CHAPTER 1

When I thought of my life before this hell, which I didn't like to do because there were too many painful memories associated with it, I remembered my brother. In some ways he had been the best older brother any girl could hope for. He was always there for me, protecting me, encouraging me, and showering me with affection. But when I was twelve, things changed. In hindsight, it was obvious that his behavior was suspicious. He'd started watching me like a hawk and smirking at me. I'd thought it was some sort of game, smirking at each other and not getting caught by our parents.

But then he started sneaking out at night more than usual, and he took me with him a few times. "Our little secret," he'd called it. He'd take me to the woods and we'd sit in an old shed and drink soda and chew gum and listen to music our parents hated. It was all pretty innocent. I never thought anything of it, beyond enjoying the thrill of doing something "bad." He brought a few weird friends to the house once or twice, and then they showed up at our shed one night. They whispered to my brother, looking excited and glancing over at me every couple of seconds. I'd just sipped my soda, wondering why teenagers were so weird.

Then came the night of the full moon. We went to the shed and I was surprised to see his friends there.

"What took you so long?" one hissed.

"You know how my parents are. They would've heard us leave," John said, shrugging. "Anyway, we're here."

"Sorry, man, you know how it is this time of the month."

I frowned in confusion, a little wary. The other two boys looked restless and they kept looking at me in a way I didn't understand. It was a predatory look, I knew now. I'd seen too many victims of those looks since that night.

They'd grabbed me and held me down on the floor of the shed as I kicked and screamed uselessly. John just watched, looking almost excited. The one who'd spoken to him straddled my waist, cracking his neck. "Keep still," he growled. "Fuckin' brat."

"We'll fix that soon enough," the biggest boy said, chuckling. He barely reacted when I struggled, holding me down effortlessly. "Bite him and be done with it."

Suddenly the teeth of the boy on top of me looked far too long and too sharp. I yelled for John to help me, but he wouldn't, and then there were teeth in my neck and I was screaming in pain. I must've passed out. I woke up chained to the wall, the boys standing around me curiously.

I felt... wrong. I could hear and smell too much, and my vision was blurry. My tongue felt swollen and when I ran it over my teeth, they felt wrong.

"Hey, man, it worked!" the boy who'd bitten me said, slapping John on the back. There was dried blood around his lips and he grinned like a maniac. His teeth were almost like a dog's.

John came up to me. "Now listen," he said, sternly. "You're not going to tell Mom and Dad about this, okay? Cause if you do, it would be easy to make you disappear. It's gonna be our little secret."

In my terrified state, I managed to nod, fighting tears. Everything hurt and I wanted to go home and forget this had ever happened.

"Atta boy. Now, there's some stuff we've gotta tell you." He pulled over one of the old crates we liked to sit on. "Do you know why he bit you?"

I shook my head.

"He's our alpha. Our leader. Alphas have the power to turn humans. The rest of us are betas, and you are too, now."

"I don't understand," I said shakily.

"We're werewolves, Hosanna. And you've gotta keep that a secret, you hear me? I've got some contacts for you to hide your eyes." He plucked a lens out of his eye, revealing a burning gold iris. I gasped, flinching. He laughed at me. "What? Yours look just like mine now. So you've gotta wear these contacts to make them look brown, yeah? If you don't, the police will shoot you."

He put the lens back in his eye and the "alpha" came and sat next to him. "Now listen," he said, echoing John's words from a moment ago. "If you behave and keep the secret, we'll look after you. You've just gotta behave, okay? Do as we say, and we won't hurt you."

At the time it had seemed almost reasonable, but they'd been lying. I'd struggled with regulating strange new instincts and desires and they hadn't helped me at all, simply barking at me to stop fidgeting or acting clingy. They liked to use me for sparring practice because I was an easy target. I was grateful for my new accelerated healing when they left me battered and bruised. If the injuries hadn't healed before I got home, my parents would have suspected something, and it was already dangerous enough for me. John kept a sharp eye on me, quick to show his fangs if I did anything he didn't like. My parents attributed my quietness and timidity to my growing up, and never suspected a thing. They thought that John and I were as close as ever and that he was a good influence on me. I was so mature for my age, they said, smiling proudly. I longed to tell them what John had done to me, but I feared the consequences. John or his friends would kill me, maybe even hurt Mom and Dad. Or I'd be shot when my parents called the police.

When I turned fourteen and my eyes turned blue, everything changed. I'd presented as an omega, something I didn't understand for the longest time. All I knew was that they were rare and the pack was suddenly obsessed with me. The pack pretty much kidnapped me and took me to the alpha's house. I later found out he'd killed his uncle that he'd been living with to have the place to himself, or rather to keep me to himself. And the other betas. The pack, which had been growing slowly but steadily, saw a dramatic increase in numbers after I presented. The alpha became obsessed with the idea of omegas and targeted girls and boys he thought were similar to me, kidnapping and turning them, hoping for more omegas. Many of the boys died, or turned out to be betas, and were threatened the same way I was when they turned me.