Prologue

I rushed through the candle lit hallways of the stone lab. Reaching the heavy wooden door, I pushed it open and crossed the threshold. I watched the three women who sat around the small table, each of them looking into the black mirror before turning to their own individual scribe to record what they saw.

We were all connected to the source but the three Oracles, or to some known as the Fates as what they say comes to pass. Well, their connection was the strongest of all. They channelled the streams of source with ease. They expertly drew their snippets and weaved them together with the threads of power. 

“Ladies!” I called them back to the current timeline and one by one their eyes cleared and they saw into the room again. Once all three of their gazes fell on me, I smiled.

“Diana!” the youngest of the three called joyously, and the other two looked upon her, one in a caring amusement and the other a vexed scowl. The maiden herself just smiled at the other two and then turned to me. Their words were placed in front of them and they studied them.

“A vessel made from two great powers…” the Maiden started

“...of twenty-five sun cycles in the making…” carried on by the Mother

“... Will bring the creation of a great Warrior,” the Crone finished.

“She will hold in her being the elements of both Alpha beast and Priestess witch…”

“...in a bond of the essence of Diana in the purest form…”

“... to the creation of the unequalled hybrid species.”

“Only when she meets her King, who bows to her greatness…”

“...be he shadow or light determining where the scales of our fate falls…”

“...will she reach the catalyst of her sovereign power”

I noted down their foretelling with fierce determination. A mistake had been made in what we did. The mundanes saw us as gods and some of our mix took that all too seriously to the potential destruction of all that we hold dear. I had asked for a tool to fight, righting the tipping balance once more.

I repeated the message as one.

“A vessel made from two great powers, of twenty-five sun cycles in the making, will bring the creation of a great warrior,

She will hold in her being the elements of both Alpha beast and Priestess witch, in a bond of the essence of Diana in the purest form, to the creation of the unequalled hybrid species

Only when she meets her King. who bows to her greatness, be he shadow or light determining where the scales of our fate falls, will she reach the catalyst of her sovereign power”

I looked up at the three Oracles and saw they were already looking in my direction, but they did not see me and together said

“This is the Prophecy of the Alpha Hybrid Queen!”

********

I was lost in the woods as I ran through them. The branches kept hitting me and scratching me, and my nightdress, my knees and hands were muddy from all the times I fell over. I was cold and wet and scared and really wanted my mummy. 

I could hear screaming and shouting all around me and I saw orange glows where there were fires. I was trying to follow Mrs Taylor, our school teacher, to the safe house when I tripped and fell down an embankment. She must not have noticed that I got left behind. I didn’t know what was happening. Only that I had been dragged out of bed by my mummy and told we had to get to the safe house. 

I heard snarling behind me and whipped around to see a pair of glowing golden eyes staring at me. I backed away slowly from the eyes as they moved towards me. Slowly, out of the shadows, I saw a large wolf appear and the owner of the eyes. I could tell it was an Alpha Wolf, but I knew it wasn’t Alpha Ezra. This was another Alpha. I tried to back up further, but I tripped up over a root and fell backwards into the dirt. The wolf looked like the wolves did when they were about to pounce at each other during training. But wolves didn’t pounce at me. I was too you to train yet, mummy said so. 

I heard another growl behind me and recognised my daddy in his wolf form straight away. My mummy was beside me and she dragged me up from the floor. She pushed me behind her so I couldn’t see the big, scary wolf.

“Hayley!” my mummy shouted, and I screamed as I felt someone pull me from behind. I looked up to see my aunt Hayley. She took my hand and began tugging me away from my mummy. I grabbed mummy.

“No mummy!” I cried, “I don’t want to go,” My mummy turned to me and hugged me. 

“Go with Hayley, get to the safe house,” she pushed me towards my aunt, “Get her safe,” and Hayley pulled me away. I looked back and saw the big mean wolf pounce on daddy and mummy was waving her arms around. Then Hayley pulled me around a tree and I couldn’t see them any more.  

We ran through the woods, Hayley gripping my hand. We reached the clearing where the safe house was. But the safe house was on fire, and there were people laying down everywhere. I saw Mrs Taylor by the entrance. She was really still, just laying there. Hayley looked around at all the people and started crying. I looked up at her and squeezed her hand, and she looked back down at me.

