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~ BENITA'S POV ~

"Wh…what's going on?" The words finally tore from my throat, a ragged cry lost in the silent night. My eyes darted down my body, searching for the tell-tale signs.

The tearing of skin, the shifting of bones, the fur. Nothing. I was just... me. Standing still in the white gown, feeling a cold dread sipping into bones.

The clock had struck twelve twenty minutes ago. I was eighteen. By every right, by every law of our kind, I should have been mid-transformation, my first shift. Soon after, the Luna ceremony with Alpha Maxwell would begin. But here I was, standing in the cold, human and horribly alone.

I looked around at the faces of my pack members, and the sight was a punch to my gut.

Pity, confusion, and something sharp and cold, disappointment. My heart stopped, then began a frantic, panicked drum against my ribs.

My eyes landed on him, my Alpha, my Maxwell. The one who was supposed to stand by me. The panic swelled, suffocating me, when he just shook his head.

A single, definitive shake that ended my world. He turned and disappeared into the shadows, a black silhouette swallowed by the night.

No. It's not possible. The thought screamed in my head. I had waited. Everyone had waited, Most especially Maxwell had waited. When I didn't get my wolf.

My frantic gaze swept the crowd again, finally landing on my parents and my sister Madison. The look on their face, pale and stricken, was the final blow. The last shreds of hope shattered, and the cold reality of what was happening slammed into me.

"Oh moon goddess, Benita is wolfless." Lucie who had just transformed a while ago whispered to her sister.

"That can't possibly be true. She is supposed to be a Beta female." Jasmine responded.

"Oh please, can't you see? It's been twenty minutes. None of us took that long unless... She can't get a wolf."

"This is so sad. And to think she was supposed to be Luna. Now we are stuck with her evil sister Madison." The whispers swirled around me, a venomous cloud of words.

"No, no! That's not true! My wolf is coming! It's just taking a long time!" I screamed, the words spilling out in a desperate plea. Was I trying to convince them or myself?

The cold wind sliced through the night, a cruel reminder of my exposed skin, my lack of fur. It whipped my hair across my face, and I pushed it back, closing my eyes, trying to block out their voices. I needed to focus. I needed to remember the lessons Elder Silas taught me, to brace for the pain of the shift that I'd been told was coming.

I waited. I concentrated. But, nothing. I was the same.

The silence was deafening. It was then, in that profound stillness, that I finally knew. Everyone was right. I was wolfless. My eyes fluttered open to a world that was already moving on. Some people were leaving, others stared with mocking eyes, and a few offered pitiful glances that felt like daggers.

I ran. My white gown billowed behind me as I rushed to my mother, her face still a mask of shock.

"Mum, it's a lie, right? My wolf is coming!" I grabbed her hands, shaking them, my eyes frantically searching hers for reassurance, for a lie, for anything but the truth. But the next thing that followed was a hot slap on my face.

“How could you let us down? How dear you disappoint the Arthur's name in public, I have always known that you were cursed, and you should not exist on the face of this earth.” She cursed out in anger as she pushed me to the floor.

I had seen my mother angry many times but this was on a higher level.