“Hand her over.” The new Alpha was growling at my dad as I hid behind my mum. I could just about make out the brilliant blue of his eyes. When they flash at me, I hide my face.
“Alpha, she is only ten years old.” I hear my dad growl back, standing his ground.
“She needs protection.”
“You are not having her.” My father was the old Alpha’s Beta. He had planted himself between the new Alpha, my mum and I. “She is just a child.”
“I am well aware of that. I hate it as much as you do, but you can’t protect her any longer. I can keep her safe until she is an adult.” His deep voice echoed around me, but I wasn’t afraid. There was something about him that called to me. A tug in my heart maybe, an overwhelming sense that I knew I was made for him.
“Then just reject her.”
“You know it doesn’t work like that. Not anymore. I will wait until she is old enough. I will ensure she is healthy and cared for, but you have to hand her over.”
For a moment, everything around me was no longer important. I tried to make sense of what he had said. Mum pushes me back a bit further. Trying to put distance between us and him.
“She will never belong to an arsehole like you!” Mum screams and dad throws a fist. Mum grabs me and races to the car. Half dragging and half sobbing as dad tries to hold off the new Alpha. She throws me into the backseat and sped away. As I looked out the back window. Watching as the new Alpha ripped my dad apart.
“Lilah, come on.” Mum calls from the otherside of the door as I pull myself from the bed. Another night and the same nightmare. I sigh as I get dressed.Looking into the mirror. I was looking sicker by the day. Trying to rub the bags under my eyes away, I tell her that I would be out in a moment. Brushing out my long raven hair, I pull it down around my collar bone, hiding how frail I was becoming. I knew what was happening. I knew that being away from him was making me like this. But we had to keep moving. He could never find me.
Grabbing my bag, I make my way out of the hotel. The bag was small, but we never needed much. We were never in the same place long enough to have belongings, only necessities.“Sorry, I’m tired.” I mutter as I hand her my bag.
“Nightmares?” She looks at me with pity. The same look she gave me most mornings.
I nodded my head, but it wasn’t nightmares plural, it was just the one. The same one every night for the past seven years. The replay of my fathers death and the way the new Alpha had looked at me. It was like my mind was trying to work out the meanings behind the Alpha’s words, but each and every time there was something slightly different. I started to wonder how much of it was true. Or if my mind was playing tricks on me.
Since that night we have constantly moved. Travelling all over the world, looking for a pack to protect us. We never got to stay long. As soon as they heard the name of who we were running from, we were sent away. It was always just my mum and I and it had been that way for the last seven years. The way I liked it.
“Lilah, I’m sorry honey. You can sleep in the car.” She throws my bag in the back next to hers.
“What happens when I’m eighteen?” My birthday was just days away. The day that I had been dreading. It would mean the mate bond would work both ways. It would mean that he could link me. It would make it so much harder for us to escape his clutches.
She tucks a strand of my long raven hair behind my ear. Her cool hand cups my cheek, but her eyes glance at my thinning shoulders. She doesn’t comment, instead, just telling me that we would deal with it together. Mum tries to give me a warm smile, but just like every other time, it doesn’t reach her deep blue eyes. It hadn’t done in months, she was just as tired as I was.
I inwardly groan. The man we were running from was my mate, the one that had killed my father. The King of Alpha’s, a murderer of packs, a psychopath, a Lycan.
“Lilah. We will deal with it together.” She gestures for me to get in the old honda. As I slide in next to her, she pats my knee. Giving me an awkward smile. Because she knew the truth as well as I did. The day that I turn eighteen, I will not be able to ignore his call.
The problem was, I had already felt the pull to him. I had that night all those years ago. I was somehow drawn to him even as a ten year old. I also felt the pull whenever he was near. It’s how mum and I knew to keep moving. How we were always one step ahead. If it wasn’t for me being a Luna and a Beta’s daughter, I wouldn’t even feel the connection.
Mum had explained it to me years ago. She finally broke down telling me that she was a Luna, the second born of an Alpha. Mum had met my dad when she was seventeen and several years later, they had me. They knew I would be different. I carried her bloodline and my fathers bloodline. A Luna and a Beta. They just didn’t know how different until Alpha Colt took over. That’s when they learnt that I, a werewolf, was mated to a Lycan. Something that has never happened in the history of our kind.
