~Verila Crawford~ I had just walked into the Great Hall when my sister Selene tipped a full goblet of red wine over my head. The wine was cold and sticky, and it soaked through the only nice dress I owned. Four hundred wolves saw it happen, and they all burst out laughing. "Oh no, Verila, I'm so sorry," Selene said sweetly, covering her mouth with her hand. "I tripped." She didn't trip. She did it on purpose, and everyone knew it. My name is Verila Crawford, and I am the Beta's eldest daughter. I turn twenty tonight, and I am the only wolf in the Ironclaw Pack who has never shifted, so the whole pack calls me wolfless. "Look at her," someone whispered. "Wolfless and pathetic." "It's fine," I said quietly, though my hands were shaking. "Of course it's fine," my brother Damien said with a smirk. "You could wear gold and you'd still be the girl with no wolf." I looked at the high table, hoping my mother would say something. Lady Evelyn saw everything, but she turned her face away, the way she always did. My father, Beta Richard, walked over to me, and the laughter faded. He did not ask whether I was hurt. He leaned close and whispered in a cold voice. "Go and clean yourself. You are embarrassing this family on the Alpha's welcome night. And remember what the council said. If you still have no wolf at midnight, you will be thrown out of Ironclaw." My stomach dropped. I had been trying not to think about it all day. In this pack, a Crawford with no wolf at twenty loses her name, her home, and her place in the pack, and my twentieth birthday would begin in less than two hours. I lowered my head, because arguing with my father had never worked. Then I walked out of the hall with every eye on my back. I did not run, because running would have meant they had won. In the east washroom, I locked the door and finally let myself breathe. My silver hair had turned pink from the wine, and my grey eyes looked too big in my thin face. I stared at the girl in the cracked mirror and whispered to her. "Twenty years old, and you're still hiding in a bathroom." Every wolf has a second soul inside them, a wolf who speaks to them and fights beside them. My brother heard his wolf at nine, and my sister heard hers at ten, but I have never heard mine. There has only ever been silence. Because of that silence, my father looks at me like I am dirt, and my mother can barely say my name without frowning. They gave all their love to Selene instead, and I grew up watching it from the outside. I used to cry about it, but I stopped a long time ago. Crying only made the bullying last longer. The clock above the door said 11:52 p.m. I had only eight minutes left. There was still one small hope. In our world, a wolf finds their fated mate at the exact moment they turn twenty, when the Moon Goddess calls the two of them together. And no pack can banish a wolf who has found a mate. I had never believed it could happen to me, because who would choose a wolfless girl? But every night, when the loneliness hurt too much, I whispered the same prayer into my pillow. *Please, Moon Goddess. Just let one person in this world see me.* I wiped my face, unlocked the door, and went back to the hall. I slipped in through the servants' entrance wearing a plain grey tunic I had borrowed from the laundry maid. I planned to stand in the shadows and wait for midnight to pass. The music had stopped, and the wolves had gathered in a wide circle in the middle of the hall. In the center stood Alpha Marcus Hale, our new Alpha, who had come home today after three years abroad. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark brown hair and amber eyes, and every wolf leaned toward him when he spoke. My father stood at his right side. Selene stood at his left in a gold gown, laughing at everything he said and touching his arm. Everyone in the pack knew she wanted to be his Luna, because she had talked about nothing else for weeks. I didn't care. I only watched the clock. With five minutes left, my skin began to prickle. With four minutes left, a strange heat crept up my spine, and my fingers started to tremble. Then a scent drifted across the hall. It smelled like pine trees after a storm, wild and smoky and warm, and somehow it felt like it belonged to me. I grabbed the edge of a table so I wouldn't fall. My heart was pounding so hard I thought the whole hall could hear it. Everything blurred except that scent. Then a voice spoke inside my head. *Mate.* I froze. It was not my own voice. It was deep, low, and ancient, and I had never heard it before in my life. It was my wolf. After twenty years of silence, she was finally speaking to me. At the stroke of midnight, every candle in the hall flickered, and the wolves gasped. Across the room, Alpha Marcus slowly turned around, and his amber eyes searched the crowd until they stopped on me. He walked straight toward me, and the wolves moved out of his way like water. He stopped so close that I could feel the heat of his body, and I saw his eyes widen as my scent reached him too. "You," he said in a rough voice. Then he said it louder, so the whole hall could hear. "Mine." The room exploded. My mother's glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor. Damien's mouth fell open, and my father went white. Alpha Marcus Hale, the most powerful man in Ironclaw, was my fated mate, which meant the council could no longer throw me out. I was saved, and I almost cried with relief, because for the first time in my life someone had chosen me. Then I looked past his shoulder, and my blood ran cold. Selene was staring at me with her green eyes full of hatred. She smiled slowly, and I knew exactly what that smile meant. My sister had just decided to take my mate away from me.

