Something’s wrong tonight.

I can feel it before I even open my eyes — a prickling along the back of my neck, like the air is watching me.

The sound that wakes me isn’t my alarm. It’s a howl.

Not the friendly, rolling call of my pack, but a sharp, lonely sound from far away.

It doesn’t belong here.

My eyes snap open to darkness, the kind that feels heavier than usual. The moonlight spilling through my curtains looks pale and cold, as if it’s keeping its distance.

I reach for my phone out of habit. The familiar blue glow washes over me, pushing back the shadows.

And there it is a stupid meme.

A wolf in sunglasses, teeth bared, captioned:

“Alpha problems? Just bite them back.”

It’s ridiculous. Comfortingly ridiculous.

I send it to Kira, even though she’s probably asleep. The quiet in my room presses in a little closer.

Nights like this are why I don’t like sleeping.

The whole world feels paused, waiting for something to happen. But nothing ever does. Not to me.

Seventeen full moons, and the Moon Goddess still hasn’t sent me a single mate dream. No visions. No mysterious faces. No glowing certainty that someone out there belongs to me.

Everyone else has theirs.

Me? I get memes.

The Elders say “patience.” My mom says “in time.”

But when you’re the only wolf left waiting, patience feels a lot like being forgotten.

I tell myself I don’t care.

I tell myself I like my own space eating cereal at 3 a.m., staying up too late, not having to explain myself to anyone.

And most of the time, I believe it.

Except on nights like this.

The howl comes again closer this time. My skin prickles.

I turn my attention back to my phone, scrolling through posts, trying to bury the unease under familiar distractions. Pictures, jokes, random pack updates.

The glow of the screen flickers once.

I frown, thinking it’s just my battery. But then the feed stops.

And an ad appears.

Not just any ad. This one moves.

The background is a deep midnight blue, dotted with faint silver stars. A crescent moon glows in the center, a heart-shaped icon pulsing beneath it in slow, steady beats.

MOONLINKED

Find Your Fated Mate.

No Dreams Required.

The silver heart throbs once, twice. The rhythm feels… alive.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, the unease sharpens.

I’ve heard of apps like this — gimmicks for wolves who haven’t gotten their mate dream yet. They’re not real. Just digital comfort food for the desperate.

I’m not desperate.

Still, the glow around the heart shifts, like it knows I’m watching.

The tagline changes:

“Because some mates can’t wait for dreams.”

A faint sound threads through the background music soft, like wind over pine trees. Or maybe a voice, just on the edge of hearing.

My thumb hovers over the download button.

For a moment, I’m tempted

Then the howl echoes a third time, louder, as if it’s right outside the edge of our territory.

I scroll past.

I wondered in fear!! I taught for a while deeply if download the app would be a decision I would regret.

But even after the ad vanishes, I can still feel it that same heavy air, the same prickling sense that something is waiting for me in the dark.

Something I just told to wait a little longer.

Kira would be fast asleep. I was afraid feeling some movement in the air but I couldn't see them, My mom in the other hand is in her room I managed to find myself walking towards her bedroom she was also fast asleep.

I went to bedroom in fear, my heart beating so fast. it was 2am I decided to look for a way to sleep off.

I was different in the family from my mother to my cousins.my appearance is different and required questioning but my mom knew about everything without telling me, my behaviour was different my kind was rare not knowing I had a four fated mates..

As I lay back in bed, I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was off. Suddenly, my phone buzzed with an unknown number. "Who's this?" I texted back, my heart racing. The response came instantly: "You shouldn't have looked." I froze, my mind racing with questions. Who was this? How did they get my number? The darkness in my room seemed to close in around me. I tried to calm myself down, telling myself it was just a prank. But the words on the screen seemed to echo in my mind: "You shouldn't have looked." What did I look at? The Moonlinked ad? I thought back to the app's tagline: "Because some mates can’t wait for dreams