“What if he does find us?” I push a little more, desperate for answers.
“We will deal with it!”
“Mum, you can’t keep saying that. I need to know, I need to prepare myself.” We had the same conversation at least every other day. Sometimes I wondered what she was so afraid of. But deep down I knew. The moment he found me, mum was as good as dead. She had been keeping me from him.
“Lilah, he is a murderer. That's all you need to worry about.”
“I know he killed Dad, but you have told me the mate bond does weird shit.”
“Lilah language!” She scolds me.
“How am I supposed to escape him? It’s not like I can reject him.”
“He has wiped out dozens of packs. Killed hundreds of our kind. It’s what Lycans do.”
“That doesn’t help me. I want to know what he will do with me?”
She blows out her cheeks. The sign that she was done talking. Both of us fell into silence.
“I need to know so that I can defend myself.” I mutter after a few miles.
“Lilah, you can’t even shift yet.” she just about screeches at me. I knew it was time to drop the matter.
She was right. I couldn’t shift yet. My wolf abilities were pretty much nonexistent until my birthday. I couldn’t even heal like a wolf. It was a stupid design fault. Shift at eighteen. Find your mate at eighteen. As if being a teen wasn’t hard enough already!
Leaning over the backseat, I reach for my bag. Rummaging in it for the book I was in the middle of reading. If mum wasn’t going to talk. I might as well do something else. Just as I grab the book, I feel the pull in my heart. Stronger than before, like he was trying to speak to me. He was near and he was calling me. Something he had never done before.
“Mum…” I mumble, pressing my hand to my chest. Because this time, it hurt. She knew instantly and stuck her toe down.
“Put your belt on! She snaps as I sit back down.
“It’s fine,” I groan, tugging the seat belt around me. The pull on my heart increases and I realise we are moving closer to him. “Mum, turn around.” I panic, we were heading right towards him.
She spins the car and a truck is coming directly at us.
“MUM! Look out!
It collides into the side of us. I hear her scream, followed by glass shattering. The sickening crack of my own bones echoes through my head as I’m thrown through the window. The tyres screeched across the tarmac. Moments later, the sound of sirens echoed around me.
Images and noises come in flashes. Mum calling for me in between her screams. Blood was sprayed across the ground. The thud of my own heart echoed in my ears. The patter of feet of those running towards me. My mum’s voice grows distant, weak. After all the years of running, I was about to die.
The smell of musk mixed with oak invaded my senses, but it was oddly calming. It was him, I just knew it. Alpha Colt had finally found me. Seven nearly eight years I had escaped him. And just like that, my life was over.
“It’s alright, I’ve got her.” His voice was deep. It was a sound I remembered from all those years ago. My heart pounded through my chest as I recalled the last time I saw him.
“MATE!” He growls as he bends down next to me. His hands run over me checking for my wounds. Flipping me over onto my back, he exhales loudly, almost groaning.
He puts a hand on my hips.
“Ouch” I mutter, feeling a shock as he touches me.
“Sorry” He mumbles back. He almost looked disappointed that he had hurt me. I must be seeing things.
He touches me again, pressing against my bone. He presses down as hard as he can. Sending a wave of pain through me as my hips crack. I almost vomit and I let out a scream.
His face is close to mine as he speaks. I could smell the recent chocolate bar he had eaten. “Fucking lucky you are not paralysed.” He sounded annoyed.
“Mum…” I mumble and he sighs. Lifting his head, looking in the direction of the wreckage . But I couldn’t see anything and realise that I hadn’t heard her in a few minutes.
“I’m sorry Lilah. She didn’t make it.” My need to make her turn the car around had killed her. “I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt.”
His hands slip under my shoulders, someone else’s hands grip my ankles. They move me onto some kind of board. Lifting me up. I find myself looking into his cobalt blue eyes. He gives me a small smile, but his eyes were full of pity. Why did he care so much? He was probably going to kill me anyway.
