Maya's POV
The plate slipped from my hands and crashed to the kitchen floor.
"Maya!" Mom's sharp voice cut through my rushing thoughts. "That's the third dish today. What's wrong with you?"
I stared at the broken pieces, my hands shaking. "Sorry, Mom. I'll clean it up."
But I couldn't move. Tonight was the ceremony. Tonight, I would find out what my smell would be, and my whole life might change forever. All the other eighteen-year-olds in our pack had been talking about it for weeks, laughing about which boys might be their fated mates.
Me? I just wanted to survive it without embarrassing myself.
"Maya Rivers, are you listening to me?" Mom snapped her fingers in front of my face.
"Yes, Mom." I knelt to pick up the broken pieces, trying to ignore how my gut felt like it was full of butterflies doing backflips.
"Good. Now hurry up and get ready. We can't be late for your own ceremony."
An hour later, I stood with twenty other eighteen-year-olds in the holy circle behind the pack house. The full moon hung heavy and bright above us, casting everything in silver light. My heart hammered so hard I was sure everyone could hear it.
"Breathe," whispered Sarah, my best friend since childhood. She'd gone through this ceremony last month and now had a sweet lavender smell that made all the boys smile when she walked by. "It doesn't hurt. It just feels... tingly."
Easy for her to say. Sarah was confident and pretty, with golden hair and a bright laugh. She belonged here with all these other wolves who knew exactly who they were.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stop the shaking. What if nothing happened? What if I was broken somehow? What if my smell was weird or gross?
Elder Samuel stepped into the center of our circle, his white hair gleaming in the moonlight. He'd been doing these rituals for fifty years, and his voice carried the weight of all that experience.
"Young wolves," he started, his voice deep and powerful, "tonight you become adults. Tonight, the moon will awaken your true scent, the spirit of who you are meant to be."
I tried to focus on his words, but my mind kept moving to the pack house behind us. Was Alpha Damon watching from his window? Not that it mattered. Alphas like him didn't notice girls like me.
"Your scent will call to your fated mate," Elder Samuel continued. "It will tell them you are the one meant to complete their soul."
Complete their soul. The words made my chest tight with desire. I'd always dreamed of meeting someone who would love me for exactly who I was. Someone who wouldn't care that I was quiet and plain, that I preferred books to parties. "Sarah Mitchell," Elder Samuel called. "You will go first."
Wait, what? I looked around in confusion. Sarah had already done her wedding. Why was he calling her name?
"I'm sorry, Elder Samuel," Sarah said, stepping forward. "I already had my ceremony last month."
The old man's eyes went wide with shock. "Last month? But... but that's impossible. The moon wasn't full last month."
Murmurs rippled through our group. I felt ice forming in my stomach. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
"The moon was full twenty-eight days ago," Sarah maintained. "I remember because it was the night before my birthday."
Elder Samuel's face went pale. He looked up at the moon above us, then back at Sarah, then at all of us standing in the circle.
"This can't be right," he whispered, more to himself than to us. "The moon... it's been full for three nights in a row."
Three nights? My blood turned cold. Everyone knew the moon was only full for one night each month. It was impossible for it to stay full for three nights.
"What does that mean?" asked Tommy, one of the boys in our group. His voice cracked with fear.
Elder Samuel didn't answer. Instead, he pulled out an old leather book from his robes and starting flipping through pages frantically. The moonlight made the leaves glow, and I could see his hands shaking.
"Elder Samuel?" I found myself speaking up, my voice barely a whisper. "What's happening?"
He looked up at me, and I saw something in his eyes that made my knees weak. Fear. Pure, ancient fear.
"There's an old prophecy," he said slowly. "Written ages ago. It speaks of a time when the moon would refuse to dim, when it would shine for three nights to herald the coming of..."
He stopped talking and stared directly at me. Why was he looking at me like that?
"Herald the coming of what?" Sarah asked.
"The Omega Prime," Elder Samuel whispered. "The one whose scent will be so powerful it could bring down kingdoms or save them all."
The group fell silent. I could hear my own beating pounding in my ears.
"But that's just a legend," Tommy said nervously. "Right? That's not real."
Elder Samuel's eyes never left my face. "The legend says the Omega Prime will be born under the triple moon. She will carry the scent of the ancient bloodlines, strong enough to call to any Alpha, even those who have sworn never to mate."
My mouth went dry. Born under the triple moon. Three nights ago was when I'd first noticed the moon looked different, brighter somehow. Three nights ago was when I'd started having weird dreams about wolves and wild roses.
"Who is it?" someone whispered. "Who's the Omega Prime?"
Elder Samuel raised his hand for silence. "We begin the ceremony now. But know this - if the promise is true, if one of you is the Omega Prime, your scent will not be like the others. It will be intimidating, dangerous. It will call to forces beyond your control."
He walked to the first person in the circle, a girl called Jessica. "Are you ready?"
Jessica nodded, but I could see her hands shaking. Elder Samuel put his palms on her shoulders and began to chant in the old language.
The moonlight seemed to grow brighter, focusing on Jessica like a beam. Her smell bloomed - sweet like honey and flowers. Nice, but ordinary.
One by one, Elder Samuel moved around the circle. Each person's smell emerged gentle and pleasant. Normal.
My turn was coming closer. With each person, the knot in my stomach grew tighter. What if it was me? What if I was this Omega Prime from the prophecy?
Elder Samuel reached the person right before me. Only one more, then it would be my turn.
"Maya Rivers," he called, his voice strange and official.
I stepped forward on legs that felt like jelly. The moonlight hit me, and suddenly I felt like I was burning from the inside out.
"Are you ready, child?" Elder Samuel asked, but his voice sounded far away.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. He put his hands on my shoulders, and the world exploded.
Heat raced through my body like fire. The moonlight became blinding, and I heard gasps from the other wolves in the circle. A smell burst from me - not gentle like the others, but wild and intoxicating. Vanilla and roses, but underneath something darker, something that made every wolf in the pack house howl.
Through the burning light, I saw Elder Samuel's face filled with terror and awe.
"It's her," he whispered. "The Omega Prime has awakened."
That's when I heard it - a roar of rage and hunger from the pack house. The sound of items crashing. And then footsteps, running toward us.
Alpha Damon was coming, and from the sound of it, he was not in charge.