Chapter One- The Lone Wolf

LEANOR'S POV

As the only daughter to the most powerful and kind Alpha Hudson, I had plenty of boys hoping to be mated to me during my 18th birthday. Everyone in our pack was longing to see the wolf that the Moon goddess might have chosen to rule beside me when I succeeded my father.

I had a boy in mind I thought would be the one I would share a special mating bond with. It was the son of Beta Luke, Hunter Anderson. He was handsome, strong, fast, and very intelligent. I was dead sure that he would be the one chosen for me.

"Happy birthday, Leanor..." His sweet honey voice spoke as he came inside my room.

I turned around from my dressing table and met his eyes. A smile quickly covered my face, and I felt butterflies in my stomach. Mostly because I was nervous about tonight and that I could not wait to declare him mine.

"Thank you, Hunter," I got up from my dressing table chair and stood a few inches from him.

"Here, I got you a little present." He pulled out a necklace from his pocket and offered to help me put it on. It was a very beautiful emerald necklace.

"It's beautiful, Hunter, I love it," I beamed with joy.

"Not as beautiful as you are." He took my hand and gently kissed it.

Oh, how I hoped that he was the one chosen for me to be my mate. To be the one that I'd die than to be apart from.

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my lips. And then he pulled away and left my room. And as I stood there, waiting for the clock to hit 12 in the midnight, I felt it. My wolf. It felt like connecting to my sixth sense.

"They are waiting, Leanor. Let's go." The little, loud voice inside my head said, and I awkwardly obeyed and went down the stairs to the hall outside my house.

I met my friend, Natalia, and she wrapped her arms around me as soon as she saw me.

"Happy birthday, Lee!" She exclaimed.

"Thank you!" I answered her, and she pulled away.

"Where is Hunter? You guys are about to be mated!" She enunciated.

"He's somewhere in the crowd, but guess what?" I whispered to her excitedly.

She opened her eyes wide in anticipation. "What is it?"

"I felt my wolf after I'd seen Hunter. Do you think it's a sign?" My heart was beating fast, and my face flashed from blushing.

Natalia gave me hope. "You guys are definitely meant to be together. I don't doubt it even by an ounce." She declared.

I smiled like a little girl being told that she was going to receive her favorite toy as a gift.

Tonight was going to be the night when I was going to lose my virginity to Hunter. I bathed myself with lavender that I knew he loved, and when the Moon traveled high to the middle of the night sky, Hunter and I were going to be united as one.

"Attention members of the Crystal Moon pack. I'd like to wish my daughter, Leanor, a very beautiful 18th birthday." My father said on the podium.

Everyone cheered and howled in honor of my birthday. I was finally 18, and soon, I was going to feel it. That pulling mating bond, which was going to bring Hunter and I together for a lifetime.

We all went out of the hall and gathered outside the community yard to celebrate my birthday with music and dancing. My father came and squeezed me into a tight hug.

"And so you know, I was 21 when I met your mother and knew that she was the one for me. If it does not happen tonight, honey, just know that there is nothing wrong." My father advised.

I nodded with a grateful smile. "Yes, thank you, Father."

He smiled and left to commune with the elders. I sighed and looked around for Hunter.

"There you are!" Natalia came out of nowhere with a cup of alcohol in her hand.

"Gosh, you scared me!" I gasped and grabbed my chest.

She chuckled. "Why do you seem to be the only one not having fun on your birthday?" She asked, her breath reeking of alcohol. I took a step back.

"I am having fun," I lied. I was actually freaking nervous and wondering where Hunter was. I knew that as the next Alpha of our pack, it was expected of me to have a mate to rule with me.

It was also rare for a girl to not be mated on her 18th birthday, while it was common for boys to not be mated until their late 20s. So, yes, I was feeling very overwhelmed.

"You're not." Natalia insisted.

I sighed. "Ugh, fine. You're right. I'm just nervous, that's all. My father just didn't dwell much about how I am going to feel when I find my mate." I admitted.

"Hey, you don't have to worry about a thing," she tossed the plastic glass on the ground and cupped my face into her hands. "You are going to feel the most amazing feeling in the world, and everything in you would be pulling you... into him..." She turned around and looked at him.

Hunter was approaching me. And yet, I felt like he was not coming to me. I looked at Natalia, and her eyes were glued on him in a very strange way. Hunter just walked straight to her and took her hands into his.

"You're my mate..." Hunter uttered those words to her.

I held my breath for a few seconds, unsure of whether what was happening was real or a prank on me. Hunter was my boyfriend, and Natalia was my best friend. It just could not be that they were meant for each other.

"What is this?" I asked. Tears at the corners of my eyes.

