Chapter One- The Girl Who Had No Wolf
1651 Words
The moon had never looked so red.
Aria Vale stood at the edge of the forest, staring through the branches at the enormous crimson moon hanging above Silver Moon territory.
Tonight was supposed to be the happiest night of her life.
Instead, something about the moon made her uneasy.
She rubbed her palms against the sides of her dress and glanced toward the distant lights of the pack grounds.
Music floated through the trees.
Laughter followed.
The entire pack was celebrating.
Everyone except her.
“Aria!”
She turned.
Selene came running down the narrow path, nearly tripping over a root before catching herself.
“You've been hiding here for twenty minutes.”
Aria raised an eyebrow. “You've been counting?”
“Of course.” Selene placed her hands on her hips. “It's your eighteenth birthday. You're supposed to be inside pretending to enjoy yourself while everyone stares at you.”
“That sounds wonderful.”
“I know. I almost wish it were my birthday too.”
Aria laughed despite herself.
For a moment, the tension in her chest eased.
Selene walked closer and studied her face.
“You're nervous.”
“No.”
“Aria.”
“Fine.” Aria sighed. “Maybe a little.”
Selene's expression softened.
Tonight was the Moon Ceremony.
For werewolves, turning eighteen was more than simply becoming an adult. It was the night a wolf was supposed to awaken fully, revealing its strength, instincts, and place within the pack.
For Aria, it meant something more.
It was her chance to finally prove that she wasn't useless.
For eighteen years, she had been the girl without a wolf.
The orphan.
The weakling.
The nameless girl everyone tolerated because the Alpha had allowed her to remain in the pack.
She had heard every insult.
She had endured every whispered conversation.
She'll never awaken.
There's something wrong with her.
Maybe her parents were rogues.
Aria had pretended none of it mattered.
But it did.
Every single word had settled somewhere inside her.
Tonight, she wanted to prove them wrong.
“I think you'll be fine,” Selene said.
Aria looked at her. “And if I don't awaken?”
“Then I'll personally drag you out of the ceremony before anyone gets the chance to make you feel bad.”
Aria smiled.
“You'd fight the whole pack?”
Selene shrugged. “I'd lose, obviously.”
Aria laughed.
“Come on,” Selene said. “We should go.”
They started walking.
The closer they got to the pack grounds, the louder the celebration became.
Silver Moon territory was usually quiet at night, but tonight hundreds of wolves had gathered around the ceremonial grounds.
Torches burned along the stone pathways.
Silver ribbons hung from the trees.
The ancient Moon Altar stood in the center of the clearing, surrounded by elders dressed in ceremonial robes.
Aria slowed.
Her heartbeat quickened.
The altar had stood there longer than anyone could remember.
Her parents had once stood before it.
At least, that was what Lucas had told her.
Aria barely remembered her mother.
She remembered dark hair.
A warm voice.
A pair of arms holding her when she was frightened.
Everything else was blurred by time.
Her father was even more distant.
A face in an old photograph.
A name she had never been allowed to ask too many questions about.
She had spent years wondering why.
Tonight, she hoped the ceremony would finally give her answers.
“Aria.”
She looked up.
Selene was staring at her.
“What?”
“You're doing that thing again.”
“What thing?”
“Thinking too much.”
Aria smiled faintly.
“Maybe you're right.”
They stepped into the clearing.
Immediately, the noise around them changed.
People noticed her.
Some stared.
Some whispered.
A few laughed.
Aria kept her head high.
She refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her uncomfortable.
Then a voice came from behind her.
“Well, look who finally decided to show up.”
Aria didn't need to turn around.
She knew that voice.
Mara.
One of the Alpha's daughters.
Beautiful, popular, and painfully aware of both facts.
Mara stepped around Aria, looking her up and down.
“I heard you were hiding in the forest.”
“Maybe I wanted some peace.”
Mara laughed.
“Peace? On your eighteenth birthday?”
Her friends giggled.
“You should be excited,” Mara continued. “Assuming you actually have a wolf.”
The laughter grew louder.
Aria's jaw tightened.
Selene stepped forward.
“Leave her alone, Mara.”
Mara smiled.
“I'm only asking a question.”
She leaned closer to Aria.
“After all, everyone knows your family wasn't exactly…”
She paused.
“Normal.”
Aria's eyes hardened.
“Finish that sentence.”
Mara's smile disappeared.
For a second, the two girls stared at each other.
Then a deep voice cut through the crowd.
“Enough.”
Everyone went silent.
Alpha Darius Thorne approached.
