One

Sienna stared at her ceiling too exhausted to sleep. Her bones were weary with all the lifting and scrubbing she had been made to do all day in preparation for the Winter Moon Festival. The thin sheet did little to ward off the chill in the air and her undernourished body shivered from the cold. She could hear excited voices seeping through the floorboards beneath her lumpy mattress, no doubt discussing clothes and makeup for the upcoming festivity.

For animal shifters, this gathering provided the opportunity for those that had turned 18 that year to find a mate. Sienna had turned 18 only a few short weeks ago, but there was no celebration nor acknowledgement of this turning point in her life. As a non-shifter, one without a wolf, she was relegated to the bottom of the pack. Discarded as unimportant, it fell on her and others like her to carry out the menial jobs required to run the Redmoon pack. Her situation made worse by the fact she was orphaned so early on in her life, that she had no memory of her parents.

The passage of time had changed the animal shifters from recognising their mate from smell alone. No-longer were mates instantly connected that it had become a distant memory in the minds of the older members of the pack, who reminisced about a time when their Grandparents had told them of mates finding each other from a distance just by scent alone. It was said that whoever found their mate this way, would possess great strength and power. However, since no-one had done so in over a hundred years, it had become an old wives tale and something that was no longer held to be true. Mates were now chosen during the Winter Moon Festival when packs would gather together with those of age, and after a night of dancing and merriment, partners would be picked. This year the Redmoon pack was hosting the event, a responsibility last undertaken 14 years ago, an age that Sienna was too young to remember.

Whilst for many, the chance to meet a mate was exciting, there were those who did not get a choice. The Alphas of the packs usually arranged alliances with other packs through their children's mating. They would agree this beforehand and their offspring would attend the festival merely as a formality to announce their union.

Weston stared into the dark forest and thought about his mate to be. Sheila was beautiful. Most importantly she was the daughter of the Redmoon pack and the alliance between his own pack, Ironclaw, would make their pack one of the strongest in the North. Weston had not met Sheila and had only seen her photo. He had no say in their mating and was expected to obey his father, the Alpha. He sighed, and turned back towards his house, resigned to the fact that his fate was not for him to determine.