Meredith.
The Lunar Ball was supposed to be the most important night of my life.
A night of destiny. A night where the Moon Goddess would finally show me mercy by revealing my mate, binding us together forever.
But as I stood at the grand entrance of the Moonstone Pack's glittering ballroom, with the weight of a thousand stares pressing down on me, I already knew—
This night would end in disaster. I could feel it in my bones.
"You little filth. Don't you dare take off your veil today even if a knife is put on your neck. Do you understand?" My father warned through gritted teeth, in a voice that only I and the rest of our family could hear. And immediately, my attention was pulled back to him.
I had, for a moment, completely forgotten that I wasn't alone.
"I don't even know why you chose to wear black of all colours tonight." He grunted shortly before snapping his gaze to my mother who was standing right beside him. "Didn't anyone see her before leaving the house?"
"Darling, she is free to wear whatever she wants. It's not like she is going to sit with us." Mum's gaze flicked to me, briefly. "No one has to identify her with us tonight."
My father gave one last disgusted look at me before stepping inside the ballroom. My Mother followed him almost immediately without sparing another glance at me. She was completely indifferent to my existence.
Next up were my two older sisters, Monique and Mabel. They both gave me a disapproving look and scoffed before walking away with their fancy feather hand fans, which they had wrecked havoc to get, especially for this event.
"Control yourself for a minute, you slut!" My older brother, Gary, suddenly barked in my ears, causing me to flinch and the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. I had no idea when he came up behind me. I didn't know parking a car could be this fast.
"I can smell your disgusting pheromones from miles away," he sneered before stepping away from me.
I quickly lowered my head, avoiding his gaze as the loud pumping sound of my own blood filled my ears. I was that afraid of Gary because of the ways he punished me. And I wasn't about to let him slap me in front of the thousand pairs of eyes waiting for my moment of ridicule because my own brother was capable of that.
Fortunately, my fear vanished a few seconds later after Gary concluded I wasn't worth his precious time on such an important night and walked away, leaving me behind. Alone and in peace.
The air in the room was thick with the scent of floral perfumes, champagne, and lingering light pheromones as unmated werewolves searched the crowd, waiting for the fated pull of their mates.
But I felt nothing other than my own pheromones dealing me with blows, minute after minute.
No pull. No surge of warmth. No instinct whispered that my other half was near.
Because I had no wolf.
Because I was cursed.
Because the Lunar Curse had stolen my bond before I ever had a chance to feel it. And yet, even without the mate bond, I already knew who my mate was.
Marc Harris. Future Beta of our Moonstone Pack.
I had overheard the whispers weeks ago in the academy halls, my classmates pitying me behind my back, saying how tragic my situation was, and how I was going to be rejected.
Regardless, I inhaled sharply, praying—begging—that this would be my chance to start over as I cautiously walked into the room with several pairs of eyes still fixated on me.
For sixteen years, I had been my family's golden girl—the pride of the Moonstone Pack. Then, the Lunar Curse appeared, branding me with the crescent-shaped mark on my shoulder and stripping me of my wolf.
From that moment on, I had become nothing.
Tonight was my last hope. If the Moon Goddess still had any mercy left for me, my mate would accept me despite my curse.
But fate had never been kind to me. I realized that the moment I saw Marc.
He stood near the centre of the ballroom, dressed in a fine black and silver suit, his arm draped around another woman's waist. She was stunning—blond, curvy, the kind of woman who never had to beg for attention.
My chest tightened painfully. Not because I felt some mate bond pulling me to him. But because I felt something else. A faint, buried instinct—something deep inside me that wanted to react but couldn't.
It was weak, distant—like an echo of a connection that should have been there but wasn't.
And for the first time in my life, I wondered, if I hadn't been cursed, would I have felt what everyone else did?
Would I have felt warmth instead of this cold emptiness?
Would I have been loved instead of abandoned?
I guess I would never know. Because Marc turned his head—and his blue eyes locked onto mine through the black veil.
The second he saw me, his entire body went rigid. His nostrils flared as if he had just caught my scent.
His wolf had recognized me, and in that split second—I saw the flicker of devastation in his eyes before he marched straight towards me with the woman he was with.
A hush spread through the room. The whispers started.
"She's his mate?"
"The cursed one? The wolfless freak?"
"No way a future Beta would accept someone like her..."
Just then, Marc stopped in front of me and released the woman he was holding. Looking me straight in the eyes, he snapped with a fierce gaze, burning a hole through my forehead, "God forbid that I marry, mate or mark a woman like you!"
The entire ballroom stilled, every pair of eyes locked onto us. He had said that to everyone's hearing.
My chest tightened, my throat burning with humiliation. I lifted my chin, trying to steady my voice. "Marc..."
Before I could say another word, he spoke the words that shattered me.
"I, future Beta Marc Harris of the Moonstone Pack, reject you, Meredith Carter, as my mate."
The gasps rippled through the crowd.
I felt every stare shift toward me as something deep inside me twisted painfully. Not because the bond was breaking—I had no true bond to break, but because Marc's words made it real.
And he wasn't finished yet.