Prologue-Amara (17 years old)

"What do you want to do for your birthday, honey? You keep brushing it off, but it's in 5 days, so we must plan something!" My mother says to me. I groan in response.

 "Why do we have to do something! Can't we just hang out at home and watch movies"

"For your 18th birthday! Come on, pick something fun. You don't even need to have me and your father with you. Enjoy not having any responsibilities while you still can." I roll my eyes but start to think about what she said. I could make my brother drive me and my best friend, Sophie, around the pack bars. We're werewolves, which means it takes a lot for us to get drunk, let alone incoherently drunk, so our legal drinking age is 18. 

"Fine, get Seth to be mine and Sophie's DD. But let’s do it this weekend, you know my first shift will take a lot out of me." I say. 

Mom smirks, seemingly satisfied with herself, and turns her attention back to the path before us. We were walking home from school. She trains some boys there during wolf training, so we always walk home together. My mother is an impressive warrior, better than some of our strongest male warriors, so it's insulting that she's forced to train freaking high school boys. Women weren't allowed to train in our pack; it was kind of fucking barbaric, but that's how it was. She is only properly trained because she grew up in another pack but turned out to be mated to my father and switched packs. 

I'm abruptly pulled out of my thoughts when the sirens start blaring, signaling we are under attack. Shit! We're nowhere near the bunkers! 

"Amara! Go climb that tree right now and stay up there," my mother says calmly before pulling some anti-scent spray out of her bag and tossing it at me. "Climb as far up as you can, and make sure you're covered. This isn't a rogue attack; there are vampires here," she says, pale but still trying to keep her composure. 

I move on autopilot, doing what she says. I spray myself with the anti-scent spray so they can't scent me near the tree, run to it, and climb up. I'm running on pure adrenaline. When I get up as far as my limbs would take me, I look down, trying to find a branch where I could get a general idea of what's going on while still staying hidden. I wish I hadn't looked. When I looked down, I saw 3 vampires running right to where my mother's gorgeous honey-colored wolf was hiding in the bushes. I quickly sent her a mindlink to warn her, 

'Mama! 3 coming right at you.'

She doesn't respond, but I see her ready her stance before she crouches down and springs from behind the bush at them, taking one of their heads clean off. The other two don't miss a beat before they jump at her, but she's not at all phased. She effortlessly rips one's arm off while the other crawls on her back. She immediately crouches down, rolls over, which forces him off and jumps at him, crushing his skull in her jaws. The third bloodsucker lunges for her throat, but her wolf sidesteps, and he goes crashing into the ground. She uses his fuck up and jumps on top of him, ripping him to pieces. I told you, my mom is a badass.

I let out a sigh of relief, but it was premature when easily a dozen others I didn't notice come out of nowhere. I suck in a sob, Mom may be a badass, but there's no way she can take on that many alone. They swarm her, and she lets out a vicious snarl that I could even hear all the way up here. There's a ray of hope when I see a group of warriors rushing towards her. My father was the head warrior; there was no way he would leave his mate and his daughter out here to fight on their own. Proving me right, my dad's gray wolf is leading them and heading straight to my mother. The warriors reach the vampires and jump right at them, but it's not enough. There were still two stuck to my mother, and I watched in horror as one mercilessly ripped her throat out. 

My father, instantly feeling her loss, lets out the most strangled whimper I've ever heard. He shifts into his human form, leaving him utterly vulnerable while the agony of losing his fated mate overcomes his body. You can probably guess what happened next as a vampire takes advantage of his position. It happens so quickly; I don't even know if he realized he would die.

I'm frozen. I stare at the lifeless bodies of my parents in horror. When I can't stand the sight anymore, I try to turn away without creating too much movement that might draw attention and silently sob to myself. My heart felt like it was burning alive in my chest, this despair would swallow me whole.

The sirens blared for another 2 hours and only turned off when the threat was gone. We've had rogue attacks that we neutralized within minutes; this must have been almost as bad as the vampire attack that massacred our pack when I was only a couple months old. I wait a little bit and then climb down from my tree. The bodies of my parents were no longer there, so our pack members must already be cleaning up. 

I let my legs carry me to my home. I open up the door and fall to my knees. I should check in with the Alpha and Beta, I should mindlink to make sure Seth is ok, and I should be out there helping with the cleanup. Still, I can't do anything except sob like a broken woman in my doorway. I don't know how long I sit there. However, eventually, I get up, walk to my parents' room, where their scent is still strong, and collapse in their bed before darkness overtakes me.