Chapter 1
Sofia POV
“Sofia!! YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE!!” Mom yelled from downstairs.
I dragged myself out of bed anyway. One more week. That was all I had to survive.
One more week until finals. One more week until graduation. One more week until my eighteenth birthday—when I’d finally scent my mate.
That last part was the only thing keeping me breathing.
Because in this pack, being adopted made you fair game.
They didn’t just bully me for fun.
They bullied me because Connor Blackwood’s family made it fashionable.
Connor—future Alpha—graduated two years ago, but his sister still ran the school like it was her personal stage. She kept the tradition alive.
I pulled on black cargo pants and a navy tee, shoved my hair into a quick ponytail, and tried to ignore my reflection—small, too small for a wolf. And my eyes…
Two different colors.
Everyone stared at them like they were a defect.
Or a curse.
Dad kissed the top of my head before I left. “Ignore them today, Two-Tone.”
“I’m trying,” I whispered.
But the second I stepped onto school grounds, I knew something was different.
Because the entire courtyard had formed a crowd around the main building.
Shouts. Laughter. Phones up.
And right in the center of it all—
A fresh board had been mounted on the wall:
LUNA CANDIDATE REGISTRY — SENIOR CLASS
My stomach dropped.
I hadn’t even made it through the crowd when I heard a voice like a whip crack:
“Move aside. The adopted one shouldn’t be standing near the Luna list.”
She stood in front of the board like she owned it.
Connor Blackwood’s sister—perfect hair, perfect uniform, perfect cruelty.
Her friends flanked her like guards.
When she spotted me, her smile widened.
“Oh look,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Two-Tone finally crawled out of her Omega house.”
Laughter rippled through the crowd.
I felt heat crawl up my neck. I tried to step around them.
She stepped in front of me.
“No, no,” she said sweetly. “You don’t get to walk past the Luna registry like you belong here.”
I swallowed. “I’m just trying to get to class.”
She turned to the board and tapped the paper list with one manicured nail.
“Class?” she mocked. “Baby, this is the only class that matters.”
Then she lifted her voice like she was reading announcements.
“Luna candidates must be—” she paused, eyes cutting to me, “—proper blood.”
My chest tightened.
Phones were recording. I could see it.
I could feel the crowd leaning in, hungry.
She pointed at the list. “Sofia. Come here.”
My feet wouldn’t move.
So she smiled and said, “Fine. I’ll come to you.”
She walked right up to me, slow and deliberate.
Close enough for me to smell her expensive perfume and the confidence of someone who’d never been told no.
Then she held up a marker.
Black ink.
Permanent.
And in a voice bright with satisfaction, she announced:
“Since your parents couldn’t even keep you, why would the Moon Goddess pick you as Luna?”
My throat closed.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.
She turned back to the board and—without hesitation—dragged the marker across the bottom of the registry.
Not over a name.
Over a blank line.
A space where my name should’ve been.
Then she wrote, big and bold:
DISQUALIFIED. ADOPTED.
The crowd exploded.
Laughter. Gasps. Whistles.
My vision blurred.
She leaned back, admiring her work like it was art.
“And before anyone asks,” she said, voice sharp, “yes—my family already spoke to the Council.”
I snapped my head up. “What?”
Her smile turned vicious.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” she purred. “Graduation day, Sofia… you’re not just leaving school.”
She pointed one finger at my chest.
“You’re leaving the pack.”
The courtyard went silent for half a second.
Then the whispers started.
Leaving the pack?
Is that even allowed?
She’s getting exiled?
My knees went weak.
She leaned close enough that only I could hear her next words:
“Try to show up at graduation.”
“I dare you.”
I don’t remember walking home.
I just remember my mother’s hands on my face the moment I stepped through the door.
“Sofia?” her voice shook. “What happened?”
Dad came in behind her—still in patrol gear, eyes narrowing the second he saw my expression.
I tried to speak and my voice broke.
“They… put up the Luna registry,” I whispered. “And… she…”
Dad’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle jumped.
Mom shoved a plate into my hands—tacos, still warm. Like food could patch a crack in my chest.
Dad crouched in front of me, forcing me to meet his eyes.
“One week,” he said quietly. “Just one week left.”
“I can’t,” I whispered. “They’re going to—”
Dad’s voice dropped even lower, fierce and controlled.
“They don’t decide who you are.”
“But they said the Council—”
Dad’s eyes flickered. Something dark passed behind them.
“The Council doesn’t know everything,” he said.
And then he touched my cheek like he was apologizing without words.
“For now,” he added, “you keep your head down.”
Mom’s hands trembled as she brushed my hair. “Your birthday is graduation day,” she whispered. “Maybe your mate will—”
Dad cut in, sharp. “No. Not maybe.”
Then, softer, just to me—
“Your mate will change everything.”
Dad stood and walked to the door, scanning the street like he expected someone to be watching.
Then he turned back and said:
“And Sofia… if they try to remove you on graduation day—”
“I won’t let them take you.”
That night I lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
The board. The ink. The word DISQUALIFIED burned behind my eyes.
I couldn’t stop hearing her voice:
Graduation day… you’re leaving the pack.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I tried to hold onto the only hope I had.
My mate.
My eighteenth birthday.
The one thing no Blackwood could control.
But right before dawn, my phone buzzed with a new message from an unknown number.
No name. No profile.
Just one photo.
The Luna registry board.
My “DISQUALIFIED” label circled in red.
And beneath it, a caption:
“SEE YOU AT GRADUATION, ADOPTED GIRL.”
“PACKS DON’T KEEP STRAYS.”
My hands shook so hard I nearly dropped the phone.
And in the silence of my room, one thought hit me like a punch:
They weren’t just humiliating me.
They were preparing to hunt me out.
From downstairs, Dad’s voice rose—tight, urgent:
“Lena… lock the doors.”
“I smell Blackwood wolves outside.”