Chapter 2 The Wolf Pairing Gala

Maya's POV

I stood before the mirror in Nora's dress, a glittering silver thing, tight and revealing, sticking to my feverish skin.

I resembled a doll of slaughter, not the firstborn of Alpha Theron. I, Wolfless, cursed. It was a shame they couldn't hide.

"You shouldn't go," Nora sneered from a fur-draped chair.

Even at sixteen, she was everything I wasn't: shifted, poised, the pack's pride.

"You'll embarrass the whole pack, Maya. Reeking of heat, gagging on your feet. Why don't you just run away?"

I grasped at the hem of the dress, "I don't want to go either," I murmured, "But I don't have a choice."

"No choice?" Veyra interrupted, "You're lucky we're letting you out at all, girl."

"Mother, I don't think this is the right decision," I choked out.

"You doubt the wisdom of your father?" Veyra laughed, "You're a disgrace, Maya. Learn something from your little sister here. She's the pack's pride."

I was about to respond, but Father walked in. "Maya, you're ready?"

"Dad, no, please," I said, walking toward him, "They'll...."

"Did I ask you to disobey me? Keep your head up and make sure not to humiliate me."

"Hold her head up?" Nora laughed. "She would be down on her knees, begging for any Alpha to take her. Won't you, Maya?"

"Nora, be quiet." Father snapped, his gaze shifting back to Veyra, "Darling, see if you can make her look presentable. We'll leave in an hour."

It was a long ride to Silvercliff. The vehicle swayed over rough roads. I sat across from Father. His eyes weren't even on me, looking instead out the window at the misty spruces in the distance, as though I didn't even exist.

"Do you have to stare like that?" I muttered.

The heat made my body ache. Despite my efforts, my pheromones were leaking out. Theron's nostrils flared and his jaw clenched, and I shrank back in the seat until I wished I could crawl underneath and disappear.

"Sit up," he grumbled without even looking at me. "You're representing Grimridge. Act like it."

"Act like it?" My throat clenched, and my hands kneaded the gown's hem. "I'm wolfless, Father. I'm in heat. They'll scent me as soon as I set foot in that ballroom. How am I supposed to..."

"Enough," he snapped.

"You're embarrassed by me," I said quietly, "You always have been."

"You are my daughter," he said, "But you have no wolf. All you've brought is whispers and pity to our name."

"You can't even look at me without seeing a failure," I mumbled.

I pressed against the wall of the carriage. The landscape changed from dark pines to snowy heights. Mistveil Hollow was close. Its grove was a holy place for ceremonies, like the Gala, and my stomach soured just thinking about it.

"Do you ever think about her?" I asked, suddenly, "Mother, I mean."

Father's shoulders became rigid, "I...I don't. There is no point in remembering the dead. It does not make sense."

"Veyra said she was fortunate to die," I insisted, "Fortunate not to see me. Is that what you think, too?"

"Maya," he roared, eyes flashing to mine, "Your mother's dead. Talking about her changes nothing."

I chewed my lip, and unwilling tears slid down my face. I crossed my arms over my body, trying to keep the pieces from falling apart.

The carriage slowed. The lanterns of Mistveil Hollow glimmered dimly through the window. Father straightened and smoothed his long coat.

"You're going to be by yourself," he said, "when we get there, I'm going to be with the Alpha Council. Don't seek me out unless I summon you."

"Alone? Father, no, please, I..." I wheezed.

"You heard what I said," he broke in, "Don't shame us, Maya. That's all I ask."

The carriage stopped. Father left without turning, and I followed him. The Gala bided, a pit full of predators, and I, a lamb lacking teeth, entered the maw of destiny.

The ballroom was a gilded cage. I stood at the entrance. The whispers began before I moved a foot.

"Careful," a Silvercliff wolf groused, "she's probably just begging for it, Grimridge's whore, flaunting her heat like that."

"Pathetic," another jeered, a male Bloodfang with a scar across his cheek. "She's an insult to the Gala. Why's she even here?"

I just put my head down, but the words shot like arrows. My heat flared. My pheromones were leaking out, and the disgust of the crowd thickened.

One of the Duskmire women scrunched her face up, "She smells like a brothel. Her father must be so desperate to drag her here."

I moved through the ballroom. Wolves parted around me. Their eyes sparkled with scorn or worse...hunger.

An older Thunderrun wolf breathed hot in my ear, inches from my face. "You're wasting that scent, beautiful. I'll take you right here if you allow it."

I could feel my cheeks reddening as I made a run for it out of that room. I found a little covered spot away from the crowd next to a velvet curtain. But as I walked by a cluster of Silvercliff elite, a woman's voice drawled, "No one's claiming a reject like you."

I made it to the corner and leaned on the wall, breathing heavily. The heat was unbearable. My body shook with desire and embarrassment. I shut my eyes, refusing to hear the whispers, when a prickling awareness pulled my eyes upward.

Across the ballroom, a man had stood. His eyes were locked on mine, piercing through the chaos, and for a moment, the world stilled.

"Well, well, Maya Grimridge, all dressed up and nowhere to hide."

Damien, Alpha of the Bloodfang, hated me since I turned him down years ago, back when my heat first marked me as cursed.

He was flanked by his friends, two sneering Bloodfang wolves.

"I see you got a little heat issue going." he stepped closer.

"Perhaps we could assist her with that, eh?" one of his friends mocked.

"Let me go." My voice shook, and my back pressed against the wall.

"Alone?" He chuckled, scooting nearer, "You're laying yourself wide open for it, Maya, and everybody knows it. Smell that?" He took a long sniff, "You're begging for an Alpha to fuck you."

I shook my head, "I'm not," I whispered, my hands touching his chest as he stepped closer. "Please, Damien, stop."

"Stop?" He took hold of my wrist and pulled me closer. His other hand moved to my waist, feeling me through the gown. "You rejected me once, you little flirt, but you can't play bashful now. Not with that scent."

"She's begging for it," one of his friends laughed, muttering.

I struggled, "Let me go! I don't want this!"

"No one cares what you want. All that heat, with no way to satisfy it. I bet you're just dying for someone to help you out, aren't you?" Damien growled, trapping me to the wall. His breath was warm against my neck. "You're nothing. And I'm going to accept what you are offering right now in front of everybody.

"Someone, please, help me!" I cried , but the music muffled me, and Damien's boys blocked the alcove.

Damien's hand tightened, and his lips brushed my ear. "Scream as loud as you fucking want," he whispered. "It just makes this sweeter."