A long time ago, before the packs dominated the land and before the first war split the clans, it was said the Moon herself descended to the world not as a moon in the sky, but as a woman. She walked amongst men and wolves, in flesh and blood, her beauty so true, so wild and real, that people could not gaze upon her without a shiver going through their very soul. It wasn’t just her face it was the way she moved, that sweet voice of hers and that pain in her eyes. She was not meant to be in this world and yet she wanted to be in this world.

And just like every other human, she fell in love.

He was a wolf, a strong, proud, respected wolf. An Alpha. He promised her things no one else ever had. He swore she’d be safe with him, that he would never hurt her, that he would never let anyone else try. And for the first time in all her existence, the Moon believed someone. She gave him her trust. She gave him her body. And when she discovered she was pregnant with his baby, she believed that her story was finally going to have its happy ending.

But love she found out wasn’t always good.

He took her in his pack and they accepted her with open arms. They greeted her with smiles, they brought her food and bowed before her as she passed. She believed that they loved her. She was convinced that they considered her as one of them. What she did not realize was that they were already aware of who she was and what she had inside of her. They didn't want her because of who she was. They wanted her blood. Her power. Her child.

They bided their time until she was almost full term before they attacked.

When her body started to slow and her pregnancy started to weigh her down and make her vulnerable, they turned against her. They shackled her in silver and dark magic laced chains. They put her in a cold stone cell down deep under the pack house and her mate, the one who had promised her all the world, stood there and said nothing . He watched her cry. He watched them take her. He let it happen.

They planned to keep her alive just long enough to take what they needed. Then they would end her.

But one girl, a servant no one noticed, chose to help her. Maybe she was young. Maybe she was afraid. Maybe she saw a mother in pain and couldn’t bear it. No one remembers her name. But that girl unlocked the door, whispered that the guards were asleep, and told the goddess to run.

And she did.

Bleeding, barefoot, and out of time, she escaped into the forest. The wind howled through the trees as she stumbled through thorns and roots, her contractions coming hard and fast. She didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Not until she collapsed beneath a tall, ancient tree, so deep in the woods that no wolf dared to follow.

Her hands clawing into the dirt as her body broke open.

Her cries echoed through the forest.

Pain and betrayal filled the night.

And as the child pushed into the world, with blood on her thighs and her nails digging into the roots of the earth, she screamed not only in agony, but in fury.

Her voice rose like a storm.

“I curse this land,” she cried.

“Let no Alpha born here see past Fourty. Let the younger brother rise against the elder. Let every throne be soaked in blood.”

“Let betrayal be their inheritance. Let peace be foreign to them.”

“Only when my daughter or her blood, falls in love with a wolf, and bears a child from that love… only then will the curse break.”

“And that child… that child will mark the end of chaos and the beginning of something greater.”

“The man she loves will become the strongest Alpha ever to walk this earth. No blade shall touch him. No enemy shall defeat him. No spirit shall bind him.”

And then just as her breath began to fade, she whispered something else.

A final line of the curse, but not in the common tongue. It was old. Ancient. Forbidden.

A language lost to time. No one understood the words.

No one has been able to interrupt the final curse till date.

The skies opened. Lightning struck the trees. The earth shook.

And just like that, the Moon vanished from the world.

Some say she died beneath that tree. Some say she returned to the sky, watching everything from above. But the curse she left behind never faded. Every Alpha since then has died before their fortieth birthday. Every generation, brothers kill each other for the title.

And no one, not even the strongest among them has been able to escape the fate she spoke into the soil.

The curse still lives.

And the bloodline she left behind is about to wake it up.

Aria's POV

My name is Aria Blake and today I turn eighteen. The big eighteen, the age all the girls are thrilled to reach, but I just feel sad.

There is no celebration. Just a tired smile from my foster mom and a stale blueberry muffin with a tiny candle poked in the middle. I ate it in silence, as Tom my foster father quarrelled with one of the twins over shoes.

I never told my foster parents I never told them that birthdays do not feel like milestones when you wake up every birthday wishing the next one will be less painful.

It’s also another school year, luckily my last year in highschool.

Another year of everyone laughing at me, talking behind my back, stuffing me in lockers, and acting like I can not hear what they are saying.

