The Forsaken Wolf Queen

The morning air tasted like pine and damp earth. I pulled my cloak tighter and walked faster through the trees. My boots crunched over fallen leaves. The sound felt too loud in the quiet forest. I was late. Rose would be waiting at our usual spot by the creek. She always got there first, even though her house was farther from the meeting place than mine. I picked up my pace and jumped over a rotted log. The Blackish Clan territory spread out around me in every direction. Small wooden houses dotted the clearings between thick clusters of oak and birch. Smoke rose from morning fires. I could smell bread baking and hear the distant clang of the blacksmith's hammer. Normal sounds. Safe sounds. I was eighteen today. The thought made my stomach flip. Eighteen meant the mate bond could snap into place at any moment. I had been dreaming about this day for months. Damien's face filled my mind. His dark eyes and steady smile. The way he looked at me during pack gatherings. The warmth in his voice when he said my name. He had to be my mate. Everything pointed to it. The pull I felt when he was near. The way my heart raced when our hands brushed. Even the elders had noticed. Old Marcus had smiled at me last week and said something about destiny. I reached the creek and found Rose sitting on a flat rock with her feet in the water. Her red hair caught the sunlight and blazed like fire. She looked up and grinned. "There you are. I thought you forgot." "Never." I dropped down beside her and yanked off my boots. The cold water bit at my toes. "I just woke up late." "On your birthday?" Rose splashed me lightly. "You should have been up at dawn. This is a big day, Emily." I nodded. My throat felt tight. Rose knew me better than anyone. We had grown up together, shared secrets, protected each other. She was the only person in the whole clan who knew what I really was. "Are you scared?" she asked. "A little." "Don't be. Damien is perfect for you. Everyone can see it." I wanted to believe her. I wanted to think that today would be the start of something beautiful. But a small voice in the back of my mind whispered warnings I tried to ignore. Rose reached over and squeezed my hand. "Everything will be fine. You deserve to be happy." We sat there for a while, not talking. The water rushed past our feet and birds called from the branches above. I closed my eyes and tried to memorize this moment. Just in case. When the sun climbed higher, we headed back toward the village center. More people were out now. Children ran between houses, laughing and shouting. Women carried baskets of laundry to the washing stones. Men sharpened tools and mended fences. Several people called out birthday wishes as I passed. I waved and smiled. My foster mother, Helena, stood outside our house with a bundle of wildflowers. She handed them to me with tears in her eyes. "My little girl is all grown up." "I'm not that little anymore." I hugged her and breathed in her familiar scent of herbs and wool. "You'll always be little to me." She pulled back and studied my face. "You look just like your mother did at your age." I froze. Helena rarely talked about my birth parents. I had asked questions when I was younger, but she always changed the subject or said she didn't remember much. After a while, I stopped asking. "What was she like?" Helena's expression shifted. Something sad crossed her face. "Beautiful. Kind. She would have been proud of you." Before I could ask more, Helena turned and went back inside. The door closed with a soft click. I stood there holding the flowers and feeling like I had missed something important. Rose touched my shoulder. "Come on. We should get ready for tonight." Tonight was the Blood Moon ceremony. The whole clan would gather at the ritual grounds to welcome the moon's power. Most of the pack would experience their partial shift. Eyes would glow amber. Teeth would sharpen into fangs. Claws would push through fingernails. The transformation was painful but brief. It marked us as wolves even though we couldn't fully shift. Except I could. I had discovered it by accident when I was fifteen. Rose and I had been playing near the border when a wild boar charged us. Terror flooded my body and something inside me broke open. One moment I was a girl. The next I was a wolf. Complete and whole. Four legs, fur, tail, everything. Rose had screamed. Then she helped me figure out how to shift back. We swore never to tell anyone. The elders taught that full shifting was impossible for our kind. They said we were blessed with partial transformation only. Anyone who claimed otherwise was lying or cursed. I didn't feel cursed. I felt powerful. But I kept my secret locked tight. The day passed in a blur of preparations. I bathed in the communal bath house and scrubbed my skin until it turned pink. Rose helped me braid my hair and pin it up with wooden clips. Helena had sewn me a new dress for the ceremony. It was simple but well made, dyed a deep forest green. When I looked at myself in the small mirror, I barely recognized the girl staring back. She looked older. More serious. Like someone about to step into a new life. The sun began to set. People started moving toward the ritual grounds at the heart of our territory. The grounds were a large clearing surrounded by ancient standing stones. The elders said the stones had been there longer than anyone could remember. They hummed with old magic. I walked with Rose and Helena. My heart hammered against my ribs. The crowd grew thicker as we approached. Torches lit the edges of the clearing. Their flames danced and threw shadows across the faces around me. At the center stood the Alpha and his family. Alpha Ronan was a big man with gray streaking his dark hair. His mate, Luna Iris, stood beside him with her hand on his arm. And next to them was Damien. He wore ceremonial leathers and looked like something out of a legend. Strong and steady. When his eyes found mine across the crowd, I felt the pull again. Stronger this time. Like a rope tightening between us. This was it. Tonight I would know for certain. The elders began the ceremony with prayers to the moon. Old Marcus lifted his arms and spoke in the ancient tongue. The words rolled over the crowd like thunder. I didn't understand all of them, but I felt their weight. The moon rose full and red above the trees. The Blood Moon. Power rippled through the air like heat from a fire. Around me, people began