Picture of Evangeline's wolf, Winter on top.

I woke up early the next morning with a full and satisfied stomach. It was the first time in a long time that I woke up without hearing my stomach growl hungrily, I considered that a small win for me. I laid on my bed and glanced up at the ceiling, savoring this feeling."Good morning Evangeline!" my wolf, Winter said in an extra chipper voice, I could almost see her prancing happily around my head."Morning Winter! Is there a reason why you are so happy this early in the morning?" I questioned her, puzzled by her current mood. There was a brief moment of silence before she answered."Uh hello? Winter? You there?" I asked her, awkwardly. It was unusual for my wolf not to answer me immediately. "Are you being serious Evangeline? You do not even remember that it is your sixteenth birthday? It is also the day that we will finally find our mate! What is wrong with you human?" She exclaimed, making me jump and hold the side of my head."Oh yeah...oops, I guess I forgot. Sorry Winter, you know that my brain is not functional in the mornings and that I rarely celebrate my birthday. This is the only birthday worth celebrating. I can't wait to find our mate. I just hope that he will treat us right." I answered back."I know that mate will love us, Evangeline, we are a pretty loveable pair after all." Winter reassured me.

I decided to get up and get ready to get breakfast going. I did not want to get a beating for being late. I did not need any more scars and wounds on my body, not the day that I was going to finally get to meet my mate. I wanted to look my best today since it was my birthday as well as hopefully appeal and impress my mate. I wanted him to want me and accept me. I did not have many nice outfits, but I did have a floral dress that my mom bought for me a while ago. I hid it carefully under the sink, afraid that someone will take one of the only gifts I had left from my mother. It looked like it would still fit and that was unsurprising as I am underweight and had a smaller body frame compared to the norms. I slipped on the dress easily and slipped on my sandals before heading downstairs.

For breakfast, I choose to make bacon, sunny side eggs, pancakes, and fresh orange juice and since it was my birthday, I decided that a little treat for myself won't hurt. I placed one pancake and one strip of bacon for myself on a plate and set that aside, hiding it behind the toaster to eat later. Afterward, I set the table, laying out all of the food, and waited for the pack members to wake up."Evangeline, eat your breakfast now so that no one will see. It is still early so I doubt that anyone would wake up anytime soon." Winter advised wisely. I agreed with her and picked up the hidden plate of food and ate quickly. As I ate my breakfast, I fantasized about my mate. What will he look like? Will I finally be free? When will I meet him? I wondered, all these questions running through my head.

When a werewolf turns sixteen, the werewolf will gain his or her's scent, a scent that only their mate can smell."Evangeline, we are finally going to be able to smell mate too...I wonder what he is going to smell like?" wondered Winter with a smile in her voice."I don't know Winter, we will just have to wait and see but, I bet he will smell divine," I replied, I could not help also letting out a dreamy sigh.

After I finished eating, I quickly washed my plate and utensils, getting rid of any traces that I ate at all. I glanced at the clock on the wall and it read seven-thirty. The pack should be awake by now and heading down any second. I waited inside the dining room, ready to serve the member that entered first. It was just my luck that the first person that appeared just had to be my older brother, Alec. He took a seat and then glanced at me, "It's a special day today, am I right dear little Evangeline?" he asked me, smirking mockingly. I nodded my head but said nothing, I just continued to serve him his orange juice. "How would you feel if I gave you the perfect present? A special birthday beating later on. Doesn't that sound nice Evangeline?" He sneered. I gulped, feeling absolutely petrified but I knew I had no say in the matter. I saw it coming though, Alec always gave me the worse beatings on my birthday as it was also the day we became orphans. I think this is why I did not celebrate my birthday all of these years. It became a date that I both wanted to remember but also forget.

