It was the beginning of the winter solstice.
Alpha Arden's voice echoed through the woods, under the glow of the crescent moon. He wasn’t Alpha yet, still just the Alpha’s son, but he liked it when I called him Alpha Arden.
The pack had gathered for a soiree, and he'd lured me away from the others to our favorite spot where we secretly met to gaze at the stars and profess our love.
Only, this time, the words that came out of his mouth struck my heart and shattered them into a million broken shards.
"I reject you as my chosen mate." His Cerulean eyes bore deep into mine as he spoke the words of his rejection.
A tear slid past my eyes. I shuddered, not wanting to believe that my mate, my very own mate gifted to me by the moon goddess, and future Alpha of our pack, would betray me.
"Why?! Why?! How could you…" I gasped, struggling to make out words.
"I'm sorry Isla, but I can't choose you over Hazel, she's the BloodMoon Alpha's daughter. She has a lot to offer me, but you don't."
He spoke the words with no remorse, each sentence sharper than a sword, plunging deep into my chest.
"Was that why you kept us a secret?! Was that why you hid our relationship from the others?"
He shrugged with a chuckle, "There was no relationship to begin with, Isla. You were just too dumb to see. I never marked you, I only masked my bite to bind you to me. You think I'd choose you, daughter of a nobody, to be the pack's Luna? I only used you when you offered yourself to me," he growled angrily.
"But…don’t you love me anymore?"
"I never loved you. Not even once,” he ended with a frigid voice.
I gasped, my heart constricting painfully in my chest. I opened my mouth to speak but words failed me, tears pooled down heavily from my face. I stumbled back when I couldn't bear his eyes that gazed at me like I was a stranger, the affection in them simmering to hate.
It was all I could do to turn on my heels and flee, I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, far away from the pack. When I had gotten closer to the lake that illuminated the moon's light I fell to my feet writhing in pain and agony, pouring my heart out as I wailed in pain.
I had no wolf. I was the wolfless girl of the pack, and everyone hated me. They had stared at me with contempt, deeming me unworthy to be a member of the pack, until I met Arden.
He'd been the only thing that kept me sane, the only one on my side. He told me it wasn't a sin or a crime to not have a wolf, that I was an anomaly. I was rare, but unique.
I felt pulled to him as time went by, and he felt the same. He'd lied to me that I was his mate, and what I felt was the bond, then he marked me, and I gave myself away to him.
It was the beginning of my suffering and the end of my happiness in the pack. I cried like I would never cry again. I let myself get hurt, but I swore that night it would never happen again.
★★★
Fast forward to three months later. I shuffled through the hallway hastily with Cale, a girl who recently started talking to me. We took turns decorating the pack house for the arrival of the Alpha's younger brother, who had just returned home to the pack after twenty years.
"They say Arden's uncle is a rogue alpha. Their father cut him off the link for killing another pack's alpha when he was just a juvenile wolf."
I scoffed beside her, Cale always seemed to know all the gossip, "And, you heard this, where exactly?"
She dropped the flower basket she held onto the balcony, leaning back with her lithe frame against the wall, her porcelain skin glowing under the bright sunlight that gleamed through the entrance.
"It's no news. I grew up with these stories, you don't know this because you're not from here."
True. I had belonged to no pack, I was a war casualty between this pack and another that had been exterminated.
No one bothered to tell me of my origin, or which pack I had belonged to. All I knew was that Arden’s father had been benevolent enough to rescue me from the throes of battle and offer me sanctuary in his pack, where I was forced to face dejection all through childhood. I still felt a pang of pain as she mentioned it to me.
She turned to face me, her expression shifting when she saw my face, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mention that to hurt you."
"I know Cale," I replied curtly.
We continued on in silence. When we were done, I walked back to my room in the basement, and clicked the bulb on. I gazed at the worn out peach wallpaper barely with a few posters of my favorite boy bands stuck to the wall.
I adjusted the lamp on my desk, picked up the hairpin that had once been a gift from Arden and shoved it into the trash bin next to my bed.
It was almost time for the celebration, and our Alpha had requested every pack member's presence for his brother's welcome, including mine.
Rummaging through my wardrobe, I picked out a sunflower patterned crop top and jean shorts. Then I rushed to the bathroom, showered quickly and changed into the clothes I'd chosen. Donning a pair of Crocs, I headed for the main pack house that was just across the lake.
When I arrived, I saw the house filled with nearly all the pack members, both young and old, male and female, all dressed in fancy clothes. The young she-wolves were adorned in all shades of beautiful dresses. I wondered if I came for the wrong occasion.
I felt someone tap me from behind, then I turned to see Cale in a sheer black dress that clung to her body, revealing her exotic curves. Her eyes were layered in heavy makeup and her lips painted a bright shade of red.
"Isla!" she breathed before smoothing the edge of her dress. "Finally! I've been waiting for you."
I tried to hide the frown that had begun to etch itself on my face, wondering why she was waiting for me. "Why is everyone dressed up?"
She rolled her eyes at my ignorance. "We're all here to see Alpha Sage, rumors say he's very handsome and very unmated."
"Yeah, and also very rogue. We all know wolves in packs hunt rogue wolves instinctively." I couldn't help but scoff at how much she believed in rumors.
She chuckled, "Not Alpha Sage. When he killed the alpha, he became one himself. Why do you think they call him the Rogue Alpha?"
"Because he leads rogues?"
She shook her head to disapprove my answer, "Not just that. He's a true alpha chosen by the moon goddess herself to lead the lost wolves. And he's as vicious as they come."