Moving past the wreckage, I see mum. Her eyes closed, her head back, blood trickling out of her mouth as paramedics tried to free her. For the last seven years it had just been us. Now I was alone. I would have to deal with Alpha Colt alone.
“Where are you taking me?” I mutter slowly. Trying to make sure I was making sense as everything started to spin.
“To the nearest pack hospital and then home.”
Seven years I had outrun him. Seven years of escaping whatever the future held for me. But he didn’t sound angry. He was unnervingly calm.
“Now close those pretty grey eyes of yours.”
“No.” I couldn’t move, not even if I wanted to. It was like my body was working against me.
A smile teases on his lips. I realise that he probably has never been told no. Well not since my dad told him no. After all he was the King of Alpha’s, everyone obeyed him. Everyone did as he said.
“Do you ever do what you are told?” He cocks an eyebrow at me as I’m placed into the back of an ambulance type of vehicle. He slides himself in next to me. Telling the other guy where to take us.
I choose not to answer. Mostly because I was fighting to stay awake.
“In just a few days, you will have no choice but to listen to me. To answer my questions.”
“Fuck off.”
This time his lips curve up into a proper smile as he starts to laugh.
“You will make an interesting mate!” He mutters before I pass out.
Alpha Colt’s POVI knew I had been close to finding her. I just didn’t realise how close when I called out to her. She would be eighteen anytime now and I tried to reach out to her through mindlink. I had felt her as we pulled up to the junction.My Beta Linc slams on the brakes, narrowly missing a swerving car. From nowhere a truck slams into the same car with a force that no one would survive. The moment the truck hit the car. I knew Lilah was in there. I felt how scared she was, the fear, the pain. My heart thudded in my chest as I watched her body fly through the windscreen. Her limp body sliding across the tarmac.For a moment I am speechless. Almost eight years I had been tracking them down. Searching the world for my mate. And just like that, she was right in front of me. Unmoving and with blood pooling around her.“Is that…?” Linc trails off. He knew we had been close. He had been helping me hunt her down anytime he could.I don’t say anything. I had waited for this moment for
Lilah’s POVThe accident replays over and over in my head. How the pull on my heart had strengthened moments before. Was he already watching me? He must have been close enough to have called to me. Could he have had something to do with the crash? Was he responsible for my mum's death?The doctor pulls back the curtain and smiles at me.“How are you feeling today?” She was always so damn chirpy!“Like I was hit by a truck” I snap sarcastically.“Okay. I just need to do some checks if you don’t mind?”“Do I have a choice?” I looked at my wrist which had been handcuffed to the bed. I wouldn’t be going anywhere unless Alpha Colt had a say in it.She lets out a giggle and clips her blonde hair back. Were they all this stupid? Is this what pack life did to them?My mum had always been desperate for a pack to protect us. She thought it was our only option. Yet I was always secretly grateful when we were kicked out. I hated pack life, hated being told what to do by one person. Hated everyone
Lilah’s POV “Help!” I whimpered, as my legs began to spasm. The hospital was dark, no one seemed to be around. My legs were in agony, a fire raging through them. I couldn’t help but scream out in pain. The doctor comes running in. The hospital lighting up as the doctor tries to pump meds into me. But nothing helped. Nothing stopped the burn. “What’s going on?” Alpha Colt practically shoves a doctor out the way to look at me. “They are trying to reset.” I hear the doctor call out “Why now?” Alpha Colt yells back over the top of my screams. “It’s past midnight.” The doctor yells back. I was officially eighteen and my body was making me suffer. Instead of shifting, my wolf abilities had kicked in and my body was trying to heal. My bones were snapping and resetting correctly. “Then help her!” He demands. “We can’t, this is her wolf trying to correct everything.” “Make it stop!” I beg through the tears. This was worse than the car accident. At least I hadn’t felt the pain, just sh
Lilah’s POVI was mortified. My body had reacted against my wishes, crumbling under his touch. The tighter he held me, the more I craved him. I couldn’t stop it. Waves of desire rippled through my body. It was why I started kicking and screaming. I had to hide what my body was doing. I didn’t want him to know how much I hated it and enjoyed it.Alpha Colt ends up dropping me on the floor of the shower. My clothes were soaked from the water. Clinging to my body, no longer hiding how my bones stuck out. He doesn’t care. How could he? He was heartless. He throws a bottle of shower gel at me.Giant tears roll down my cheeks. I quickly wipe them away. Alpha Colt turns his back on me, shaking his head and walks out of the ensuite.I didn’t care if he could see me through the open door. I didn’t care that he was watching me. This man had ruined my life, he had taken everything from me.Hugging my knees to my chest as the water trickled over me. I no longer fight the tears and let them flow.