~Verila Crawford~ For a few seconds after Marcus said that one word, nobody in the Great Hall made a sound. Four hundred wolves stared at me as if I had grown a second head. I stood there in my borrowed grey tunic, my hair still sticky with wine, while the most powerful man in the pack looked at me like I was the only person in the room. "Say it," Marcus said quietly, so that only I could hear. "Tell me you feel it too." "I feel it," I whispered. My voice was shaking. "I feel it, Alpha." His face softened. He lifted my hand slowly and pressed it against his chest, and I could feel his heart pounding as hard as mine. A warm light seemed to fill me from the inside, and I knew the mate bond had snapped into place. Then he turned to face the whole pack, still holding my hand. "This is Verila Crawford," he said, and his voice rang through the hall. "The Moon Goddess has chosen her as my mate. From tonight, she is the Luna of Ironclaw." The room erupted. People gasped and whispered. A woman near the back fainted, and a servant dropped a tray of silver plates that crashed across the marble. "The wolfless girl?" a man hissed. "It must be a mistake." "The Goddess wouldn't do that." I kept my face calm, the way I always did. But inside, something small and bright was breaking open. For twenty years, they had called me useless. Now the Alpha himself had called me his Luna. My father reached us first. Beta Richard Crawford, who had spent his whole life looking straight through me, was smiling the widest smile I had ever seen on his face. "Alpha Marcus, this is a great honor," he said, bowing deeply. Then he squeezed my shoulder and said loudly, "My daughter. My Luna. I always knew she was special." *You always knew?* I almost laughed. An hour ago, he had told me I was embarrassing the family and threatened to throw me out. Damien came next. He bowed stiffly and muttered, "Congratulations, sister," through clenched teeth, he couldn't look me in the eye. Behind him, the same wolves who had laughed at me when the wine hit my head were now lowering their heads one by one. It was dizzying. Only an hour earlier I had been the pack's favorite joke, and now they had to bow to me. "I know this is sudden," Marcus said, drawing me a little closer. "But I want you to know that I have waited my whole life for you." I looked up at him. He was a stranger, and yet I could feel his heartbeat in my own chest. I could feel through the bond that he wasn't lying. *He sees me,* I thought, and my eyes began to sting. *He really sees me.* "I'll try to be worthy of you," I said. "You already are," he answered. That was when Selene stepped forward. She had changed her face completely. The cold hatred I had seen a minute ago was gone. Now she looked sweet and gentle, with tears shining in her green eyes, like a loving little sister who couldn't be happier. "Oh, Verila, I'm so happy for you!" She threw her arms around me. "I truly am." She smelled of jasmine and expensive perfume. Her cheek pressed against mine, and her lips came close to my ear. "Enjoy it while it lasts, sister," she whispered. "He was supposed to be mine." I pulled back and stared at her. She smiled at me with wide, innocent eyes. " I'm so proud of you," she said sweetly, and squeezed my hands. "Isn't that right, Alpha?" "Of course," Marcus said politely. "You must be very proud of your sister." "So proud," Selene breathed. I knew exactly what I had heard. My sister wanted Marcus, she wasn't going to give up, and she had just told me so to my face. My stomach turned cold. But I had no proof, and nobody would believe me over her. The rest of the night passed in a blur. The elders shook my hand and welcomed me as Luna, though some of them looked sour about it. Wolves who had never spoken to me came to offer clumsy congratulations. An old maid I had known since childhood actually cried and kissed my cheek. Marcus stayed at my side through all of it, with his warm hand on the small of my back, as though he was afraid I would disappear. "Tomorrow, you will move into the Alpha's wing," he told me near the end of the night. "I'll have your things brought over. Tonight, rest. You've had a big shock." "Thank you, Alpha." "Marcus," he corrected gently. "To you, always Marcus." My