Another year of sitting in the back, walking with my head down, calculating days until I can escape this place and maybe, learn how it feels to be a person without shame.

I have never attended the first day of school without my stomach aching before I had even left my house.

I stood before the mirror and my fingers were folded around the little silver necklace below my collarbone. Nothing much, just a dull crescent moon charm on a frayed chain, but it was mine.

I’ve had it ever since I can remember. My foster parents told me that I had it on the day they found me. And it has never been taken off my neck. Not once. It just remains there on me, like it is a piece of me that I never had the option of selecting.

I always stuff it under my shirt. I do not know why. Possibly because I fear that someone will steal it. Or perhaps, it could be the fact that it is the only thing that feels unblemished by the world that did not want me in the first place.

Growing up in Ravenstone means you know your place. The town is clearly divided into two fractions: humans and werewolves. And everyone knows which side matters.

There are the humans, like me and my best friend Tammy.

And then there are the werewolves who run the land.

They own the businesses, the schools, the council. Some of them are quiet about it. Others walk like they were born to rule.

But even among wolves, there's a split.

There are the Legend Wolves, old bloodlines with power stretching back centuries. They’re faster, stronger, and deadlier than the rest. They act like gods among mortals. They have rules, laws, legacies.

Like...Kian Silverclaw

The Alpha’s son. The next in line of the Silver Pack.

And then there are the Outcasts, the broken packs. Forgotten names. The ones who lost their place when they lost their power. They live quietly, away from the center, surviving on the edge of everything.

Like Lucian.

His father used to be the Alpha powerful, respected. But after he was murdered by his own brother, everything changed. Lucian and his people were banished to the outer woods. No titles. No respect. Just shadows.

People barely speak of him. But I’ve seen him quiet, brooding, always watching. He doesn’t walk like the others. He doesn’t need to. He carries something different. Something heavier.

There’s also another thing about this town.

A rule.

During the full moon, everyone stays inside.

It’s not just a tradition it’s enforced like law. Shops close. Schools shut down. Even the wolves don’t roam freely. The streets go dead quiet from dawn to midnight. No one explains why not really. People say it’s for safety. Others whisper about ancient instincts being too hard to control under the full light.

I can only say that, that day of the month is heavier than all the others. Like the entire town is on tenterhooks.

The wolves dislike humans, they see us as lesser creatures, not worthy to walk among them, a waste of existence, and every opportunity they get, they make sure we are always reminded. For someone like me, it's even worse because I'm an orphan...a lesser creature nobody wanted. Orphans are seen as insignificant in Ravenstone, both by wolves and humans. So for me who is Human and an Orphan ...I’m a worthless nobody, the easiest prey for their cruelty.

Every semester, Tammy and I make the same promise to each other, that this year will be different. But every time, we’re wrong.

As I got closer to the school gate, I saw Tammy standing by the gate, waiting for me. Her hoodie up like it could somehow protect her from how people looked at us.

Happy birthday girl, she said in a crooked smile. "You made it to eighteen without blowing up. That’s something.”

I snorted a little, but it did not reach my eyes. “Barely.”

Tammy and I walked into the parking lot with our heads down and our bags pushed against our chests.

The second we walked through the main doors something hit my back. A crushed juice box exploded against my sweater, soaking through instantly.

“Oops,” someone called out with fake innocence. “Didn’t see the trash can standing there.”

More laughter followed. Loud. Ugly. Familiar.

“Happy birthday, piglet,” another voice sneered from somewhere to the left.

I didn’t turn. I never did.

My hands curled tighter around the straps of my bag, shoulders locked forward like armor that didn’t really work.

Tammy moved a little closer to me. “Ignore them,” she murmured.

But how can you ignore something that never stops?

As we walked to the hall, someone hit Tammy on her shoulder so hard that she stumbled against the lockers. A girl who had bright pink nail polish and an ugly smile leaned very close.

“You two should just disappear. No one wants to see you walking around like you matter.”

I could feel the heat rise up the back of my neck. Not anger. Embarrassment. Shame. That helpless kind of rage that has nowhere to go but inward.

