I kept hearing a beeping sound.
When I opened my eyes, the lights were way too bright so I put my hand over my eyes.
I heard a sweet woman’s voice, “Hey, sweetheart, you’re awake! Let me dim the lights a little for you.”
The voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
I slowly opened my eyes and found an older couple sitting on either side of the bed.
I remembered seeing both of these people at my last birthday party, “Grandma?” I asked then turned to the man, “Grandpa?”
They both nodded.
Grandma asked, “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”
“Thirsty. The rogues killed mommy and daddy. Didn’t they?” I croaked. I knew they were dead, I just needed to hear it from someone else.
As soon as I saw the worried look on each of their faces, I knew they were dead.
My grandmother poured a cup of water for me and put a straw in it while my grandfather kissed my forehead.
Their hands were warm and comforting.
As I was drinking, I was informed by grandpa that they had made arrangements for me to live with them. He asked if I would be okay with it.
I nodded as I asked, “Do you have pictures of them? I want to get the blood out of my brain.”
I then looked down and saw a lot of bandages, “It really hurts. Can I sit up?”
Grandma was wiping the tears from her eyes when grandpa nodded, “We do have pictures of them. Let’s wait until the nurse gets in here before you try to sit up. I am so sorry you had to see that little one. We will see what we can do to replace that bad memory.”
I remember the doctor walking into my room and looking at my wounds. He told me it was good to see me awake and alive and they were worried about me. I asked him a few questions and he answered them in terms that I could understand. I thanked him and he left.
Only a few minutes later, I heard more footsteps.
As I was wondering who they could be, I saw the alpha, luna of our pack. They were followed by a cute little boy. He had light brown hair, adorable caramel eyes and a cute button nose.
looked to be around my age, but he walked like he already knew exactly who he was and how important he was to the pack.
That boy immediately walked to my bedside and stood beside me, staring into my eyes.
Somehow, I saw sincerity and warmth in his eyes.
As I watched him, I smiled at him. He smiled back, “I’m Isaac, the future alpha.”
I felt an instant connection as I answered, “I’m Zariah. It’s nice to meet you.”
He introduced his parents to me and I nodded in respect at them. They seemed like nice people.
Looking at me, Luna Kyra asked me how I was feeling.
Isaac startled everyone when he scowled at his mother, “She is in a lot of pain, mother, can’t you see? You guys should go home. I want to sit here with her! I can protect her!”
I suddenly felt the atmosphere in the room shift to an uncomfortable awkward.
I immediately figured out why. Alpha and Luna are busy. They took time out of their busy schedules to visit me.
Alpha Kenny got his attention and explained, “Isaac, we have other things that you need to do. Let Zariah get better and you can sit with her at her grandparents’ home. Okay?”
Isaac sighed as he put his hand on mine, “I’m sorry, Zariah. I wish I could stay with you.”
I laid my other hand on his and answered, “It’s okay. I would like for you to visit when I go home.”
Alpha Kenny chuckled at the sweet sight, “He can come over whenever your grandparents let him.”
My grandmother chuckled, “I’m sure they will be best of friends.”
After a short visit, they left.
I stared at the ceiling thinking of the warmth in Isaac’s hand and the sincerity in his eyes.
The nurse came back and put something in my IV.
When I woke up from a hard sleep, I found my grandfather sitting next to me.
I asked, “Grandpa, have you been home at all since I got here?”
He chuckled, “It’s okay, sweetie. I don’t want you to be alone at all. Your grandmother is at home, taking a nap. She also wanted to make some cookies for when you get to come home.”
Soon after, I was taken for some tests.
When I was brought back to my room, I saw the doctor was sitting with my grandpa, “Well, Zariah, it looks like you can go home. I will send some medicine with your grandpa and I want you to lay still and get plenty of rest.”
I agreed. Grandpa helped me get dressed, and the nurse brought in my medicine. After briefly speaking with my grandpa, I was carried to the car and was taken to their house… my new home.
When we got there, I opened the door to my room and found that they had gone to my old house and picked up everything in my room, plus some of my parents’ things to hold on to for me when I grew up.
My grandma walked into my room and sat on my bed, “Do you like your room?”
I nodded, “I do.”
She hugged me, “Child, I would do anything for you. You deserve the world.”
I kissed her cheek and laid on my bed as I yawned, “I think I need to take a nap. I’m really sleepy.”
Grandma smiled, “You go ahead and go to sleep, child. We’ll be here when you wake.”
After grandma left, I found myself not so tough at all.
I put my teddy bear up to my face and I could still smell my mom’s scent on it.
I smelled one of my pillows and could still smell my dad’s scent on it.
I laid my teddy bear beside me on the bed and tears filled my eyes.
