The Lunar Curse: A Second Chance With Alpha Draven

Meredith.

The Lunar Ball was supposed to be the most important night of my life.

A night of destiny. A night where the Moon Goddess would finally show me mercy by revealing my mate, binding us together forever.

But as I stood at the grand entrance of the Moonstone Pack's glittering ballroom, with the weight of a thousand stares pressing down on me, I already knew—

This night would end in disaster. I could feel it in my bones.

"You little filth. Don't you dare take off your veil today even if a knife is put on your neck. Do you understand?" My father warned through gritted teeth, in a voice that only I and the rest of our family could hear. And immediately, my attention was pulled back to him.

I had, for a moment, completely forgotten that I wasn't alone.

"I don't even know why you chose to wear black of all colours tonight." He grunted shortly before snapping his gaze to my mother who was standing right beside him. "Didn't anyone see her before leaving the house?"

"Darling, she is free to wear whatever she wants. It's not like she is going to sit with us." Mum's gaze flicked to me, briefly. "No one has to identify her with us tonight."

My father gave one last disgusted look at me before stepping inside the ballroom. My Mother followed him almost immediately without sparing another glance at me. She was completely indifferent to my existence.

Next up were my two older sisters, Monique and Mabel. They both gave me a disapproving look and scoffed before walking away with their fancy feather hand fans, which they had wrecked havoc to get, especially for this event.

"Control yourself for a minute, you slut!" My older brother, Gary, suddenly barked in my ears, causing me to flinch and the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. I had no idea when he came up behind me. I didn't know parking a car could be this fast.

"I can smell your disgusting pheromones from miles away," he sneered before stepping away from me.

I quickly lowered my head, avoiding his gaze as the loud pumping sound of my own blood filled my ears. I was that afraid of Gary because of the ways he punished me. And I wasn't about to let him slap me in front of the thousand pairs of eyes waiting for my moment of ridicule because my own brother was capable of that.

Fortunately, my fear vanished a few seconds later after Gary concluded I wasn't worth his precious time on such an important night and walked away, leaving me behind. Alone and in peace.

The air in the room was thick with the scent of floral perfumes, champagne, and lingering light pheromones as unmated werewolves searched the crowd, waiting for the fated pull of their mates.

But I felt nothing other than my own pheromones dealing me with blows, minute after minute.

No pull. No surge of warmth. No instinct whispered that my other half was near.

Because I had no wolf.

Because I was cursed.

Because the Lunar Curse had stolen my bond before I ever had a chance to feel it. And yet, even without the mate bond, I already knew who my mate was.

Marc Harris. Future Beta of our Moonstone Pack.

I had overheard the whispers weeks ago in the academy halls, my classmates pitying me behind my back, saying how tragic my situation was, and how I was going to be rejected.

Regardless, I inhaled sharply, praying—begging—that this would be my chance to start over as I cautiously walked into the room with several pairs of eyes still fixated on me.

For sixteen years, I had been my family's golden girl—the pride of the Moonstone Pack. Then, the Lunar Curse appeared, branding me with the crescent-shaped mark on my shoulder and stripping me of my wolf.

From that moment on, I had become nothing.

Tonight was my last hope. If the Moon Goddess still had any mercy left for me, my mate would accept me despite my curse.

But fate had never been kind to me. I realized that the moment I saw Marc.

He stood near the centre of the ballroom, dressed in a fine black and silver suit, his arm draped around another woman's waist. She was stunning—blond, curvy, the kind of woman who never had to beg for attention.

My chest tightened painfully. Not because I felt some mate bond pulling me to him. But because I felt something else. A faint, buried instinct—something deep inside me that wanted to react but couldn't.

It was weak, distant—like an echo of a connection that should have been there but wasn't.

And for the first time in my life, I wondered, if I hadn't been cursed, would I have felt what everyone else did?

Would I have felt warmth instead of this cold emptiness?

Would I have been loved instead of abandoned?

I guess I would never know. Because Marc turned his head—and his blue eyes locked onto mine through the black veil.

The second he saw me, his entire body went rigid. His nostrils flared as if he had just caught my scent.

His wolf had recognized me, and in that split second—I saw the flicker of devastation in his eyes before he marched straight towards me with the woman he was with.

A hush spread through the room. The whispers started.

"She's his mate?"

"The cursed one? The wolfless freak?"

"No way a future Beta would accept someone like her..."

Just then, Marc stopped in front of me and released the woman he was holding. Looking me straight in the eyes, he snapped with a fierce gaze, burning a hole through my forehead, "God forbid that I marry, mate or mark a woman like you!"

The entire ballroom stilled, every pair of eyes locked onto us. He had said that to everyone's hearing.

My chest tightened, my throat burning with humiliation. I lifted my chin, trying to steady my voice. "Marc..."

Before I could say another word, he spoke the words that shattered me.

"I, future Beta Marc Harris of the Moonstone Pack, reject you, Meredith Carter, as my mate."

The gasps rippled through the crowd.

I felt every stare shift toward me as something deep inside me twisted painfully. Not because the bond was breaking—I had no true bond to break, but because Marc's words made it real.

And he wasn't finished yet.

Meredith.

