Chapter 1

Running so fast, the trees were almost a blur.  She looked down to see the green grass beneath her paws, the soft dewy spikes teasing. Serena came to a halt at the edge of the lake, peering through her wolf’s eyes at the image that formed in the water body. A beautiful raven wolf stood there proudly, body larger than normal wolves and Serena knew that it was larger than the werewolf’s one too but who cares, at least she doesn’t.  She sometimes believed that it was probably due to the fact that the moon goddess understood her desire to never be with a male and made her strong enough to go against one. If only she knew.

Looking up, she realized that it was starting to get dark and she must return home. Serena or rather Aria her wolf ran back home and saw that the door was opened by her brother as he stood there at the doorway talking to probably one of his admirers, not intention of sounding jealous or whatever. Who would be jealous of being hounded by the opposite sex anyway? She trotted up and seemingly in a teasing way collided with her dear brother, Damon. She shouted “SORRY! Brother”, over her shoulder as she ran straight to her room after her small act of mischief.

Damon wanted to rub his shoulder which now throbbed with pain where their shoulder collided but restrained self, knowing there was still the girl standing in front of him. Everyone knew of the immense strength that ran in the Bennett family at least in the pack. Except the well-kept secret that somehow she, the daughter of the family was the kind of strong they hadn’t seen in their family ancestry. It wasn’t something too big a deal but she herself didn’t want others to now just yet.

Serena’s mother, Liza, hated it when she walked around the house in her wolf form. And since Serena wasn’t exactly very keen on changing outside so here we are, with her in a one piece which seemed more like a curtain. She would change into this cloth in one of the public restroom of their pack. And since it was really near to their home and their house was bit further than the other houses she never really ran into anyone. Or she did probably be dead due to the embarrassment.

Her wolf, Aria, would protest every time Serena made her give back control and changed back to her human form.  Her bare feet padded across the soft fur carpet as she walked in to her bathroom. Looking back at her in the mirror was a familiar face with hazel eyes embedded in a fair skinned, raven haired young lady. One week from now and she will be counting 21 years of her life.

Serena’s room has been decorated in light tones, it wasn’t a very big room but it was cozy, clean and it was something that belonged to her. The walls were painted in a light cream color, a white princess size bed lay in the middle of the room with yellow tapestries just behind the bed making the color pop. Beside the bed was large glass window with a spectacular view, on the left side was the study table and chair in white and following the study table was a large bookshelf. In front of the window lay a cozy small white settee sofa with a small white cushioned table. There was a TV in front of the bed, and a laptop on the table with stereos. On the right was a door leading to the closet and the washroom. The door leading out of the room was on the opposite side of the bed. She had herself redecorated her room a few years back when her mother, Liza decided it was time to change the interior. The whole house was done by Liza, the exception being her room.

Feeling clean and fresh after a very long bath, Serena walked downstairs to join her family for dinner. At the dining table sat her mother and brother, accompanied by her father, Jeremiah, at the head of the table. The way her mother and father loved each other was something almost every wolf hoped for, after all your mate is your other half, your soul mate. Her father smiled at her as her mother glared, pointing out the fact that she is again late for dinner and probably made them wait. Her mother was not a mean person it was just the fact that after dinner was the time her mother got to spend with her father. He was the beta so pack duties kept his itinerary packed. Serena ate silently while they all talked about their day and other pack things.

“It’s your birthday in a week, darling.” Her father pointed out, she looked up to see her father looking at her, expecting something. Now what was that something was beyond her, so she nodded her head in accord as if she knew what was happening and as if she hadn’t been zoning out throughout. All three of them laughed at her as her brother, Damon ruffled her hair. “You didn’t listen to even a word, did you? Well, on your birthday, the Nagoka pack is coming here. We are trying to get a treaty with them. It is going to be a hectic day, I wanted to let you know since it’s as you know, your day. Tell us what you want for your birthday.” oh so that is what it was about. “Dad, it’s alright, I don’t have anything I want right now. Let me save this one for later.”  She replied as she thought over what her father said.

The Nagoka pack is dangerous and she assumed her father hoped for her to ask for a vacation outside, so that he can get her away from here. Serena had wanted to go on a trip for some time now but she knew now was not the time. She was aware her dad, Jeremiah, was concerned about her, after all the outcome of the whole ordeal cannot be predicted and they are werewolf not sears and one thing all were fully cognizant of was, that pack is a force to be reckoned with and they have some powerful connections. There are some rumors of them having a connection to someone very dangerous, someone even they didn’t dare cross. But it went without saying, rumors or not they are someone to be vary of.

