The Alpha's Invisible Mate

On the day she became a laughingstock, Elara turned sixteen.

She stood before the old oval mirror in her room, looking at the girl within. Baby fat clung stubbornly to her cheeks, and a roll of fat peeked out from under the hem of her old T-shirt, as if mocking her.

Sixteen. She was supposed to have blossomed into a beautiful young woman, not… this. She had tried dieting, only to end up dizzy from hunger and binging uncontrollably late at night. She had tried running, but was left breathless and feeling like she was about to die after just a few steps.

A failure. A complete failure.

Elara's older brother, Ethan, had once told her that the blessing ceremony on one's sixteenth birthday was special. On that day, you could make any wish to the Moon Goddess, and it would be heard.

She held no hope for it. Would the Moon Goddess favor someone like her? A girl who even despised herself?

She sighed, grabbed the blessing ribbon for the ceremony from her desk, and pushed the door open to leave.

Just as she reached the road outside her house, three older boys in red basketball jerseys blocked her path. The one in the lead was Marcus, flanked by Leo and Finn.

“Hey, piggy,” Marcus said with a grin, his eyes filled with malice.

Elara’s heart sank. She lowered her head, trying to walk around them.

But Leo snatched the ribbon from her hand. "What's this? A blessing ribbon? You planning to wish for a mate from the Goddess?"

Finn let out an exaggerated laugh. "Then you two can have a whole litter of piglets! Haha!"

"Give it back," Elara's voice was as quiet as a mosquito's buzz.

"What? I can't hear you," Marcus cupped a hand to his ear, feigning attentiveness.

"Give it back to me!" She mustered her courage and yelled, looking up.

The smile vanished from Marcus's face. He stepped forward and shoved Elara to the ground. The ribbon fluttered into the dirt, and a sharp pain shot through her knee.

"A fatty, and daring to speak so loudly," he spat contemptuously, then walked away laughing with his friends.

Elara lay on the ground, tears finally breaking free, mixing with the dirt.

She didn't know how she got through the ceremony that evening. After it ended and everyone had left, she dragged her injured leg to the empty lunar altar alone.

She knelt on the cold stone slabs, her dress stained with mud. She looked up at the pristine moon in the night sky.

"Moon Goddess," she sobbed, her voice hoarse, "please…"

Tears blurred her vision. The stolen ribbon, the piercing mockery, the fat on her body she couldn't get rid of—all the pain and humiliation erupted at this moment.

"I want to be slim!" she cried out, over and over again. "I want to be slim! Please, just let me be slim!"

"I don't want to be laughed at anymore… I want… to be worthy of love…"

She prayed repeatedly, almost manically, until her voice was completely gone.

Just then, the moonlight suddenly grew unnaturally bright, pouring over her like liquid silver. A deep, ancient energy descended, filled with curiosity, as if it were examining her. Then, as quickly as it came, the energy vanished, as if nothing had happened.

The next morning, Elara woke up in her own bed. She thought last night was just a nightmare, until she raised her hand and saw a mark on her wrist that had never been there before—a bright red crescent moon.

She sat up in shock.

That night, she had a dream. In it, she stood in a dark forest, and a pair of enormous golden eyes watched her from the darkness. It was a wolf, a wolf of impossible size.

A low, magnetic voice echoed in her mind.

"You called me. Now, you are mine."

Elara jolted awake from the dream, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.