The Alpha Mortal Elara

The night of the ceremony felt like something out of a dream, yet it was a nightmare waiting for me.

The moon hung high in the sky, glowing silver against the dark velvet of night. Its light spilled over the clearing, turning the grass into rivers of frost. Every wolf in the Silverfang Pack had gathered, their howls echoing through the valley in wild excitement. Tonight was sacred. Tonight was the Mating Ceremony—the night the Moon Goddess would reveal each wolf’s fated mate.

A night of joy. A night of promises. A night everyone looked forward to… except me.

Because I wasn’t a wolf. I was just Elara—the weak human girl raised in a pack that never wanted me.

My parents had died when I was six. Rogues had torn them apart before my eyes. I barely remembered their faces, only flashes: my mother’s soft hands stroking my hair, my father’s arms lifting me high into the air. After their deaths, the Alpha had taken me in, but not out of kindness. He’d done it out of duty—because leaving a child on the streets would make him look weak.

And so I grew up surrounded by wolves who never let me forget that I was nothing like them.

“You don’t belong here, Elara,” the pack children would laugh. “You’ll never be one of us.”

I swallowed those words. I buried those tears. But tonight, as the drums echoed through the clearing and wolves began to shift back into their human forms, I realized I was about to be humiliated in front of everyone once again.

The clearing was breathtaking, decorated with glowing lanterns, ribbons, and wildflowers picked from the forest. Wolves filled the space in their human skins—men in tailored suits, women in flowing dresses that shimmered in the moonlight. The scents around me were sharp and overwhelming—pine, musk, wildflowers, rain. Laughter rang through the air as wolves held hands, waiting to discover who fate had chosen for them.

I stood at the very back, in a borrowed white gown that pinched around my chest. My hands clutched the fabric, trying to keep myself from shaking. I wanted to disappear into the ground.

“Maybe no one will notice me,” I whispered to myself. But I knew it was a lie. They always noticed me. They noticed me to laugh. They noticed me to remind me I was weak.

The Beta, Ezra, raised his hand to silence the crowd. His voice rolled through the night. “Tonight, under the blessing of the Moon Goddess, your fated mates will be revealed. Trust the bond. Honor the call.”

Wolves began stepping forward. The air filled with gasps and cheers as mates recognized one another, sparks flying at every touch. Women cried, men lifted their partners into the air, laughter shook the ground. Joy surrounded me. But it was not mine.

My chest tightened. This was their world, not mine. Their Goddess, not mine. I was invisible. Or so I thought.

Then it happened.

My