heart fluttered like a fool. He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles, and then he let me go. I was walking down the east corridor toward my old room, still dazed and happy, when a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into a dark alcove. "Mother?" I gasped. Lady Evelyn stood in front of me, and I barely recognized her. Her face was white as bone, and her fingers dug hard into my arm. "Listen to me," she whispered. "Listen very carefully, Verila." "You're hurting me." "There is a mark behind your left ear. The crescent." Her eyes darted down the corridor. "Never let anyone see it. Not the Alpha, not your father, not Selene. Keep your hair over it every day. Do you understand?" "Why?" I asked. "What does a birthmark have to do with anything?" "Promise me!" Her voice cracked on the last word, and that frightened me more than anything else she had said. In twenty years, I had never once seen my mother afraid. "I promise," I whispered. She let go, smoothed her gown with trembling hands, and hurried away before I could ask another question. My old room was small and cold, at the end of the servants' wing where my family had put me years ago. I locked the door and stood in front of the mirror, trying to understand everything that had happened tonight. In one night, I had gained a mate and a title. I had also made an enemy of my own sister, and learned that my mother was afraid of my birthmark. Slowly, I lifted my hair and looked at the crescent behind my ear. It looked the same as always, small and pale and ordinary. "It's just a birthmark," I told myself. "It's nothing." Then it started to burn. A thin silver light spread out from under my skin and glowed through my fingers. I stumbled back, and in the mirror I saw my own eyes staring at me. They were no longer grey. They were glowing a bright, pure white. *Hide it,* my wolf said in my head, her voice low and urgent. *Cover it now. If anyone sees this, they will come for you.* My hands shook as I pulled my hair over my ear, and the light faded. My eyes slowly turned grey again. I was breathing hard, and my heart was racing. I had just heard my wolf speak twice in one night, and I still didn't know what she was or what the mark meant. Then, behind me, something moved in the dark window. I turned around slowly. A face was pressed against the glass, watching me.

~Verila Crawford~ I ran to the window and threw it open. The face was gone. In the frost below, I could see a trail of small bare footprints leading across the grass toward the east wing. A glimpse of honey-blonde hair disappeared around the corner of the building. It was Selene. *She was spying on you,* my wolf said quietly. *She saw nothing but a faint light in the glass. You covered the mark in time.* "Is that really true?" I whispered. *Yes. But now she will be watching you. Be careful, little moon.* I closed the window and locked it. Then I wrapped a scarf tightly around my head, tucked my hair over my ear, and sat on the edge of my bed with my heart pounding. I had a mate, a title, a talking wolf, and a sister who hated me. I did not sleep at all. At sunrise, a maid knocked on my door. "Luna, the Alpha has asked me to take you to breakfast." *Luna.* I still couldn't believe it was my name now. The Alpha's wing was nothing like the small cold room I had grown up in. It had high ceilings, dark wooden floors, and tall windows that filled the halls with morning light. In the dining room, a table was set for two with warm bread, honey, roasted fruit, and a pot of cinnamon tea. Marcus stood up when I came in. "Good morning," he said, and when he smiled, his whole face changed from a hard Alpha to a boy who couldn't believe his luck. "Did you sleep?" "A little." "Liar." He pulled out my chair himself. "I didn't sleep either. I kept thinking I had imagined you." My cheeks burned. "You didn't imagine me." "No," he said, looking straight into my eyes. "I didn't." We ate quietly, and for a few minutes I let myself pretend that this was simple. I was just a girl having breakfast with the man the Goddess had chosen for her. Then Marcus set down his cup and rubbed the back of his neck. "Verila, there's something I have to tell you before the council does." My stomach