Blood and Moon

Mating...

Soul Ties...

Soul Mates...

True love...

Growing up in wolf society, I heard these words a lot in our village. We live among humans, a fact ignored by them.

Normally, we walk around in our human forms and develop the ability to transform into wolves on our 18th birthday.

And when that happens, we meet our predestined mate.

The Moon Goddess creates a soul mate for every single wolf in the world. And, when we find her, we love no one who is not that person for the rest of our lives.

However, few have that chance, nowadays, it is rare for a wolf to find its partner.

Mostly because, every day, the number of wolves decreases thanks to the incessant persecution of human hunters and renegade trackers.

My father met my mother at a gathering in the neighboring villages and instantly fell deeply in love with her. But sadly, she died in childbirth—while I, Elodie Lunt, was being born.

In the loneliness of grief, my father remarried Freya, who, as his second wife, came to rule the Lunt family.

My father, Marcus, was a warrior of our pack, the Gamma of the pack, but five years ago he died in action.

Now, I was only a few days away from turning eighteen, and I was nervous with anticipation of finally meeting my she-wolf.

And more importantly, meeting my mate.

"Elodie! Have you finished the laundry? Dinner's ready!" Freya shouts as I spread the laundry on the clothesline.

I looked up at the sky, basking in the warmth the sun offered. It was a rare occurrence since we lived in a small village called Drusila, which snowed most of the year.

Our pack, the Night Eclipse, lived among humans who had no idea of our existence.

When I entered the house, I was greeted by my stepmother's hideous grimace.

"What took you so long? I'm starving!" She complained.

"You could have started without me." I replied, sitting down to eat.

I needed to give Freya this credit. Her food is excellent.

"So, Elodie... In a few days, you'll be 18, right?" She asks awkwardly.

I looked at her over my plate.

"Hi? Oh... Yes." I mumble, turning my attention back to my food.

"You know... It's about time you started earning your own money. Marcus' pension is getting smaller and smaller."

I looked at her again, almost choking on my food.

"What's it like?"

"Yeah, it already wasn't much to begin with, dear, and having to split it between the two of us has taken a huge toll on the finances." She says it sadly. "So I've decided to offer your name to the leader's house, they urgently need servants to work on the alpha's birthday celebration."

"You did what?" I shout in shock, and I stand up so abruptly that the chair falls backward. "How could you?"