She in particular already had a not so nice experience and still remembered that one time when a pack had come over, she was still 18 then and it was her first time seeing an alliance in process so she was excited and quite intrigued with whole process and stuff. The day they were going to come was her senior year’s last day ‘graduation day’ and that meant she was delighted, anybody would be happy to get rid of school, like finally. But the day took a turn for the worst. The pack had come over with a few unmated wolfs, in case they found their mates. One of the male’s had made a move on her and she told him no. Even though she was not like others in the mate aspect and boys, she still wanted to save herself for her mate. She didn’t know why but she never felt attracted to any boys, she had once even presumed herself to be gay which wasn’t true either and another strong feeling she couldn’t put it in words but it was like, among all the males she met in her entire life none of them deserved her, she knew it seemed like she was blowing her own trumpet but that is exactly how she felt even though she was unaware what she could probably deserve that she couldn’t find in so many of wolfs. Anyway, it seemed like the goddamn grown child’s ego couldn’t take a ‘no’ and later he followed her scent all the way to her home being a tracker of his pack and all.

Serena had just entered the house a couple of minutes ago and soon after the doorbell rang, she thought she had been dumb as she had opened the door prior to checking who it was, after all it was their pack territory what could happen and she could swear upon her life that she still regretted that one idiotic thing she did. She had obviously told him to go away and was going to shut the door on his face but the guy turned out to be way faster and way stronger than her as she realized soon. He came in babbling something about how Serena desired it or him apparently. He closed the door behind him and forced her against the wall as he tried to force a kiss onto her lips, even though he was way stronger the moon goddess bears witness that she gave him a hell of a fight and resulted in him punching the shit out of her, she was close to passing out when as a last resort she decided to take her chance and screamed as loud as she possibly can. Damon her brother had been looking for her at that time and was close to their house when he heard her and soon barged in through the door, got the guy off of her, almost killing him in the process as he deserved and worse. Soon everybody knew, the Alpha was angry that their pack members daughter had been almost violated and decided whatever would have happened was cancelled and they were told to leave. Our alpha is a nice man and he held the pack dear to his heart, it didn’t matter if it was Serena or anybody else he would have still done the same. It didn’t matter who, omegas are also treated with immense respect after all they managed a lot of things like daily chores in the pack house.

 At first Serena was a bit traumatized but she came through stronger as she discovered two things that day, one of which was that she was not strong enough with barely her meager training that she did at that time which in turn made her start training harder, now she can at least claim that she can take some grown asses on her own and protect herself and even others if such a situation was to transpire. Her brother anyway was beyond angry that his little sister was almost molested in their very own house and was happy with her decision to train vigorously and started helping her train after she came home after her recovery from the pack hospital/clinic. As it turned out that she was in a far worst condition than she had herself first assumed, a few broken bones and bloody face, thank the moon goddess for werewolf healing. She is strong due to her hard work but than her strength reached a whole new level after her wolf emerged completely, which is not how this wolf thing works for everyone. She sometimes felt like hunting him down but that is not who she is as her rational part argued whenever the thought occurred. The second thing was that she would never let another men lay their hand on her in that way ever.

Even though months passed after that, she still used to check who was at the door with her super senses and to be on the safe side she used to double check through the peephole. Even though a lot has changed now, she knew it still affects her a little despite herself as she is always on her guard wherever she goes. Remembering the whole ordeal still leaves a bad taste in Serena’s mouth, making her lose her appetite. Jeremiah called his daughter out of her reverie and looking up she realized that they were looking at her with knowing looks and had varying emotions reflecting in their eyes but the one in common was pain. Serena gave a tiny reassuring smile to let her family know it doesn’t affect her as before, she is after all a strong female. Jeremiah smiled a proud smile at Liza making her laugh at his antics. Damon squeezed Serena’s hand making her look towards him, and through his gaze conveyed all the admiration and pride he had for his sweet little sister. The rest of the dinner was the usual with the whole family being merry.

Serena lay in bed as she thought how her brother is soon going to be passed on the duty of the beta. Damon is 22 and the gamma’s son is 23 but both of them have had to wait till her brother’s best friend, the alpha’s son Vante is 22, his birthday is in a month. They waited because in our pack the ceremony is held only after all three of them, three of them referring to the people taking the position of Alpha, Beta and Gamma are of age that is 22. And soon she was drifting off to dreamland.