Chapter 1: The memorial and the hunt
"He fucking mated me and left!"
Lenora’s scream shattered the silence, her voice raw, broken—feral. Her knees buckled, crashing onto the damp forest floor, her fingers clawing at the dirt as if she could bury the agony coursing through her. The bond, that damned mate bond, pulled at her like a leash tied to an invisible ghost, a cruel tether that burned hotter with every heartbeat.
"My mate is gone!" she screamed again, her cry echoing like a thunderclap in the still air. Tears streamed down her face, unchecked and unrelenting, as her body trembled under the weight of a bond cruelly abandoned. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the trees standing as silent witnesses to her devastation.
~~°~~
24 Hours Ago
The scent of damp earth lingers in the air, heavy with the promise of rain. The sacred grove is filled with the quiet murmurs of the White Stone Pack, all gathered around the white wolf statue, where my mother’s ashes rest beneath the land she once walked. She was never Luna—not officially—but she was the heart of this pack.
And yet, my father isn’t here.
As soon as I was old enough to conduct the memorial on my own, he stopped coming.
I keep my expression neutral, even as grief weighs me down. I focus on the ritual, the incantations, the steady rhythm of my breath as the witch in charge motions for me to begin.
A cut across my palm. A drop of blood into the fire. The scent of sage and smoke curling into the sky. A final bow, an incantation whispered into the wind.
I honor my mother’s memory.
But the pack watches me with something colder than grief.