The Moon That Cast Me Out

Cammy It was a typical day at the pack. Well, almost normal. Today was Colt’s nineteenth birthday. It was also Mom’s birthday. That made today complicated. Six months ago, I turned sixteen and finally got my wolf, Wendy. Most wolves shifted for the first time around sixteen, and I had spent years wondering what mine would look like. She was beautiful. At least, I thought she was. Obviously, Wendy said in my head. Because I’m part of you. And humble. Extremely. I smiled to myself as I watched two wolves race across the field behind the pack house. Music blasted from speakers someone had dragged outside. There was food everywhere, people were dancing, and the older teenagers had somehow gotten their hands on enough alcohol to keep half the pack drunk until morning. Nobody cared. Colt was the future beta. When the future beta turned nineteen, apparently the rules became suggestions. Everyone had shown up. Pack members filled the lawn, spilling onto the patio and into the house. Wolves ran between the trees while people yelled at them to stop knocking over tables. I sat with Colt and some of his friends near the firepit. I have always gotten along better with the guys. Maybe it was because they didn't care that I wasn't interested in makeup or dresses or whatever gossip was circulating through the pack that week. Or maybe it was because most of the girls my age didn't particularly like me. Being the beta's daughter probably didn't help. Being half-witch definitely didn't. Not that anyone talked about that part. Mom had been a witch. Dad was a wolf. They were fated mates, which was basically the only reason the pack had accepted her. Barely. Mom had been marked by Dad before they came here, and even then, it had taken years before people stopped looking at her like she might turn them into frogs if they pissed her off. I inherited both sides. Wolf and witch. Although the witch part of me was mostly useless. Mom died when I was ten, before she could teach me much about magic. Dad didn't know anything about witchcraft, and the pack wasn't exactly lining up to find someone who could teach the beta's daughter how to cast spells. So I had Wendy. That was enough. Rude. I laughed. "What?" Colt asked. "Nothing." He narrowed his green eyes at me. "Talking to Wendy again?" "Maybe." "Tell her I said happy birthday to me." I rolled my eyes. Tell him he's an i***t. "Wendy says you're an idiot." "She loves me." Debatable. I laughed again. This was what I liked. Colt and his friends treated me like I belonged. Most of the time. The conversation quickly turned from stupid stories about warrior training to girls. Of course it did. "Have you seen Delilah?" Colt asked, leaning back in his chair. "She sure has filled out in all the right areas." I gagged. "Seriously?" "What?" "She's my age." "And?" "And I don't want to hear about you checking out her boobs." The guys laughed. "Yeah, man," one of them said, looking across the party. "I think I'm going to go look for her." "You're all disgusting." "You're just jealous nobody's talking about you," Colt teased. I punched him in the shoulder. "Please. I hope nobody ever talks about me like that." "You say that now." "I'm going to find my mate at eighteen, and he's going to be completely obsessed with me." The guys started laughing. "Good luck with that," Colt said. "Shut up." Most wolves found their fated mate sometime after they turned eighteen. Hopefully. Some waited years. Some never found them at all. Occasionally, someone found their mate before eighteen, but it was rare. I had already decided mine was going to be perfect. Tall, Wendy supplied. Obviously. Strong. Obviously. And he had better let us run whenever we want. I smiled. Those are your requirements? Yes. My requirements were a little different. I wanted someone who loved me. Someone who listened. Someone who wouldn't look at me and see half-witch before they saw Cammy. "Okay, this conversation is getting gross," I announced, standing. "I'm leaving." "Where are you going?" Colt asked. "To see Mom." His smile faded. For half a second, I thought he might come with me. Then someone handed him another beer. "I'll go later." Of course he would. It was his birthday too. "Tell her happy birthday for me." "I will." I walked away from the party. The music grew quieter the farther I got from the pack house. The cemetery wasn't far. Pack members were buried on the edge of the territory beneath enormous pine trees. Mom was one of the few non-wolves buried there. Dad had fought for that. She was his mate. She belonged beside him someday. At least that was what he'd told the Alpha. I reached for the necklace around my neck as I walked. My fingers found the small opal crescent moon. Mom gave it to me shortly before she died. She told me it was for protection. The crescent moon represented the pack, but the opal had belonged to her family. Wolf and witch. Just like me. I miss her, Wendy whispered. My chest tightened. Me too. Since I'd been ten when she died. I was old enough to remember everything. Her laugh. The way she smelled. The way she'd brush my hair before bed. The stories she told me about witches and magic and the Moon Goddess. I hated that every year I remembered a little less. Her voice wasn't as clear anymore. Sometimes I couldn't remember exactly how her laugh sounded. That scared me. The cemetery came into view. I could already see Mom's headstone beneath the trees. Then I heard