“It’s okay Kae,” she said wiping away her tears “I’ll look after you.” Hayley looked around again and then smiled, “I know where we can go,” she tugged my hand again and we began running through the woods again.

We had just passed the lake when I tripped up on a root again. I went flying, and my hand slid out of Hayley’s.

“Kaeleigh!” Hayley shouted as I fell and I felt arms on me and someone picking me up. I screamed and tried to struggle out of their grip, kicking and hitting out at whoever it was.

“Kae! Stop, it’s me” Jonathan, Alpha Ezra’s son and future Alpha of our pack, the Scarlet Circle pack, called and I stopped as I recognised his voice and his scent.

“Oh my goddess, Jonathan,” I cried and hugged him really tight. He was one of my favourite people, and I instantly felt safer around him. I loved to watch him train. He was only thirteen, so he still had a couple more years before his wolf made an appearance, but he was one of the best pup fighters in the pack. He hugged me tightly back and smiled at me.

“Don’t worry, Kae Kae, I told you I’d always protect you,” he whispered.

“Jonathan,” Hayley hissed, and Jonathan looked up at her and then to the side of us. He pulled me in tighter and growled. I tried to look around him, but he moved again so that I couldn’t see past him.

“Jonathan, I think we should get to the hollow,” Hayley whispered, and Jonathan nodded.

“Good idea,” he said, looking around. “Most of the fighting is in town away from the lake altogether.”

“Fighting!” I exclaimed, only it came out as a frightened squeak, “who’s fighting?” and Jonathan smiled at me,

“Don’t worry, Kae, no one is fighting near you.” I saw Jonathan look at Hayley and recognised it as the same look that mummy sometimes gives daddy when they were talking about something that they didn’t want me to know about. 

Jonathan looked out from behind the tree and sighed.

“It looks all clear,” he said, and Hayley nodded. 

“Ok sweetheart, we are going to be doing some running now, okay?” Jonathan said, “So you gotta hold on real tight to me, can you do that?” I nodded at his question and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. Jonathan tightened his grip on me and nodded to Hayley again. She looked out from behind the tree and nodded back to Jonathan. They both moved out into the clearing, looking around them and then Jonathan whispered to go and they began sprinting across the clearing and down towards the lake. I buried my head into Jonathan’s shoulder and held on for life as he ran through the woods down to the lake. They had mentioned the hollow, so I knew where we were going. The Hollow was just to the side of the lake. It was completely surrounded by the cliffs that bordered the south of our territory. The only way in and out was through a gap in the cliffs that was really hard to see because of the trees in front of it. I remembered getting angry because when we were playing hide and seek one day, all the older children had hidden in there and I didn’t know it was there. It wasn’t until I had sat by the lake crying my eyes out because I couldn’t find anyone, did Jonathan show me the entrance. He told me it was magic, and the stones laid out in a circle inside it were made of magic and witches used to do spells there. I was scared to go in there most of the time, but if Jonathan was there, then I knew he would look after me.

We were just by the lake when I heard growling and I looked up to see that there were two wolves right behind us. I screamed as one of them pounced and Jonathan dropped to the ground with me in his arms. 

“Jonathan, Kaeleigh!” Hayley screamed as she dodged the other wolf. I could see more wolves coming out of the tree line and tried to crawl out of Jonathan’s arms as he defended himself against one of the wolves. 

“Jonathan, get her to safety,” Hayley shouted, “Now!” and Jonathan jumped up and scooped me off the floor. I started screaming as he headed towards the Hollow entrance. I tried to break free, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Go!” Hayley called, “The protection is already activated, I’ll follow I promise.” and Jonathan tightened his grip on me and began running towards the Hollow. I looked back over his shoulder just as I saw Hayley fight back one of the wolves. I screamed again as another attacked her from behind and I saw red fly from her neck and her eyes went blank and she fell to the floor. 

Jonathan didn’t even look behind as he ran into the hidden entrance and I felt my ears pop. As soon as we were in there, it was quiet. Jonathan ran to the other end, right past the circle of stones, and put me down. 

“Ok Kae Kae, we need to be really quiet now,” he said. “Can you do that for me?” and I nodded. I was so scared that I was shaking and I grabbed a hold of his hand as hard as I could.

“Jonathan, please don’t leave me,” I said between sobs, and he kneeled down beside me.