They dragged Tammy to the toilet as usual. I dare not follow them if not I will get it hot.

I lower my head and tighten my strap on my backpack to restrain the fear within me and continued walking.

Maybe... just maybe if I move quickly, no one else will see me.

But they always see me.

“Ugh, she’s still fat,” someone mutters behind me.

“Must’ve spent the summer eating her feelings again.”

I feel the flush rise under my skin. I don’t turn around. I never do. Because I know how it goes, if you flinch, they laugh louder.

“Hey, cow!” a voice barks. Then a shoulder clips mine, hard.

I stumble. My books drop, and no one helps.

A few people snicker. I think someone films it. I have no interest in looking.

I bend over, trying to breathe through the pain in my eyes, to still my hands. I cannot cry here. They enjoy it when I cry.

One by one I put my books back into my bag and stand up.

"Keep moving, don t stop," I kept whispering to myself.

It’s always been like this.

They say I’m fat. That I smell. That I wear clothes like I’m hiding a crime scene underneath.

And maybe I am.

Because if they could see the way I ache to be seen, really seen, they’d laugh harder. If they knew how many nights I lay awake wondering what I did to deserve this kind of loneliness… they’d probably say I brought it on myself.

“Ariaaa,” a familiar voice calls, like she’s calling a dog.

I didn't need to turn to know who it was. Savannah Cross.

Savannah Cross isn’t just any girl.

She’s that girl...niece to Alpha Marcus, and the closest thing this school has to a crowned queen.

She’s everything I’m not: flawless, fierce, and born into bloodlines that stretch back generations. Her uncle may run the pack, but Savannah runs this school and everyone in it knows better than to cross her.

She decides who’s seen and who’s forgotten. Who’s worshipped and who’s destroyed.

I’ve always been one of the forgotten.

But today, for some reason, she sees me. And I don’t know if that’s better or worse.

I stop walking. I shouldn’t. I know that. But something in me is tired. Just so tired.

She steps in front of me, all gloss and cruelty. Her smile is pretty and fake and dangerous.

Behind her are the usual wolves, perfect teeth, expensive clothes, smug eyes. They were born knowing the world was theirs.

While I was born not even knowing if I was allowed to exist in it.

“We’re throwing a party tomorrow tonight,” Savannah says, tucking her shiny blond hair behind her ear. “Ridge Creek. You should come.”

I blink.

“…Why?”

She tilts her head like she’s confused I even spoke.

“Because it’s your birthday, isn’t it?” Her voice drops. “Eighteen. That’s huge. Everyone should feel special on their birthday.”

She’s lying. I know she’s lying.

But for some stupid reason, my heart skips. Just a little.

And that’s how I know they still win. Because even now, even after years of this I want it to be real. I want to believe that maybe they see me. That maybe this year would be different.

Savannah leans in a little, her perfume too sweet and sharp.

“Wear something cute. Or, I guess, whatever fits.”

Laughter ripples behind her as she turns to walk away.

I stare after her, with my heart beating louder than it should, as she walks away, tossing her hair flippingly like she’s just done charity, I stay stuck, still feeling the weight of her words in my chest.

And then the door of the hall opens.

The sound shifts. Conversations pause. The air seems to fold in on itself.

And then he walks in.

Kian Silverclaw.

Alpha Marcus’s son. Future leader of the pack. Untouchable. Unreachable. Unbreakable.

He doesn’t speak. He never does.

Not unless he has to.

He doesn’t smile either. Just walks with that slow, heavy stride like the ground itself answers to him.

His pack follows behind him tall, confident, eyes sharp, necks marked with status. They don’t speak either. They don’t need to.

Because when Kian enters a room, everyone falls silent. Even Savannah.

He is handsome...no scratch that... he is beautiful, the kind that is painful to look at. Dark hair, a harshly-cut jaw, and these cold, emotionless eyes that never appear to settle on anyone long enough to give them any hope.

Except mine.

Once.

In the library last year. He raised his head over a book, and our eyes met. And though he said nothing...though his face did not change, I swear something flickered there.

Or maybe that was just another lie I had made up to get me through the day.

Well, because look at me.

And then look at him.

The people automatically make way before him, as though he were not a person, but a god...Something untouchable.

