Meeting my boyfriend’s mother should’ve been a celebration. Instead, it felt like I was walking into a lion’s den. Luna Cassia, the pack matriarch, had summoned me.
Her only son, Rohan, the future Alpha, had been my lover in secret for eleven months. Eleven months of stolen kisses and a love too fragile to survive daylight.
I clung to hope like a fool, that this encounter would be positive. But deep down, I knew better. Paupers couldn't mix with royalty.
The main hall was rich with the scent of exotic spices. Luna Cassia stood near the hearth. Her eyes swept over me, from my worn-out sandals to the top of my head, and she scoffed.
“You chose to meet me in that?” she said flatly.
I looked down at my dress. A thrifted piece, dotted with polka dots. It was my best dress.
“Good afternoon, Luna,” I bowed.
She didn’t respond. Instead, she gestured to a nearby table, where a duster had been carelessly left.
“Since you came dressed for chores, you may as well start with the mantle.”
I blinked. Was this a test? I could manage that. I’d scrubbed sheets at the pack’s hotel, volunteered in pup-care camps, and nursed my father through years of illness.
A little dusting was nothing.
I picked up the duster. “Of course.”
She began to circle me like a predator assessing weaker prey. I suppressed a shiver.
“Rohan is the future of this pack. His mate must be someone of equal strength. Someone who can bear strong, pure-blooded heirs.”
She stopped beside me. I felt so dizzy I thought I might pass out.
“Your surname isn’t even one worth remembering. You have no scent. No wolf. You’re Null.”
The word, spoken like a curse, landed like a slap. She wasn’t wrong, but it still hurt.
I wanted to tell her I had a wolf trapped deep inside, buried for reasons I didn’t understand, but the words stayed lodged in my throat.
Just then, Rohan’s laughter drifted from the hallway. Relief bubbled in my chest. He would smooth this over.
He entered the room, his arm draped casually over the shoulders of a beautiful woman.
My heart sank. The woman was Zuri.
Zuri, his ex. Zuri, who had shattered him once. Zuri, noble-born and gorgeous. Everything I wasn’t.
Rohan’s smile faltered when he saw me. He looked shocked.
“Yara? What... are you doing here?”
He hadn’t sent for me. His mother had.
Luna Cassia crossed to Zuri and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
“Zuri, my dear,” she cooed. “You look radiant. I can’t wait to call you daughter.”
She turned to Rohan. “Son, you and Zuri will give this pack the strongest heirs in our generation.”
I stared at Rohan, begging him with my eyes to correct her.
He said nothing.
All those whispered promises. All those nights. Lies.
In the Creek Keepers' pack, you were either a wolf or nothing. I was nothing. No full shift. No scent. Just a few silver strands in my dark hair and unnaturally bright violet eyes set me apart, not in a good way.
I could shift my fingernails into claws. That was it. A half-human error. A mistake.
“Go home,” Rohan said flatly.
The walls of the den closed in. My chest tightened.
Luna Cassia reached into her pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch. She dropped it at my feet. It clinked as it hit the marble.
“Take that and leave. No gold-digger will ever marry my son.”
Zuri’s smile was laced with mockery.
“Take it, Yara,” Rohan said. “Don’t make this harder. The money will help.”
I looked at the pouch, then up at him.
“Karma is patient,” I said quietly. “She waits until everything is perfect. Then she strikes.”
Zuri gasped. “How dare you speak to the Alpha like that, you b***h? You should be grateful he even looked at you.”
“So much arrogance,” Luna Cassia added, her voice like a knife. “Go tend to that sick father you’re clinging to.”
That did it. I turned to face her fully.
“I’m not for sale.”
They laughed. Loud and cruel. Rohan didn’t join them, but he didn’t stop them either.
He was a coward.
I ran.
My vision blurred. If I stayed in that den for one more second, I would shatter into a million pieces.
I ran all the way back to my family’s den, bursting through the door and into my room, where my best friend, Nala, was waiting.
She’d been skeptical about the visit from the start. One look at my face and she knew the outcome. I fell into her arms and let out a broken sob.
She rubbed my back until the worst of it passed.
“I’m going to kill that spineless, mother-fearing coward,” she growled.
I chuckled tearfully at the imagery. She was tiny, but her fury was enormous.
“It’s good riddance,” she said, wiping my tears. “Now get up. We’re going to that festival tonight. You’ll dance, and you’ll be seen.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I mumbled.
“Yes, you are.” Her fire was back. “Even if I have to drag you. You must show them you’re not broken.”
The thought of seeing Rohan and another woman made me feel sick. But Nala wouldn’t let me rest. Hours later, I washed my face, lined my eyes with kohl, and slipped into a locally made-dress. Nala smiled like she’d just won a battle.
“There she is!”
I grumbl
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