CHAPTER 1 — “The Boy No One Sees”

“Move faster, runt!” Marcus shouted as the bucket hit Aeris in the chest.

Cold water soaked through his thin shirt, but Aeris didn’t move. One wrong step meant more pain. He stayed still, trying not to show any reaction.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Marcus kicked the bucket away, angry. “Fill it again. Don’t spill this time.”

A sharp stab in his side made Aeris bend over. Someone had kicked him there before. He couldn’t remember when. Everything hurt all the time now.

Slowly, step by step, he walked to the well. Quiet. Small. Like he wanted to disappear.

The well stood in the yard’s middle. The sun touched the ground but never him. Darkness seemed to cling to Aeris.

He dropped the bucket into the well and pulled the rope carefully. Water spilled from his shaking hands.

“Useless.”

Kael’s voice came from behind. Aeris didn’t look, but he knew the boy,the Beta’s son,strong and hated by many.

Kael stepped in front of him, surrounded by fighters. “My dad says you’re a curse. The Moon Goddess even rejects you.”

Aeris looked down. “I don’t know.”

“Say it!” Kael snapped.

“I don’t know!” Aeris’s voice was louder this time, but shaky.

Kael hit him in the chin. The bucket slipped, water flooding the dirt.

“Clean this up,” Kael said, pulling Aeris’s hair. “And get more water. The Alpha wants his bath before the hunt.”

After they left, Aeris stayed behind. His shirt was soaked, his mouth cut and bleeding. He hadn’t eaten in days. Once someone gave him half a dry loaf, which he hid under his mat.

Pain burned as he filled the bucket again, more carefully now. At the leader’s hut, Aeris stood quietly while the Alpha ignored him. He felt invisible.

Midday came with the hunting ceremony. Aeris couldn’t join. He stood at the edge, watching fighters mark their skin with soot and blood.

The pack trusted dreams, storms, and old stories. Many believed Aeris brought trouble.

“There’s that boy,” Leta said coldly as she stepped forward like a shadow.

“Someone should move him,” another woman said. “He’ll curse the hunt.”

“The Beta told us to watch him.”

The Alpha raised his hand. Silence fell.

“Today we hunt for the Goddess,” he said. “We show our strength. May she guide us.”

The fighters shifted,bones cracked, hair grew wild. In seconds, they became wolves, strong and fierce. Aeris was nothing like them.

They ran into the forest. Aeris waited.

Time passed. The fighters should have returned. Hunts didn’t last so long.

Then the bodies came. Four wounded wolves, covered in blood and barely alive.

Chaos broke out.

“What happened?” the Alpha demanded.

“Something new attacked us,” Marcus said, his eyes wild with wolf spirit. “It waited.”

Three wolves died. Four were hurt.

Marcus turned to Aeris.

“It’s your fault!” Leta screamed. “You cursed us!”

All eyes turned to Aeris, full of hate.

“I didn’t do anything,” Aeris said, stepping back.

“Your very being is a curse!” Kael spat. “We should’ve killed you long ago.”

The Beta took control. “Bring him here.”

They grabbed Aeris. He tried to break free, but fighters closed in.

Kael punched his stomach, folding him over.

They beat him,punches, kicks, claws cutting his skin. Blood mixed with tears.

Aeris did not fight back. Why try?

When they stopped, he collapsed, gasping for air.

“Take him to the border,” the Alpha ordered. “Leave him there.”

They dragged Aeris out, threw him beyond the pack’s land, near the dark woods.

Marcus leaned close. “Come back, we’ll kill you.”

They left him there.

Night came cold and heavy.

Aeris wanted to give up, to let the darkness take him. But voices stopped him.

“The boy dies at dawn,” the Beta said.

“Can’t risk it again,” another whispered.

Aeris’s heart raced. This was no longer punishment. This was death.

His body throbbed with pain, blood soaking his shirt.

Still, he stood.

He looked out over the land that used to be his home.

Then his eyes turned to the trees,the forbidden forest, deep and black.

The pack gave up on him. Maybe the woods would not.

He took a shaky step forward. Then another.

His world blurred, but he kept moving.

The trees closed in as the Bloodfang Pack slept, unaware their curse was gone.