Viper

　　Catherine's POV

　　The sun stung my eyes, and I slowly sat up from bed and found myself in an unfamiliar room.

　　The clothes scattered on the ground were the ones I wore at the mating ritual last night.

　　Yesterday was a mating ritual in Shadow Forest.

　　It was a tradition that werewolves living in New Jersey held a mating ritual in Shadow Forest every year.

　　Alpha and Luna of every pack would bring their unmated werewolves here, looking for their mates at the ritual.

　　Of course, if one didn't find one, the ritual next year was waiting for him.

　　Once the ritual started, I strolled around with a drink, with no desire to find my mate.

　　Well, you must wanna know why, because I was wolfless.

　　As I was strolling around with a glass of raspberry juice in my hand, I saw my stepmother Elena Anderson talking to my stepsister Gina Wyatt under a tree in the corner of the square.

　　Although I didn't have a wolf, my hearing was particularly excellent.

　　Thus, I could still hear what they were talking about at a distance.

　　Although Gina lowered her voice, I still heard it.

　　They are speaking ill of my mother.

　　Anger was boiling up inside me. How dare she!

　　So when they were done talking, I stopped Gina while she was alone, asking her to apologize to my mother.

　　Apparently, she didn't mind my warning and with a shitty face written with 'so what', so I spilled berry juice all over her, smiling to see her screaming and running away.

　　But my stepmother was angry and shouted in Luna's tone, "Catherine! Find your sister now!"

　　I couldn't disobey Luna's orders even if I were not willing, so I came for Gina.

　　"Gina! Where are you?" I was now at the periphery of Shadow Forest, some distance from the square. If I kept moving forward, I would go deep into the forest. I didn't think that Gina would lose her mind and run into the forest late at night.

　　I tried hard to ignore the laughter of the crowd to see if there were Gina's footsteps.

　　Suddenly, I smelled the scent of vanilla.

　　I smelled countless fragrances, but I swore that none of them were as attractive as this one.

　　I followed the scent and tried to approach the source. When I got close to a tree, a tall man sprang out from behind the tree.

　　Instantly, a strong scent of vanilla came at me. Though I couldn't see the guy's face in the dim light, I knew he wasn't one of my pack members.

　　"Who are you?" I asked carefully. His breathing was loud, and I had a feeling that he was staring at me in the dark. In such a case, I didn't dare to act rashly.

　　Suddenly, he pounced at me and had me in his arms. He was so strong that I couldn't break free.

　　Just as I attempted to shout for help, I abruptly had a strange feeling. My consciousness seemed to be occupied by another person. I couldn't think clearly and fainted in the end.

　　When I woke up again, I was in this strange room.

　　I pushed away the blanket and got out of bed, picking up my clothes. There was a man's suit jacket hanging on the back of the chair beside me. What the hell? I angrily threw it onto the bed, and this jerk actually left just like that?

　　'Is he my mate? Why can't I sense anything now?'

　　Despite the pain between my legs, I put on my clothes.

　　But then I found that the obsidian pendant given by my mother was missing.

　　After I looked for it everywhere in the room and became frustrated, I heard a knock on the door.

　　My stepmother and father rushed in as I opened the door.

　　"Alpha Wyatt, your daughter had been fooling around with a stranger for a whole night while the entire pack was looking for her. If others knew about it, our pack would be embarrassed!"

　　Elena put on a surprised look and shouted at my father. After that, Elena looked at me balefully.

　　Elena snorted and said, "Catherine, I asked you to look for Gina yesterday. But what did you do? You were actually having fun here."

　　"No, I wasn't!" I hurriedly explained.

　　"Look at the hickeys on your neck. Are you still trying to deceive your Alpha?"

　　I subconsciously covered my neck. The damn man had left many hickeys on my neck.

　　"Catherine, I'm so disappointed in you." Troy glanced at my neck and then looked at the messy room, shaking his head.

　　I came from the Black Moon Pack, and my father was the Alpha. My mother was Paisley Davis, the last Luna of the pack. Yet she died when I was three years old.

　　To be honest, I knew that Luna was indispensable to a wolf pack. However, my father married Elena only two months after my mother died. That was why I found it hard to believe my father was sad about the death of his mate.

　　Elena had been targeting me ever since I could remember. Obviously, not every pack was lucky enough to have a nice Luna.

　　"I didn't fool around." I calmed down and said calmly, "I met a werewolf on my way to find Gina, and then I fainted. I have no idea why I'm here. I think he is probably my mate."

　　"Your mate?" Elena sneered. "Impossible. You are lying. You won't have a mate."

　　"I know I don't have a wolf, but many werewolves like me have found their mates. Am I right?" I tried to be patient in front of my father, despite my dissatisfaction with Elena's attitude.

　　Although I was angry about what the man had done to me, I did have a strange feeling yesterday. Yet I didn't know if that was the feeling between mates.

　　Elena didn't answer my question but looked at my father instead.

　　"When you were born, a witch made a divination for you and said that you were a werewolf who would never have a mate," Troy said slowly as he looked at me with pity. This came as a shock to me.

　　"That's impossible! Impossible! How could I not have a mate?" I subconsciously said.

　　Now I was even more desperate than I had been when I found that I had no wolf at the age of eighteen.

　　My mind was in turmoil, and I couldn't think calmly at all. Werewolves all lived in groups, and any werewolf without a mate would be lonely for the rest of his life.

　　"Would your father lie to you?" Elena said mockingly. Then Elena looked at my father and said, "Darling, I know you are in a dilemma. But the higher-ups of the pack are outside, and we have to handle this properly."

　　"Catherine, I won't be partial to you even though you are my daughter." Troy took a deep breath. His face became calm, and there was solemnity and authority in his tone.