In a world where weakness could cost someone their life, Ava Grey had been born without a wolf, and all she had ever faced was rejection and suffering. Her own kind had cast her aside, and a strange scar marked her with a secret she still didn’t understand.
More than anything, she had wanted to break free from it all. Then, on the night of the Lunar Gala, everything changed.
It started with a single glance. One brief encounter. A bond formed against all reason and tied her to Lucas Westwood, the Alpha of the rival pack, the very man she should’ve stayed away from.
Surrounded by hatred, rising conflict, and a fate she couldn’t escape, Ava came to realize that what made her different wasn’t a curse at all. It was a power others both craved and feared.
As tensions grew, the packs moved closer to war. Alliances began to fall apart. In the middle of it all, one truth slowly revealed itself. The real danger wasn’t the monster they thought they were fighting.
The Moonless She-Wolf: Rejected By The Pack, Desired By The Alpha Chapter 1 They Were Watching Me
When the ones who were meant to be your pack, your blood, your home chose to see you as nothing more than a burden, what else was there to do?
I focused on surviving.
I saved whatever little money I could.
I held on to the thought that maybe, someday, the road would take me somewhere better.
It was a thin kind of hope, almost laughable, but it was the only thing that kept me going.
Up until now, I was just me. Ava Grey. Wolfless. Weak. The disgrace of the Grey family.
That was why, yet again this Friday, I worked my shift at Beaniverse, a busy café in the center of White Peak, over an hour away from the pack’s territory. Out here, there were no wolves, no ranks, no one looking down on me. Just people in a rush, running on coffee or lost in their screens. Some of them seemed more focused on putting on a show than actually drinking what they ordered.
“Let’s go out tonight.”
Lisa’s bright voice broke through my thoughts while I wiped down the espresso machine.
I didn’t care much about the job itself, aside from the money it brought in every week. Still, I liked being here. Because Lisa was here. She was my only real friend, the one who kept reminding me there was a life waiting beyond Blackwood.
“That’s not happening. My dad’s expecting me back.”
The way her lips dipped in disappointment stirred a small warmth in my chest. At least she got it.
Still, she had no idea the truth. My family wasn’t human. They were wolves.
My father, the pack’s Beta, only let me keep this job because he was sick of having me around the house. And maybe because every bit of money I didn’t waste on gas went straight into paying off the debt from my beat-up Taurus. That old wreck sat outside like a loyal mess. It could break down on me any second, but it was the closest thing I had to freedom.
Anywhere was better than going back home.
“You should just move in with me. We could get a place together and do whatever we want, whenever we feel like it.” Lisa brought up that same idea during every shift.
I thought about it too. Not for the fun or the parties, but for the chance to get away. To put real distance between me and the pack.
But there was no running from what you were. Not even if you were a flaw. Not even if you were a werewolf who was wolfless.
My glasses kept slipping down my nose, and I pushed them back up with a quiet sigh. I needed a new prescription, but I didn’t have the time or the money for it. I was still wearing the same pair my mom had chosen for me years ago. It only made the difference stand out more. Werewolves didn’t have bad eyesight.
But I didn’t have a wolf.
I flicked a damp cloth toward her. Lisa yelped and jumped out of the way. “I’d leave if I could, believe me. But someone still has to fill those cups before the rush hits.”
“I’m heading out,” she said, then added with a look, “but you’d feel a lot better if you told your dad to back off. He’d come around eventually. You’re not a kid anymore.”
That kind of thinking felt like a soft lie.
He was the Beta. I stayed under his control, no matter how much time passed. And even if he ever started treating me like an adult, all it would take was one word from the Alpha to put me right back where I belonged.
“It’s just how things work,” I said under my breath. She let it go for now, but she never stopped for long. She kept bringing up apartments, schedules, budgets, always patient but stubborn. She wanted me to have a life of my own.
She was the first one who noticed how tightly my family controlled me.
She was the first person who actually cared.
She was also the first to put into words what I could never quite say myself.
