Chapter 1

Emerald

It was an everyday experience when I woke up to Debra tending to me. I'd be unconscious for hours, unaware of my surroundings, feeling like I was in a sunken place where darkness was my only friend, to come back to bitter reality. When she'd notice me waking, she just smiled sadly at me and didn't speak a word. I could tell by her heartbeat and the aura that she was struggling to contain her emotions. I saw a clouded red along with blue, symbolizing that she was angry and upset mixed into one. I didn't blame her. I was the same way. 

Because life for me wasn't always like this. 

Sure it wasn't like the usual childhood where your parents took you to amusement parks and treated you like you were their whole world. Considering the factors of my life, I was grateful for what I did have. Because a breed like mine, some wouldn't even be alive at nineteen. But considering my circumstances on how I remained alive, I wish I had died. 

I won't go into the gruesome details, I'll decide to spare that factor. But I did have a pretty good childhood considering my life. I had amazing parents, a mom who was as warm and kind as any human being. She was perfect in my eyes. She'd sing to me when I was upset, she'd always sided with me even if I was in the wrong, and she always protected me. My dad was amazing as well. He always made me laugh even when I didn't want to. I loved that man with my whole heart- just like my mom. And yet they were taken from me. 

One night, when we least expected it, a rival pack had come to take me and eventually kill me. This had happened multiple times before but we were always two steps ahead and ready for it, but not this time. This time my family and I, my three brothers, mom and dad, and I were enjoying our time together. It was a night that seemed like every other but I sensed that something was off. But due to the position I was in, I didn't really think much of it. 

And to this day I wish I had. 

Through mind-link my father was told that a pack had made it through the border and were headed to our home. Him being the Alpha, he had his own home not too far from the pack. Our pack is strong but the pack against us was stronger and we were able to get through our best warriors. 

My father, as any Alpha, commanded my mother, brothers, and I to hide as he went out in battle. And as any mate would, my mom wouldn't let him go out by himself. So they put us in a room in the attic, away from the turmoil and went out and fought. My dad easily turned into a wolf and was successful and stopped the advances to our home. My mother was using her powers as a witch against them. If it weren't for them being my parents, I would've thought it was the best fight to see. But only being ten years old, I was nervous to see the outcome. Because deep down, my unsettling feeling only grew. 

And I was right. 

Almost in an instant, when my mom and dad seemed to be winning this battle, they both fell. It was weird, it was quick, it was incomprehensible. I remember seeing a strange bright light overcome over the fighting and once it was gone, my parents were on the ground, looking near death. 

They had somehow managed to grow nearer to each other throughout their pain I imagined. My mom held my dad's dying wolf corpse in her arms as she was holding onto her own life. She was able to heal people along with the many attributes she had and I believed that she was trying to heal my dad. But all you could hear, with our advanced hearing, was my dad whimpering in pain and my mom whispering to herself. 

I couldn't make out what she was saying entirely, due to the fact that my brothers were screaming in anger and hurt. I would've joined them but I was too much in a daze. Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched them, knowing that it was my fault for them being in that predicament. 

As my brothers continued to grow angry, I saw her look up at me through the attic window. She smiled softly in her state and continued to whisper something. It was muffled but I believed that she said "Protect them." And them being my brothers. 

It wasn't until moments after that that she dropped her head, dead. I felt my world crash but I still felt numb. I had looked over to a figure walking to the house, taking in the scenery of dead bodies. I knew for a fact that it wasn't a man or woman of our own but one from the rival pack. They were still looking for me. 

And something told me that even though they were looking for me, they would kill my brothers at first sight. And I couldn't let that happen. 

With my lack of witchcraft and wolf training, I didn't know what to do at that moment. But I knew I had to do something- anything. 

To this day I cannot remember what it was that I began to mutter to myself or what truly happened. I remember calming my brothers down to not draw any more attention, to hear what was going on downstairs. And we heard the footsteps of this stranger giving his/her to us. And the closer they got, the more I began to mumble to myself. 

And once the door opened...

That was it.