dropped. "What is it?" "The elders have called an assembly for this afternoon. They are not happy about our bond." He took my hand across the table. "Ironclaw has had no Luna for twelve years. They expected someone who could shift and lead the hunt." "Someone who isn't wolfless," I said quietly. He winced. "I told them it doesn't matter to me." "But it matters to them." "Yes." His fingers tightened around mine. "I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise." I looked at his strong, warm hand wrapped around mine, and I wanted to believe him with my whole heart. The council chamber was a round hall of dark stone with seven tall chairs set in a half circle. The elders sat in them like judges, and their pale eyes followed me as I walked in beside Marcus. My father and mother were standing to one side. Damien stood with his arms crossed. Selene stood at the far end in pale blue silk dress, with her hair loose over her shoulders, and she gave me a small sympathetic smile as if she hadn't been spying outside my window a few hours ago. I looked away first. The oldest elder, a thin white-haired man named Corvin, leaned on his cane. "Alpha Marcus, we are here to discuss your claim." "There is nothing to discuss," Marcus said calmly. "The Goddess chose. Verila is my mate and the Luna of this pack." "The Goddess chose a body," Corvin replied. "But a true Luna must lead the hunt, run beside her Alpha under the Blood Moon, and stand at the front of the pack when an enemy attacks. She cannot do any of that without a wolf." The other elders murmured in agreement. "She comes from a strong Crawford bloodline," my father said quickly. "She comes from a *wolfless* bloodline," Corvin snapped. "Twenty years, Beta Richard, and her wolf have never spoken. Do not insult this council." My hands closed into fists at my sides. I knew I should stay quiet, but the words left my mouth before I could stop them. "My wolf has spoken." The whole room went silent. "What did you say?" Corvin asked. "Last night, at midnight," I said, and my voice shook. "She said *mate.*" For a moment, nobody moved. Then Selene let out a soft little laugh. "Oh, Verila," she said gently, as if talking to a child. "We all know how badly you want that to be true." A few of the elders chuckled. My father's face tightened with shame. "I'm not lying," I said. "Then prove it," Corvin said. I froze. "How?" The old man leaned back, and a cold light shone in his eyes. "The Trial of the Moon. It is an ancient law that has not been used in a hundred years. When a Luna's wolf is in doubt, she must shift in front of the entire pack at the next full moon." "The full moon is in three days," Marcus said sharply. "Exactly." "That is cruel, Corvin." "It is the law, Alpha." Corvin raised a bony hand. "If she fails to shift, the council will declare your bond false. She will lose the title of Luna and be sent out of the Alpha's wing, and she will be thrown out of the pack, as the earlier ruling demands." My blood ran cold. I had only three days to do what I had failed to do for twenty years. If I failed, I would lose Marcus, my title, and my place in Ironclaw, all in the same moment. *Do not shift in front of them,* my wolf warned suddenly, and her voice was sharp with fear. *If they see what I am, you will be in far worse danger.* *What are you?* I asked silently. *Why can't I shift?* She didn't answer. When the assembly ended, Marcus took me out into a quiet corridor and held me by the shoulders. "I'm going to find a way around this," he said. "I'll talk to the elders. I'll fight it. I will not lose you." "And if you can't?" I asked softly. His jaw tightened, and for a second he looked away. That was when I knew he was holding something back. "Marcus," I said. "Tell me." He let out a long breath. "If you fail, the bond will be declared false. Under pack law, I would have to take another mate within the month. The council has already chosen who they want." "Who?" He didn't answer. He didn't need to. At the end of the corridor, Selene was standing by a window in her pale blue dress, with the sun shining on her golden hair. She looked at me, smiled, and slowly raised her hand in a little wave. The council had already picked my replacement. It was my sister.