Aria's POV
"Move faster, Aria! The ceremony starts in ten minutes!"
I stumbled as Mrs. Henderson pushed me toward the big wooden doors. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might jump out of my chest. Tonight was my eighteenth birthday. Tonight, I would find out if I had a mate.
Or if I would be alone forever.
"Stop looking so scared," Mrs. Henderson whispered harshly in my ear. "No one wants a weak omega."
Her words hurt, but I was used to it. As an orphan in the Blackwood Pack, I had heard worse things my whole life. No family. No money. No importance. Just another mouth to feed.
I walked into the ceremonial hall and saw dozens of wolves already there. The older pack members sat on wooden benches, watching and waiting. The younger ones my age stood in a circle in the middle of the room. Everyone was dressed in their best clothes, smiling and laughing.
Everyone except me.
I found an empty spot at the back of the circle and tried to make myself invisible. That was what I was good at. Being invisible.
"Look, it's the orphan girl," someone whispered behind me.
"I heard she doesn't even have a real last name," another voice said.
"Moonstone isn't a real family name. The Elders just made it up."
My face burned with shame, but I kept my eyes down. They were right. I had no real family. No real name. No real place in this pack.
Elder Marcus walked to the center of our circle. He was old and wise, with gray hair and kind eyes. He was the only person who had ever been nice to me.
"Tonight, under the full moon, you will become true members of our pack," he said in his deep voice. "Your wolves will wake up inside you. And if you are lucky, you will smell your mate."
My stomach twisted with fear and hope. What if no one wanted me? What if I was meant to be alone forever?
"Remember," Elder Marcus continued, "the moon sees everything. It knows who belongs together. Trust what your wolf tells you."
He raised his arms to the sky. "Let the ceremony begin!"
One by one, the young wolves began to change. I watched as my classmates found their inner wolves for the first time. Some howled with joy. Others cried happy tears. A few lucky ones found their mates right away, running to each other like magnets.
But nothing happened to me.
I stood there, feeling broken and empty, while everyone else celebrated around me. Maybe I didn't have a wolf at all. Maybe I was just human pretending to be something I wasn't.
Then the moon came out from behind a cloud.
Silver light poured through the big windows, hitting me like a warm wave. Something inside my chest began to wake up. Something wild and free and beautiful.
My wolf.
She stretched and yawned inside me, then lifted her nose to smell the air. And suddenly, my whole world changed.
My scent exploded outward like invisible fireworks. Sweet jasmine mixed with wild honey. It was nothing like the plain, boring smell I'd had before. This was magic. This was power.
The entire room went quiet.
Everyone turned to stare at me. Their faces showed shock, confusion, and something that looked like fear. Even Elder Marcus looked surprised.
"What is that smell?" someone whispered.
"It's coming from the orphan girl."
"That's impossible. Orphans don't have royal scents."
Royal scents? What did that mean?
Mrs. Henderson pushed through the crowd, her face white with shock. "Aria, what did you do?"
"I... I don't know," I stammered. "I didn't do anything."
But even as I said it, I could feel power flowing through me like electricity. My wolf was dancing inside me, singing with joy. For the first time in my life, I felt important. Special.
Strong.
"Everyone stay calm," Elder Marcus said, but his voice shook a little. "This is... unusual. But not unheard of. Some wolves hide their true nature until they come of age."
A girl near me stepped back like I might hurt her. "But she's just an orphan. How can she smell like that?"
"Yeah," another boy said. "Only Alphas and their families have scents that strong."
I wanted to run and hide, but my feet wouldn't move. All these people staring at me, talking about me like I wasn't even there. It felt horrible and wonderful at the same time.
Then I heard footsteps.
Heavy footsteps walking across the room toward me.
The crowd began to move apart, making a path. I looked up and saw him.
Alpha Damon Blackwood.
He was the most powerful wolf in our pack. Maybe in all the packs. Twenty-five years old, tall and strong, with dark hair and cold eyes. He never smiled. Never laughed. Never looked at anyone like they mattered.
He had been talking to some important pack members near the wall. But now he was walking straight toward me, and his face looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Our eyes met across the room.
His were glowing gold.
"Impossible," he whispered, but I heard it anyway.
My heart stopped beating. My wolf started howling inside me. Every part of my body was screaming the same thing over and over:
Mate. Mate. Mate.
Alpha Damon Blackwood was my mate.
But that was crazy. He was the Alpha. I was nobody. He was powerful and important. I was just the orphan girl everyone ignored.
This couldn't be happening.
Damon took another step toward me, his hands shaking. His gold eyes never left mine. The whole room held its breath.
Then he stopped walking.
His face went completely white. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.
"No," he said, so quietly only I could hear it.
My heart shattered into a million pieces.
"No," he said again, louder this time. His voice was cold and hard, like winter ice. "This is a mistake."
He turned around and walked away, leaving me standing there with tears running down my face and my wolf crying in pain.
But just before he reached the door, Damon stopped. He looked back at me one more time.
And in his golden eyes, I saw something that made my blood freeze.
Fear.
Alpha Damon Blackwood, the strongest wolf I'd ever seen, was afraid of me.
But why?