You can’t go with them,” Selene’s mother cried. Her face crumpled as if she were in pain and she probably was. She had raised Selene for a choosing ceremony she hadn’t been chosen for.

Selene held her mother against her, patting her hair down. Her bag was open on her bed, half-packed. She had been given fifteen minutes before she was to leave with the alphas.

Her stomach stirred in excitement; she was looking forward to seeing something other than the scorn of the village. Her mother ...