The Silver Moon Alpha was a tall, imposing man with graying hair and a commanding presence. Conversations died whenever he entered a room.
His gaze settled on Mara.
“Go.”
Mara lowered her head.
“Yes, Alpha.”
She walked away.
Darius then looked at Aria.
His expression was difficult to read.
“Are you ready?”
Aria nodded.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He turned toward the altar.
“Then take your place.”
Aria swallowed.
This was it.
She stepped forward.
The moment her foot crossed the circle surrounding the altar, a strange sensation moved through her body.
Cold.
Then heat.
She stopped.
Her hand went instinctively to her chest.
Her heart was pounding.
“Aria?” Selene called.
Aria looked back.
“I’m fine.”
But she wasn't.
Something was wrong.
The air felt different.
The moon seemed brighter.
And somewhere deep inside her, something had stirred.
The elders began chanting.
One by one, the other eighteen-year-olds stepped forward.
Each placed a hand on the ancient stone.
One after another, their wolves awakened.
The crowd cheered.
Then Aria's name was called.
“Aria Vale.”
Silence followed.
She walked toward the altar.
Every eye was on her.
She could feel the judgment waiting.
She placed her palm against the cold stone.
Nothing happened.
A second passed.
Then another.
Someone laughed.
Aria's face burned.
She closed her eyes.
Please.
She didn't know who she was asking.
The moon.
The spirits.
Her parents.
Anyone.
Please don't let me be nothing.
The stone beneath her palm suddenly became warm.
Aria's eyes snapped open.
A c***k appeared across the altar.
The crowd gasped.
Then another.
And another.
The ancient stone began glowing beneath her hand.
Aria tried to pull away.
She couldn't.
Something had locked her palm against the altar.
“Alpha!” one of the elders shouted.
Darius stepped forward.
“What is happening?”
“I don't know.”
The glow intensified.
A strange symbol appeared beneath Aria's hand.
It looked like a crescent moon surrounded by twisting lines.
Aria stared at it.
She had seen that symbol before.
In her dreams.
For years, she had dreamed of a woman standing beneath a blood-red moon.
A woman whose face Aria could never see.
And every time, the woman whispered the same words.
When the blood rises, the moon will remember.
Aria had always assumed it was just a nightmare.
Now she wasn't so sure.
Her body suddenly jerked.
A wave of energy rushed through the clearing.
The torches went out.
Everyone screamed.
Aria fell to her knees.
She could hear hundreds of heartbeats.
Not just one.
All of them.
The Alpha's.
Selene's.
The elders'.
Every heartbeat sounded painfully loud.
Then another sound rose above them.
A growl.
Not from the forest.
Not from another wolf.
From inside her.
Aria froze.
Her breathing became shallow.
Something was awakening.
Something enormous.
Something ancient.
The symbol on the altar began glowing red.
An elder stumbled backward.
“No.”
Another elder grabbed his arm.
“What is it?”
The old man's face had gone pale.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
He stared at Aria as though he had just seen a ghost.
“The Blood Rising mark.”
Silence.
Darius looked sharply at him.
“What did you say?”
The elder's voice trembled.
“The Blood Rising Luna.”
The words seemed to freeze the entire clearing.
Aria stared at them.
She didn't understand.
“What is a Blood Rising Luna?”
Nobody answered.
Then the forest erupted with howls.
One.
Two.
Dozens.
Every wolf in the surrounding territory lifted its head toward the sky.
Aria felt something pull inside her chest.
Her vision blurred.
The clearing disappeared.
Suddenly, she was somewhere else.
A dark forest.
A woman stood beneath the red moon.
Her hair moved in the wind.
Blood-red light surrounded her.
Aria tried to speak.
“Who are you?”
The woman slowly turned.
For the first time, Aria saw her face.
Her eyes were exactly like Aria's.
The woman whispered one sentence.
“They found you.”
Aria's vision shattered.
She screamed.
The world came rushing back.
She was on the ground.
Selene was beside her.
Darius stood several feet away.
The elders were staring at her in terror.
Then a distant howl echoed across the mountains.
A howl unlike anything Aria had ever heard.
Every wolf in the clearing went silent.
One of the elders looked toward the forest.
His face drained of color.
“They're coming.”
Darius turned.
“Who?”
The elder looked at Aria.
“The ones who have been waiting for her to awaken.”
Aria's blood ran cold.
And for the first time in her life, she realized something terrifying.
She had spent eighteen years wishing for her wolf to awaken.
She had never stopped to wonder what might awaken with it.
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