HIS REDEEMING LIGHT

Raven jerked from sleep due to the loud sound of thumping on her door. She sat up immediately and looked around her, slowly coming to her senses. When she finally came through, she recalled that she was in the pack house and her dusty old room.

"You lazy brat! Get out of the room right now!" She heard a feminine, middle-aged voice boom from the other side of the door. It belonged to the chief cook of the Pack, who was in charge of cooking, and Raven was directly under her. Raven came to her senses and slipped out of bed before making her way to the door.

The moment she opened the door, she was not surprised to see Mrs. Linda's icy glare as she regarded her. She sneered at Raven, "What do you think you are doing still sleeping by this time? Do you think you are a VIP or something?" She gave a contemptuous hiss as she turned around and stepped away.

Raven watched her as she left, not in any way surprised by her rude attitude. It has always been like that in the pack. There were ranks, and the lowest in the pack did not have the privilege to be treated as anything important.

Not to mention, Raven was the lowest of them all. She was the daughter of the abominable traitors in the pack. Raven sighed as she recalled the past. She was just 13 years old when her parents were suddenly declared traitors and officially condemned.

Her life went from all roses to hell at that same moment, and she had no idea how it all came to be. All she knew was that one moment, she was a regular teenage werewolf attending the pack school, and then the next moment, she was the lowest member of the pack and the slave which everyone ridiculed.

But everything was going to end today - hopefully. She was turning 18 today and hopefully would meet her mate. She was anxious as hell and also anticipated what the encounter would be like.

She couldn't help it. She had been at the lowest point for so long that she had placed all her hopes on meeting her mate and hoped he was one of the important members of the pack.

One thing about the packs in the werewolf territory was that the moment one was exiled or left their pack, they would never be accepted in any other pack and would be treated as a rogue and hunted from time to time. She had once thought of escaping the pack and all the hardship, but she was also quite well aware of the suffering waiting outside.

So she had her fingers crossed, hoping for a mate that would be able to protect her from the suffering in the pack. As she thought of this, she had already reached the entrance of the kitchen.

Mrs. Linda was in there with a tall and slender figure, which Raven was quite familiar with standing across her. It was one of the betas and the future Luna of the pack, Nadia. She was Raven's most hated person in the pack. They both hated each other's guts. However, unlike Nadia, Raven was never able to express her hatred knowing Nadia was totally out of her league.

As Raven stepped in, the two women looked toward her, not even attempting to disguise their supposed contempt for her. Raven, however, managed to mask her expression and greeted both of them to avoid getting picked on for the most unreasonable reasons.

"Good morning, beta. Good morning, Chef Linda."

Nadia didn't bother to answer. However, Mrs. Linda snorted, "What's that good about the morning?"

Raven didn't answer and merely lowered her head, focusing on her tasks. She had transformed the night before and met her wolf, Sage, for the second time, so she had her fingers crossed in anticipation of meeting her mate. And she was not about to let just anything get in the way of her freedom.

The two ladies saw that she didn't pay them attention and soon dispersed.

---

Raven's POV

"Now, that's a whole lot of people," Theo said as he stood by one of the pillars of the main pack house, watching the crowd trooping toward the field where the coming-of-age ceremony would be held.

I also looked over and nodded in agreement as I folded my arms.

"Aren't you going over?" I asked, giving him a side glance. He was, after all, one of the social butterflies of the pack.

"I am. Later on." He gave me a scrutinizing look. "You're not coming, are you?"

I looked back at the train of people before answering, "I am. Today is my coming of age, too."

"I know." He clasped his palms and looked at me. "How was it?"

"Successful," I reiterated with a small smile. Of all the things going around the pack, transforming earlier that day was the best thing that could ever happen to me. Sage was a beautiful wolf; she was brownish with a few specks of black in her fur and on her forehead.

My only concern was that when I looked into the water and saw her reflection, she seemed a little smaller than normal wolves. But that shouldn't be a concern, should it?

"What's her name?"

A smile formed on my lips. "Sage."

"Hmm. That sounds like a nice name. So you're expecting to meet your mate?"

I fell silent at his sudden deviation of a topic, feeling a little sheepish. Sure, Theo and I were rather close, and unlike the other members of the pack, he at least treated me well.

But regardless, I couldn't possibly fill him in with details of my attempt to find a prominent man as a means to escape the torture of the pack.

But I nodded anyway. "Yes, I am. Aren't you?"

"I'm not sure." He sighed. For some reason, I could feel frustration reeling off him in bulk. It had been three years since Theo's coming of age, but he still hadn't found his mate, and I could tell he was very anxious.

"If I don't meet her tonight," he suddenly quipped after a long minute of silence. "I might have to leave the pack. My parents are trying to get me to marry Elder Luke's daughter, and they're rather insistent."