BEING ALONE

PROLOGUE

“Hurry, keep running,” the man whispered to his companion.

“I'm tired, I don't think I can run anymore.” He stopped and looked at her, his eyes heavy with pity.

“Let's just hide it, then run away,” she said hysterically.

The madness was spreading in her, her eyes were wise and glazed. “No one would know what we did or how we hid it. Let's just run away.”

He shifted partially, hearing the footsteps come closer.

“Okay, we'll hide it, but where?” He asked.

She looked up at him. “I know. I'll give it to one of them.”

CHAPTER ONE

Standing at the doorway, my mother looked at me, nose pinched and eyes crossed.

She was angry.

“Hello, mother,” I greeted, accustomed to her behavior. “Where are you coming from, Clarissa?” She asked. She didn't budge from the doorway, so I knew she had no plans of letting me in.

“I went fishing,” I replied, holding up a bag full of fish to her. She snorted, knowing I was probably telling a lie, but since I had evidence, she couldn't punish me.

“I told you to not leave the house. The alpha would be furious,” she said.

Alpha Buick. Ugh, I spat out silently in disgust. He was a lewd, disgusting man, and my mother was his mistress.

“Yeah, I don't care what the alpha thinks.”

The slap was hard as always. Mother seemed to think hitting me regularly would suddenly make me like him more, but it just made me look at him with much hatred, knowing it was all his fault I was being treated like this.

“You would treat the alpha with respect,” she screamed at my face, defending her lover. I looked at her face, sad that she couldn't see he was just using her.

My mother, Kate, was the most beautiful woman seen in the six clans. Well, was.

Now she looked like a shell of her former self.

It is said I look like my father. Blue eyes, hair as gold as the sun, lean. Next to my mother's small frame, I was a giant.

My mom had committed crimes, you see, I was the curse to punish her for them.

She had slept with a stranger, when she was mated to the beta of the Grey Wolves clan. Worse, she had slept with a human, committing shikuzz. To cover up her evil, she sought out help from a witch, breaking shifter laws, committing Toʿevah.

“I'm sorry, mother,” I said, looking down at my feet. I loved her, despite everything she had done to me, showing respect was the least I could do. Even though I hated my father for abandoning her.

She told me the story one night, when she was high on witch hazel, another forbidden thing. My mom has a calling for danger, you see.

“Today is the festival of lights.” I groaned out loudly, if there was a thing I hated, it was the festivals. Even though we were ostracized, we still had to attend and show gratitude to our goddess Luna for blessing us and keeping us safe from our rivals.

The Dark Blood Clan.

I didn't even understand what exactly started the war, but the dark bloods were ruthless. Evil in every form, their teeth were stained with the blood of other shifters.

“Okay, mother, what do we need to prepare?” I asked, knowing she would want to do something special for the alpha.

My mother mouthed a list of demands she had, from her hair to shoes. I listened, made commentary when necessary, but my mind wasn't with her.

I told my mother I had gone to the lake to fish, but I went somewhere else. Not only that, but I met up with

My contact, collecting the evidence I needed to go hunting for a specific person.

I was going to find my father. I wanted to look at the man; they said I was his blood, and ask why he abandoned the woman he loved, making her the talk and ridicule of the pack.

I wanted revenge.

“Kate,” a voice called from outside. It was Buick. I hated his voice. He stepped inside our little house, his 5’10 frame blocking the doorway.

“Oh, you're early, Buick,” mother made her voice low, showing how she always spoke to him like she was placating his ego. “How was the meeting with the alphas?”

He looked at me, ignoring her. Watching him closely, I saw that he had a shiner. I wondered who did that and how I would thank them for it.

“Clarissa,” he walked towards me, “you are getting bigger, aren't you?”

Ever since I turned 18, I knew Buick had eyes for me. He couldn't control himself. For 4 years, I had managed to stay under the radar and keep myself safe from him, being directly obtuse so he wouldn't think I was giving him attention.

“The meeting went horribly, the other Alphas are scared.”

He sat down, rubbing his head. “Gorrah was attacked last week, taken over by the Dark Blood.”

Mother let out a large gasp, hands at her throat. “What exactly do they want?” she walked towards him.

I moved quietly out of the house so I could have alone time, grateful they didn't question and ask me to come back. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts, and I started walking towards there.

Our kingdom, Shifter Kingdom, was large, divided into 10 colonies. Each clan had 2 lands, and an alpha ruled over each land.

We were territorial beats, werewolves. There were other shifters: lions, sirens, and gargoyles. Wolves though, we were blessed by the Goddess Luna, at our highest point of power during the full moon and could transform into our beasts at will.

I had no beast.

They said it's because of my father, he was normal, a human. He had no powers, they said. Most werewolves start manifesting their powers by their 10th birthday.

When I was 10, nothing happened. It made my mother livid, she broke everything in the house, cursing out a man only she knew. When I turned 16, I knew I would never be a wolf or have a mate, one of the gifts bestowed upon us by the Goddess.

I learned to stay on my own, quickly becoming a target. Spending all my teenage life being bullied was horrible. It didn't help that my mom was sleeping with someone's mate. His children made my life hell.

Gregory punched me for the first time when I was 12. He called me a cheap whore, screaming obscenities at me. He told me he would make me his mistress and use me the same way my mother was being shared by the other shifters. I hit him back when I was 16, breaking his nose.

Mother beat me up all night. It was still worth it.

The pathway to the temple was empty, everyone preparing for the festival in their houses. By night, the whole clan would be outside, dancing and partying before going on the run.

I walked alone with my thoughts, excited about tonight. I had finally gotten information on where my father was. I would go find him, it wasn't easy to get.

I reached the temple and sat at the entrance. I wasn't allowed inside, the village shaman had banned me, saying I had no wolf, no tie to the Goddess. I came here because it gave me peace to speak to her, Luna.

“I have found my father goddess, I started. “He's in what they call George Town, in the normal town. You wouldn't know there,” I chuckled.

“I'm going to find my father