The Billionaire’s Glitched Luna

"Aria, get up. Today is the day you finally become useful or get thrown out with the trash."

My sister, Lila, kicked my mattress. She was already dressed in a white silk gown that cost more than all the clothes I owned. Her blonde hair was curled perfectly, and she smelled like expensive lilies. I smelled like the damp basement floor where I slept.

Today was the ceremony of the moon. Every eighteen-year-old in the Silver-Moon Pack would finally shift into their wolf. It was also the day our fated mates were revealed.

"I’m coming," I said, my voice cracking.

I pulled on my simple cotton dress. It was thin and faded, but it was the best I had. As I followed Lila upstairs, the pack house was buzzing. Everyone looked at Lila with respect. When they looked at me, they looked away. To them, I was just the "glitch," the twin who had no scent, no power, and probably no wolf.

We stood in the center of the village square. The sun was hot, but I felt cold. Alpha Jax, the future leader of our pack, stood on the stone stage. He was tall, handsome, and knew it. He had been promised to one of us since we were kids.

Lila leaned toward me. "Don't be sad when he picks me, Aria. A king needs a queen, not a broken toy."

The ceremony began. One by one, my peers stepped forward. They screamed as their bones cracked and shifted. Moments later, powerful wolves stood where the teenagers used to be. The air was thick with the scent of pine and musk.

Then, it was my turn.

I walked to the center of the stage. I closed my eyes and waited for the heat. I waited for the roar in my chest. I waited for the pain that would mean I was finally a werewolf.

One minute passed. Two.

Silence.

I opened my eyes. I was still standing on two legs. I was still human. I looked at my hands: no claws. I looked at the crowd. The whispers started immediately.

"Nothing? Not even a pup shift?"

"She really is a freak."

Alpha Jax walked toward me. For a second, I saw a flicker of something in his eyes. But then he looked at the pack, and his face turned to stone.

"Aria of the Silver Moon," he said, his voice loud so everyone could hear. "The Moon Goddess has shown us the truth. You have no wolf. You have no place here."

He turned away from me and grabbed Lila’s hand. He raised it high.

"I, Jax, future Alpha, reject Aria as my mate! I claim Lila as my true Luna!"

The pack cheered. It felt like a physical blow to my chest. My own sister didn't even look back at me. She just leaned into Jax and smirked.

My father stepped forward. He wasn't crying. He looked disgusted. He threw a small bag at my feet. It hit the dirt with a soft thud.

"You are a disgrace to our blood," he stated. "You have ten minutes to leave the territory. If you are found on our lands after that, we will hunt you like the animal you aren't."

I didn't argue. I didn't beg. My heart was breaking, but a new feeling was starting to grow deep inside me. It wasn't sadness. It was a cold, sharp spark of fire.

I grabbed the bag and walked. I walked past the people who used to be my friends. I walked past the house I grew up in. I didn't stop until I reached the edge of the forest, where the neon lights of Aethelgard City glowed in the distance.

I had nothing. No family, no pack, and no mate.

I reached into the bag my father threw. I expected money. Instead, I found a one-way bus ticket to the city and a note that said, "Don't come back."

I climbed onto the old, dusty bus. My seat was hard and smelled like old smoke. I stared out the window as the trees of my home faded away. They thought they had destroyed me. They thought I was weak because I didn't have a wolf.

But as the bus hit a bump, the lights above my head flickered. For a split second, the lightbulb surged with a blinding white glow before it popped, showering the empty back row with sparks.

My skin felt like it was buzzing.

I looked at my reflection in the dark window. My eyes weren't glowing yellow like a wolf's. They were flashing a strange, electric silver.

The bus pulled into the city station three hours later. Rain started to pour, blurring the neon signs of the massive skyscrapers. I stepped off the bus and looked up. This was the world of humans and money. A world where wolves weren't supposed to exist.

I saw a massive screen on the side of a building. A man with dark, intense eyes and a sharp suit was being interviewed. Silas Vane: The Billionaire Who Owns The Future.

I didn't know then that he was a monster. I didn't know he was broken, just like me. All I knew was that I needed a job, or I would starve.

I walked toward the tallest building in the skyline: Vane Tower.

As I reached the glass doors, a black car pulled up. The man from the screen stepped out. He moved with a grace that was too smooth for a human. He stopped suddenly, his head snapping in my direction.

He didn't look at me like I was trash. He looked at me like he had just seen a ghost.

"You," he said, his voice like grinding metal. "What are you doing here?"

Before I could answer, he lunged forward and grabbed my arm. The moment his skin touched mine, a massive bolt of blue electricity shot between us, throwing him back against his car and blowing out every streetlight on the block.