KASMINE.
“Hey babe,” A voice sounded behind me as a warm hand wrapped around my waist from behind.
I almost jumped out of my skin.
“Jake! You scared me!” I sighed, placing my hand against my chest.
He chuckled softly, brushing a loose strand of hair from my face. “Why would you be scared in a hall full of people?” he teased, cocking his head with that soft smirk he always wore when he was trying to make me forget how broken things really were. “No one can hurt you here. Relax.”
I tried. I really did.
He looked cute tonight, in that signature Jake style–white trousers, snug black T–shirt… Casual. Clean Boy–next
door handsome. The kind of look that once made me feel butterflies just from catching his scent.
Now? The butterflies were barely breathing. Limp–winged Exhausted.
I forced a smile. Forced the ache in my gut to turn into warmth, to find something–anything–in me that still fluttered for him.
“Cheer up, babe,” he said gently, his thumb brushing the side of my arm. “You look gorgeous tonight.”
His voice dipped, “I wish I could kiss you right now.” There was something raw in the way he said it–like he knew time was a thief waiting to snatch me from him.
He sounded nervous… Anxious. And I knew why. Tonight was the night the Moon could decide that I belonged to someone else.
He hated this part of our world.
So did I.
The possibility of finding my mate today had been a concern for a few days now. But I kept assuring him and telling him not to worry.
“Jake… I’ve said this before. Don’t worry about it. It won’t change any…” My words were cut midway by my mother, who hurried toward me.
“Kasmine, baby. It is time.” She was already at my side, her hands smoothing down my gown.
Was it just me, or did the whole world hear the thud my heart made? It sounded like a judge stamming a gavel.
Was I trembling? I couldn’t tell. But my knees wobbled with the reality of everything I was pretending not to feel.
“Go on and change,” Mum added, pushing me off to the maids who stood waiting for me.
I was so nervous that if you looked closely, you might see me trembling visibly.
Jake’s hand slipped from mine.
And didn’t dare turn back to look at him.
Because if I did-
If I saw the way he was looking at me
Chapter 140
I might not walk forward.
+25 BONUS
The wind was cold against my neck as I stepped outside.
Not the kind of cold that made you shiver. The kind that crawled into your skin and sat there, reminding you that this moment wasn’t yours anymore that your body, your future, your soul–belonged to the Moon now.
The crowd had gathered. Hundreds of wolves, all watching and right now, it felt like every one of them was staring straight through me.
I walked barefoot across the grass to the center of the circle in my ceremonial gown that seemed more like a funeral pown
The prime elders stood at the raised alter where I now stood, dressed in the same long robes they always had on when they carried out transition ceremonies.
“Tonight,” he began, in a deep, smooth voice echoing across the crowd, “we honor Selene’s design. Her timing. Her matchings. Her divine will.” Elder Alric said as he began the ceremony.
Selene.
The goddess we all feared and loved and worshipped–even when she tore people apart in the name of fate.
I stood with the other she–wolves turning twenty–one. There were five of us tonight.
My stomach was in knots. My hands were ice. Every inch of me was wound tight like a string that would snap if anyone said my name too loudly.
My parents kept throwing reassuring smiles at me, but it didn’t help calm my nerves.
Kester still wasn’t here. It would have been nice to have him around and to see me get my wolf. He always dreamt of that since we were young. 1
Too bad.
Alric raised an old book–THE BOOK OF ORIGINS, they called it. The thing was older than any pack and had been used in every transition ceremony since the beginning. He began to chant words in a language I didn’t understand but had heard since childhood. Words that meant power. Change. The beginning of something new.
I felt like throwing up.
My eyes flicked through the crowd and caught Jake standing near the edge. He wasn’t smiling anymore. His fists were clenched at his sides. His jaw was tight, and even from here, I could see the storm in his eyes.
And for a second–for a tiny, desperate second–I prayed that maybe… just maybe.. he was my mate. Maybe the Moon wouldn’t be cruel. Maybe I’d look up, and everything would be fine, and we’d go back to our lives and laugh at how scared we’d been.
But then the fear came rushing back even harder.
What if he wasn’t?
What if I looked up and felt the pull–and it was someone else? What if he looked at me and didn’t feel anything at all? What if I wasn’t chosen tonight? What if I was a late bloomer? What if my body just didn’t shift?
What if I stood here frozen while the others dropped to their knees in pain, glory, and power–and I was left untouched?.
Chapter 140
The book closed with a deep thud. My breath hitched.
Alric’s eyes lifted to the sky, “Selene, Mother of Wolves, bear witness. Let your chosen awaken.”
