Raven POV
The rock hit me square between my shoulder blades.
I didn't turn around. Turning around only made it worse. Instead, I kept scrubbing the pack house steps like my mother ordered, my hands raw and red from the cold water. Behind me, I heard Kade Thornwell's laugh—the kind that made my stomach twist into knots.
"Oops," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "My hand slipped."
More laughter. His friends, of course. They always laughed at his jokes, especially when I was the punchline.
"Come on, Kade," one of them said. "Leave the defective alone. She's not worth your time."
Defective. That word followed me everywhere like a shadow I couldn't shake off. Seventeen years old and still no wolf. In a pack where everyone shifted at sixteen, I was the freak. The failure. The girl who didn't belong.
I squeezed the scrub brush harder, focusing on a stubborn dirt stain. Just one more day. Tonight was Kade and Celeste's engagement party. Tomorrow, I turned eighteen. The second midnight struck and I was legally an adult, I'd run. I had money hidden in my room—two years of secret savings from jobs my family didn't know about. I had a bus ticket to Haven City tucked inside my pillowcase. I had a plan.
I just had to survive one more day.
"Raven!"
My mother's voice cut through the morning air like a knife. I looked up to see her standing in the doorway, her face pinched with that expression she always wore around me—like I was a bad smell she couldn't escape.
"You're doing it wrong," she snapped. "Celeste's engagement party is tonight. Everything must be perfect. Do you understand? Perfect."
"Yes, ma'am," I whispered.
She didn't even look at me properly. Her eyes slid past me like I was invisible. "When you're done here, I need you to help arrange flowers in the ballroom. And for Moon Goddess's sake, try not to embarrass us tonight. Stay in the kitchen where you belong."
Where I belong. Nowhere, she meant. Nowhere anyone could see me and remember that the perfect Ashford family had a broken daughter.
My mother disappeared back inside. I returned to scrubbing, but my hands were shaking now. Not from cold. From rage. From years and years of swallowing words I wanted to scream.
"Still here, little ghost?"
I froze. Kade's voice, closer now. Right behind me.
My heart hammered against my ribs. Don't turn around. Don't engage. He'll get bored and leave.
"I'm talking to you." His boot appeared in my peripheral vision, inches from my hand. "Look at me when your future Alpha speaks to you."
Future Alpha. He loved reminding everyone of that. In three months, when he turned twenty-two, he'd officially take over from his father. And my sister Celeste would be his Luna. The perfect golden couple ruling the perfect pack.
Slowly, I raised my head.
Kade Thornwell was beautiful in the way poisonous things were beautiful—attractive until you got close enough to die. Golden-brown hair that caught the sunlight. Amber eyes that looked warm until you realized they held all the warmth of ice. A smile that made other girls sigh but made my skin crawl.
"There she is," he said softly. Too softly. That was how I knew something bad was coming. "I have a question for you, Raven. Why do you keep trying?"
I blinked. "What?"
"Trying. To fit in. To matter." He crouched down until we were eye-level, and I hated that I could smell his scent—pine and rain and Alpha power. "You're wolfless. You'll never shift. You'll never be one of us. So why not just... leave? Save everyone the embarrassment?"
My throat burned. Don't cry. Don't you dare cry in front of him.
"I..." My voice came out hoarse. "I'm leaving tomorrow."
His eyebrows shot up. For a second—just a heartbeat—something flickered across his face. Surprise? Concern? But it vanished so fast I might have imagined it.
"Good," he said, standing up. "One less waste of space cluttering up the pack house."
He walked away, his friends trailing after him like loyal dogs. I heard them laughing about something else, already forgetting I existed.
I sat back on my heels, breathing hard. My hands were shaking worse now. Tomorrow. Just hold on until tomorrow.
The rest of the day passed in a blur of orders and work. Arrange flowers. Polish silver. Set up chairs. Stay out of sight. I moved through the pack house like a ghost, which was fitting because that's what I'd always been—barely there, easily forgotten.
By evening, the party was in full swing. Music drifted from the ballroom. I caught glimpses of my sister through the doorway—Celeste in a golden dress, laughing with her arm linked through Kade's. They looked perfect together. Like they belonged in a fairy tale.
I stayed in the kitchen washing dishes, which suited me fine. But as the night wore on, something started feeling... wrong.
My skin felt too tight. Heat prickled along my arms and spine. I splashed cold water on my face, thinking maybe I was getting sick. That would be just my luck—getting the flu right before my escape.
The kitchen clock showed 11:30 PM. Thirty minutes until midnight. Thirty minutes until I was officially eighteen and free to run.
I dried my hands and slipped out the back door, needing air. The forest behind the pack house called to me like it always did—dark, quiet, safe. I walked into the trees, away from the party noise and the laughter and the life I was about to leave behind forever.
The prickling sensation got worse. My bones ached. My head spun.
What's happening to me?
I leaned against a tree, trying to breathe through the pain. Maybe I was having a panic attack. Maybe the stress of planning my escape finally caught up with me.
Then my phone buzzed. I pulled it out with trembling hands.
A text from an unknown number: "Happy Birthday, little ghost. Midnight's coming. Time for your gift."
My blood went cold. Who would text me? I didn't have friends. Nobody had my number except family, and they never used it.
I started to type a response, but another wave of pain hit me—stronger this time. So strong my knees buckled. The phone slipped from my fingers.
Oh god. Something's really wrong.
I tried to stand, but my body wouldn't cooperate. The pain was everywhere now, burning under my skin like fire. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
Through the trees, I heard the distant church bell beginning to chime.
Midnight.
My eighteenth birthday.
And that's when my entire body exploded with pain so intense, the world went white.
The last thing I thought before everything shattered was: This can't be happening.
But it was.
My wolf—the wolf everyone said would never come—was finally waking up.
And somewhere in the darkness, I heard footsteps running toward me.