The Color Blind

To everyone else, the Midnight Pack winter gala was an exhibition of blinding wealth and intimidating power. To me, it was just another sea of gray.

While my sisters spent hours screaming at each other over whether emerald green or crimson silk best complemented their fur tones, I had simply reached into the back of my closet. I pulled out the long-sleeved gown with the tiny, hand-stitched label near the tag: Black #1. My world didn’t have room for arguments. Thanks to a severe genetic quirk, I lived in a permanent, living film noir. Total color blindness meant my life was constructed entirely of deep shadows, pale highlights, and infinite shades of ash.

“Keep your head down, Aria,” my mother hissed, adjusting my collar with a sharp, painful tug. “Tonight, Alpha Raymond chooses his mate. If he looks toward our family line, you make sure your sisters are the ones he sees. An Alpha needs a Luna who can track bloodlines, not a broken wolf who can’t even tell a poisonous nightshade berry from a ripe raspberry.”

The words stung, but they weren’t new. In a werewolf pack where sensory perfection and hunting prowess were everything, my muted eyes made me a liability. A broken link in the chain.

The grand ballroom of the obsidian pack house hummed with an anxious, vibrating energy. Hundreds of unmated wolves stood in tight, suffocating rows. Ahead of us, on the elevated marble dais, sat the pack elders, their faces carved from stone. And at the absolute center stood Alpha Raymond.

Even in grayscale, Raymond was terrifyingly magnificent. He was a wall of muscle, his sharp jawline contrasting sharply against the pale silk of his formal shirt. He possessed a dark, commanding charisma that made the air in the room feel heavy, almost hard to breathe. I watched him step forward, his chest rising as he took a deep, sweeping breath of the ballroom air. He was scent-matching. Seeking the chemical pull of his fated mate.

A collective murmur rippled through the crowd. Girls around me straightened their spines, applying last-minute gloss to their lips. I did the exact opposite. I stepped half an inch behind my taller sister, Clara, letting her broad shoulders block me from his view. I didn’t want a mate. I didn’t want to be rejected the moment a powerful wolf realized I couldn’t navigate his world.

He was getting closer. The oppressive weight of his Alpha aura was suffocating.

“He’s coming this way,” Clara whispered, her voice trembling with manic excitement. “Aria, look at him.”

“I am looking,” I lied softly, staring at the dark charcoal blur of his jacket.

Suddenly, the air in the ballroom shifted. The casual, calculating stride Raymond had been using vanished. His shoulders went completely rigid. His head snapped toward our row, his nostrils flaring violently.

The crowd went dead silent. Everyone knew that look. He had found the scent.

My mother practically shoved Clara forward, nearly knocking her off her heels. “Smile, Clara,” she whispered frantically.

Raymond moved with supernatural speed. In a fraction of a second, he crossed the floor, stopping directly in front of our family. Clara let out a soft, breathless gasp, tilting her head to expose her neck.

But Raymond wasn’t looking at Clara.

His dark eyes bypassed her completely, locking onto the shadows behind her. Directly onto me.

“Step aside,” Raymond growled, his voice a low, rumbling vibration that literally rattled my ribcage.

Clara stumbled back in shock. My mother froze.

Raymond stepped into my space, his towering frame casting a massive gray shadow over me. I couldn’t move. My boots felt glued to the marble floor. He leaned down, his face inches from mine, and took a sharp, deep breath near my collarbone.

A low, possessive purr ripped from his chest, vibrating through the quiet room. “Mine.”

Panic exploded in my chest. I looked up, intent on pushing him away, intent on running. My eyes locked directly into his.

And then, the universe shattered.

A violent, electric shock snapped through my optic nerves. The dull, charcoal edges of his jacket suddenly bled outward, transforming into a deep, rich hue I had no name for—a dark, midnight blue. The dull beige walls exploded into a warm, glowing tone. The pale, boring lights above us turned into a blinding, magnificent gold.

For nineteen years, I had lived in the dark. But looking into the eyes of the most dangerous Alpha on the continent, the world didn’t just wake up.

It exploded into color.