“Your family treats you badly. Who even does that to their own?”
Once, they loved me. At least, they did before they started waiting for my first shift.
I still remembered bits of it. Mom used to laugh as she held me close. Dad would lift me onto his shoulders so I could reach for the sky. Jessa and Phoenix loved showing me off, proud to call me their little sister.
That life was long gone.
Then everything changed. Mom grew distant. Dad’s gaze turned cold, and one day, he dragged me into the woods and left me there with nothing, hoping it would force my wolf to surface.
It never did.
Closing time at Beaniverse always turned chaotic in the parking lot. Lisa stayed with me every night before I left. Part of her expected my Taurus to give up on me at any moment, and part of her worried someone might come after me.
When I warned her she could end up in danger too, she took my hand and answered without hesitation, “If that ever happened, you’d show up for me. That’s why I’m here for you.”
I cared about her more than I could say.
And the guilt stayed with me. Because she still didn’t know the truth about me. She believed I came from a violent human household, and more than once, I had to stop her from calling the police when I showed up bruised and shaken.
The police couldn’t do anything against the pack.
The only way out would be finding a mate, that one person every werewolf was meant to bond with. Sometimes, I let myself believe it could be my escape. Still, the thought scared me just as much. What if there was no bond waiting for me? Or worse, what if I ended up trapped all over again?
The night felt calm, heavy with the scent of rain, as I drove away from the bright lights of White Peak and followed the dark road that led back to Blackwood.
I knew every curve by heart, yet something felt off. The forest looked thicker than usual, and the faint moonlight stretched long shadows between the trees. My grip tightened around the steering wheel until my knuckles turned pale. A quiet fear settled deep in my chest, the same instinct that had echoed through countless hunts.
Without a wolf, I was nothing but prey.
My jaw clenched just as a large figure burst into my headlights.
“Damn!”
I hit the brakes hard. The Taurus let out a sharp screech as it skidded across the road, the tires burning against the pavement. My head slammed forward into the steering wheel. The taste of blood spread across my tongue.
When I lifted my gaze again, the road was empty. Not a trace.
There was no doubt about it. That had been one of Blackwood’s wolves.
I had to get back to the house. They might tear me down there, but they’d never go as far as killing me. A healer would always step in, because even someone broken still had their use.
I reached for the keys, and a sharp pain shot through my wrist. A sprain. Great. I forced my left hand to turn the ignition. The engine coughed but didn’t catch. I tried again. And again.
“Come on… please…” My voice shook as I whispered.
The night behind me felt alive, breathing in the dark. I almost expected a pair of glowing eyes to slip out from the shadows.
A sudden crack cut through the silence and made me flinch. Slowly, I turned my head toward the window.
At the edge of the woods, two yellow lights hovered in the darkness, locked onto me.
They were watching me.
The Moonless She-Wolf: Rejected By The Pack, Desired By The Alpha Chapter 2 Was It Wrong To Hold On To That Hope
It was a filthy cycle, the same cruelty repeating itself again and again. I hated this pattern, yet it always found its way back without warning. There was no predicting when it would begin. All it took was someone looking for entertainment.
And I already knew how it would end. It always ended badly for me.
Through the windshield, the streets I knew came back into view. My parents wouldn’t step in to help me, not even if I were bleeding out in the yard. Still, everything shifted the moment I crossed into the house. Inside those walls, the Beta’s word stood above everything.
I forced the car into a narrow space, and the sudden stop threw me forward. My hands shook as I reached for my keys, dropping them twice before finally clutching the cold metal.
Only one thought pushed me forward. I had to get inside.
The car door shut behind me. I stepped out, unsteady, my legs barely holding me up. The keys rattled against my fingers as I moved, each step tightening the fear inside me.
Just a few more steps. Almost…
A warm, damp breath brushed against my side. The air around me thickened with raw aggression.
I turned sharply, my keys clenched between my fingers like a weapon. My chest locked, and everything around me froze.