After breakfast, I was cleaning the dishes in the kitchen when suddenly, in a flash, I felt someone roughly grab me by the shoulders and shove me against the wall, pinning my hands to the side of my head. In the process, I dropped the cup that I was washing, causing a huge mess of broken glass on the recently cleaned floor. I winced at the impact as the pain spread throughout my back and squeezed my eyes shut. As my sense of sight disappeared my sense of smell picked up a delicious and irresistible smell. I concentrated on the smell, it was a strange mix but weirdly, it works. The person in front of me smelt of green apple and chocolate. It was intoxicating."Is this what mate smells like? Have we finally found our mate? Evangeline open your eyes so we can finally meet our mate." Winter said, howling with joy, rejoicing that we had finally found our mate. I could barely contain my excitement as I opened my eyes.

However, the small smile that was slowly spreading uncontrollably on my face disappeared in an instant as I was astonished to meet the captivating blue eyes of Alpha Xavier. His eyes were like an overcast sky. It seemed that when I looked into those eyes, time stood still. I could not believe that Alpha Xavier was my mate. Everything stopped moving around me and the only thing I could focus on was my accelerating heartbeat and him. I whispered the word "mate". A part of me hoping that he will accept me as his mate and love me, but then another part of me knew very well that he would reject me.

He harshly glared at me with his piercing sky blue eyes and my hope of any forms of acceptance gradually faded as he spoke, "I can not believe that you are my mate. What did I ever do to the Moon Goddess for her to give me such an ugly, worthless, and weak mate? I don't want a mate who killed her own parents. Mark my words, you will never ever be Luna of this pack nor my mate. You are nothing but the pack's slave. I hate you omega." I felt my heart clench as tears filled my eyes. Each word was like a blow to my stomach. It felt like my heart is shattering into a million pieces. This could not be happening. My mate was supposed to love me no matter what. He was supposed to save me. "You're supposed to love me and save me. Please don't do this. I am your mate. I didn't kill my parents, I'm innocent. Please believe me. It was rogues that killed them! Please believe me." I tried to plead with him, desperation filled my voice.

Xavier sneered and slapped me hard, "You are so pathetic to even think for a second that I would ever consider accepting you as my mate. Stop lying about your parents, you filthy mutt. You are nothing but a monster that does not deserve to live a good life. I have zero tolerance or pity for murderers." Tears streamed down my face, "Winter! What am I going to do? No one will ever love us now, not even our own mate loves us. I don't think I can handle the pain of our mate rejecting us." My voice shook as I spoke frantically to my wolf. "Mate...why?" Winter whispered brokenly, her voice filled with hurt. "Stop talking to your pathetic wolf, omega, I want you to pay close attention to what I'm going to say next," said Xavier as he tightened his grip on my hands. I looked at him straight in the eyes, tears streaming down my face, already knowing and fearing what he was going to say next.

"I, Xavier Maxwell Alister, Alpha of the Moonlight Pack, reject you, Evangeline Marie Wisteria, Omega of the Moonlight Pack, as my mate and future Luna."

My wolf cried out in agony but, I kept my teary gaze on him, and for once in a very long time I spoke strongly, I needed to stay strong. "I, Evangeline Marie Wisteria, Omega of the Moonlight Pack... " But, I just could not do it...I could not accept his rejection. What was wrong with me? I should hate him, despite him, reject him without any hesitation but a part of me stopped me. He is my mate. That has finally sunk in. Alpha Xavier Maxwell Alister was my mate. Xavier, he did not say anything else, nor did he react. Not waiting for my response, he let go of my pinned hands, and coldly glared at me one last time, daring me to follow him, before walking away in angry strides. I stood there in shock for a moment before wiping away my tears and running all the way to my room.

"Evangeline..." Winter whimpered, her voice filled with inexplicable pain. "I was not strong enough to accept his rejection Winter...I just could not. We can not live like this anymore. This is not our home anymore and it is no longer our pack. Let's leave today." My wolf answered weakly, taking a deep breath to calm herself before speaking, "I agree with you Evangeline. It has really come to this. Let's hurry up and pack, we need to be on our way soon human." I packed only the essentials: my clothes, the food I stole last night, and my box of memories. I hurriedly shoved everything into my school backpack.

