Prologue

***22 years ago***

“This is the dumbest idea you have come up with yet. We are going to get in so much trouble.”

I laughed at one of my buddies who was crouched behind a tree with the rest of us. There were five of us hiding behind trees, looking at the football game that was going on at the time.

“They are the ‘Lobos’! How is this not the greatest idea ever? Plus, it’s not like we are going to get caught!” The soon to be Alpha of the New Mexico pack, Felix, chastised his friend.

I smiled. “He’s right though. If your father catches us, not even the goddess could save our asses.”

“Oh come on Des, he can’t do shit to you! You’re already Alpha.”

Shaking my head, we watched the game. The University of New Mexico was not known for their football team and they were living up to that expectation. However, you wouldn’t know it by how rowdy their fans were being. It was as though they were number one. This was going to top my list of stupidest things I had ever done.

“Alright. Let’s get ready. It’s almost halftime.”

I took off my shirt and pants as the others did. I placed my boxers on the pile of folded clothed and stretched.

“Goddess Des, you’re a fucking beast.” I raised an eye at Felix, who had his hands on his hips staring at me.

“Not all of us have time to slack off. I’ve been Alpha for three years.”

“Yeah and yet here we are…” His friend Ken piped up.

Laughing, I shrugged. “If we don’t get caught, it’s fine.”

There was the roar of the crowd and we watched the band come out. There were also the cheerleaders and their mascot. I rolled my eyes. Next to me, Felix winked and shifted into his wolf form. He was a brown and black wolf, much like his friends. I took a breath and let my body shift. The bones cracking and separating, readjusting and forming again. My paws hit the ground and I looked at the boys, they were smaller than I was but I knew I stuck out far more as the only pure black wolf.

Felix barked and turned around, running toward the football game. We all followed and howled in unison. As we cleared the short fence of the outdoor field, we heard hoots and hollers from the crowd. However, the band and cheerleaders knew this was not part of the halftime show. We looped around the whole field, growling at the opposing team before howling again as we ran on the Lobo’s side. They were all standing and cheering.

We were only supposed to make one pass, then run back into the forest. As I passed the last set of bleachers, I caught a smell and I skidded to a halt. For the first time, I felt my wolf fight me for control. He snapped and howled, pushing against my control. I turned my head and slowly walked toward the bleachers. The cheerleaders started to scream but I didn’t care. I smelled my mate. The scent was flowery and sweet, my wolf eyes sweeping over the crowd.

Felix came over to me and tried to push me away but I snapped at him. He seemed to back away for a moment but then pushed me harder. He growled and finally, I turned, not able to find my mate immediately in the crowd. We raced off together, the whole football field erupting in chaos.

“What the fuck dude?” Felix shifted and so did I.

“I smelled my mate. Fucking hell, I need to go.” I started to walk out but Ken put a hand on me. I growled and he lifted his hands off.

“Des, you’re naked. The only place you would be going is jail.”

He was right and I turned, grabbing my clothes off the ground. I threw them on and walked past all four of them. The football stadium had all but cleared out, the game cancelled for fear of an attack from wolves. I hopped the short fence and stalked over to where I first started to smell my mate. They had been sitting near the back of the bleachers.

Following the scent, it looped around back and through the buildings. I followed it and the further I walked, the more I started to panic. My wolf was pacing back and forth in my head, also starting to worry. My pace picked up as I followed the scent to the parking lot. Looking around, there were a lot of people mulling around, after the game was cancelled. My eyes roamed over every car and I tried to follow the scent but it was cut off at an empty parking spot. I stared at it, whining.

A hand clasped my shoulder and I looked up to see Felix. He had a look of pity on his face. Shaking my head, I didn’t want to believe it. They had to be somewhere, had to get out somewhere. My heart was starting to pound harder, every beat hurting more.

“Maybe they are on the territory?”

I shook my head. “I’ve been all over that territory. I’ve never smelled this before. The sweetness…” My voice hushed, trying to calm my frantic heart.

“I wish I could help more.”

“I’m going to be out for a while. Tell Alpha I’ll speak to him when I get back.” I strode off, not waiting for Felix’s reply.

I couldn’t lose hope. Not yet. They had to be somewhere, had to stop somewhere. I didn’t even know what I was doing. Picking a direction at random, I just started to run. Hoping by some miracle I would pick up any trace of the scent. Anything that would lead me to my mate. Refusing to believe that I would be lost after finally being so close.

-

“Alpha Desmond!”

It was raining but I didn’t care. I snapped at the men that surrounded me, my canines elongated. It had been hours. I ran for hours, circling and even expanding my search past just the city. Aamon, my wolf, was close to taking over. My gold eyes reflecting in eyes of the werewolves around me. I snarled at them, they were blocking my way. I had to keep searching, I had to keep looking. My mate couldn’t just be gone.

“Alpha Desmond, I can’t allow you to continue like this. People have started to report you.” The Alpha of the local pack, Alpha Rowen, stepped forward.

I snapped and growled at him, my mind nearly lost to the despair I was drowning in.

“Felix told me what happened. I’m sorry but they aren’t here anymore. They are gone.”

Stepping forward, I wrapped my claws around his neck, lifting him up. While I was only eighteen, I knew I could overpower him. He didn’t scare me and neither did the growls of his pack members. His words that spewed out of his mouth couldn’t be true. The moon goddess was not so cruel to waltz my mate in front of me and then let me lose them. I refused to believe that.

“I’m sorry, Desmond.” There it was again, pity.

I threw the Alpha back into his pack and turned, snarling and growling at them. Closing my eyes, I smelled the rain, the desert, the sweat off my own body. The scent of flowers, the sweet scent was gone. It was gone and I felt Aamon finally retreat. I didn’t want control back through, it meant even Aamon had given up. Was that it? I would never meet my mate again? That was our only chance and I let it slip through my fingers?

My canines retracted and I fell to my knees. My hands dug into the ground, my eyes staring through the ground. I wouldn’t cry. I was a fucking Alpha. I was the strongest Alpha of my generation and I had the demon wolf in me. Nothing broke me.

“Dad, come on…” Felix was looking from me to his Alpha father.

“My hands are tied, Felix.” Alpha Rowen walked up to me and I was well aware of what he was going to say. “Alpha Desmond, you are to leave my pack territory. You are not welcome back after attacking another Alpha.”

My face screwed up in anger and pain. I pushed up off the ground and stood up, looking down at the older Alpha. “No one would want to be on this shit hole territory anyways.”

“You watch your mouth Desmond. I’m only kicking you off because I know how much pain you must be in.”

I glared at him, stepping closer. His guard around him snarling but not willing to get in between a fight of two Alpha’s. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you here with my bare hands. I can say whatever the hell I want.”

“Des, come on. There is no need for that.” Felix tried to come forward but I snapped at him.

“If you wouldn’t have stopped me, I would have them in my arms. If you hadn’t pushed me away…”

Felix stepped back slightly. “You were in wolf form, they would have freaked, you would have never…”

“Never what? Gotten to my mate? Where the fuck am I now?” I stepped back, shaking my head. “You are the reason for this. You and this bullshit territory.”

Exploding into my wolf form, I raced off toward the southwest. It was the closest direction off the territory where I was. I was done. I had lost my mate and I knew the chances of ever finding them again. My heart broke and everything in my body shook. I was livid. Once I reached the edge of the territory, I jumped across the invisible line but I didn’t feel any relief. It was the opposite. I felt more pain and I howled into the night. Howled in despair of losing my one chance at a mate.