You Never Series Book 1: You Never Knew Me

I’m the Alpha’s secret daughter. Born to be hidden, or so they keep telling me. But I can feel it. I’m too powerful to sit on the sidelines. And after shifting for the first time, now I know it.

Eighteen next week. Valedictorian. Smarter than anyone in the damn Half Moon Pack, yet invisible to them all. Except Damien, the golden boy I secretly keep afloat with my tutoring, the alpha’s heir. My half-brother. My rival. My shame.

My mother, of course, never says anything to defend me. She’s smart and beautiful. Long blonde hair, blue eyes. A curvy body that she takes excellent care of. She’s the alpha’s true mate. His goddess mate, but his luna is his chosen mate. Luna Diana is from a strong pack where her father is the alpha.

A week after he chose Luna Diana as his mate, he met my mother, a weak wolf from a small pack that was being overrun by rogues. My father was the alpha who answered the call for help. He went to the Silver Crest Pack and helped to train and strengthen the pack to fight the rogues.

Upon meeting my mother, the alpha discovered she was his goddess mate, so naturally, he took her back with him and set her up in a small cottage where he could be with her whenever his wolf needed.

Of course, Luna Diana knew. The bond between her and the alpha consistently revealed when he cheated on her with my mother. I can’t imagine it was easy for her to live in the shadows of a goddess mate until fate stepped in.

Not long after bringing her to the pack, my mother was pregnant. So, too, was the Luna.

Damien and I were born a week apart. His arrival was celebrated with feasts, blessings, and pride. My birth was barely whispered about. When I turned twelve, I overheard the truth.

I shouldn’t have been there. I stayed home sick while my mother entertained the alpha. I heard them after—heard his voice as he laughed.

“Her? Christine, she’s nothing. You’ll be lucky if that girl even shifts. Weak. Pathetic. Sometimes I wonder if she’s even mine.”

His words caused my mother to cry. That day, I knew two things:

One—he was my father.

Two—he would regret underestimating me.

My name is Lyric Johannes. Here, I am no one. A nobody.

But I am not an omega. I am not weak.

I am more alpha than Damien will ever be.

I keep their secret, because power thrives in silence. My father’s betrayal. My mother’s weakness. The Luna’s hatred. They’ve built a cage of shame around me.

My name is Lyric Johannes. Here, I’m nobody. The bastard hidden in the shadows.

But soon?

They will know my name.

They will know my wolf.

They will know the danger they raised in silence.

I am Alpha Marco DeLong’s bastard. His original sin. His disgrace.

And one day very soon...I’ll be his downfall.

I’ve made myself invisible. To avoid the boys—and the whispers—I dress in baggy clothes, let my long, almost-white hair fall across my face, and slouch like I’m shrinking. Tall or not, I vanish into the background. I speak only when forced. Blend in, survive, repeat.

Pretending invisibility is easier than being noticed. It lets me sit, listen, watch, and know more than anyone suspects. Every word, every plan—my advantage. I’m always one step ahead.

I pretend I don’t have a wolf. But Sadie exists, massive, silver-white, lethal—and deliciously untamed. She’s vicious yet shy, hides her scent, refuses to shift in front of anyone. A predator cloaked in white silk. Her power hums through me, a forbidden thrill.

“It’s for your safety,” Sadie once said. “The pack doesn’t deserve us… but one day, they’ll know.”

So I pretend. Wolfless, harmless, invisible. But Sadie gives me the edge—hearing sharper than theirs, speed unmatched, a shadow moving while they sleep. My only fun in years.

I’m barred from training. Barred from pack events. Barred from living. Luna Diana sees me, though. She watches. She hates that I exist. I can’t blame her. I am the living, breathing proof of her mate’s infidelity, paraded at her expense by his whims.

But I’m not the one who slept with him—or continues to. I’m the collateral. Betrayed by birth. No one claimed me. Not my pack, not my parents.

Per Luna’s rules, I exist in the tiny room under the stairs near the kitchen. I’m allowed scraps of food. Hand-me-down clothing. I’m allowed to serve, clean, tutor her precious golden boy—and earn nothing. I am allowed to live like a ghost among the privileged.

Sometimes, I wonder what would happen if I didn’t do what I’m allowed and instead did something for myself. But it will all happen soon enough. I’m counting down the days.

Until then, I fake it.

I keep my head down, keep my voice down, and keep a small, unsuspecting smile on my face. An IT college in New York has already offered me a full-ride scholarship. Only one teacher knows—Mr. Marshall. He’s from another allied pack nearby. He advised me to apply to the tech colleges and elite universities. When I told him the alpha wouldn’t pay and might not let me go, Mr. Marshall was the one who reminded me I was not a member of the alpha’s pack.

“Neither is your mother. Technically, you are a member of the Silver Crest Pack,” he said.

I applied. Mr. Marshall let me use his address, and the acceptance letters poured in. One school in New York offered everything—tuition, room and board, books. I immediately secured my enrollment. It’ll get me far away from here, this pack, and my father.

Graduation and turning eighteen are a week away. I practice my valedictorian speech in my head as I move through the streets, watching and listening, my cloak of invisibility firmly in place, judging from the blank stares of those I encounter.

It’s going to be the speech to end all speeches, calling out the almighty alpha on his cheating behavior.

If it throws my mother under the bus, so be it.

I smile to myself and hear Sadie’s huff of agreement.

The week can’t go by fast enough.