Chapter 1 Matilda's POV

The third year in Alpha Prime academy was the year the alphas in my class, whom I had been training for a year, turned twenty-one.

Once the moon was out, as long as the alpha was born in that year, he received his wolf, and with all the training that he had gotten from the age of twelve, he put it into action for another year. Then a coronation took place after he had proven himself as a worthy alpha to his pack.

That night at the banquet, I watched my students dance in the hall as they graduated to their final year in Alpha Prime Academy. I trained alpha princes from different packs, and I had sixteen students at that time.

I had never been close to any students like I was with my current students who were now leaving.

As much as I wanted them to stay, they had to move to their final class, and only the top-ranked wolf could train the students of that class—the final class. And I wasn't a top-ranked wolf. I was a second-ranked wolf.

So it was time to step down and trained the next set of students.

I had walked out of the great hall, leaving behind the music and laughter because I was trying to avoid my princes. They were all flirts, and they broke my heart by dancing with princesses. They thought I didn't see them.

It wasn't new for students of mine to flirt with me even though I was far older. I didn't appear as old as I was because of my appearance, skin, and stature.

I looked slender and timid on the outside, but my wolf was more powerful than what anyone saw on the outside, and that was my power. My strength. My pride.

At the end of the never-ending corridor was a golden oak door, which I pushed open to behold the moonlit royal garden where roses swayed in the night breeze.

I didn't read many books, but the garden reminded me of the books I read. Dreamy and imaginary.

Crickets chirped from the shadows while insects buzzed softly among the flowers. Their sounds filled the quiet night.

The thought of being alone in this space made me excited, made my wolf excited.

So I raked my hand through the flowers as I walked between them, humming the music that was playing at the banquet.

I swirled.

I was thirty-one years old and still hadn't found my mate. I had been on adventures, travelled through different packs, but no one.

I felt no string. I perceived no bond. Every moment, I was left hoping, hoping for something impossible.

But I had a job and a family of seven. I was never alone, even while I was alone, craving romance and love, or safety.

What was a woman without a man? What was a she-wolf without her he-wolf? That was my world.

Female wolves blessed by the Moon Goddess with either a red-eyed wolf, silver-eyed wolf, white-furred wolf, or silver-furred wolf had been assigned as trainers in Alpha Prime Academy, the only academy that existed for werewolves in the entire world, and it was only meant for royal he-wolves.

To train them before they received their wolves at twenty-one, and then they'd spend their final year using what they have learned to activate their wolves and prove their worth.

I always felt that such a law and strategy wasn't right.

Only two out of ten women were blessed with special wolves, which was why we trained nonstop and ended up becoming teachers.

Everything eventually summed up to being useful to the he-wolves.

Unfortunately, as powerful as I was as a white-furred wolf, second-rank, I was only useful in the academy and as much as I wanted to live my life enjoying the night breeze in the garden, I needed a man to survive.

Papa was getting old and would retire soon. Who would cater for my siblings, my mother and me when he became jobless?

I could get married to a man who wasn't my mate, but I hoped. I wanted to fall in love. I wanted my mate.

Or had the Moon Goddess forgotten about me?

The full moon hung like a silver jewel in the night sky, its gentle glow washing over everything below.

It was time.