A few steps away, a wolf stood still, its coat catching the faint light with a strange shine. Its lips curled back, and saliva slipped past teeth sharp enough to tear through anything. I didn’t need a second look to know it was Todd.
Making me suffer had always been his favorite game.
He didn’t attack. He just watched, his eyes glinting with quiet amusement, while my hand searched behind me for the handle. The moment I found it, I rushed inside and slammed the door shut.
Tonight, he let me go. I was more than willing to take that small mercy.
The lock clicked into place. I leaned my forehead against the wood for a moment, my mind already drifting to the damage on my car. The cracked windshield would cost more than I could afford, cutting into the savings I had been building for so long.
Damn it.
“Ava. Get in here.”
My stomach tightened at the sound. I straightened and made my way toward the living room.
My father didn’t say a word about the wolf outside. Of course he didn’t. If it didn’t happen right in front of him, then to him, it didn’t exist. He sat stiffly in his armchair, exactly as always. Behind him, my mother stood watching me, her expression cold and judging. I couldn’t even remember the last time my father looked at me for anything other than weighing my worth.
I dropped my gaze and fixed it on his boots, the dried mud clinging to them.
I stayed silent. That was all he expected from me anyway. Someone like me didn’t deserve to be heard.
My injured wrist throbbed as I shifted it slightly, unnoticed by either of them.
Then his voice cut through the room, low and absolute. “This year, you will attend the Lunar Gala. Make sure your… job doesn’t stop you from dressing properly. Be grateful to the Alpha for granting you this.”
Cold dread spread through me. My fingers tingled as my thoughts scattered. The Gala?
My heart stumbled in my chest. It had been two years since I last stepped into that place.
It was the biggest gathering in the Northwestern Territories. Werewolves came from everywhere, all hoping to meet their mates. Officially, it served as a break after the Council meetings, but everyone knew what it really was. A masked ball where deals were made and powerful matches were arranged.
The Blackwood pack almost never showed up. Even Jessa had never been invited before. They always blamed it on conflicts between Alphas, but I found that hard to believe.
The tension around my father pressed down on the room. His gaze stayed fixed somewhere above me, as if even looking at me was too much. His nose creased, like my presence alone offended him.
“Phoenix and Jessa will stand for this family. Make sure you don’t disgrace them.”
Without another word, he turned and walked away. That was all I got. An order thrown at me like something insignificant.
I forced my unease down, but something still flickered inside me. A quiet thought. A chance to leave, even if it was just for one night.
The Lunar Gala felt like a breath I had been denied for too long. It carried the promise of stepping outside this invisible cage. Still, I kept that hope locked away. I would never let them see it.
My mother moved closer, and her smooth voice sent a chill through me.
“Don’t embarrass us, Ava. Try not to look like something that belongs in a cage.”
I kept my eyes on my shoes as her scent drifted around me, jasmine and honey, stirring memories I wished would stay buried. There was a time she held me close and spoke to me with warmth. That version of her no longer existed.
“Of course,” I breathed out. I would do whatever was required.
Their concern lay with Phoenix and Jessa. I didn’t matter.
I would be nothing more than decoration. Something to display.
She drew in a slow breath, forcing herself into a calm front. Her hand rose toward my shoulder, then halted just short, lingering in the air without ever touching me. An empty gesture, cold and distant.
“Jessa will take you to pick out a dress. Make sure your hair is done. And get rid of those coffee-stained clothes, alright?”
They would never spend a single coin on me.
“Yes, Mom.”
Her jaw tightened as she ground her teeth.
“Don’t just grab the cheapest option. You carry our name. And cover those marks. I won’t have you making us look like savages.”
With that, she turned and left, her scent lingering in the air along with the emptiness she always left behind.
I stayed where I was, my chest rising with a strange mix of fear and something dangerously close to excitement. The Lunar Gala felt like a crack in the walls around me. A chance to step outside, even if only for a moment, and see what else existed.
Maybe I’d meet someone there. Maybe I could leave this place behind. Maybe everything could finally change.
Was it wrong to hold on to that hope?