laughter. Girls. I slowed. Four familiar voices carried through the trees. Delilah. Jessica. Presley. Diane. Wendy immediately went quiet. My hand tightened around the necklace. Then I saw them. And everything inside me stopped. "What the f**k?" One of them turned. Then another. They saw me. Someone laughed. I looked at Mom's grave. At them. At what they'd done. Something inside me snapped. Cammy— Wendy's voice disappeared beneath the roaring in my ears. After that, everything became red. The next thing I remembered clearly was silver. It burned against my neck. I gasped as one of the guards tightened the collar. "Stop fighting." "I'm not—" A needle stabbed into my arm. I screamed. Wolfsbane. Fire spread through my veins. Cammy! Wendy whimpered inside my head. Then she disappeared. "Wendy?" Nothing. "Wendy!" My knees buckled. Two guards caught me before I hit the floor. They dragged me through the pack house and down the stairs. The dungeon. I'd never been down there before. I didn't even know we still used it. Apparently, we did. The guards shoved me into a cell and locked the door. I curled up against the wall, holding my knees to my chest. I didn't know how long I sat there. Hours. Maybe longer. Eventually, the Gamma came down. He stood outside my cell. "Cammy." I didn't look at him. "We need your side of the story." I stared at the floor. "Four girls were injured." Nothing. "Presley is still unconscious." My stomach twisted. I didn't care. Maybe I should have. But I didn't. "What happened?" I closed my eyes. They wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever believed the half-witch when a full-blooded wolf was standing on the other side. "Cammy, talk to me." I stayed silent. Eventually, he left. When the guards finally came for me, my legs barely worked. The wolfsbane still burned through my system. They took me upstairs. The entire pack was gathered in the main room. My stomach dropped. Everyone. Dad. Colt. Grayson. The girls' families. Alpha Morpheus stood at the front. His expression told me everything. This wasn't a meeting. It was a sentencing. "Cammy," he said. "We have spoken to everyone involved. We've heard their side of the situation." Their side. Of course. "Do you want to make a statement? Or are you still refusing to say anything?" I looked at Dad. His face was hard. Angry. Then Colt. Hurt. Confused. Then Grayson. The Alpha's son. Colt's best friend. His blue eyes met mine. Disappointment. That hurt more than I expected. I looked back at Alpha Morpheus. I shook my head. "Very well." He straightened. "Camellia Hancott, I, Alpha Morpheus Ackhust, command you to leave this home. You have thirty minutes to pack your belongings." My heart shattered. Thirty minutes. Sixteen years of my life. Thirty minutes to pack it into a bag. Nobody stopped him. Not Dad. Not Colt. Not Grayson. Nobody. The guard removed the silver collar. I stumbled toward the stairs. I didn't cry. Not yet. I made it to my room before the first tear fell. Then I broke. I grabbed a duffel bag and started throwing things inside. Clothes. Books. My laptop. Chargers. Anything I thought I might need. I grabbed the money I'd been saving. Two thousand dollars. That was it. Two thousand dollars and whatever fit inside a bag. A knock came at my door. I looked up. Grayson stood there. He leaned against the frame, but there was nothing casual about him. "I can't believe you did that, Cammy." I looked away. "What were you thinking?" "If you only knew, you would've done the same thing." "Then tell me." "No." "Why?" I shoved another shirt into my bag. "Because nobody would care." "You don't know that." I laughed bitterly. "I do." "Cammy—" "I have to go. My time is almost up." I shoved past him. He caught my hand. For one stupid second, I thought he was going to tell me to stay. Instead, he pressed a wad of cash into my palm. "You made your family look bad. You know that, right?" I stared at him. Something inside me broke all over again. "Yeah," I whispered. "I know." I pulled my hand away, leaving the cash he tried giving me in his hand. Dad and Colt were waiting downstairs. Dad looked furious. Colt looked devastated. Neither moved toward me. So I didn't stop. I walked out the front doors of the Opal Moon Pack with everything I owned hanging from my shoulder. Then I ran. I ran until the packhouse disappeared. Until my lungs burned. Until my legs hurt. Until I reached the bus station in town. It was closed. I sat on the bench outside with my bag between my feet and Mom's necklace clenched in my fist. When the ticket counter finally opened at five in the morning, I was the first person inside. The woman behind the counter looked at me. Then at my bag. "Where to?" I froze. I hadn't thought that far ahead. Anywhere. I just needed somewhere far away. "I don't know." She raised an eyebrow. I swallowed. "Where would you go?" I asked. "If you could go anywhere, where would you go?" She thought about it. "New York City." New York. I'd never been farther than a few towns away from the pack. It might as well have been another world. Perfect. I pulled out my money. "Book me a one-way ticket." Three days later, with a sore neck, an aching back, and less money than I'd started with, I stepped off a bus in New York City. I was sixteen. Alone. And for the first time in my life, I didn't belong to anyone. Not my father. Not my brother. Not an Alpha. Not a pack. Just me. Camellia Hancott. Half-wolf. Half-witch. Completely on my own.