Chapter 1
The scent of sizzling bacon and maple syrup wafted through the air, mingling with the ruffle of my father’s newspaper. There was no rest for me. I stood at the stove, flipping pancakes and trying to ignore the ache in my chest. Today was my birthday, but no one seemed to care.
My father, William Harrow, the Alpha of the Nightshade pack, was too busy reading the morning paper to greet me. His gray eyes scanned the pages with a furrowed brow. He hadn’t said a word to me since I’d woken up, not even “happy birthday.”
He was down early to take my stepsister, Cleo to the open day at Triform College. It was the most prestigious and renowned college in our territory. Next to academic studies, it taught new wolves tactical training like how to fight, strategize, and even escape an enemy. I longed to go, but my stepmother said it would be a waste of resources. With no wolf of my own, I had no hope of getting in anyway.
Cleo, dressed and ready to go in her signature short skirt and tight blouse, sauntered into the kitchen, her long black hair cascading down her back in soft waves. Her turquoise eyes, the same color as mine, flicked over me, a smirk playing on her lips. “Looks like the wannabe wolf is making breakfast again,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I guess that is all she is good for, right father?”
He grunted in response. He never stood up for me, especially against the family he loved: my stepmother and stepsister. I didn’t rate in that category.
I gritted my teeth fighting the urge to snap back at Cleo. I knew it would only make things worse. Instead, I turned my attention back to the pancakes, pouring more batter onto the griddle.
Cleo came to stand next to me, chowing down on a crisp piece of bacon. “There were no charity places left at Triform for a weak wolf like you, Sierra” she said, her tone taunting. “But that’s just as well. I wouldn’t want anyone to catch on that we’re related.”
I swallowed hard, my heart sinking in my chest. Cleo was wrong about a lot, but in this case, she was right. I was the only wolf above eighteen in my pack who hadn’t changed. Because of this, my family despised me. Everyone did. Pack members had long since avoided me, dismissing me as useless. I was lower than the lowest Omega.
I’d literally kill to shift into my wolf form. To feel the power and strength that came with it.
But no matter how hard I tried, it never happened.
“Come on, Cleo, we’re going to be late,” my father said, finally looking up from his paper. He stood up, grabbing a fistful of bacon. He folded it between a pancake before taking a bite.
“Would you like a napkin, father?” I asked, hoping he would notice me on today of all days.
I should have known better. Like always, he looked right through me as he walked from the room.
My sister bumped my arm, throwing the tail end of her chewed up bacon into the pancake mix. “Cooking and cleaning. That’s all you are good for.” With a smirk, Cleo followed him, her laughter echoing down the hallway.
I sighed, dumping the ruined batter into the trash. I wasn’t very hungry anyway.
Snapping down gloves on my hands, I began to clean the kitchen. As I scrubbed the air grew cold and a silence filled the room. My mind wandered to a much warmer place—a place where the heat came not from a warm griddle but from the desire between two bodies. My thoughts strayed to Reese’s touch. His fingers had been warm against my skin that night by the lake, igniting sparks under every inch they caressed.
Reese was my childhood friend and the one person who had always believed in me. He was the only one who knew about my longing to shift into my wolf form, and he promised to be with me even if I didn’t get my wolf.
He had promised me this when we were sitting by the lake, watching the sunset. Reese had reached out with a touch as gentle as the wind and tucked a strand of my dark curls behind my ear. His deep brown eyes gazed into mine as he said, “You’re so beautiful, Sierra.” His voice turned deeper… husky, “Your hair is the dark shadows under the trees. Your eyes…a tropical sea… your curves…luscious hills and valleys. I’ll always be here for you, no matter what. And when I become Alpha, you will have a place by my side.”
Cringey as his descriptions were, I appreciated that he promised to look after me. In our small world, where my father’s word is law, Reese stands as the next in line for Alpha. He’s the only one who really sees me, in a pack in where I am unloved and unnoticed.
It wasn’t always like that.
When I was young, I was destined to be Luna. I could run farther, jump higher, and lift more than some of the weaker males and all of the females. I was still strong, but nothing compared to those who had shifted…
Those who had mated.
Wolves were never shy about having sex. For those with mates, they fucked wherever and whenever they wanted. The grunts and groans coming from a mated pair turned me on as much as it made me hate the skin surrounding my bones.
The bones that remained stubbornly human.
I shook my head, clearing away the bad memories to finish here and head to the pack house. My stepmother ordered me yesterday to help prepare for the ceremony.
And I sure didn’t want her to come looking for me.
