you ask me, but I seem to be the only one with sense among these people. The reminder of my weakness stings and I look away from her.

I remember the shame and humiliation I had endured when I turned sixteen and didn’t shift like everyone else did. As a child, you grow up hearing the voice of your wolf, feeling them, but I never did.

I am an anomaly to them, a cripple. I have been sneered at, beaten and abused all because of this for years and I hoped that Alpha SIlas would take one good look at me during the ceremony and discover that I am his and he would claim me for all to see.

Noelle is right, he wouldn’t want a weakling for a mate.

At my silence, she scoffs and walks away and I hurry away, not wanting any more unwanted confrontations.

Alone in the old basement that I sleep in, I fall to the sad cluster of old blankets that I fashioned into a cot. The intense sadness hits me all at once and it is all I can do to stop myself from sobbing.

Ever since our parents died and it was known that I am wolfless, our lives have been a living hell. Noelle, for all her bravado, has also faced some challenges from our pack members but unlike me, she can shift and defend herself. She would make an excellent match for Alpha Silas, their power together would be unmatched.

Ever since the time she used her siren’s howl to wipe out an entire rogue pack, Noelle had risen in rank and became a contender for Alpha Silas’ Luna, something that drove Alicia crazy everyday.

She has proved herself time and time again and rose up from everything they have thrown at her, while I’m just…useless.

I place a hand on my chest to soothe the aching there as I lay down and close my eyes, willing the tears to stop.

I remain like that for a while and when I open my eyes again, it is night time. I bolt upright and quickly change from my chore clothes into a simple blue gown that is a little too big and rush out of the pack house.

The pack is already gathered for the ceremony and as I approach quietly, I feel the insistent buzz under my skin from before. The tingles travel from my fingertips, up my arm and down my whole body, giving me goosebumps and I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself.

The feeling intensifies and I stagger on my feet, almost falling into a group of teens that glower at me. A sudden weight presses down on me as the wind picks up and the distinct scent of spice and sandalwood mixed with something else, something earthy. It is the best thing I have ever scented and I had to get closer.

I step forward, almost in a frenzy in search of the source. There is a commotion on the raised platform in the front but I don’t care, I have to find what smells so good and nothing, not even the glares being thrown my way would stop me.

The scent takes me to the very front of the gathering and I stop just before I run into someone. Their feet are bare and I slowly look up, my breath stuttering to a stop once my eyes meet his.

“A-alpha.” I whisper, my chest filling with warmth and the relentless desire to be close to him, to bathe in his scent.

His eyes darken as he hungrily takes me, his stare moving over my body in a way that feels like an actual caress.

It is then that I realize what is happening.

My mate.

It’s him.

The Alpha.

A wide smile breaks out on my face and I try to take a step forward, only to be stopped by a hand gripping my arm tightly.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Noelle whispers to me, Alicia not too far behind her.

“Let her go.” I can hear the command in his voice and it sends pleasurable chills down my spine.

Everything melts away when Alpha Silas steps forward, glowering down at my sister as she does what he says.

I feel a burst of elation as I realize that my life is about to change. I have found my mate and he is about to claim me here, where everyone can see.

“I, Alpha Silas Thorne of the Silver Moon Pack, reject you, Emery Vance, as my mate and future Luna. You are a wolfless mistake, a stain on your line, and you will never be mine.”

A searing pain blazes in my chest and I let out a whimper as I fall to my knees, a sob tearing out of me.

“I hereby claim Noelle Vance as my Luna and mate.”