Chapter 1 Wolfless Girl

• One. Two. Three. Fou....., she counted till her stepmother's voice interrupted her.
• "WHERE IS MY BREAKFAST, IDIOT? WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW?" The words almost burst through the door; that was how loud her stepmother's voice was.
• A sigh left Ann's lips. Lifting the tray of the counter, she walked towards the room. Placing a gentle knock, she opened the door, stepped into the room, and closed the door behind her.
• "Good morning, stepmother," she greeted her with a polite smile, like she did every morning.
• "What is good about the morning? You are a minute and forty seconds late," she complained, sitting in front of her vanity as she fixed her hair into a tight bun. One could see how tight it was from the stretching of her facial features.
• "I am sorry about that. I will do better tomorrow," Ann quickly apologized as she lowered the tray onto the drawer beside her stepmother's bed.
• "Leave now before you ruin my day with your bad luck." Her stepmother dismissed her with a wave of her hand.
• Ann was quick to walk out of the room, letting out a sigh of relief as she made her way back to her room. Today was starting off well, she thought to herself. If you thought things were bad as they were, then you are greatly mistaken, because her stepmother was on another level of bitterness, and her words were always like venom that seeped through Ann's veins, poisoning her.
• She was grateful that no mean words were thrown at her and prayed it would remain that way throughout the day. Opening the worn-out door of her room, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her, placing a chair behind it to secure it in case someone tried to get in.
• Her room was small, the smallest in the mansion. She had a small bed close to the only window in the room with a thin mattress placed on top of it, followed by her handmade pillow. A table and a chair beside her bed were covered with books, as books were her only companions in her cruel world, an escape from her reality. She had a small bathroom at the end of the room with a small wardrobe where she kept her clothes, not that she had more than three dresses.
• Her eyes fell on a golden bracelet on her bed, and a sad smile appeared across her face. It was the only thing she had of her mother, as her stepmother made her father burn all her mother's things just a few weeks after her death.
• Annette was only six and did not remember much of her mother. She was always heartbroken to say this, but she couldn't even remember what her mother looked like anymore.
• A week after her mother's death, her stepmother, Margaret, and her proud daughter, Prudence, moved into the house. Ann forgot what peace and happiness meant after that day.
• She had been used, insulted, abused, and broken so many times that she no longer remembered what it was to be normal. All she knew was pain, and she craved it; it was the only thing keeping her sane.
• Her father had sometimes supported her and stopped her stepmother from abusing her, but that also changed after a particular night two years ago.
• It was her eighteenth birthday. Everyone was happy and excited, and like every normal child, she was supposed to get her wolf that night. Everyone was excited to see what kind of wolf she would be blessed with, but hours passed and nothing happened. All the other girls who turned eighteen that day had already bonded with their new wolves. Annette could never forget the look of disappointment and disgust on her father's face as he realized she was an Ordinary, an outcast, cast off by the Moon Goddess herself.
• Ann desperately prayed it was all a mistake, that she would get her wolf and regain all the love, respect, and regard she deserved. But she was wrong; the Moon Goddess had indeed made her an outcast.
• She remembered crying for days, wishing she had died instead of facing the humiliation, but the Moon Goddess was cruel enough to make her continue living.
• Her living conditions went from bad to worse. Her father completely ignored her, even when she was tortured in his presence; he turned a blind eye. This cruelty wasn't only meted out in her house, but also in the town she lived in. People avoided her like a plague, and those who didn't make it their life's mission to make her life hell, and they succeeded.
• Ann waited for the tears in her eyes to fall, but as always, they never did. She doubted she had any tears left to shed. She pulled off her clothes and walked to the bathroom to take a cold shower, as the water heater wasn't installed in her bathroom.
• She dried her wet body, dressed in a pair of black jeans, a big black polo shirt, and worn-out black sneakers. She made her hair into two braids and held them together at the back.
• Grabbing her glasses and bag, she walked out of her room towards the kitchen, where she ate the remains of her family's meals, as that was the only thing she was allowed to eat.
• She left the house without speaking to anyone, as usual, and walked to her university, which was a fifteen-minute walk from her house.
• She noticed other students in their cars, laughing with their friends in happiness, and she couldn't help but feel jealous, hoping one-day things would change, and she would be able to get all the things she only dreamed of.
• As she stood at the entrance to Lincoln University, she took a deep breath, chanting her everyday mantra: "No matter what happens today, you will survive this. You are brave.
• After chanting it multiple times, she finally took a step forward and walked into the school.