Natalia looked at me crying. It just didn't make sense. Her 18th birthday was a few months away.

"I'm sorry, Leanor..." She said in a whisper.

"Lean, she's my mate..." Hunter came towards me.

I looked between them and just could not believe that the Moon goddess could have hated me with so much passion to have the most two important people in my life mated together, which just broke my heart into fine pieces.

"She's your mate? My best friend's your mate?" I asked, desperate for it to make sense to me because it didn't.

"Lee..." Natalia was about to say something when I cut her off.

"So, have you guys been cheating this whole time behind my back?" I cried.

"What? That's insane!" Hunter defended themselves. "You know the mate bond happens spontaneously!" He continued.

"Yeah, you're right. And it chose to happen for you two on my birthday." I laughed softly, "Nice, isn't? Just carry on with whatever you have to do to get the mating bond sealed!" I added and ran back to the house.

As I ran up the stairs, I kept replaying the moment Hunter called Natalia his mate as if I was not standing there. I felt betrayed by them and the Moon goddess for having them mated together on my birthday. A scar in my heart that would never heal.

"Leen, please open the door!" Hunter banged on my bedroom door.

I was crying in my pillow. It was excruciatingly hard and painful for me to register that they were mates. Hunter was my boyfriend and could have mated with anyone but my best friend.

"Lee, please, open the door." Natalia's voice sounded.

"You shouldn't cry. You will be the next Alpha and will have to be strong and resilient. Things like this happen all the time." My wolf said.

And instead of making me feel better, I just got angrier. "STOP TALKING!"

And the most strangest thing happened. Every part of my body began to break. I felt every snap of my bones as they were dislocating. I screamed so loud I thought my windows would break because of my echo. I turned around towards my dressing table mirror, and alas, I was changing. I was changing into my wolf.

I fell to the ground and tried to think of a happy memory so that it would not hurt as I changed. And my most happiest moments were with Hunter. So, instead of making the process bearable for me, it was 10 times worse because he was no longer mine.

"Leanor..." The door was kicked open. And I looked up to Hunter and Natalia. Only, my vision was crystal clearer. I could see details of things much better, and my sense of smell was incredibly heightened. Because I could smell the lavender perfume from Hunter.

I looked down and saw paws. My fur was goldish and sparkling. I was sitting down on the ground.

"Oh my God, Lee..." Natalia was shocked.

I got up from the ground and realized that I was almost as tall as they were. And when they saw me, they looked horrified and fell on their knees.

"You are the Luna." Hunter mumbled between his teeth, but because of my newly acquired heightened hearing, I heard him.

But wait, did he say Luna?

My father was running to the door when he stopped by the doorframe and looked at me with shocked eyes. His jaw fell to the ground, and a gasp escaped from his lips.

"It can not be..." Those were his words as he came towards me and stood a few inches away.

I could not understand either. My father was a black wolf because he was the Alpha and the most powerful. My mother was a white one because she was the peace maker. I read my family history, and never had I seen that there was a goldish wolf before that sparkled.

And so, I took a deep breath and changed back to my human form. When I woke up from the ground, I was covered with a towel. Natalia helped me get dressed, and my father then came back to the room. He looked distorted as he sat down on the edge of my bed.

"It just happened, father. I was angry." I tried to explain because I was not supposed to change until a week after my birthday. There was going to be a traditional ceremony to celebrate my first transformation into a wolf.

Natalia excused herself from my bedroom and left.

My father chuckled softly and took both of my hands.

"You are my daughter, Leanor. The only child of mine and your mother's, the Luna." He answered.

"My mother was a Luna?" I asked in total disbelief. I was never told that my mother was a Luna or that there was ever a Luna in our family line.

"Yes, she was. This is why she was the only one able to bring peace and healing in our pack before she met with a tragic accident and died." He explained.

I didn't answer, but leaned on my father's shoulder because I knew now what to do.

***

"Hunter." I called him from the hall's backyard. He was sitting with Natalia. And they turned around and were shocked to see me.

"Leen..." My name came as a whisper from his lips.

I smiled. "You can seal the mate bond with her."

They looked at each other.

"Are you sure? Neither of us ever wants to lose you." He took Natalia's hand.

Anyone could see that it would break them if they were to be denied the opportunity to be mated to one another. And I was not a monster to keep them apart when Hunter was never going to be mine again.

"I am sure." I smiled at them.

They looked up to see the Moon at the middle of the night sky and howled. When their foreheads met, they accepted their mate bond and kissed.

I looked at them once more and knew that things were never going to be the same ever again. They were mated to be together, and I had my own journey to discover as a Luna.