The Forgotten Moonchild

Sarah had learned long ago that silence was safer than hope.

Before the first hint of dawn touched the sky above Luminous Pack, she was already awake. The servants' quarters were still cloaked in darkness, the only sounds the quiet breathing of exhausted girls and the crackling embers dying inside the small fireplace. While everyone else slept for a few more precious moments, Sarah carefully folded her thin blanket, slipped into her worn dress, and tied her dark hair into a loose braid. Every movement was practiced, almost invisible. In the Alpha Estate, servants who delayed their duties quickly became the target of harsh words-or worse.

Outside, the air carried the sharp scent of pine and wet earth. A cool breeze drifted through the courtyard as Sarah balanced two heavy wooden buckets against her shoulders and made her way toward the well. The estate was enormous, its stone walls rising proudly against the fading stars. It was the heart of the Luminous Pack, home to Alpha Bruce, Luna Angel, their family, and dozens of servants who worked from sunrise until long after nightfall.

Sarah had spent nearly her entire life within those walls.

She could not remember another home.

She could not remember another family.

The only thing she truly possessed was the small wooden pendant that rested beneath her dress.

She touched it absentmindedly as she walked.

The smooth crescent-shaped carving was warm despite the cold morning air. According to the old woman who had raised her before passing away years earlier, the pendant had been around Sarah's neck on the day she was found outside the eastern borders of the pack. No one knew where it came from or who had carved the strange symbols etched into its surface. Most believed it was nothing more than a worthless trinket.

Yet Sarah had never once considered throwing it away.

It was the only piece of her past she had left.

By the time she returned from the well, the estate had begun to awaken. Servants hurried across the courtyard carrying baskets of bread, sacks of grain, fresh vegetables, and bundles of firewood. Stable hands rushed toward the training grounds while kitchen maids disappeared through the back entrance of the manor. The peaceful silence of dawn vanished beneath the rhythm of another demanding day.

"You're late."

The sharp voice made Sarah stop instantly.

She turned to find Celeste standing beneath the stone archway, dressed in expensive silk despite the early hour. The Alpha's youngest daughter folded her arms, her perfectly styled hair untouched by the morning breeze. Two noble girls stood behind her, already smirking as though they knew exactly how the conversation would end.

Sarah lowered her head respectfully.

"I apologize, Miss Celeste."

Celeste glanced toward the buckets Sarah carried before deliberately stepping into her path.

"The royal delegation arrives tomorrow," she said coolly. "Mother wants every corner of this estate spotless, yet somehow you're only just returning with water."

"I went as quickly as I could."

"You always have an excuse."

Without warning, Celeste struck one of the buckets with the tip of her polished boot.

Water crashed onto the stone floor.

Several nearby servants froze.

Sarah instinctively reached forward, but it was too late. Nearly half the water she had spent the last hour collecting rushed into the courtyard drains.

Celeste sighed dramatically.

"What a shame."

One of the noble girls laughed.

"I suppose she'll have to fetch it all again."

None of the watching servants spoke.

They never did.

Sarah swallowed the lump forming in her throat and quietly lifted the bucket upright.

"I'm sorry."

The apology escaped almost automatically.

She wasn't even sure what she was apologizing for anymore.

Celeste leaned closer, lowering her voice so only Sarah could hear.

"Do you know why everyone pities you?"

Sarah remained silent.

"Because you're twenty years old and still haven't shifted."

The words landed with practiced precision.

"You aren't just weak, Sarah. You're unnatural."

A ripple of uncomfortable silence spread across the courtyard. Several servants looked away while others pretended not to hear. Among werewolves, shifting into one's wolf was more than a rite of passage-it was proof of belonging. Most children experienced their first shift by sixteen. By eighteen, it was almost unheard of for anyone to remain human.

Sarah had reached twenty.

Nothing had ever happened.

No wolf.

No bond.

Nothing.

Rumors had followed her for years.

Some whispered she had been cursed before birth.

Others believed the Moon Goddess had rejected her completely.

Sarah had stopped trying to defend herself long ago.

There was no answer she could give that would silence people who had already made up their minds.

Celeste smiled with quiet satisfaction before stepping aside.

"Clean this mess, fetch more water, and don't let Mother see this. If you embarrass the Alpha House before the royal guests arrive, you'll wish you had never been found."

She turned gracefully and walked away with her companions, their laughter echoing across the courtyard.

Sarah remained where she was for several seconds, staring at the water disappearing between the cracks in the stone.

Then, without complaint, she bent down, gathered the empty buckets, and began the long walk back to the well.

No one offered to help.

No one apologized.

They simply returned to their work as though nothing had happened.

Sarah forced herself to keep walking, but she couldn't ignore the familiar ache settling deep inside her chest. Sometimes she wondered what it would feel like to wake up for just one day without carrying the weight of everyone's expectations and disappointment. To be seen as more than the servant girl who had never shifted.

She tightened her fingers around the wooden handle of the bucket.

Hidden beneath her dress, the pendant suddenly pulsed with warmth.

She stopped.

The sensation lasted only a heartbeat before fading completely.

Sarah frowned and touched the pendant through the fabric.

"Strange..."

She looked around the empty path.

No one else seemed to notice.

Far beyond the estate walls, high atop the eastern ridge where the morning mist clung to the ancient forest, a pair of golden eyes watched the Alpha Estate in complete silence.

The figure stood motionless beneath a dark cloak, invisible among the towering pines.

When the pendant's faint pulse faded...

The figure slowly smiled.

"So..."

The voice was barely more than a whisper.

"She's finally waking up."