Chapter 1

Diana's POV

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips even with my eyes still squeezed closed and I breathed out a slow sigh as I peeled my eyes open. Today has finally come, it is all finally going to be over.

I couldn't help it, I turned my head into the flattened pillow beneath my head and screamed into it because I would never dare to scream out loud and goddess forbid, awaken the members of my family with my excitement. I rolled out of the bed and bounced a little on it, feeling so many feelings coarse through my heart at that moment.

With my hands clasped together in my laps, I lifted them and cupped my face, stifling a small excitement yelp behind my cupped hands; at this point, my excitement knew no bounds.

It was all going to be over today.

After all these years.

All the sufferings, the maltreatments, the unfairness, and every other negativity – they were all going to be over today, and I've never been more excited about anything in my life than I was at the moment.

Why was I this excited? The annual gatherings were always organized by different neighboring packs in a single arena– for younglings like myself and every other young person in the pack that was finally of age, for them to merge with their wolves.

Coincidentally, today also happens to be my eighteenth birthday, which means that as soon as I get merged with my wolf, I can also get mated with the love of my life and all my sufferings are going to automatically come to an end.

My boyfriend was the Alpha of the pack, which would automatically make me his Luna if we were to get mated– which we were going to be, as soon as I get merged with my wolf, that is… which is why I was so excited.

I had barely been able to fall asleep last night due to the number of scenarios playing out in my head of how I was going to finally be done with this part of my life but had ended up drifting off because of how tired I was last night.

I had to stay up late into the night because I had been hellbent on finishing off the huge pile of laundry which my mother had ordered me to do yesterday, despite how much I had already worked yesterday

I made sure to scrub the whole house clean and to do everyone's laundry, I watered the grass, fed the pets, mopped the rooms, washed and changed every curtain in the house, did a thorough cleanup of the kitchen and storerooms, did a lot of gardening and also some other errand running— all because I wanted to be completely done with all my chores yesterday, to have all the time in the world to myself this morning; which I'd use in trying to look my very best for the annual gathering that was going to start in a few hours.

Time to get up, Diana.

I said to myself as I pushed off the bed and got to my feet. My body ached as soon as I stretched and I moaned a little when my muscles cracked, which was obviously because of the number of chores I did yesterday.

It was all going to be completely over in a few hours, after all, then I was going to be crowned Luna of the Misty Hills pack.

Goddess, I couldn't wait.

With a spring in my steps and renewed vigor, I hurriedly exited my bedroom to go prepare breakfast for the family, while everyone was still fast asleep.

******

"Where are you off to?" Mother's soft, flowery voice echoed a few feet behind me and I froze in my steps before slowly turning around until I was facing her, and to my disappointment, she didn't look happy.

"Uh," I stalled because I had a feeling she wasn't going to like it if I told her the actual truth. "To Lucy's bedroom." I ended up supplying, holding my breath and trying my very best to hold her intense emerald gaze. I was a very bad liar and tended to make it quite obvious by my facial expressions if I wasn't telling the truth, and unfortunately for me, this very moment happened to be one of those moments.

Mother narrowed her eyes at me before lowering her gaze and noticing what I had clasped in my left hand. I seized breathing when she slowly focused her gaze on my face once again. "What's in your hand, child?"

"Oh, it's nothing..." I started to say but she shook her head once and held her right hand out to me, it was indication enough that she wanted me to drop what I had clasped in my hand, into hers. I swallowed emptily and hesitated for a moment before lifting my hand and opening it over hers, and the small, stunning bracelet fell out on her opened palm.

I glanced up at her slowly, expecting something like a slap to hit the side of my face at any second, but instead, her eyes were still focused on the piece of jewelry.

"This doesn't seem like nothing, now does it?" She asked slowly as she pinned me with a gaze that sent dread sliding down my spine.

"I can explain, mother," I whispered but she shook her head with a small smile tugging at the sides of her lips.

"I think you're running late already, you should go get prepared for the merging of wolves gathering."

I flattered a little, a wary and unsure feeling sliding over my skin in the next moment. It was weird for her to have just let go of the topic this way, and I wasn't dumb enough to think this was the end of the conversation.

"Uh…" I made to speak but a look from her silenced me instantly and I swallowed a little, trying not to make it obvious that my heart was beating fast against my ribs in fright.

"You were going up to Lucy's bedroom to help her get ready, right?" She began to speak and I nodded my head vigorously, even though I had initially been heading toward my bedroom – to get myself ready for the gathering, and I had planned to adore my wrist with the bracelet which my boyfriend had given to me yesterday.

