Luna's POV
I woke up on the cold basement floor, still in my dirty clothes from last night.
My wolf—Selene—had gone quiet after that first terrifying moment. I'd tried talking to her all night while scrubbing the training facility, but she wouldn't answer. Maybe I'd imagined the whole thing. Maybe the exhaustion and hunger had finally made me crazy.
"Happy birthday to me," I whispered to the empty basement.
Eighteen years old today. I should feel different, special, changed. Instead, I just felt tired and sore and alone.
I dragged myself upstairs before my foster family woke up. They hated when I was visible during their breakfast time. I grabbed a stale piece of bread from the kitchen and shoved it in my pocket, then slipped out the back door.
School was the same as always—invisible Luna, the omega nobody talked to. I sat in the back of every class, kept my head down, and counted the hours until I could run away from this place forever.
At lunch, Sage found me hiding behind the library.
"Happy birthday!" she whispered excitedly, pulling a small cupcake from her bag. It was slightly squashed, with pink frosting and a single candle stuck in the middle.
My throat got tight. "Sage, you didn't have to—"
"Shut up and make a wish," she said, lighting the candle with a match.
I closed my eyes. I wish to be free. I wish to be strong. I wish to never hurt like this again.
I blew out the candle.
"Did you wish for a hot mate?" Sage teased, trying to make me smile.
I forced a laugh, but my stomach twisted. Mates were for normal wolves, not broken omegas like me. "I wished for a one-way ticket out of here."
"Soon," Sage promised, squeezing my hand. "Your wolf will come tonight during the pack run, and then you can leave. You can go somewhere they'll treat you right."
Tonight. The monthly pack run when the full moon rose. Every wolf had to participate—even me.
The day dragged on forever. Finally, as the sun started setting, the pack gathered at the edge of the forest. Alpha Shadowpeak stood on a boulder, his three sons beside him. Kael looked bored. Ryland was laughing with some girls. Dante stared at nothing, silent as always.
"Tonight we run as one pack!" the Alpha announced. "Let your wolves free! Show your strength!"
Everyone began shifting—bones cracking, fur sprouting, humans becoming wolves. Beautiful, powerful wolves in every color. I hung back, waiting. My wolf had never come before during pack runs. Why would tonight be different?
"Because tonight, I'm done hiding," Selene suddenly spoke in my mind.
I gasped. "You're real. I didn't imagine you."
"Very real. And Luna... hold on tight. This is going to hurt."
The shift hit me like lightning.
Pain exploded through every bone in my body. I'd heard shifting the first time was bad, but nobody told me it felt like dying. I bit my lip to keep from screaming as my bones broke and reformed, as fur burst through my skin, as my face stretched into a muzzle.
Then, suddenly, the pain stopped.
I was on four legs, standing in the forest. Everything looked sharper, brighter, more alive. I could smell everything—the pine trees, the damp earth, the other wolves around me.
"Look at yourself," Selene whispered.
I glanced down at my paws and froze.
My fur was silver. Not grey, not white—pure silver like moonlight made solid. It glowed softly in the dusk.
"We're special, Luna. We're a Lunar Wolf. And now... now you need to run. The bond is coming."
"What bond? What are you—"
Fire erupted in my chest.
Three golden threads burst to life inside me, connecting my heart to... somewhere else. Someone else. Three someones. The threads burned and pulled and sang, filling me with emotions that weren't mine—strength, anger, confusion, dominance.
I stumbled, my wolf legs shaking. What was happening?
"Mate bonds," Selene said urgently. "Three of them. Luna, we have three mates. And they're—"
One thread pulled me to the left. I turned my head and saw a massive black wolf with amber eyes.
Kael.
Another thread pulled me forward. A brown wolf with intelligent green eyes stood on a fallen log.
Ryland.
The third thread pulled me right. A dark auburn wolf with storm-grey eyes watched from the shadows.
Dante.
No. No, no, no, no.
"Our mates," Selene confirmed, her voice sad. "The Moon Goddess paired us with the three wolves who've tortured us for seven years."
My wolf heart was breaking and soaring at the same time. The mate bonds screamed at me to go to them, to let them protect me, to love them. Every instinct I had suddenly wanted nothing more than to run to Kael, to nuzzle against Ryland, to press close to Dante's warmth.
But they were the ones who hurt me. They were the reason I cried myself to sleep every night.
The Alpha howled, signaling the run to start. The pack took off into the forest, wolves running together under the rising moon.
I watched my three mates run with the others. The bonds pulled at me, begging me to follow.
I took one step toward them.
Then Kael's wolf deliberately shouldered a smaller omega wolf into a tree—hard. The omega yelped in pain. Kael didn't even look back.
My step faltered.
Ryland's wolf was playing some game with other wolves, showing off, acting like the golden boy everyone loved. The bonds told me he was happy, carefree, completely unaware that his mate was standing fifty feet away.
Dante's wolf moved through the shadows alone, and through our bond I felt his emotions—cold, empty, nothing.
They felt nothing for me.
I waited for recognition to hit them. For their wolves to turn around and see me, to feel the bonds snap into place on their end.
But they just kept running, disappearing into the forest without a single glance back.
The bonds were only flowing one way.
They couldn't feel me at all.
"I'm sorry," Selene whispered. "Something's very wrong with our bonds. This shouldn't be possible."
I stood alone in the clearing, my silver fur glowing under the full moon, connected to three mates who didn't even know I existed.
And that's when I realized my nightmare wasn't ending.
It was just beginning.