Gnashing his teeth until the pain from the bond severing was over, Marc's lips twisted into something cruel, and his voice laced with mockery. "Did you really think the Moon Goddess would pair me with someone like you? A cursed, wolfless burden?"

Laughter rippled through the ballroom.

I hadn't expected this. I had been hopeful the moon goddess would finally shine her mercy on me tonight. Instead, look what she did to me.

Now, the entire werewolf society knew I was cursed and unwanted. No one would ever accept me. Not even my own family who were actually the first to reject me.

I felt the sting of hot tears, but I refused to let them fall as I watched Marc hold that woman's hand and take a few steps backwards.

No. I would not cry. Not in front of these people. Not in front of him.

But just as I thought the humiliation and disgrace couldn't get any worse, my pheromones surged; a wild, uncontrollable scent—a sign of a female in distress.

Immediately, several men in the room reacted.

Some turned their heads sharply, their wolves snarling low in their throats. Others stiffened, pupils dilating as their instincts responded to the scent.

A man near the bar exhaled sharply. Another clenched his jaw, gripping his drink tightly.

One even took a step toward me before stopping himself. And then the whispers changed.

"Damn, she smells incredible..."

"That's unnatural—what's wrong with her?"

"Control yourselves! The Alpha is watching!"

"I can't believe she has the nerve to release that seductive scent of hers just seconds after being rejected."

"She is trying to drive all the men in this room wild with those untamed pheromones of hers!"

"What a disgrace to the Moonstone Pack."

"I would rather remain childless than have a cursed child like Meredith."

"My heart goes out to the Carter family. They are the ones feeling the heat of her disgraceful acts."

Panic surged in my chest. No, no, not now. I reached for my perfume bottle in my clutch, desperate to mask the scent that drove men wild. But before I could move, a cruel hand ripped my veil from my head.

Gasps of shock rang out.

Cold air rushed against my scarred cheek—a jagged, ugly scar that marred my once beautiful face—was on full display.

I barely had time to react before someone sneered, loud enough for the entire ballroom to hear.

"Horny whore!"

Laughter erupted like a wildfire, sharp and suffocating. The sound stabbed through me, each chuckle cutting deeper than the last.

"How dare you try to seduce men with a face like that?" Cora, the daughter to Alpha Aiden of the Nightshade clan, my worst nightmare when we were still in college, questioned with venom dripping in her tone as she came to stand in front of me.

She was the one who took off my veil, and now she looked mad because my ugly scar got me the attention of men she could never have.

I felt bare, disoriented and vulnerable without my veil. My breath hitched as mild panic attacks set in, but Cora wouldn't let me go. Not so easily.

She had to make sure I drowned in humiliation—more than I had ever known since the night the Lunar Curse marked me.

Cora jabbed a finger through my left chest and, when I didn't answer her question, instead turned to walk away after I had found the courage.

Just as I bent down to pick up my veil, she pushed me from behind forcefully. And the next second, I saw myself staggering before sliding to the tiled floor without reservation.

A gasp of pain escaped my lips as my hip bone struck against the hard floor.

Then, the mockery, finger-pointing, and disdain from the crowd that had gathered around me fired off like a rocket without warning.

Tears burned at the edges of my vision, but I refused to let them fall. Not for them. Not for this pack that had already abandoned me. One day, they will regret this.

Then, out from the corner of my eyes, I saw my father clench his fists by his sides from across the room. He watched me get humiliated in front of a hundred pairs of eyes.

And to my surprise, he started taking quick steps towards me. He was coming to my rescue, not because he had any atom of love left for me, but because he was the current Beta of our Moonstone Pack, and I was his daughter.

Being disgraced and scorned out in the open by others was like a slap to his face and a threat to his position.

But suddenly, my brother Gary appeared from nowhere and quickly grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

My father's brows furrowed as his gaze shifted to Gary, silently demanding an explanation, but all he could do was shake his head and mouth, 'Don't go, father.'

He was telling our father to overlook me, his baby sister, who was being bullied by others in the middle of the Lunar ball.

The pain in my heart sky-rocketed as tears blurred my vision, but I persisted, holding it back with the last shred of dignity I was left with.

I wanted to run. I wanted to disappear. But my body wouldn't move.

In the midst of my shame, pain and raging pheromones, my breathing seized momentarily as the world blurred around me.

And then suddenly, a new scent filled the air. Not just any scent, but one with power, strength and command.

The kind of scent that made wolves stop breathing. That made Alphas lower their heads in instinctive submission.

The entire ballroom fell silent. And a deep, cold voice sliced through the air. "What the hell is going on here?"

My heart stilled. Cora's smirk fell. The crowd parted instantly, and then I saw him.

Draven Oatrun.

The Alpha of the Mystic Furs. The future King of Werewolves. And the most dangerous man in this room.

His broad frame was dressed in a dark, perfectly tailored suit, his golden eyes scanning the scene with icy detachment. Then those golden eyes landed on me.

Everything stopped. Including time.

My pheromones—the ones I had never been able to control suddenly vanished. Like someone had put out a fire. Like they had submitted.

Just then, Alpha Draven started making his way towards me, and my breathing faltered.

I forgot to breathe.