Alpha Colt’s POV Opening the door, I find the bedroom empty, the windows wide open. The curtains blowing in the wind. “Fucking moron!” I curse myself. I hadn’t handcuffed her again, believing that she was locked safely in the bedroom. It hadn’t occurred to me that the windows might not be locked. Leaning out of the window, I pick up her citrus scent. She was alone, no one had helped her. Though I was impressed that she had landed without hurting herself. Lilah wasn’t exactly in the healthiest condition and it wasn’t a small drop to the ground either. I call out to her through mindlink, just as I see a foot disappear into the forest. She doesn’t respond. I was both annoyed and surprised that she was already trying to escape. I thought she would have at least waited until she felt better. “Stupid fucking girl!” I mutter. Storming through the packhouse, I bump into Alpha Wyatt. For once, Juniper wasn’t hanging off his arm. “Is something wrong?” “Lilah has taken off!” “Oh! You’re
Lilah’s POVHis knock comes at the bedroom door. He musky oak scent wafting in through the small gap under the door.“Fuck off!” I shout, making it clear that I didn’t want him anywhere near me. He steps into the room, his eyes on me as he shakes his head.It had been three days since he had brought me back here. He had kept me locked in this room all day every day. If he wasn’t in here with me, I was cuffed to the bed. There was no way that I was escaping this time.We hadn’t talked about what he did. We had hardly spoken about anything. The only thing he had done was explain what a Rogue was. Mum had never mentioned them. You would think she would have told me about Lycan’s and wolves that are banished. Especially when she wanted me to look after myself.The lack of knowledge made me feel stupid. Alpha Colt tried to tell me that it wasn’t my fault, but it didn’t change how stupid I had been. Or how close to death I was. I should be grateful that Alpha Colt saved me. Instead, I could
Lilah’s POVMy mouth drops open. I knew I couldn’t. The Moon goddess had been so fed up of mates rejecting each other over the years. Over two decades ago wolves and Lycans began to discover they couldn’t reject each other. She had made it impossible for us to say those words. There was always a reason she chose the couple.“I…. I….” I try to say the words, but they don’t even form. “Can’t, can you?” He cocks an eyebrow at me.“Li….Lil….Lilah” I keep trying. Hoping that the words would start coming. I was stunned into silence. When I couldn’t even get out my whole name.“Trust me, Lilah. I tried. For the first year of you being on the run. I tried over and over to reject you, because you were a child. But I couldn’t. For some reason, the Moon Goddess wants us to be together. I know you hate it. I feel it with every fibre of your being. You make it more than clear that you don’t want to be around me. But I promise, I will never hurt you.” He smiles and shoots a wink at me “Not unless
Alpha Colts POV“A psychopath?” No one had been brave enough to call me that too my face.“Yes! That’s exactly what you are. A Fucking Psychopath!” She practically spits out the words.“Why would you even think that?” It’s not what I want my mate to think of me. I don’t want her to hate me. I don’t want her to fear me. But here, right now. She finally tells me what she thinks.“Mum told me everything I need to know.”“Your mother didn’t know me!” I fire back, trying to keep my cool. “She knew enough.”“And what was that, Lilah? What shit did your mother tell you?"“That you are a killer! You destroy everything. You hurt everyone around you.”“I saved you from that Rogue, Lilah. He would have eaten you and he wouldn’t have killed you first. He would have snapped a limb off. Just a little at a time. A finger. A thumb, maybe your hand. Would you rather I let that happen to you?!”She doesn’t answer me. Her grey eyes finally looked away from me. It was harsh, but it was the truth. I was