The Moonless She-Wolf: Rejected By The Pack, Desired By The Alpha Chapter 3 I Couldn’t Stay Here Anymore
Night after night, the weight pressed down on me, and every time I slipped beneath the covers, something twisted tight in my stomach. I stared at the moonlight spilling through the window, as if it could show me what waited ahead, or give meaning to the change closing in on me.
After that ridiculous trip to the mall with Jessa, who spent the entire time mocking my choices while pretending to help, I stopped going out unless I had to. I went to school. I went to work. Outside of that, I stayed locked into a strict routine, clinging to it like it could keep everything else away.
I gave up what little free time I had and took extra shifts at Beaniverse, trying to make up for the ridiculous debt from that three-hundred-dollar dress. Three hundred dollars, just to keep me from looking like a wrinkled mess, as Jessa liked to put it.
Even Lisa began to drift away. Our conversations turned short and distant, reduced to quick messages about school or work.
At home, the silence between us felt heavy and constant. Still, beneath all of that, something small refused to go out. Maybe I could get through the gala without humiliating myself. In just one week, everything would be decided. Either I’d find a way out of this role I’d been stuck in, or I’d be marked by it for good.
Today felt like the days before it. Quiet. Strange. Like something was waiting. With grocery bags piled on the passenger seat, I drove home, barely breathing.
Phoenix was coming over for dinner tonight. I made sure everything was perfect. I roasted the chicken and covered it in a rich garlic and parmesan sauce. I wrapped Brussels sprouts in bacon and glazed them with maple syrup, finishing them with a touch of balsamic. It was a recipe I found online, simple underneath but dressed up to look impressive.
As the chosen heir of the Blackwoods, Phoenix had always been treated like he mattered more than the rest of us. My mother adored him. My father took it even further. When Phoenix was named heir after Alpha Renard’s last son died in a clash with rogue wolves, my father couldn’t hide his pride. For an entire month, he walked around like he owned the world.
One day, he would become Alpha Phoenix Blackwood. For now, though, he was still just a Grey.
The grocery bags weighed down my arms, making them shake as I struggled forward. I moved clumsily, unsteady, like something already half broken, as I approached the quiet house.
Maybe the past two weeks of calm had made me careless. I didn’t notice anything off. I didn’t feel the danger waiting as I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
A sudden breeze grazed the back of my neck. The door slammed shut behind me with sharp intent, and a scent filled the air. I knew it instantly. I hated it.
Todd Mason.
The shadow that had followed me since childhood. The one who never stopped making my life hell.
He was already inside. With me.
And he hadn’t come to play.
He stood in front of me, a crooked grin pulling at his lips. I couldn’t move, couldn’t step back, as his hand reached behind him and secured the lock.
“So, the little dreamer thinks she’s finally going to be paraded around for a mate?”
His voice carried that same mocking edge. He stepped closer and shoved me hard.
My back slammed against the wall, and his hand clamped around my throat, forcing me up onto my toes.
The bags slipped from my grip and hit the floor. My thoughts scattered, and somehow, I fixated on the apples rolling across the wood. They would bruise. We’d have to eat them right away.
“You really think you belong at the gala? You think you can just walk away from this pack?”
His breath hit my face, warm and sour, making my stomach turn. I twisted my head to the side, trying to avoid it.
His hand struck my cheek, snapping my face back toward him. His words cut deep. “Who would even want you? A freak without a wolf. You’d be thrown aside in a second.”
My heart pounded hard against my ribs, frantic and trapped. His grip tightened, and the air started to slip away from me.
“Defective,” he hissed into my ear, his breath brushing my skin.
Nausea surged through me. My chest burned as I struggled to breathe. I had endured the hits, the insults, the stones thrown at me. I knew that pain.
But this was something else.
This was worse.
Rage surged through me. I dug my nails into his forearm, dragging them down hard enough to leave burning lines. I tried to kick him, but he blocked it and forced my legs against the wall.