And yet I still feel that stupid little flutter in my chest. The one I hate myself for.

No matter how cruel he can be and no matter how often I have seen him kick people against walls or slap a tray out of somebody hands just because he can...

Part of me thinks what it would be like to be looked at by him.

Not scoffed at. Not ridiculed. Seen.

And I detest that.

I despise that I still want what I know I will never get.

Aria's POV

By the time I arrived home the house was filled with the smell of burnt toast and something sweet. Grace, my foster mother was in the kitchen attempting to prepare my favorite, cinnamon pancakes, even though the mix had clearly expired. She had her apron dusted with the flour, and batter on her cheek.

She turned when I stepped in. “There’s the birthday girl. How was school?”

I was a bit hesitant, and said the safest thing to her. “Fine.”

She looked me in the face a second, then shook her head as though she did not believe me, but did not feel inclined to insist. "We saved you something," said she, giving me a plate with half a pancake on it, folded like a taco.

My foster dad, Tom, lifted a mug in my direction from the couch. “Eighteen today. You’re officially old enough to pay rent now.”

I smiled politely and sat down to eat. I didn’t have the heart to tell them the day had been like all the others... sharp, cold, unkind.

They tried, in their own way. They did not have much, but they gave me as much as they could give. I couldn't ask for more.

I tried to sleep early that night. The moon was already up and looking through the torn curtain over my window. I leaned over on my side and pulled my blanket over my head.

Immediately my eyes feel into deep sleep, the dream came back again.

I was running barefoot through the forest, tree whizzing by, air bursting out in ragged, hard gasps. I could hear the growl from behind me. Inhuman, guttural, low. Behind me, a black monstrous wolf crept, his teeth shone, his eyes flamed like fire.

I could feel my legs on fire and I wanted to shout out but couldn’t. The forest was endless and I could feel fear in my chest like smoke.

And suddenly a white, dazzling light from above, cut through the trees like a knife. The wolf stood still. Snarled. Then it disappeared like smoke in wind.

I dropped on my knees, gasping.

And then I woke up.

My sheets were tangled around me. My skin was clammy. I stared at the ceiling, my heart pounding, throat dry.

Same dream. Again.

It had started the week I turned sixteen. I never told anyone. Not even Tammy.

The next day at school the halls were more full of excitement than usual. It was Friday. Party day.

I held my head down, praying that I could reach the first period without being noticed. Unfortunately it didn't work.

Savannah cornered me at my locker, and smiled like a cat that had got a mouse in its paws.

"Happy birthday, again," she smiled. “It's still your birthday week. Still thinking about the party?"

"I don’t...I don’t think I will...” I mumbled.

"Oh, that's too bad," she said taking something from her designer handbag. A tiny little square box, wrapped in silver paper. “Because I have your birthday gift right here. And Kian... well, he told me to make sure you came.”

I blinked at her. “Kian?”

She grinned. “Yup. Asked about you specifically. Said it would be... interesting to see you there.”

For a second, the world stilled. My chest fluttered...that dangerous little thing called hope spreading like wildfire in my ribs.

“I’ll... think about it.”

“Oh, come on. You’re eighteen now. Live a little.” She winked, tossed her hair, and disappeared into the crowd.

I found Tammy at lunch and told her everything.

She gave me that look... the one that said she loved me, but also thought I had the common sense of a soap bar.

“Aria. It’s Savannah. She could gift-wrap a landmine and smile while it explodes. Don’t trust her.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But... what if it’s not a trick? What if he really did ask?”

Tammy’s face softened. “You really like him.”

“I know I shouldn’t. But yes.”

She sighed, long and deep. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

My heart lifted just a little. “Thank you.”

That night, I pulled out the only decent dress I had, a navy blue one Grace had found at a thrift store last year. It was snug, but it fit. I stared at myself in the mirror. Not pretty. Not glowing. But... maybe not invisible either.

We walked to the party together. The music thudded from blocks away. The moment we stepped inside, the air changed. Loud. Crowded. Glittering.

Tammy followed close, looking around.

I tried to breathe, to smile, to be like others.

But when Savannah saw me she was all teeth and warm.

