Chapter 1- THE GIRL WITHOUT A WOLF

I was almost eighteen, only three days away from the ceremony that would decide everything.

That evening while the whole pack was outside. I was instructed to take Rhett's blade to his room. When I got to the cabin. The door to the small cabin was slightly open. I raised my hand to knock, then froze.

A low, rough sound came from inside.

“Nora…”

My name. Spoken like he was breathless.

I should have left. Instead I stepped closer. Through the gap I saw him. Rhett sat on the edge of the bed, shirt gone, head tilted back. One hand moved hard and fast around himself. His breathing was uneven. His jaw was clenched.

“Nora… fuck—”

Heat flooded between my legs so fast it scared me. “Is he masturbating with me on his mind?” I whispered to myself.

I wanted to continue watching him. I pressed my thighs together and tried to back away a little before he noticed me but the floorboard creaked.

His eyes snapped open.

For one second we just stared. Then he grabbed the sheet and covered himself. “Nora. Come in.”

“I only came to return this.” My voice sounded strange. “I'm sorry I should go.”

“No no. It's alright, come in.”

I stepped inside because my legs would not obey me. He stood, still holding the sheet around his waist, walked towards me and closed the door behind me. The soft click made my heart race harder.

He noticed my shaking legs. “You’re trembling.”

“I’m fine, I've been walking a lot today. I should go please.” I turned to leave but—

He walked closer. The air between us felt too small. He stopped right in front of me and gently took the blade from my hand, setting it aside. Then his fingers brushed my wrist.

“I’ve been losing my mind, Nora,” he said quietly. “I don't know what this feeling is but you keep coming to my mind. It’s always you.”

I swallowed. “You shouldn’t say that. You’re meant to be with my twin sister please. The whole pack is waiting for you to claim her in three days' time. That's what tradition demands for you as the future alpha.”

His eyes darkened. “I don’t want Cassia.”

The words hit me harder than I expected. “I love you, Nora. I don't care about any tradition.” He pulled me closer. “Cassia might be whom they choose for me, but you are the one I want, Nora.”

Something inside my chest cracked. All the years of watching him from the shadows, all the nights I told myself I could never have him, broke open at once. I didn’t think. I just reached up and kissed him.

The moment our mouths met, everything changed. His hands slid up my sides and settled over my breasts, gripping me through the thin fabric of my dress like he had been starving for this. I gasped against his lips. He kissed me deeper, rougher, pulling me flush against his body.

I wrapped my hands around him and Almost forgot how to breathe.

Then the door opened.

Cassia, my twin sister stood there, eyes wide, taking in everything, my swollen mouth, Rhett’s hands still cupping my breasts, the sheet barely holding around his waist. His hard dick could be seen from the sheets

“You bitch.” She said with tears in her eyes and turned immediately to go and inform the pack of the taboo I have just committed.

****

Cassia and I came into the world on the same night, under the same full moon. We were born as twins but not identical.

For the first ten years of our lives, our parents loved us equally. Same clothes. Same bed. Same soft words before sleep. People in the pack used to smile when they saw us and say the Moon Goddess had blessed our family twice. Cassia was always prideful and arrogant but the twin bond between us was still there.

But everything changed the day we turned ten years old.

It happened on the training field. One moment a kid was about to hit me. Cassia jumped in and pushed him but he got back up and was about to fight her immediately.

But the next thing that happened shocked everyone. Her body began to shake and then suddenly her eyes glowed golden. She became strong and fast. The pack erupted in cheers. The Alpha walked over and placed a hand on our father’s shoulder.

“A rare gift,” he said. “She will be powerful.”

She was the first in many generations to awaken her power at the age of ten.

Then suddenly everyone turned to me. Twins always awakened together. If one felt something then the other should immediately.

But I just stood there feeling nothing.

Days passed. Then weeks. The hopeful look that was on people's faces turned into confused ones. Then into quiet worry. Then into something colder.

One evening, my mother pulled me into the kitchen by the arm. Her fingers dug in hard.

“You felt nothing, did you?” she said.

I shook my head.

She stared at me like I was something dirty on the floor.

“Ten years old and still no wolf. Do you know what people are saying? They’re saying I must have made a mistake somewhere. That maybe you’re not even ours.”

My throat burned. “I’m sorry mom.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix anything.” She let go of my arm. “Stay out of sight. Cassia doesn’t need you dragging her down.”

That night I slept in the old storage room near the back of the house. No one came to check on me.

Three years later the pattern was already set.

I was thirteen. Cassia was the star of every training session. She moved faster than the boys. She won every spar. The trainers praised her in front of everyone. I fetched water and cleaned the practice blades. That was my job.

One afternoon a boy from the warrior family tripped me on purpose. I fell hard. The water jug smashed. Laughter spread across the field.

Cassia walked over, slow and smiling. She looked down at me on the ground.

“Clumsy as always,” she said, loud enough for the others to hear. “Maybe if you had a wolf you wouldn’t fall over your own feet.”

More laughter.

I got up without a word, picked up the pieces of the jug, and walked away. My knees stung. My face burned. I didn’t cry until I reached the trees.

That was the day Rhett found me.

He was fifteen already, tall for his age, training with the older boys. He must have seen what happened. He came through the trees with a clean cloth and a bottle of water.

“Here,” he said, holding them out.

I didn’t take them at first. “You don’t have to.”

“I know.” He sat on the log beside me anyway. “Doesn’t mean I won’t.”

We sat in silence while I cleaned the cuts on my knees. He didn’t ask questions. He didn’t offer empty words. He just stayed.

After that day, he started finding reasons to walk the same paths I did.

A week later I was carrying laundry back from the river when he appeared beside me. He took half the load without asking.

“You walk like the ground might bite you,” he said.

I glanced at him. “What?”

“Your shoulders. They’re always up by your ears.” He demonstrated, hunching his own. “Like this.”

I almost smiled. “I do not.”

“You do. It looks painful.” He bumped my arm lightly with his. “Try dropping them. Just once.”

I did. The tension eased a little. He nodded like I had done something important. “Better,” he said.

We walked the rest of the way in easy quiet. On our way, people glanced at us.

“What's that wolfless girl doing with the alpha’s son?"

“He's even helping her.”

“Let's go report this to the alpha.”

I looked at him, and was about to collect the load he was helping me carry. “I don't want to cause problems for you please."

He stopped me immediately. “Let them talk, just ignore them.”

“But—”

“Nora, let's go. I said ignore them.”

When we reached the pack house he handed the laundry back and ruffled my hair the way he used to when we were smaller. I swatted his hand away, but the corners of my mouth lifted before I could stop them.

He noticed. His own smile came slow and real.

By the time I turned fourteen those walks had become a habit. Though I always wonder how he always ignores the rumors about us.

He never seems to bring it up either.

My sister grew even more jealous and hated me more.

———

By the time I turned sixteen the whole pack treated me like a shadow. My parents barely looked at me. Cassia made sure of that. She stole every small win I managed. If I cleaned the pack house better than the other girls, she took the credit. If I found a lost pup in the woods, she told the story as if she had done it.