Blood Moon Rose: Her Wolf King and Her Prince

Brooklyn, New York The territory of the Dark Moon Pack was hidden in the folds of the city—a stretch of abandoned industrial land concealed behind a powerful veil. To ordinary humans, it was nothing more than a cluster of crumbling factories and rusted chain-link fences. But to werewolves, it was home to one of the most powerful packs in North America. Lin Luo stood in the kitchen, drying the last plate. At eighteen, she was slender and barely five-foot-five, looking almost like an undergrown pup next to the towering werewolves around her. Her long black hair was tied back in a careless ponytail, revealing a face far too pale for someone who spent her days working under the kitchen lights. Her features were delicate, with the gentle elegance often associated with her East Asian heritage. Yet the slight upward tilt of her eyes hinted at a stubborn streak that refused to be tamed. Not that anyone in the Dark Moon Pack cared how she looked. Lowborn. The word had been branded into her existence like a scar. Werewolf society had its own rigid hierarchy, even within a pack that prided itself on being a place of freedom and equality. At the very top stood Alpha King Raine Black. Beneath him were the Beta, the elite warriors, and the other high-ranking wolves. At the bottom were the lowborn—the ordinary werewolves born to weak bloodlines, with neither strength nor status to their names. They were given the dirtiest jobs, crammed into the worst living quarters, and denied any real voice in pack affairs. Lin Luo was one of them. And to make matters worse, she was an orphan. Eighteen years ago, the pack's Beta had found an abandoned baby girl near the edge of the territory. She had been wrapped in a bloodstained blanket, with no keepsake or identifying mark to reveal where she'd come from. Under pack law, an abandoned child of unknown lineage was automatically classified as lowborn. The pack would provide the bare minimum to keep her alive, and that was supposed to be enough. “Lin Luo! Once you're done with the dishes, get out there and mop the hall. We've got an important gathering tonight.” Martha, the kitchen supervisor, poked her head through the doorway and barked the order before disappearing again. Martha was lowborn too, but at least she had a minor position of authority. She never missed an opportunity to throw her weight around, especially when it came to Lin Luo. “Got it,” Lin Luo replied calmly. She slid the plate into the sanitizer, wiped her hands, and reached for the mop. She was used to it by now. Ever since she could remember, this had been her life. While other wolf pups sweated through combat drills on the training grounds, learning how to fight and defend their pack, she spent her days washing vegetables and chopping meat. When the other wolves her age began practicing their first transformations, she wasn't even allowed to watch. And every full moon, when the entire pack gathered near the sacred grounds to howl beneath the moonlight, Lin Luo was shut away in her cramped little room, her face buried in her pillow. Because she was a wolfless. Most werewolves awakened their wolf sometime between sixteen and eighteen. Lin Luo was already eighteen, and still, nothing had happened. No signs of a wolf lurking beneath her skin. No sudden surge of strength. Not even the enhanced hearing or heightened sense of smell that came naturally to every other werewolf. She was no different from an ordinary human. Except she had to live among wolves who would never let her forget it. “Worthless.” “Dead weight.” “Waste of space.” She'd heard those words for as long as she could remember. At first, she'd cried. Eventually, she stopped. It wasn't because she'd become numb. It was because she'd learned to bury her anger deep inside, pressing it down until no one could see it. Until she had power of her own, showing emotion was a luxury she couldn't afford. Lin Luo picked up the mop and headed for the great hall. The Dark Moon Pack's main hall occupied a massive factory building that had been renovated into a gathering place. The ceilings soared nearly thirty feet overhead, and the walls were lined with the banners and trophies of former Alpha Kings. At the center of the room stood a throne fashioned from black iron and rough-hewn timber. Alpha King Raine's seat. Ordinarily, only elite warriors and high-ranking wolves could come and go as they pleased. Lowborn wolves were allowed inside only when they had work to do. Tonight, the hall was unusually crowded. As Lin Luo mopped the floor, she caught glimpses of a group of young warriors huddled together, talking excitedly. They were tall and broad-shouldered, their bodies honed by years of training. The unmistakable wildness of their wolves clung to them like a second skin. Leading the group was Darren, Alpha Raine's cousin. With his short blond hair and permanently smug expression, he looked like someone who'd never once been told no. “So, are you guys ready for tomorrow night's Mating Ball?” Darren called out. “Hell, yes! I've been waiting eighteen years for this!” one of the young wolves exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. “Maybe my fated mate will be gorgeous. Hell, maybe she'll even be a princess from another pack!” “Keep dreaming,” Darren scoffed. Then his gaze shifted. It landed on Lin Luo, who was mopping in the corner. A cruel smile spread across his face. “Well, well. Look who we have here.” Darren strode toward her, his lackeys trailing behind him with grins already plastered across their faces. “Our little wolfless runt.” Lin Luo kept her head down and continued mopping. Darren planted his boot on the mop head, pinning it to the floor. “What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?” He leaned toward her. “Tomorrow's the Mating Ball. Don't tell me you're actually planning to show up.” Laughter erupted around them. “What would she even do there? Think the Moon Goddess is going to give a wolf without a wolf a fated mate? Maybe she'll pair her with a rat!” “Forget a rat. How about one of the cockroaches in the kitchen? At least they'd have something in common!” The laughter grew louder. Slowly, Lin Luo lifted her head. Her dark eyes met Darren's, steady and unreadable. “Move your foot. I'm working.” Her calm response seemed to infuriate him. The smirk vanished from Darren's face, replaced by open disgust. “You know what I hate most about you?” he sneered. “That look on your face. You're nothing but a worthless wolfless nobody, yet you walk around like none of this matters. Like you're better than everyone else.” He leaned closer, his voice dripping with contempt. “Who the hell do you think you are?”