to shift. Gasps and groans filled the night. Eyes blazed gold and amber. Teeth lengthened. Claws extended. I held myself very still and forced my body to follow the normal pattern. Partial shift only. My eyes burned and my gums ached as my canines sharpened. My fingers tingled as claws pushed through. It hurt, but I was used to it. Rose shifted beside me. She gave me a quick look that said be careful. I nodded slightly. The ceremony continued. The Alpha spoke about strength and unity. About the bonds that held the pack together. About mates and destiny. Then he called Damien forward. My breath caught. This wasn't part of the normal ceremony. The crowd went quiet. Even the children stopped fidgeting. Alpha Ronan placed his hand on Damien's shoulder. "My son has felt the mate pull. Tonight, under the Blood Moon, he will claim his mate and strengthen our pack." Excitement buzzed through the clearing. People whispered and craned their necks to see who Damien would choose. Damien stepped forward. His eyes scanned the crowd. When they landed on me, everything else faded away. He smiled. That warm, steady smile I had dreamed about. He started walking toward me. I couldn't breathe. My heart felt like it would burst out of my chest. Rose squeezed my hand. Helena made a small sound of joy. Damien stopped in front of me. He reached out his hand. "Emily." I took his hand. His skin was warm against mine. The bond snapped into place like a lock clicking shut. I felt it in my bones. In my blood. This was real. He was mine and I was his. The crowd erupted in cheers. People clapped and shouted congratulations. I barely heard them. All I could see was Damien's face. All I could feel was the bond humming between us. He pulled me toward the center of the clearing. The Alpha and Luna welcomed me with open arms. Luna Iris kissed my cheek and whispered that she was glad I would be her daughter. Everything was perfect. Then Rose screamed. The sound cut through the celebration like a knife. Everyone turned. Rose stood at the edge of the clearing with her hand pointing at me. Her face was twisted with something I didn't recognize. Fear? Anger? Both? "She's not like us!" Rose's voice rang out clear and sharp. "She can fully shift! She's been hiding it for years!" The clearing went dead silent. I stared at Rose. My best friend. My sister. The only person who knew my secret. The person I trusted more than anyone in the world. She had just destroyed me. Alpha Ronan's expression hardened. "Is this true?" I opened my mouth but no words came out. Damien's hand was still holding mine, but his grip had gone rigid. "Show us," the Alpha commanded. "I don't know what she's talking about." My voice sounded thin and weak even to my own ears. Rose took a step forward. Tears streamed down her face, but her voice didn't waver. "She showed me three years ago. She can become a full wolf. I've seen it." The elders moved closer. Old Marcus looked at me with something like horror in his eyes. Luna Iris stepped back as if I might hurt her. "Shift," Alpha Ronan said. It wasn't a request. My whole body shook. I could feel hundreds of eyes on me. The torchlight seemed too bright. Too hot. I looked at Damien. He stared back at me with an expression I had never seen before. Disgust. "I can't," I whispered. "Because you're lying," Damien said. His voice was cold. "Tell them she's lying." I wanted to. I wanted to say that Rose was wrong or crazy or jealous. But the words stuck in my throat. Because it was true. All of it. Rose sobbed. "I'm sorry, Emily. I'm so sorry. But the pack needs to know. It's not natural. It's not right." The elders began whispering among themselves. The crowd pressed closer. I felt trapped. Suffocated. "Shift," the Alpha said again. "Now." I looked at Rose one more time. She wouldn't meet my eyes. Her whole body trembled, but she didn't take back her words. Something broke inside me. Not just my heart. Something deeper. The careful walls I had built around my secret crumbled. I let go. The shift took me fast. My body twisted and reformed. Bones cracked and muscles stretched. Fur burst through my skin. In seconds, I stood on four legs instead of two. A complete wolf. Larger than a normal wolf. Stronger. My senses exploded with new information. Scents and sounds I couldn't process as a human flooded my mind. The crowd gasped. Some people stumbled backward. Children cried. I looked up at Damien through my wolf eyes. The bond still thrummed between us, but his face had gone white. He took a step back. "Abomination," someone whispered. The word spread through the crowd like poison. Abomination. Monster. Cursed. Old Marcus raised his staff. "This is a sign of corruption. The old texts speak of it. A wolf who can fully shift under the Blood Moon brings ruin to the pack." "No." The word came out as a growl. I tried to shift back but my body wouldn't obey. Panic clawed at me. Alpha Ronan's voice boomed across the clearing. "Damien. Reject the bond." Everything stopped. Even my heart seemed to pause. Damien looked at his father. Then at me. The bond pulled tight between us. For one moment, I thought he might refuse. I thought he might choose me. He didn't. "I, Damien of the Blackish Clan, reject Emily as my mate." His words were formal. Final. "The bond is broken." Pain exploded through me. It felt like being torn in half. I threw back my head and howled. The sound echoed through the trees and sent birds scattering into the night sky. When the pain faded enough for me to think, I found myself surrounded by the elders. They held silver chains that glowed in the moonlight. "Seize her," Alpha Ronan ordered. "We will perform the cleansing ritual at dawn." Hands grabbed at my fur. The chains burned when they touched my skin. I tried to run but there were too many of them. They dragged me toward the center of the clearing where the standing stones waited like silent judges. I searched the crowd for Helena. For anyone who might help. But everyone looked away. Even Helena had tears on her face, but she didn't move. Rose stood at the edge of the clearing, her hand over her mouth. She watched as they chained me to the largest stone. She watched as the elders began drawing symbols in the dirt around me. She had done this. My best friend. My sister. The last thing I saw before they forced a hood over my head was the Blood Moon hanging fat and red above the trees. The same moon that was supposed to bring me joy had brought me ruin instead.