Raven POV
The footsteps stopped.
I lay on the forest floor, gasping for air, waiting for whoever—or whatever—was coming. But the pain suddenly vanished like someone flipped a switch. One second, agony. The next, nothing.
I pushed myself up on shaky arms, my heart still racing. The forest was empty. Silent. Had I imagined the footsteps?
My phone screen glowed a few feet away where I'd dropped it. I grabbed it with trembling hands, but the mysterious text was gone. Completely deleted. Like it never existed.
"What the hell?" I whispered.
I checked my message history. Nothing. Checked deleted messages. Empty. Even the unknown number had disappeared from my call log.
A cold knot formed in my stomach. I wasn't going crazy. Someone sent that text. Someone knew it was almost midnight. Someone said I was getting a "gift."
But who? And why did my body just explode with pain the second I turned eighteen?
I stood up slowly, testing my legs. Everything felt normal now. No pain. No weird tingling. Just the usual exhausted feeling I carried around every day.
Maybe I really was losing my mind. Seventeen years of abuse could do that to a person, right?
I walked back to the pack house on shaky legs, my escape plan rattling around in my head. Forget the mysterious text. Forget the weird pain. In a few hours, I'd be gone from Moonridge forever. That's all that mattered.
The party was still going strong when I slipped through the back door. I made it halfway to the stairs when—
"There you are!"
I jumped. Celeste stood in the hallway, her arms crossed, her perfectly styled blonde hair not moving an inch. Even at eleven at night, she looked like she stepped out of a magazine. Golden dress, flawless makeup, expensive jewelry catching the light.
Everything I wasn't.
"Where have you been?" she demanded. "Mother's been looking everywhere for you. The flower arrangements in the ballroom are a disaster. You were supposed to fix them an hour ago!"
"I did fix them," I said quietly. "At six o'clock, like she asked."
"Well, they look terrible now. Some of the roses are wilting. It's embarrassing." Celeste grabbed my arm, her perfectly manicured nails digging into my skin. "Come on. You're fixing them right now. Kade's family is here, and everything needs to be perfect for our announcement."
She dragged me down the hall toward the ballroom. I could have pulled away—should have pulled away—but what was the point? In a few hours, none of this would matter.
"And change your clothes," Celeste added, wrinkling her nose. "You smell like outside. It's gross."
The ballroom was packed with pack members dressed in their finest clothes, champagne glasses in hand, laughter filling the air. I felt like a stain on expensive carpet—obvious, ugly, something people stepped around.
Mother stood near the flower arrangements, talking to Kade's mother, Luna Thornwell. When she saw me, her expression went from pleasant to disgusted in half a second.
"Raven, finally." She didn't even try to hide her annoyance. "These roses are dying. I told you to use the preservation spray. Were you not listening? Again?"
"I used it," I started to say, but she'd already turned back to Luna Thornwell.
"I apologize for my daughter's incompetence," Mother said smoothly, like I wasn't standing right there. "She's never been good with details. Not like Celeste."
Luna Thornwell smiled. "Oh, we all know Celeste is special. She'll make a wonderful Luna for Kade. Your family must be so proud."
"We are. Celeste has always been destined for greatness." Mother's eyes flicked to me for just a second. "Unlike some people, she knows her place in the pack."
The words hit like a slap, but I'd learned long ago not to flinch. I bent down and started removing the wilted roses, my hands moving automatically. Just get through tonight. Just survive a few more hours.
"Oh, Celeste, darling!" Mother's voice went all warm and sweet—a tone she never used with me. "Come here. Let me look at you."
I glanced up to see Celeste gliding over, her dress sparkling under the ballroom lights. Mother's whole face transformed—pure love and pride radiating from her expression.
"You look absolutely stunning," Mother breathed, adjusting a strand of Celeste's hair. "Like a true Luna. Kade won't be able to take his eyes off you during the announcement."
"Do you really think so?" Celeste did a little spin. "I wanted everything to be perfect tonight."
"It is perfect. You are perfect." Mother kissed her forehead gently. "My beautiful, powerful daughter. You've made me so proud."
I focused on the flowers, swallowing the burning sensation in my throat. When was the last time Mother looked at me like that? Touched me like that?
Never. The answer was never.
"Raven, you're doing it wrong." Celeste's voice dripped with fake sweetness. "The red roses go on the outside, not the inside. Honestly, how hard is it to arrange flowers?"
"Sorry," I muttered, switching them around.
"She's always been slow," Celeste told Mother, loud enough for nearby pack members to hear. "Remember when she tried to help with my sixteenth birthday party? She dropped an entire tray of glasses. So clumsy."
Laughter rippled through the group. My face burned hot, but I kept my eyes down.
That's when the tingling started again.
It began in my fingertips—a strange warmth that spread up my arms. My skin prickled like tiny needles pushing from the inside out.
Oh no. Not again. Not here.
I gripped the flower vase tighter, trying to breathe through it. Maybe if I ignored it, the feeling would go away like before.
"Are you even listening?" Celeste snapped her fingers in front of my face. "I asked you to get more ribbon from the storage room. Now. The gold ribbon, not the silver. Don't mess it up."
I stood up too fast. The room tilted sideways for a second, and the tingling sensation grew stronger. Heat flooded my body, making sweat bead on my forehead.
"Are you okay?" someone asked. "You look pale."
"I'm fine," I lied. "Just tired."
But I wasn't fine. Something was definitely wrong. My heart raced. My vision blurred at the edges. The ballroom suddenly felt too hot, too crowded, too loud.
I stumbled toward the door, desperate for air. Behind me, I heard Celeste laugh.
"She's so dramatic. Probably trying to get attention on my special night. Typical."
I made it to the hallway and leaned against the wall, gasping. What is happening to me? This felt like earlier in the forest but worse—stronger, more insistent.
Through the ballroom doors, I heard the music stop. A voice called for everyone's attention.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming tonight..."
Kade's father, Alpha Thornwell. The announcement was starting.
I should run to my room. Hide until this weird feeling passed. But my legs wouldn't move. The tingling had spread to my chest now, to my spine, wrapping around my bones like invisible chains pulling tight.
"...delighted to announce the formal engagement of my son, Kade, to the lovely Celeste Ashford..."
Applause erupted. Through the doorway, I saw Kade take Celeste's hand, both of them smiling for the crowd. The perfect couple. The perfect future.
And that's when the pain hit—so sudden and fierce that I actually cried out.
My bones felt like they were breaking and reforming. My skin burned from the inside. I collapsed to my knees, biting my lip hard enough to taste blood, trying not to scream.
This can't be happening. Not now. Not tonight.
But deep down, in a place I'd kept locked away for seventeen years, I knew exactly what this was.
My wolf.
After all this time, after everyone said it would never happen, my wolf was coming.
And from the way my body was tearing itself apart, she wasn't coming quietly.
I looked up and saw him—Kade, standing in the ballroom doorway. He'd heard my cry. Our eyes locked for just a second, and something flickered across his face.
Then his expression changed to shock.
His nostrils flared. His eyes widened.
He could smell it. The change. The shift beginning.
"No," I whispered. "Not yet. Please, not yet."
But my wolf had waited long enough.
Midnight had passed ten minutes ago.
And she was done hiding.