Life after losing my parents was hard, but I quickly learned to move on. Having my grandparents and Isaac by my side helped me to move on more than I ever imagined possible. When I started Junior High School, five young ladies barged into my personal space and never walked out. My best friends, Wendy, Paula, Mandy, Chrystal, and Kari ran with me every morning, no matter the weather. With time, we started running five miles every school day and ten miles one day a week. I came to love that burn in my muscles after a run. It became one of my favorite ways to get rid of the images that plagued my memories and dreams of my parents. It was a constant fight to keep them beaten to the back of my mind. That caused a lot of anger issues that used to happen occasionally. Alpha Kenny and Isaac started running with us on weekends when they had time. Isaac and I were still considering each other friends, but my feelings for him had never changed. I had sensed the same with him. I could feel
Zariah’s POV~Three Years Later~“This is a really boring job.” Isaac whined. He and I have been practicing gymnastics with his cousin, Abby, for the last couple hours. Abby and I had been using him as our spotter.I laughed as I stood at the end of a very long mat, “You think it’s boring? Okay, spot me. You might want to start up here and keep up with me.”I waited for him to stand slightly ahead of me, and to the side. I started with three back handsprings and ended with a very high triple flip on the way to the mat, landing on my feet.Isaac kept yelling, “Wait up!” When I went airborne with my triple flips, he yelled, “How am I supposed to spot that?”As I landed, I laughed, “Just don’t let me fall. That’s all. Like this. Be ready. I am going to mess up on purpose and you need to catch me.” He was very serious as he nodded, “Okay.” I extended my arms over my head and started to go into a back flip, but I didn’t complete it.I jumped high and basically laid flat. He caught me with
I woke with a start and looked around in the dark.I could hear glass breaking from the first floor and voices on the second floor. My first thought was, “Again?”I called Alpha Kenny and whispered, “I need you to come over… quickly. It sounds like there are more than three people this time. They are on both floors.”Alpha Kenny answered, “We’ll be there in a minute. Don’t do anything until we get there.” I quietly got out of bed and crawled to the master bathroom, whispering “I’m in the master bathroom. I’ll be listening for you.”As I sat there on my bathroom floor, I kept hearing footsteps upstairs.Then, there was one thing that stood out to me: I didn’t smell the usual smell of weeks-old garbage that rogues normally carried on them.I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it did sound like there was a clear leader among them.As minutes passed, I heard one ask if they opened every door… including closets.I could tell there was at least one in my bedroom because I heard him
Selene continued, “You and your mate will be able to combine your powers to help your warriors defeat the witches.“There are also a couple other packs who want to take Onyx and you for their own benefit.“Depending on the alpha’s choices and your pack’s success in preventing his warriors from going back, you will only have up to one year to prepare for that war.“It’s hard to tell with one of them. He’s not the brightest of my children and he is very unpredictable. I would give him a second chance mate, but he is a very cruel man too. He has been slowly turning feral since his mate was killed ten years ago. I’m afraid I’m going to have to take his wolf from him soon. His wolf does not deserve this.“The other alpha is just a very greedy man and always has been. He rejected his mate in order to take a chosen mate for more power.“He is also very cruel to the omegas in the pack. You may have less time to prepare for him. Alpha Kenny is doing the right thing by keeping warriors around y
Isaac POVI have been watching over Zariah since she came to our pack. She was so badly injured; I was scared to death that she would die. I have always been drawn to her. I wanted nothing more than to stay next to her in the hospital until she was better.When she got out of the hospital, I spent all day, every day, at her side, taking care of her. I would help her to any room she wanted to go to and her grandma would giggle at the sight of us.I think I was just looking for a reason to hold her hand. I’m sure her grandma knew we were mates even when we were that little.I spent all of my time in school keeping all the guys away from her. I just didn’t even want them looking at her. My parents got called to school a few times because I knocked another boy out. I got in trouble for hitting them. Not for watching over Zariah.In junior high, I backed off from hanging around her because there was a group of guys who, I heard through the grapevine, were trying to find a way to get in her
Isaac POVDad was smiling widely. I think that was when they both started offering to help her with more stuff. Dad offered to teach her to drive and mom asked her to help her plan a couple parties.I had to make mom back off because I wanted her to realize I’m her mate on her own. Although, I know it will be so hard to keep my hands off of her.Zariah. Even her name sounded like an angel’s name to me. She always looked like perfection to me. She is very fit, even though she can beat me on the amount of junk food she eats.She looks like an angel with her long, light brown hair. It has a natural wave to it that always draws my eye.Her emerald, green eyes have always captivated me. It’s so hard to act as a friend when those eyes make me want to hold on to her forever and her long legs make me want them around my waist as I lower her to my bed.My mate is so smart. She is going to be such a great luna. She is about to become our pack’s first female financial advisor and the youngest on
Zariah POVI woke up on the couch with everyone standing over me.Abby got close to my ear and asked, “What did you feel, Zariah?”I answered, “Pure evil.”I furrowed my brow, “Didn’t anyone else feel that aura?”As I looked around the room, everyone was shaking their heads.I asked, “I wonder if the dark witches found me?”Alpha Kenny answered, “Don’t worry, sweetie. We got you. Let’s finish talking about what The Goddess told you.”I sighed, “We need to be ready for the first war in around a year.”Alpha Kenny’s eyes went wide, “The first war?”I nodded, “Yep. That will be one alpha who is trying to take me. The second one will be in around three years.“That one will be with the witches.”Alpha Kenny asked, “What do they want with you?”I answered, “They want to drain my wolf’s power for themselves. If I find my mate and mark him, they will want him too.”Luna Kyra scowled, “Don’t you dare use that to deny the mate bond!”I shook my head, “I promised The Goddess that I would stay o
After listening to his thoughts some more, I told Luna Kyra what I heard. She linked Alpha Kenny. I heard Alpha Kenny growl, “What is Alpha Tolvar’s niece’s name? Why is she here?” The guys asked, “What’s the deal with you? Are you able to read minds?” Alpha smiled, “You have no need to know. What is her name?” The guy hung his head and sighed in surrender, “Okay. I don’t know anything about her but she’s been trying to get closer to her for the past couple years, but she graduated school early.” I listened carefully to his thoughts and found that to be true. I told Luna my findings and Alpha turned to the door after telling the man, “You are hereby sentenced to death. In return for your cooperation, we will make it fast.” The man replied, “That’s all I can hope for.” Alpha Kenny walked out and Luna Kyra forced us out of the observation room before one of the guards pulled his head off his shoulders. As we walked past each of the cells, I started hearing some thoughts that did n