Wolves of Nightingale

Ainsley

Rain pelts my window—a dreary backdrop colliding against the coziness of my bedroom. My fireplace blazes across the way from me, warming my toes after the long run I’d gotten back from a few moments ago, right as the rain had really started to come down and drench me to the bone.

I don’t mind, though. This is my favorite kind of weather.

Curling up in my favorite cozy robe in my window nook, a blanket draped over my lap, and a warm mug of tea balanced carefully next to me—it’s the perfect way to spend my weekend.

Well, it would be if I wasn’t currently staring down at an envelope that may change my life completely, my hands shaky as I hold it.

I’d been waiting for it for a few weeks, religiously checking the P.O. Box I’d opened in town every single day as I’d passed by during my rotation. Yesterday, I’d all but given up, yet today as I opened the hinged door to that small thirty-five-dollar-a-month box one last time, there it had been sitting. Waiting for me.

Now I’m too scared to open it. Too afraid that inside there will be a letter telling me, or rather solidifying the fact, that my life won’t be changing. That I’ll be stuck in Redmoon for the rest of my life.

Come on, Ainsley. Just rip it open and get it over with.

Blowing out a breath, I quickly turn the envelope over before I can chicken out again and slide my nail under the flap, separating it from the body. Inside is a single sheet of paper, neatly folded into threes.

My heart sinks.

No…

My shoulders sink.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Nightingale University is the most prestigious human school in the state. Their literature program is top-notch and hard as nails to get into. Only about five percent of their applicants are actually accepted into it and are usually kids of former alumni.

Why I ever thought I’d be good enough to bypass the rigorous social hierarchy is stupid. No, even worse than that. I’ve been downright delusional trying to apply in the first place.

I should’ve known the goddess had different plans for me. Ones that never wavered from my place here with the pack. As the daughter of the Redmoon pack’s alpha, I’ll be next in line to take it over once my father steps down, and I’m mated to another alpha, becoming our pack’s luna.

That’s my destiny, after all, and has been since birth. Why I ever thought I could go against fate is beyond stupid.

Though, with my father’s ever-moving goal post, I’ll be lucky if that day ever happens. I can never measure up in the man’s eyes, no matter how hard I try. My father rarely ever sees me as anything beyond an embarrassment to our pack, and he’s been refusing to let any alpha into our territory to try and court me.

Not that I really care about that, anyway. Less alphas to distract me from my books.

The letter is crisp and textured when I run my thumb over the face of it after pulling it out of the envelope. At least NGU’s rejection letters are sent on nice cardstock. Maybe once I have had time to mourn the loss of my dream, I’ll come to appreciate that.

Unfolding it carefully, I spot NGU’s insignia at the top of it, along with my name and the posted date.

Dear Ainsley Lovett, it’s our pleasure to inform you of your acceptance into Nightingale University.

My mouth drops open. There’s… there’s no way?

This is a formal letter to inform you of our decision. In the next coming weeks, you will be receiving a welcome packet, along with instructions on how to submit your rooming preferences, if there are any. Please feel free to—

“No way,” I whisper in disbelief.

I got in.

Oh, goddess, I could cry! Maybe there are better plans for my future than staying here and becoming the next luna. Maybe I really am meant to follow my grandmother’s advice and become a literary scholar just like she once did.

She’s going to be so excited.

A sharp knock at my door has me scrambling over to my bed and lifting up the mattress to shove the letter and envelope under it. I can’t let anyone know about this. My father will be furious.

The second I slip my hand out from under my mattress, my bedroom door suddenly swings open.

“Hey!” I scramble to tighten my robe around myself. “You know it’s polite to wait for people to tell you to come in. What if I was changing?”

My cousin, Cambria, rolls her eyes as she steps into my room. Her dark blonde hair is pulled back in a high ponytail that sways as she moves. “Uncle Cyrus told me to come get you. Dinner is being served.”

The urge in me to turn and look at my clock is hard to resist. Why is my father calling me down for dinner so soon after my patrol? It’s not even nightfall yet.

“Hurry up.” Cambria’s glare is icy. “He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

Oh, I know that all too well, unfortunately.

“Yeah, sure, fine. I’ll be right down. Can you close the door when you leave?”

She narrows her eyes at me. Whether or not she senses the shift in my body posture isn’t all that clear, though her nostrils do flare as she scents the air. I try to remain as calm and cool as I can, not wanting to give away my earlier excitement and entice her into asking about it.

While I’m not a practiced liar, I am pretty good at hiding stuff from my family. Especially when it comes to my interests. My father hates humans and anything that has to do with them, so if he ever found out I had a huge interest in human literature or anything to do with their culture, I’d be dragged down to the dungeon by my hair.