When I had been sent to go get some stuff from the supermarket yesterday, I had met up with him in the spot we usually meet up, and he had given me the bracelet as an early birthday present. I had hidden it in the kitchen as soon as I got back home from the supermarket, and had completely forgotten about it last night until when I had been making breakfast this morning.

I wanted to object that my half-sister, Lucy was perfectly capable of getting ready by herself and didn't need my assistance, but wouldn't dare utter such abominable words to my mother, to avoid any kind of problems for myself today.

A part of me wanted to finally stand up to her today since I was finally of age and was also going to become the pack's Luna today, but I resisted that urge because I didn't want to move faster than my shadow.

Mother ended up dismissing me after a few minutes of her giving me a couple of unnecessary chores to handle once I was done assisting Lucy to get ready before I'd finally get some time to tend to my personal needs. With a fake smile on my face and hope pulsing bright in my heart, I nodded at her in understanding and turned around on my heels, heading for Lucy's bedroom, and unfortunately without the bracelet.

******

By the time I was done with the extra chores mother had managed to hand out to me, only a little time was left for me to get ready, and I've never felt so frustrated in my entire life. I didn't make it obvious though, I went along with everything until I was finally allowed to go get ready. My excitement ended up dropping a little because there wasn't any time left for me to press my clothes, or for me to style up my hair the way I had spent a good forty minutes on Lucy's hair this morning.

I hurriedly got ready, slipping my feet into my slightly worn-out sandals. Lucy got to wear a new pair of shoes today but mother said I didn't need to wear something new today, like the way it was never necessary for me to get new stuff, whenever Lucy gets them.

There wasn't any time on my hand, and so I hurried down the stairs, knowing father wouldn't hesitate to drive out of the house premises without me if I wasted any more time.

******

I closed my eyes as soon as the priestess ordered everyone of us who were to get merged with their different wolves which were locked inside of their hearts. We were quite a lot more than I expected, and were all told to stand a few feet away from each other. The open space which was mapped out for the young ones who were to merge with their wolves was completely occupied, and there were a lot of onlookers who were seated on the other side of the open arena. They were all from more than four packs in total, which made the number of onlookers quite alarming.

I peeled my eyes open and quickly roamed the part of the crowd where I knew my boyfriend, Jeremy, was sitting and he gave me a small smile as soon as our eyes locked. The soft-looking smile on his drop-dead gorgeous face tugged at my heartstrings and made my insides flutter uncontrollably, as I slid my eyes back close once again.

I began to wait patiently, with nervous butterflies dancing around in my belle as I awaited the feeling of my wolf which was supposed to start stirring awake inside of me as soon as the priestess was done chanting the spell she was currently reading out from a magical book.

After a few minutes, a murmur started to go up around me, but I refused to open my eyes because I was yet to feel the stirring of my wolf inside of me. Panic was starting to bleed into my thoughts, as I stared to fearfully wonder if something was wrong with me, which was preventing my wolf from stirring awake yet.

I felt a presence before me, and before I could attempt to take a step backward, a warm hand got placed on my forehead and I gasped as the hotness of the stranger's palm seared into my skin. I forced my eyes open and stared up into the eyes of the priestess.

Her eyes were a bright white, there wasn't any trace of any other color in her eyes and I squinted a little due to how bright her eyes were. My heart was still beating fast against my chest and I was fully aware of the fact that I was yet to get merged with my wolf when it seemed like everyone around me had gotten merged with theirs.

She started to chant something quietly and I faintly grasped something that sounded like 'a curse' but I wasn't completely sure, so I shrugged that thought out of my head instantly.

I wanted to say something, I wanted to ask her if something was wrong with me, I wanted to ask her why my wolf wasn't coming awake yet and why everyone was currently staring at the both of us like I had committed some sort of crime and were waiting for her to pronounce me guilty.

The words died down in my throat when the priestess lifted her hand off my forehead and took a step away from me. I felt slightly dizzy and managed to stagger a little before focusing my gaze on her, and I noticed as she slowly shook her head at me, and I noticed that her eyes weren't all that bright any longer, and there was now some traces of black in them.

The priestess turned around to face the quiet crowd of onlookers and began to speak.

"She is without a wolf."

And as soon as those words got echoed out, a loud noise went up in the crowd instantly, and I slowly felt my heart sink to the ground.

I was without a wolf?

I was wolfless? There wasn't a wolf inside of me?

Those questions echoed around inside of me as dread settled over my whole body slowly. I could feel tears start to sting my eyes the next moment, just as this one word started to leave everyone's mouth in hushed whispers at first before it became really loud.

"Stealer."