Cressida POV
"You'll marry Luka in one lunar cycle."
It's not a secret that the pack leader hates me. After all, I'm eighteen and haven't awakened my wolf. A werewolf without a wolf is just a human with better senses.
It's not unheard of for werewolves with stronger wolves to take longer to awaken, but at this point, I'm beyond the latest known age for awakening. Now, all I can do is work a normal human job and help the pack with my income to avoid being exiled. Those are the only options for failures like me.
I thought it would be enough, but the pack leader is now going to use me to make a fool out of Luka.
Pack Leader Aaron dismisses me from his office. And I have no choice but to accept his command and leave. Unless I want to die for disobeying the leader as a failed werewolf, all I can do is keep my mouth shut, turn on my heel, and march out the door.
Leader Aaron's office is just a simple room in his house that he repurposed for the sake of handling pack business. I always feel like an intruder here, since I have to go past his living spaces to reach the front door and leave.
Outside, the comforting scent of burning woods fills my nose. Our pack is small, so the bonfire that's almost always burning at the center of our compound makes the entire area smell like home.
A home that I'll be leaving against my will in one lunar cycle.
If Luka was my fated mate, then it would be difficult to wait for an entire cycle to pass before marrying him. But a fated mate requires awakening my wolf. Unlike Luka, I can't have a fated mate.
I thought that being a failure would come with the benefit of being kept out of werewolf politics. Instead, the pack leader is throwing me right into the center of them.