Out of nowhere, I felt a newfound spark of courage in me, and this sudden burning determination to get a fresh start in life. I did not deserve this life, I did not deserve all of this pain. The anger of being rejected by my own mate burned deep in my soul. He did not deserve me. They did not deserve me. I left behind a note condemning them and accusing them of all of the things they have done to me all these years. It is time for them to take responsibility and realize their mistake. No werewolf or human should ever be treated this way. Change is coming and my life would be flipped again but this time for the better.

Dear whoever bothered to read this,

Thank you for making these past years of my life an absolute living hell. I decided to do something that I should have done a long time ago: run away and leave this pack for good. I would rather live as a rogue for the rest of my life than to ever live with the Moonlight Pack again. There is no excuse for the abuse and pain you, as a pack, have put me through. All of the adults in this pack, you are just as responsible for letting all of this happen. Turning a blind eye is almost as worst than committing the crime itself. I said it a million times and this is the last time I say it, I did not kill my parents, that accident did. How could you all lay the blame on a young pup? I will never forgive any of you and so do not even bother trying to find me, I will be too far away by the time you finish reading this letter. Thank you for not believing me.

Xavier - A clear rejection is better than a fake promise. Mates are supposed to be together for life, a mate is a gift from the Moon Goddess. You choose to reject me before even getting to know me. It was pathetic on my part to even think for a second that you would accept me as a mate. Despite everything you did to me Xavier, I still had hope that being mates would mean something to you but you proved to me yet again that you are nothing but a cold and empty shell of a werewolf. You did not give me a chance and now, I hope you enjoy the rest of your life being mateless. Furthermore, you abused me for years on end, each day the beatings getting worse. It pains me to know that my own mate would hurt me. I hate being mated to you as much as you do, trust me. Let us never meet again. "You hurt me more than I deserve because I loved you more than what you deserve."

Alec - What is a big brother? A big brother is a superhero, a protector, and most importantly, a friend. You are and will never be any of those things for me. Our parents would be so ashamed of you, you are all I have left, and yet you treated me worst than a slave. I lost my parents too Alec and I was so much younger than you when it happened. I miss them too Alec, every single day. You have no idea how much tears I shed for them. They were mine too Alec, we should have shared that pain and sorrow together as siblings but yet, I mourned alone. No one comforted me, no one told me that everything will be okay. No one told me that it was not my fault. I shouldered all of the blame and accusations all of these years and never once did you defend me. Ever since that accident took the life of mom and dad, you have bullied and abused me to the point where I felt broken inside, to the point where I was unfixable. But you know what? "Broken crayons still color" All these years of pain just made me stronger. I never want to see you again and I will never forgive you, Alec.

- Evangeline Marie Wisteria

I placed the letter on my bed and slung my backpack over my shoulders. I took a deep breath and made my way downstairs, looking left and right to see if the coast was clear of any pack members. I let out a breath of relief when I realized that everyone must already be at school or at work. I quickly left the house, quietly closing the door and headed towards the lush forest behind the packhouse."Ready Evangeline?" Winter asked me, I could hear the excitement in her voice. This is what pure freedom feels like.

"Ready Winter." My wolf pushed forward in my mind and took complete control of my body. I felt my bones snap and move into place as my paws, tail, and snout started to morph. My thick fur grew in completing the transformation, from human to werewolf. I have not shifted into my wolf in such a long time, it was liberating to finally adorn my beast side again. We blinked as the steely grey color of my human eyes changed into a brilliant cobalt blue, piercing, and twinkling. The transformation was complete, we shook out our pure snow-white coat which was glowing blindingly beneath the bright sunlight and stretched out our limbs, getting ready for the long journey ahead of us. "Goodbye Moonlight Pack." Our mixed voices of the beast and human sides spoke in harmony. We bolted into the forest, our paws pounding on the crispy leaves, never once looking back to our old life.

This is the beginning of our new life.