Prologue.

~Hades’ POV~

I woke up with a start, to the sound of gunshots all around us. In a panic, I rolled out of my bunk bed, shook my two brothers awake, and waited impatiently for Chad who rubbed his eyes sleepily.

“What is it, brother?” This time it was Trent who asked.

I threw him a look of confusion but before I could reply, another gunshot rang through the night. This one was louder than the last and sounded so close to us. As if on cue, a loud painful cry was heard shortly afterwards. It tore through the silence, piercing my soul.

Good enough, Chad stopped rubbing his eyes as he was now wide awake. His dark green orbs were as round as saucers as he stared at me and in a fierce whisper, he asked;

“What was that? A gunshot? What do we do?!”

I was scared. I had no answers to his questions and worst of all, I was just as clueless as he was. One of the things that bothered me the most was the fact that amidst all the chaos happening, our parents were nowhere to be found.

I snapped; “let’s find father,”

Chad and Trent nodded and without asking questions, ran with me to the door but as soon as I pushed it open, I immediately came face to face with one of the palace servants. Her name was Mary and she was one of the kindest.

“Young masters!” She screamed upon seeing us. I could notice the relief radiating off her when she saw us. She quickly pulled us into a hug and whispered; “your mother wants you three to meet her at the entrance to the secret tunnel… now!”

Due to the urgency in her voice, the gunshots, and the continuous painful screams piercing the night around us, we didn’t even bother with questions, and blindly, I ran outside with Trent and Chad running behind me.

Whatever my young mind had imagined was happening to my pack was nothing compared to the chaos I found when I arrived outside. The entire place was in a state of disarray.

For some unknown reason, more than half of my pack was burning. I could hear the cries of children, and that of their mothers. The night air reeked of smoke and blood. Several people were running in different directions and even a handful of dead bodies scattered haphazardly on the ground. The scene was too gory to look at.

“Wait, hide!” Chad screamed suddenly and on impulse, I dropped to the floor, hiding behind the bushes.

My eyes widened when I saw a very huge man hovering over Mary, they were talking to each other but I couldn't hear what was said over the noise. Suddenly, he lifted his knife and without remorse, stabbed her with it, laughing when her blood spurted out.

A scream threatened to escape my lips but I held it in. My heart broke at the scene in front of me and tears streamed down my face. To stop myself from making a sound, I fisted my hand and pushed it into my mouth, crying as I watched Mary die in front of my eyes.

I could hear Chad and Trent crying silently too but I was too locked in my grief to care about them. We waited in the bushes for what seemed like an eternity, and after we were certain that the murderers were gone, we began to run again. This time, without sparing a glance backward.

We ran as fast as our legs could carry us in the direction of the underground tunnel. Sure enough, the place was packed to the brim as people scampered to safety. Our mother was one of them and on her hip was our younger sister, Candice.

For a moment, I was glad, happy that we had also made it to safety but just as my brothers and I began to run toward my mother, we suddenly heard the sound of more gunshots. Silver bullets flew everywhere, killing everyone and everything it touched.

I dropped to the ground again with tears in my eyes and just like Elijah, our father’s Beta, had taught us, we shielded ourselves with the soil on the floor and the overgrown grasses.

From here, I could see nearly everything happening. I pressed my hand to Chad’s lips, quieting him as I watched some armed men walk up to my mother and sister. They forcefully pried my crying sister out of my mother’s grasp and pushed my mother to the floor. Anger surged through me at the sight but I was too scared to go and help, hell, I was only eight years old!

A gasp escaped my lips when one of the big men pressed his heel into my mother’s back. They jeered when she screamed, and at the sound of her cries, he sank his heel deeper.

Suddenly, he stopped when we heard a shout from behind the crowd. I was glad when I saw that it was my father and his Beta, Elijah, but then my happiness soon turned into panic when I saw how outnumbered they were.

Sure enough, my father had only managed to strike down two of their soldiers when one suddenly materialized behind him, slitting his throat in the process. The same was done to Elijah and at the end of the day, it was just my mom and my sister left.

“Where are your sons?!” The largest of the men barked. For a minute, I could swear that I saw my mom look in our direction before she shook her head at the man.

“I don’t know,” she cried, “I’ve not seen them.”

“LIAR!”

“Most of the kids back at the pack have been killed… especially the boys,” someone said to the bulky man, and in turn, he nodded.

He turned to look at my mom as if accessing her for answers. When she remained silent, refusing to say anything about our whereabouts, he growled, picked up a rifle and shot her with it.

I watched open-eyed the gory scene in front of me, sobbing as my mother gurgled and coughed up blood. My body shook with hurt and anger and I convulsed as the several emotions fought to take hold of my entire being.

At some point, I couldn’t stand it anymore, I couldn’t bring myself to keep watching. I closed my eyes, trying my hardest to block the ear-piercing screams that wracked my soul. Shortly afterward, I began to feel lightheaded. It was as if everything had passed and I was suddenly hit with silence, one that was so deafening that it clawed at my soul… Then with it came darkness.

The last thing I remembered before I succumbed into the darkness was the tattoo they all had on their arm and the logo on their flag. It was one of a flying eagle, the signature tattoo of people of the Starlight Pack. I knew this because I had a classmate from there.

I knew I was young, and at the moment, powerless but then, I was also certain that I would avenge the death of my parents. It may be the last thing I did before I drew my last breath, and maybe it would take a while but I would. I wouldn’t spare their lives,

…and that of every one of their descendants.