“Don’t worry Kae, I’ll protect you, I promise, to my dying day and with my last breath,” I looked at him for a moment. His words sounded different, more formal. Like when Alpha Ezra, Beta Jeremy and my daddy talk about pack business. 

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I felt the ground shake, and I looked up at Jonathan in fear. Jonathan looked over at the entrance, where it looked like there was something glowing.

“Shit!” he exclaimed as there was a loud sound that made my ears hurt. Jonathan stood up in front of me. 

“Stay down Kae, don’t move,” he said as I saw shadows at the other end of the Hollow. Then I saw a load of wolves rush into the Hollow and Jonathan shouted something that I couldn’t hear. It was suddenly very loud again and the noises from the fight seemed to be back. 

I tried to look around Jonathan, but he was blocking almost everything. And then suddenly he wasn’t as he went flying across the ground into one of the cliff walls. I screamed again as he landed with what sounded like a crack. I looked up to see a man standing there. He looked down at me and smiled.

“Hello there,” he said as he kneeled down and I could see his eyes clearly. They were really dark green, and they looked to have golden or copper flecks in them. He smiled and his eyes flashed to his wolf and I knew that this was the other Alpha that I had seen fighting my daddy. He reached out with his hand towards my face and I shrunk back and he laughed.

“Well, aren’t you precious? I think you will make a fine mate for my son,” he said, and I shook my head. I knew about mates, it’s what mummy and daddy were, and Alpha Ezra and Luna Elaina were. I was too young for a mate, that was many years ahead. Mummy said so. 

“Ah yes, a fine mate indeed,” and he reached for me again.

“Get away from her you animal,” I heard Jonathan scream, “I will kill you if you touch a hair on her head,” and I looked over to see him being held back by two other men. The scary Alpha growled and glanced back at Jonathan.

“Shut that damn mutt up,” he snarled, and I saw one of the men wrap his arm around Jonathan’s neck, just like I did when he carried me. Only Jonathan struggled this time and he suddenly looked scared as his face started to turn red. The scary Alpha moved in front of me as I heard a crack and I screamed and looked to see Jonathan staring at me with blank eyes. 

I jumped up to run to him but the scary Alpha grabbed me and started to carry me towards the entrance of the Hollow. I screamed and tried to fight out of his arms, but his grip only tightened.

“Stop struggling, precious one, it’ll do you no good,” I screamed again, knowing that I couldn’t stop fighting. I had tears streaming down my face as I tried to bite at the scary Alpha, but he just laughed at me. He walked out of the Hollow and began walking towards the tree line when suddenly I felt a jolt and we both went flying. At some point, the scary Alpha let go of me and I flew into one of the rock walls. I cried out as my body hit the wall and I fell down to the bottom of the wall. 

My mummy came rushing over as I looked up and saw my daddy, Alpha Ezra and Beta Jeremy, circling the scary Alpha. I watched as they started to fight, and between them they attacked the scary Alpha. Then the scary Alpha had his big jaws around my daddy’s neck. Alpha Ezra jumped on him, but he didn’t let go. I watched as my daddy flopped down and then heard a crack as the scary Alpha shook him like a rag doll. My mummy suddenly screamed and clutched her chest. She looked down at me and I could see tears on her face. She bent down and kissed me on my forehead and then stood up and turned away. Black spots were beginning to appear in my eyes and I was struggling to see. The last thing I saw before the blackness took me was some sort of light around my mummy as she ran at the scary Alpha.

***

I woke up to crying and shouting and scattered conversations.

“How did they find us,” Luna Elaina’s voice “Must have been…” 

“It doesn’t matter how, we need to hide again,” Beta Jeremy said

“I have an idea,” Alpha Ezra said, “But we need to move tonight,”

“But what about Hayley?” Luna Elaina called, “And Jonathan,” and she sobbed loudly. 

“The Hollow is in flames. They are both lost,” Beta Jeremy said quietly. “Protecting her is our top priority right now. It’s what they wanted. We can grieve later,”

“Mummy,” I gasped and Luna Elaina was suddenly in front of me, gripping my hand a few seconds later. She looked at me with a sad expression on her face.

“It’s okay sweetheart,” she said “Get your rest, we have a long journey but we are here to protect you,” I felt something damp on my forehead and found myself rushing back into the black as sleep pulled me under once more.