The wolf behind my silence

The Girl Without a Wolf The first time they called me a monster, I was eight years old.

The second time, I was twelve.

By sixteen, I had stopped counting.

“Wolfless.”

The word followed me everywhere.

It was whispered behind my back at breakfast. Mumbled whenever I walked through the training grounds. Sometimes, they didn’t even bother lowering their voices.

I had learned not to react.

Silence was safer.

I lowered my head as I crossed the pack courtyard, clutching the basket of clothes against my chest.

“Look, it’s the useless girl.”

A few wolves laughed.

I kept walking.

“Luna!”

I stopped.

Selena stood near the fountain with three of her friends. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her smile was the kind that always meant trouble.

“Did you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you come?”

I turned slowly.

“I’m carrying clothes to the laundry.”

Selena laughed. “And?”

“And Alpha ordered them delivered before sunset.”

Her smile disappeared.

“You’re always hiding behind orders.”

I said nothing.

One of her friends stepped forward and knocked the basket from my hands.

Clothes scattered across the ground.

Laughter erupted.

My fingers curled into fists.

For one second, something hot moved beneath my skin.

Let me handle them.

I froze.

That voice.

Again.

Luna.

I swallowed.

Not here.

Not now.

“What’s wrong?” Selena asked, studying my face. “Cat got your tongue?”

I forced myself to kneel and gather the clothes.

“I said I’m sorry.”

“That’s what you do best,” she replied. “Apologize.”

I kept my eyes on the ground.

Nobody knew about the voice.

Nobody could know.

Because the pack believed I had no wolf.

And I had spent twelve years making sure they continued believing it.

That night, I stood in front of the mirror and stared at my reflection.

Twenty years old.

Still wolfless.

At least, that’s what everyone thought.

I touched my chest.

“Are you awake?”

Silence.

Then—

I’ve never been asleep.

I pulled my hand away.

“Why do you keep talking to me?”

Because you’re finally old enough to hear me.

My heart began pounding.

“What does that mean?”

The mirror suddenly cracked.

I stumbled backward.

A sharp pain shot through my head.

Then came the image.

A forest.

Fire.

A woman screaming.

A man covered in blood.

And a silver wolf standing beneath a red moon.

I gasped.

The vision vanished.

My knees hit the floor.

“What are you?”

For several seconds, there was no answer.

Then the voice whispered—

I am the reason they were afraid of your mother.

My breath caught.

“My mother?”

I barely remembered her.

Everyone had told me she died when I was a baby.

Nobody ever talked about her.

Not my family.

Not the elders.

Nobody.

“What happened to her?”

The voice went silent.

“Nyx?”

I had given her that name years ago because I needed something to call the voice in my head.

But she had never told me if it was really her name.

Not yet.

I clenched my jaw.

“You always say that.”

Because the truth will get you killed.

A knock sounded at my door.

I jumped to my feet.

“Luna!”

Selena.

I quickly wiped my face.

“What?”

“Get downstairs. The Moon Ceremony begins in ten minutes.”

I looked at the cracked mirror.

Tonight was the annual ceremony where unmated wolves gathered under the full moon.

At twenty, everyone expected me to find a mate.

Everyone except me.

Because who would want a wolfless girl?

I opened the door.

Selena looked me up and down.

“You’re wearing that?”

I glanced at my simple black dress.

“It’s all I have.”

She smirked.

“Exactly.”

She walked away.

I followed silently.

As we reached the courtyard, hundreds of wolves had gathered beneath the enormous silver moon.

Then the atmosphere changed.

Every conversation stopped.

The pack members turned toward the road.

Three black SUVs entered the territory.

My stomach tightened.

Someone whispered,

“Blackwood Pack.”

Another voice followed.

“Alpha Damon is here.”

I didn’t know why, but the moment I heard his name, Nyx stirred.

Run.

I stopped walking.

“What?”

Run, Luna.

For the first time in my life, she sounded afraid.

Then the doors of the first SUV opened.

A tall man stepped out.

Dark hair.

Broad shoulders.

Cold, commanding eyes.

The entire courtyard bowed.

“Alpha Damon.”

His gaze swept across the crowd.

Then it stopped on me.

Everything inside me went still.

A sharp pain tore through my chest.

My knees nearly gave way.

And somewhere deep inside me, a wolf howled.

Mate.

Damon’s expression changed.

His wolf had felt it too.

He walked toward me.

One step.

Two.

Three.

The crowd watched in silence.

He stopped directly in front of me.

His eyes darkened.

“You,” he whispered.

I couldn’t breathe.

“What’s your name?”

“L-Luna.”

His jaw tightened.

For one impossible second, I thought fate had finally given me something beautiful.

Then Damon stepped back.

His face hardened.

“I reject you as my mate.”

The courtyard exploded with gasps.

My heart shattered.

But Nyx didn’t cry.

She laughed.

A low, terrifying sound echoed inside my head.

He just made the biggest mistake of his life.

And for the first time…

I was afraid of what would happen next.

The Rejection

Silence swallowed the courtyard.

For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything.

Not the whispers.

Not the music.

Not even the beating of my own heart.

I could only hear those four words repeating inside my head.

I reject you as my mate.

Damon stood in front of me, expressionless.

As if he hadn’t just ripped my heart apart in front of hundreds of people.

My fingers trembled.

“Say it again,” I whispered.

His eyes flickered.

“Luna—”

“No.”

I forced myself to look directly at him.

“If you’re going to humiliate me, at least have the courage to say it again.”

A murmur moved through the crowd.

Damon’s jaw tightened.

“I reject you.”

The pain came instantly.

It felt like something had reached inside my chest and torn me in half.

I gasped, grabbing my dress.

Someone laughed.

Then another person.

Sele