Chapter 2 THE MOONLIGHT RITUAL

The Full Moon hung heavy above the trees, bloated and silver like it had something to prove.

Every wolf in the Bloodmoon Pack had gathered in the yard. There were warriors, Elders, omegas, even the pups with sleep still in their eyes.

Everyone was here to witness to birth of new wolves. Talk about pressure.

The Ritual Grounds glowed under the torchlights held in sticks. It was ringed by obsidian stones etched with ancient marks.

I'd read them once in an old scroll. They were protection runes. Tonight, they felt more like warnings. Of what? I couldn't decide.

I stood just beyond the circle, bare-footed and shivering, not from the cold but from the weight of every stare. My palm was sweating, and though I usually ran hotter than everyone else, it felt like I was on fire.

The free and light gown I was waved with the winds that blew.

"You sure you're ready?" Eliah whispered beside me. She had stayed close since morning. I didn't ask her to. She just knew.

"No," I answered truthfully. "But it's not like I have a choice." Even as the unnamed outcast, this night was compulsory for every single pack member.

I would have liked to run and hide somewhere where it didn't feel like hundreds of eyes were watching me and waiting for me to fail.

I let out a sigh.

Eliah squeezed my wrist once and then slipped away to join the rest of the unshifted wolves. We were all eighteen today, and it was time for us to prove ourselves worthy of belonging to the pack.

Elder Varek's voice boomed from the center of the circle, arms raised like a prophet. "On this sacred night, we honor the Moon. She who weaves the threads of fate. Let those ready to shift step forward. Let the Moon reveal her chosen."

The crowd parted, making space in the circle.

My feet moved before I could second-guess. I stepped into the center. The ground felt wrong beneath me-too warm, too soft. Like the earth held its breath.

The others joined me in the circle, and then we all she'd our clothes. Creamy, and unblemished skins were exposed to the air, and I stood amongst them, the only one riddled with scars.

One by one, the others began to shift.

Bones cracked. Skin split. Fur burst from bodies like smoke. Most of them dropped fast, their forms settling into young wolves. Smooth, easy, practiced.

Not me.

I stood alone, still unchanged. Still too human.

Murmurs stirred at the edge of the circle.

"I knew something was wrong with her."

"She should've shifted by now."

"She's cursed."

I closed my eyes.

Please, I begged the Moon, whoever you are. Just let it happen.

And then it did.

Pain sliced through my spine like lightning. My knees buckled. I hit the dirt with a grunt, hands clawing at the ground as my bones shifted without mercy. My jaw unhinged. My vision blurred. Every nerve burned.

But beneath the agony... there was heat.

Not like the pain of shifting. Something else. Something deeper.

I felt it unfurl in my chest like a sleeping animal waking for the first time.

The moment my paws touched the earth, the crowd gasped.

I blinked, disoriented. Everything was sharper-the torches too bright, the scents too thick. I could smell fear and sweat and... something burning.

My reflection shimmered in the ritual pool nearby.

What stared back wasn't a normal wolf.

My coat was light ash, almost silver, but my eyes... they glowed red-gold. Firelight caught in them like sparks.

Whispers rose.

"Her eyes-"

"That's not natural-"

"She's not like the others."

I shrank back, ears flattening. My wolf didn't speak, but she trembled inside me. We weren't used to being seen. Not like this.

Elder Varek raised his arms again, trying to calm the crowd.

"The Moon speaks now," he declared. "Let her show the bond."

A hush fell like fog.

Then, a sudden breeze swept through the circle, lifting the torches into a brief roar of flame. My body stilled. My heart thundered.

Something pulled.

Like a thread yanked tight in my chest.

My wolf snapped her head toward the far edge of the circle-toward a figure stepping into the firelight.

Alpha Kael Thorn.

The moment our eyes met, the air shifted.

There was no warning. No gentle glow or whispered knowing.

The bond slammed into me like a tidal wave.

Snap.

My breath vanished. My wolf howled inside me.

That was him. Him.

My mate.

Kael didn't react.

Not a flicker of recognition. No movement. No smile. He just stood there, stone-faced, eyes unreadable.

But I knew.

The Moon had chosen. The bond had formed.

And my world was no longer mine.