Cambria stands there for another excruciatingly long moment before finally rolling her eyes and turning around. “Whatever.”

My teeth grind together the moment she steps back out into the hallway and leaves my door wide open, doing the exact opposite of what I asked her to do. So typical of her. As my only cousin, she’s always given me the hardest time out of anyone. For what reason, I’ll never know, nor do I intend to care enough to find out.

I have enough on my plate when it comes to my dad’s temperamental moods.

Quickly heading over to the door, I kick it shut and lock it before breathing out a slow sigh.

I’m not going to let this dinner get me down or Cambria. Not when I actually got accepted to my dream school.

My face practically splits in half from my grin.

I can’t wait to tell my grandmother.

***

I tug down the thin layers of my dress before entering the dining room.

The room is lit with candles, both on the table and hanging above from the chandelier, giving the entire space a warm, ambient glow.

The table is already set with the fine china, accompanied by gold polished silverware that matches the gold centerpieces. Greenery is woven between them, lush looking and scented softly of pine. In two of the vase centerpieces are bouquets of dried flowers, dark maroons and oranges to go along with the change in season.

I take my seat near the head of the table, nodding to one of my father’s personal servants, who quickly pulls my wingback chair out for me to sit and then pushes it in behind me.

My father is already seated with a glass of red wine poured by his hand while he drums his fingers. Across the table from me is Cambria’s parents—her father is my own’s beta. But no Cambria.

Odd.

Down the rest of the way is our extended family, already chatting quietly amongst themselves as they apparently all patiently awaited my arrival.

“What took you so long?” my father asks. “It’s been nearly a half hour.”

Just as I’m about to defend myself, Cambria enters the dining room. “Uncle, look what I found in Ainsley’s room.”

Her lips are twisted in a triumphant grin, and she’s holding something behind her back.

My heart sinks as I remember I hadn’t locked the door to my bedroom behind me on my way down here.

No. No, no, no.

The moment Cambria slaps down my acceptance letter onto the table, I know my life is over.

“No!” I lunge for it, but it’s no use.

My father is already lifting it from the table, unfolding the perfectly creased edges and reading the letterhead, along with the first line, before pinning his eyes back to me again.

“She hid it under her mattress,” Cambria sings.

“What is it?” my uncle asks, curious.

My life is over.

“Ainsley. What is this?”

My stomach twists. “I—”

This is literally a nightmare come true. All of my carefully kept secrets are now being forced out into the open for all of my family to see. For my father to see.

“It’s not what you think.” Though even to my own ears, my words sound insincere. Hollow.

“I smelled her lies the moment I went up to tell her to come down for dinner,” Cambria continues to brag. “She was acting like she just got caught with something. So I knew it had to be good.”

My father slowly rises from his chair, his hand shaking when he raises it to point at me with the letter still in his hand. “What. Is. This?”

My words fail me. There’s nothing that can save me now from whatever punishment is about to come my way. A few weeks in the dungeon? Banned from ever stepping foot outside of the mansion ever again? A detail put on me to watch me at all times to make sure I don’t dare go back into town where the humans are?

Or worse—my father raiding my room and shoving all of my precious books into the fire.

“Please,” I choke out. Even if it takes me getting on my hands and knees and begging, I will, so long as it doesn’t come to him taking the things I’ve worked so hard acquiring.

“You deliberately went behind my back and applied to a human school? For what, to embarrass the family further than you already have?”

I shake my head quickly.

“You…” He puts a hand over his face, disbelief evident in his voice. “You stoop to new lows every single day. What did I do for the goddess to curse me with a daughter like you?”

The words are like knives to my chest. I should expect them by now, be used to them, even. But the insults never fail to hurt me every time they’re thrown my way.

It’s no secret to anyone that my father has hated me ever since my mother gave birth to me and then died shortly after. He’s held resentment for me from birth, and no matter how many years have passed since then, that truth has never changed.

I refuse to apologize, though. Not when I’ve only been living my life.

When my father finally drops his hand from his face, he crushes the letter in the other, crumbling it and then tossing it onto his empty plate. The rest of the dining room remains completely silent, waiting for his judgment.

“Ainsley Lovett, you have brought shame to this pack. There is nothing left that I can do to change you—or your ways. I’m done trying to help you be what this pack needs. You’ve obviously made your choice and have chosen to side with the humans. Therefore, I will be banishing you to go live with them. Effective immediately.”

My mouth drops open while the rest of the dining room guests gasp in horror.

“W-what?” I’m too stunned to manage anything else.

My father ignores me, turning to two of his enforcers waiting by the entryway. “Escort her out of the territory immediately.”