Zendaya's POV
From the moment I stepped into Raven's claw pack, I was an outsider. The whispers followed me everywhere, their curious gaze cutting into me like blades. I knew this mating wasn't going to be easy, only a few accepted me, but I never expected to feel like a ghost among them—someone they refused to accept.
Still, I wasn't going to back down.
If they wouldn't accept me as their Luna, I needed to prove myslef worthy.
Determined to show them I wasn't some delicate flower plucked from the Craven pack, I did all the chores back there, so I made my way to the kitchen. The scent of baked bread and simmering stew filled the air, a comforting reminder of home when Mum was alive. I rolled up my sleeves and stepped inside, ready to help.
But the moment I did, silence fell.
The pack members and omegas froze, their hands pausing over their work. Then the whispers started.
"Why is she here?"
"She thinks she can just waltz in here and become one of us?"
" She doesn't belong."
I swallowed hard, pretending not to hear them, as I reached for a knife to help with the vegetables. But my hand trembled slightly, and before I could start, a firm hand grasped my wrist.
The head maid.
She was an older woman, with a sharp eye and an expression that held little warmth and no cruelty—just duty.
"You shouldn't be here, Luna," she said, her voice soft but firm. "Come with me."
My pride screamed at me to refuse, but without another word I followed her back to my room, when we exited the kitchen I heard them say. "she hasn't been marked," I wanted to scream back, "who's fault was it that I didn't bear the mark?"
"Its yours,"Cassidy lazy said, at the back of my mind, I could feel the guilt rising.
But held my head high despite the humiliation clawing at my chest. I refuse to let them see me as weak. I wasn't a weak she-wolf.
Back in my room, I was itching to go out. As soon as the headmaid left, I slipped out. I was going insane staying in one place, and since my so-called mate had ignored my existence, I was going to take myself around the pack.
Not caring if I was welcome or not.
The street where bustling with pack members as I walked through, the air shifted. Conversation faltered. Eyes landed on me—some curious, some disapproving, and most filled with judgment.
My silver blue hair cascaded freely, catching the sunlight, and I could feel their stare intensifying.
"She doesn't look like a Luna."
"Too odd, too different."
"Does she think she's perfect because she's mated to our Alpha?"
The whispers cut deeper than I wanted to admit.
I wasn't foolish—I knew I was different, my hair, my eyes, my very presence scremed outsider to them. Even my pack treated me like this, even worse.
I clenched my fist, willing to push myself forward and enjoy my walk Raven pack is beautiful, it has structures and designers I didn't see back in Craven pack.
I saw a little girl crying, and her mother was nowhere to be found. I crouched a little, trying to calm her down, " Hello little one wheres your mummy", I crouched down petting her lightly, trying to calm her and get her to responded so we can find her mummy, but almost immediately her mother came, pulling her child away from me like I was a plague, as if my presence was something to be avoided. Something inside me snapped.
I bolted.
I ran past the market, past the town square, past the judging eyes, into the forest.
My feet pounded against the earth as I reached the clearing, my breath ragged. The pressure in my chest was unbearable, as tears pooled in my eyes, threatening to fall, my mind a mess of tangled thoughts.
Damien's cold distance.
The pack's rejection.
I couldn't take it anymore.
I let my wolf take over.
Bones shifted, skin burned, and in seconds, I was on all fours. My silver white wolf fur gleamed under the sunlight, my sharp claws digging into the dirt as I took off.
I ran.
I ran until the wind howled in my ears until my thoughts blurred into Instict, until then weight on my chest lifted just a little.
But then, I felt it.
A presence, subtle at first, till it became more pronounced, that I wasn't alone.
And the presence was watching me and not coming out.
It gave me a weird vibe.
So I slowed, ears twitching, scanning the trees with my enhanced vision. The feeling was undeniable. Eyes were on me and hidden within the shadows like a cloak covering it. Hiding its identity. Before I could pinpoint where. The presence disappeared like it was never there before.
A shiver ran down my spine.
Who had been watching me?
And why?
I forced myself to return to the pack house, unease settling in my bones.
I made a mental note to text my father but I left we weren't on talking terms and he seemed to be wrapped up with his new family and neither has he tried to reach out either.
The house was quieter than usual the usual chattering of the pack members was absent, I stood on the porch, and I noticed Damien's car was parked outside.
He was back.
A flicker of resolve tightened in my chest, I needed to talk to him. Needed answers.
I hurried to my room, eager to clean up before facing him, but the moment I stepped inside, something felt wrong.
The air was colder.
The scent of the room felt disturbed.
Then my eyes landed on the window.
It was slightly open, and I don't remember opening it.
Heart pounding, I stopped closer, reached for the latch—
Then I saw it.
A single red note, placed neatly on my nightstand.
My breath was trembling as I unfolded the paper.
The words were written in jagged black ink.
"They are coming for you."
But what made my blood run cold was the blood smeared across the page.