“Did you go with the hunters again, Lexi?” She heard their mother ask her half-sister Lexi the very moment she entered their small bungalow house.

From the sink where she was washing the plates, she took a swift glance at what was happening in their living room from a small opening in the furniture were their books where placed. She saw how Lexi rolled her eyes before she looked at their mother and pasted her faked smile – covering her irritation towards their mother’s possible interrogation, well, more of a litany perhaps.

Shea mentally heaved a deep sigh as she continued washing the plates instead. It wasn’t new to her anyway. Her half-sister was truly stubborn, and she always did what she wanted to do. She couldn’t blame her, though. She was a seventeen-year-old lady with a tough, strong, and independent personality.

Maybe she was trying to find her mate, too. Unlike her, she couldn’t do what she was doing – lurking in the woods, being with a lot of male wolves, and socializing with them.

“Mother, we didn’t even go another mile away. So, spare me, please. I am so exhausted.” Lexi tried to act as if she was pleading for their mother to leave her alone.

Sandra, their mother, let out a deep sigh and squinted her eyes at Lexi.

“Stop going out with them! They are all bad influences!” Sandra annoyedly reminded her again.

This time, Lexi felt so rebellious that she angrily stood up and faced their mother’s irritated face.

“At least, they are teaching me how to become stronger, Mother. Unlike someone I know, who is trying to be strong, she is the weakest among all of our pack. I can’t believe that after all this time, she just couldn’t make her inner wolf strong. She can’t even shift in a snap nor remain in her wolf form for five minutes.” She sardonically stated as she wickedly looked at her with a vicious smile on her face.

Shea bit her lower lip. She knew that Lexi was talking about her – teasing her – once again. She was so aware of the fact that she was really a weak wolf – the weakest to be exact. But she was trying her best to shift and remain in her wolf form. However, she just couldn’t do it.

“Lexi!” Sandra instantly called her daughter, but Lexi just stood up and proceeded to her room without even saying anything.

Sandra let out a loud breath as she frustratedly held her head – couldn’t find any other possible way to straighten out Lexi’s hard-headed attitude.

Shea felt like she had been part of her mother’s problems once again. She knew somehow that Lexi had been holding grudges against her – which she didn’t know what. She always did that to her – pointing out her mistakes, her weaknesses, and always finding a way to humiliate her.

“Leandro, Lexi went out with the hunters again.” Sandra told her husband about Lexi’s escapades a while ago.

But like any other time, Leandro just gave her a proud smile.

“Great. What did she catch this time?” He smilingly inquired.

Her mother’s face grimaced just by hearing about what he said.

“Leandro, Lexi is a woman! And those friends of hers are bad influences! Have you seen who she is with? She’s with the son of our Alpha! I already told her that they were doing things that they were not supposed to be. The other packs are already too mad at us.” Sandra angrily explained.

Leandro groaned at his wife’s litanies.

“Stop this nonsense, Sandra! I trust Lexi and I know that she knows what she is doing. Just mind your daughter, who can’t even shift into her own wolf. She is just too weak! She’s almost eighteen and she couldn’t even find her mate?! What the heck is she?” He mockingly retorted back – making her mother shut her mouth and just growl at him.

Instead of going to their dining table to eat, she stepped back to her own room and locked herself inside. She didn’t want to hear any of it anymore.

Shea’s eyes blurred as she leaned against the closed door. She should have been used to how his stepfather and Lexi’s words were – especially to her. But she still felt the hurt and the sadness that were lingering inside her. She felt her body weakening as she weakly sat on the cold wooden floor.

She covered her mouth with her hands to stifle the sobs that might escape into her mouth.

“Shea?” Her mother’s voice resonated from the other side of the door before she heard her knock.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and bit her lower lip to compose herself.

“Dinner is ready. Come on.” She heard her mother said, before knocking on her door once again.

“I…” She must have been saying the words, but they just came out of her like a whisper.

She cleared her throat.

“I am not hungry, M-Mother.” Her voice almost broke, and she instantly took a deep breath before clearing her throat once again.

“I am sleepy.” She tried to reason it out.

She heard her mother let out a deep sigh.

“Okay, then. But I will leave you some food in the fridge. You can just heat it up later if you feel hungry, okay?” Her mother’s sweet voice told her.

“O-Okay.” She softly replied.

She bit her lower lip once again as she felt her mother walk away in front of her door. She felt her fresh tears flow freely in her cheeks. She didn’t want to face them again. She was sure that Lexi and her father would just mock her throughout the entire time. She might also get constipation because of them.

Shea folded her legs and rested her arms on her knees before leaning into her arms. She just missed her father – even though she was just adopted by the Vestine Clan.

Ellis Vestine – his late father – had found her in the woods near the South Side. Since they didn’t have a child, Ellis and Sandra Vestine adopted her. They were the best parents for her – that they filled the gap that her real parents should have had. For her, they were more than what her real parents were.

They had given her comfort, love, and care. They treated her as their own daughter – regardless of her unknown identity. She had been very grateful to them.

That’s why when her father died, more than a decade ago, she was shattered and lost. Her mother almost lost herself, if she hadn’t stood up for them. She worked hard for herself and for her mother. She tried to go with the hunters, but they were always bullying her because of her weak inner wolf. She couldn’t even shift flawlessly, and if she shifted into her wolf form, she couldn’t remain in her wolf form for even five minutes.

She just sowed fruits and vegetables in their garden. She was scared that if she went hunting by herself, she would just end up being hurt. She didn’t want to leave her mother behind.

After five years, her mother recovered and met Leandro Lane, Lexi’s father. He was already a widower like her mother. They decided to get married because of the ‘connection’ that her stepfather was talking about.

Shea let out a deep breath as she felt exhausted because of the tears that she cried.

Now, she knew what her mother was worried about. Three days from now is her eighteenth birthday. She knew the strange tradition of their pack. She knew what would happen if she still couldn’t find her mate.

Even Lexi was worrying about it because she was turning eighteen next month, but she knew that a lot of the male members of their pack wanted her. Even Connor, the son of the Alpha of their pack, always bullies her and mocks her. She wouldn’t have to worry about it, unlike her.

Because once she hadn’t found her mate at that time, she would be sent to the South Side – a place where the ruthless rogues, the wicked half-blooded werewolves, and a lot of bad bloods were located. And she knew that no one had ever escaped the South Side. Especially not her, not a weak wolf like her.

Shea walked into her bed while looking out her window – more specifically, at the moon, which was full and illuminating brightly in the dark night sky.

She placed her arms into the frame and rested her chin in her arms as her eyes never left the moon. Her heart was hoping for a miracle – the moon’s miracle that would save her from being sent into the South Side.

Shea was deeply hoping to find her mate soon. And she was hoping to find a mate that was kind, caring, and a strong man – who would protect her, just like her father. She was deeply hopeful even though she knew that it was impossible to happen.

With that thought in mind, she finally fell asleep.