“Let me go,” I hissed, my voice shaking as I tried to ignore the hard, pressing proof of his excitement. “If I show up covered in bruises, Dad won’t like it. You really want to deal with that?”
Dad usually didn’t care about what happened to me, but with the gala coming up, anything visible would matter.
Todd paused, his grip still tight around my throat. His fingers pressed deeper into my skin. I dropped my gaze.
There was a time I refused to bow. I used to believe things would change, that I’d fight back and win. But that wasn’t how the world worked.
If he wanted submission, I would give him a convincing lie. Whatever it took to stay alive. Whatever it took to keep him under control.
“Please,” I whispered, letting my voice tremble on purpose. I tilted my head, leaving my throat exposed.
He reacted exactly how I expected. A low, satisfied sound left him, and it made my stomach turn. He leaned in, inhaled, then dragged his tongue slowly over the curved scar on my neck.
I forced the nausea down before it could rise.
“Please,” I said again, and this time his grip loosened slightly. His other hand slid to my hip and dragged me closer. I shut my eyes, breathing through my mouth to get past the metallic taste sitting on my tongue. “I need to finish dinner. Phoenix is coming back tonight.”
His teeth sank into my shoulder. Pain exploded through me, sharp enough to steal the air from my lungs. A cry slipped out as I shoved at him, twisting hard to get free. “Todd! Damn it!”
He growled but finally released me, though not before leaving a mark behind on my skin. His hand clamped onto my jaw, forcing me to face him. His eyes burned with twisted satisfaction.
I had braced myself for another hit.
But instead, he smiled.
Something passed between us in that moment. He understood. So did I.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he murmured, his voice laced with venom. “You’re nothing but a reject, and this is where you belong. No one’s coming to save you at that fancy little gala. Sooner or later, you’ll end up as our Omega breeder, wolf or not.”
The words hit me hard, stealing the air from my lungs. “Omega… breeder?”
His grip on my jaw tightened as laughter ripped from him, cruel and tearing. “Our little pack bitch, Ava.” He didn’t bother hiding what he meant. His hand moved lower, brushing past my chest before sliding between my thighs, pressing where he wanted.
“At least you’re good for something. We can still make use of you.”
Everything inside me went numb. His voice turned the air toxic.
His hands locked onto my hips as he pushed himself against me, his movements rough and possessive. Drool slipped down onto my jaw as he let out broken sounds. “Such a pretty flaw, Ava. Easy to break, easy to shape.” He moved faster, forcing my legs around him. “I’ll teach you until it sinks in.”
Yes. I understand.
My body didn’t belong to me anymore.
His breath hit my ear as he kept talking, but I shut it out, retreating somewhere deep inside my mind. I tried to stay there, far away from him, until a sharp blow to my stomach dragged me back into the pain. My knees hit the floor as he shoved me down, his movements turning frantic and ugly.
“Beg,” he ordered, forcing my hand around him.
The distant sound of an engine cut through the moment. Todd went still, listening. Then everything sped up. He shoved himself into my mouth, his movements rough and choking. I struggled to breathe, my lips splitting under the force. The taste hit fast, bitter and suffocating. He growled low, urging me to swallow, then quickly fixed himself just as the door opened.
Phoenix stepped inside. His brown eyes settled on us, then drifted to the scattered groceries on the floor. He didn’t say anything. A faint smirk touched his lips. “Mason,” he said simply.
He knew.
I saw it in the way his nose flared, how he took in everything without missing a detail. Yet he stayed where he was.
He did nothing.
Todd straightened, a satisfied smile still lingering as he dipped his head slightly. “Alpha heir.” He gestured casually. “Ava was just telling me you’d be back for dinner. I stopped by to check on her.”
I bolted toward the bathroom, his laughter echoing after me. The tears that blurred my vision weren’t from fear or shock.
They came from something deeper.
They fell for the one who had seen everything. The one who understood. The one who chose to stand there and do nothing.
Damn it.
I couldn’t stay here anymore.
No matter what it would cost me, I had to leave.