“Aria! You came! she said, in a loud voice. "You look... nice.”

She looked me up and down and although the words were polite, I could sense the smirk in them.

Tammy nudged my arm. “Let’s go. We don’t belong here.”

But Savannah looped her arm through mine before I could move. “No, no, you have to say hi to Kian. He’s been waiting to see you.”

I blinked. “Kian?”

“Mhm.” She grinned wider. “He asked me to invite you, remember? He’s right over there.”

Tammy’s voice was sharp beside me. “Aria, don’t.”

But I wanted to believe. Just this once. That maybe it wasn’t a joke. That maybe he had asked. That maybe tonight could be different.

So I stepped forward. My legs felt like they weren’t mine.

He was over the drink table, talking to Amira,his mate, or so people in town say. Amira the most beautiful girl in town, most people say she has the blood of the moon goddess. But as he saw me his face turned towards me.

As soon as our eyes met I forgot to breathe.

I walked up, slowly, smoothing a stray hair into my ear.

“Hi,” I said, my voice too soft. “Kian… thank you for asking Savannah to invite me.”

He looked at me like I’d just spat on his shoes.

“Excuse me? Invite who?” he said, loud enough for people nearby to hear.

“I… I thought…”

“You thought what?” He stepped closer. His voice was ice. “That I asked for you? That I wanted you here?”

The room started to quiet. More people were turning. Phones came out.

“What business do I have with someone like you?” Kian sneered. You are not even worth looking at. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

The crowd laughed.

I stood there stiff, my heart racing against my chest.

He looked away from me, meaning that he was already finished with me.

Then Samantha’s voice cut in behind me. “Oh my god, are you crying?” Her camera was pointed at my face. “She actually thought he liked her.”

“Pathetic,” someone else said. “Did you see what she wore?”

“Oh look she even wore a little necklace,” Savannah added with a mock pout. “How cute.”

Before I could stop her, Savannah reached out and ripped the necklace from my neck.

The chain snapped. Something inside me cracked with it.

The crowd burst into cruel laughter as the snapped chain clattered to the floor.

My fingers clawed at the space around my neck...empty. Cold.

I had never taken it off. Never in my life.

A burning, pain wracked sensation shot up my spine, like a wildfire, spreading through my bones. My knees gave in. I was gasping for air.

Tammy yelled something, but her voice was far away, muffled, as if I was underwater.

The laughter.

The lights.

The music.

It all spun together, and then dropped into silence.

The air grew heavy.

People started to back away, phones still raised. Something in the room had shifted.

“What the hell…” someone whispered.

That’s when the lights above flickered.

The glass punch bowl exploded on the table behind me.

My skin felt like it was tearing open from the inside.

I dropped to my hands and knees.

And screamed.

Lightning flashed through the skylight above us. The music cut off completely.

My vision blurred, and I felt something move beneath my skin. My bones cracked...my jaw unhinged, my fingers tore into claws.

The room was screaming now, not laughing. Running.

“She's shifting!”

“No—no way, she’s not one of us!”

“She’s not...she’s not even wolf-blooded!”

Tammy's face was filled fear and surprise.

Then a burst of red light lit up the ceiling. The moon outside twisted, changing, warping. Not silver, but crimson.

Thunder crashed.

The windows shattered.

My eyes snapped open, but they weren’t my eyes anymore.

People froze in place.

“She’s...her eyes...oh god, look at her eyes!”

“Silver and Red—what is that?!”

“She’s not normal, she’s not supposed to be...she’s...”

They screamed again as I rose to my feet or what was left of me.

Fur white and black as day and night covered my arms. My teeth were longer than any beta’s. My breath steamed in the cold that had suddenly swallowed the room.

The ground trembled under me.

Kian had stepped back, his face pale.

His lips parted in shock.

The boy who humiliated could not find a single word.

I stared at my hands at the monster I had turned into and a sob came out of my throat.

I ran.

Past the broken doors. Into the woods.

My legs moved like lightning. Branches clawed at me. The air was ice in my lungs.

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

The sound of my own breathing was foreign. The howl rising from my chest wasn’t mine.

What am I?

I ran until there were no more voices. No more lights. Just trees.

And darkness.