Chapter One

SELENE.

To survive in Lycoris, you had to be up there.  It was up there or nothing.  If you were down here, then you were lower class, the scum. And I was the scum of scum.  

But I had noble blood. Beta blood.  It didn’t matter, though. Not anymore. Not since I was seven, when my father, the honorable Beta of the Moonveil Pack, was publicly put to death for treason.  His name was soiled in the mud, his family stripped of their status, and his only crime being loyalty to the wrong person, the former Alpha, deposed by Kieran's father in a vicious coup.

Three days after my father was beheaded, my mother had killed herself. They were fated to be mates, joined together by passion so strong that each could not survive without the other. I remembered that morning clearly, waking up to icy arms around me, the scent of lilacs and rain abandoning my mother's body.

I had been alone since then.

The pack hadn't killed me. No, they had done something worse. They had left me alive as a slave.

For nearly two decades, I’d endured humiliation, abuse, and suffering. They called me the traitor's daughter, and no matter how many years passed, the title never faltered. If anything, it weighed heavier, crushing me until I nearly believed I was the one who had betrayed them.

When Alpha Kieran took office five years ago, things began to go downhill. He'd taken a personal interest in keeping me in my place, ensuring I would never forget where I belonged. Public floggings. Mocking jibes. Forcing me into hard labor. And worst of all? He was a former friend, one from childhood. As a child, he'd played with me, pulled my braids, and swapped stolen candy. That was before the world had driven us apart.

I’d considered committing suicide more times than I had fingers and toes to count on one hand, but if I did, then the Nightbloom family would become extinct. And that was not an option. I couldn't have that.

So I endured. Day in, day out. And today wasn't an exception.

My tired feet moved quickly through the busy square of the pack, my arms wrapped tightly around a heavy basket loaded with clean linens. I was careful, if I even soiled them, I’d have to wash them all again, and I was already behind on my other tasks.

But fate never cared. 

A sharp shove from behind sent me stumbling. The basket slipped from my grasp, and I fell to the ground. Clothes tumbled out, landing in the dirt. Laughter erupted around me.  

“Watch where you’re going, filth.”  

I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. Lyra Valemont.

Her voice dripped with cruelty, and I clenched my fingers into the soil as I forced myself to take a breath. I slowly opened my eyes to see Lyra's sneering face and the group of girls standing close to her.

Lyra crossed her arms, hatred glinting in her blue eyes. "Honestly, Selene, you're worse than a rat. At least rats know to move out of the way when someone important comes by." The women behind her laughed.

I remained silent. Speaking back at her would only make things worse.

"Going to say something?" Lyra tilted her head. "Learned your place, finally? Good."

One of the other women kicked a linen shirt aside, dragging it through mud. Another spat on ground beside me.

"I don't know why you bother," one of them sneered. "No matter how many times you wash those clothes, they'll never be clean enough for someone like you to touch.".

My jaw clenched. I let my head remain bent as they turned and strode away, their laughter echoing in the air even after they were gone.

I did not move for a minute.

Then I breathed out a shaking, deep breath, and struggled to my feet. My knees ached from the fall, my fingers trembled, but I pushed it aside. Slowly, I piled the dirty clothes again back into the basket.

This will take me an hour, if I was lucky. Gods, Lyra was such a bitch. 

I readjusted the basket on my arms and turned, walking back towards the stream.

As I walked, my eyes skipped over the decorations being placed up around the pack. Lanterns were strung between buildings, their orange light shining in the late afternoon light. Deep blue and silver banners draped from rooftops, and the streets echoed with excitement and laughter.

The Moon Festival was near. All the unmated wolves were eagerly awaiting it. It was the only time of the year when the power of the Moon Goddess was the strongest, making it most likely to find one's fated mate.

I had wanted to find mine since I was a child.

That fantasy, once, had been clean and romantic. I had pictured my mate holding my hand, talking sweet nothings, protecting me from the cruel world.

Now? I didn't know if I could afford to hope.

What if I was mated to someone of this pack? One who had treated me like dirt her entire life? Would they suddenly see me differently because of the bond? Would they reject me outright?

I swallowed the lump in my throat and continued walking. But still, a tiny, fragile part of me held onto the dream.

My parents had been fated to be mates. Their love had been passionate and strong. So strong that my mother had followed my father to death, unable to lige the bond that was cruelly severed.

I’d seen them smile at each other when I was little. Heard their laughter ring through the corridors of our home before everything was destroyed. They had loved each other in a way that defied all, fate itself being included.

And maybe, just maybe….In a few days, I’d find that kind of love too.