Chapter 1

At the Mate Ball for adult werewolves, Leon Blackwood, the Alpha of the Shadowis Pack, rejected me in front of everyone as his fated mate.

He then pulled my two-faced sister, Lily Ravenshadow, into his arms instead.

The reason was simple. I had turned eighteen and still couldn't shift into my wolf form. In the pack's eyes, I was a shameful Wolfless.

He forced me to sign the Blood Rejection Pact, planning to demote me to the lowest rank and have me scrub toilets.

He thought I would break down crying, but I didn't even blink. Without any hesitation, I cut my palm and pressed my bloody handprint onto the pact.

That idiot had no idea that the mate bond gifted by the Moon Goddess was never a blessing.

It was a seal meant to suppress the monstrous Ancient Bloodline running through my veins.

The instant the bond broke, Leon suffered a severe backlash and coughed up blood on the spot.

And his precious inner wolf, the one he was so proud of, got so terrified that it took over his body and forced him to his knees right in front of me, shaking.

*****

"I, Leon, Alpha of the Shadowis Pack, formally reject Selena Ravenshadow as my fated mate." Leon's voice rang out, cold and merciless, over the grand ballroom.

The whole pack went dead silent. Hundreds of eyes zeroed in on me, full of mockery, scorn, and a hunger for drama.

This was supposed to be my eighteenth birthday and my coming-of-age ceremony, the day I would finally confirm my fated mate.

But at the most important moment of all, my fiancé, the strongest man in the territory, dumped me in front of everyone without hesitation.

Right next to him, my sister, Lily, was cuddled up in his arms, acting all shy and innocent.

A high-ranking healing wolf spirit, glowing with a soft white light, floated above Lily's head.

Above me, there was nothing at all, not a flicker of wolf energy.

In the werewolf world, reaching adulthood without their own inner wolf meant they were a Wolfless, an absolute nobody and a complete outcast.

"Selena, don't blame me," Leon said, looking down at me with nothing but disgust in his eyes. "The pack needs a strong Luna who can bring us prosperity, not some Wolfless loser who can't even shift.

"Lily has awakened a high-ranking bloodline, and the Moon Goddess has redirected my heart to her. She's the one I'm meant to be with now."

"Selena," Lily sighed, putting on her most fragile act as she stepped to the edge of the stage and looked at me with fake pity. "Step aside and let us be together, okay?

"If you sign the Blood Rejection Pact, Leon says you can stay in the pack as a regular werewolf. You'll be stuck scrubbing toilets every day, but that's better than getting thrown into Bloodmoon Woods to feed the monsters. Don't you think?"

They wanted me, the proud daughter of the former Alpha, to turn into the lowest of the low to scrub toilets for them. That was ridiculous.

I stared at those two disgusting pieces of work and suddenly burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Leon frowned, clearly annoyed that I wasn't groveling at his feet as he expected.

"I'm laughing at how pathetically stupid you are," I shot back.

Without hesitation, I walked straight up to the guard next to me, pulled the silver dagger from his belt, and slashed open my palm.

My blood dripped onto the parchment pact and hissed with a sharp burning sound.

"I, Selena Ravenshadow, accept your rejection. From this moment on, the mating bond is completely broken, and we are nothing to each other anymore," I said coldly.

As soon as the words left my mouth, a sudden gust of wind tore through the ballroom.

According to the ancient laws of the werewolves, rejecting one's fated mate and defying the Moon Goddess's will meant they would suffer a brutal backlash.

But the one screaming wasn't me. It was Leon.

The powerful Alpha clutched his chest as his massive body shook violently. Blood poured from his mouth, and he crashed down onto one knee so hard that the stone tiles cracked beneath him.

"Leon!" Lily shrieked and rushed to his side.

The whole hall went dead silent.

Every werewolf stared at the scene in shock.

As far as they knew, the Wolfless was supposed to be the one left devastated after a rejection, but instead, the mighty Alpha was the one spitting blood from the backlash.

I stood there and looked down at Leon coldly.

What they didn't know was that I couldn't shift for eighteen years because an ancient bloodline slept inside me, one that was infinitely more terrifying than any werewolf's bloodline.

The Moon Goddess pairing me with a fated mate was never a gift. It was a chain, meant to seal the monster inside me with the power of that pact.

And now, Leon had torn that seal apart himself.

I could feel it clearly. A cold, feral power was exploding up my spine and surging through my entire body.

My warm body temperature dropped to ice in an instant, and my bones began snapping and reshaping with a sickening crunch that made my skin crawl.

"You worthless piece of trash. What the hell did you do to me?" Leon snarled as he clutched his chest and shot me a look full of venom.

He turned to his pack enforcers. "Grab her and drag her off to Bloodmoon Woods right now."

The two hulking werewolves let out furious roars and lunged at me, their claws extending and gleaming under the lights.

If this had happened a minute ago, they would have torn me apart without breaking a sweat.

But now, I didn't turn around. I simply lifted my gaze.

My once brown eyes had transformed into a terrifying pure crimson, and two razor-sharp, crystal clear fangs pierced through my lower lip.

The two Betas, who had been strutting around like they owned the place, went weak the instant they met my eyes.

They collapsed to their knees at my feet, shaking uncontrollably while their throats let out groveling whimpers.

It wasn't them who were scared. It was their inner wolves. The wolves felt the crushing power of a top-tier predator and forced their hosts to kneel in submission.

"What the hell is going on? Get up and tear her apart," Leon roared, his voice cracking with rage as he struggled to get back on his feet.

I gave him a single glance, and Leon's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

His eyes went wide with terror. Though he tried desperately to resist, his once proud high-tier inner wolf was now reduced to a whimpering mess in his head, howling and cowering like a rabbit frozen in front of a snake.

Then, Leon, the Alpha who always looked down on everyone, fell to his knees and dropped his head in front of me, completely powerless to stop himself. His entire body was trembling with pure fear.

Hundreds of werewolves watched, stunned and unable to believe their eyes.