Chapter 0002

Aurora

Mum stops shaking slightly before she looks at me with panic in her eyes.

‘Mum! We need to keep going. He will kill you if you go back,’ I tell her, but she shakes her head at me.

‘Not yet. We need to make it harder for him to find us,’ she says, wringing her hands. Her eyes fill with tears as she looks back to where we just came from.

‘What are you talking about? – let’s go!’ I urge but she stays still when she turns to look at me. She speaks so quietly that I almost don’t hear her.

‘The bond,’ I freeze. She’s right. The bond between mates is a powerful thing, so powerful that you can find your mate from any location. There could be hundreds of miles between you, but that connection, that pull to each other, is always there.

I nod looking back at her; I know she chose me. She defied not only her alpha but her mate to rescue me. It doesn’t mean that the choice won’t cost her. She needs to reject him before we go any further. Once the bond is severed, it will make it harder for him to locate us.

‘You’ve got his mum,’ I encourage, giving her a hug to give her the strength to do this. They have been together for years; she has stuck by him through so much and part of the reason is because it is almost impossible to sever a bond once you have been together for so long.

‘I Sarah Anderson, of the Blue Moon Pack, reject Richard Anderson as my mate and alpha. I renounce this pack as my home and as their Luna.’ I hear her voice break as her whole-body shudders and I hold her close, kissing her cheek.

I have never been prouder of my mum.

I know she is in agony, and we hear another roar from my father. The effect of the severed bond will be causing him pain too, not to mention having the pack link break.

‘Your turn, my sweet,’ my whispers in my ear. I nod, feeling her tears land on my shoulder. This part will be easier for me in some way, but despite everything, he is still my father, and this is never an easy step.

‘I Aurora Anderson, of the Blue Moon pack, reject Richard Anderson as my alpha and father. I renounce this pack as my home and the position of his heir and future alpha of the pack.’ I feel the link snap, freeing me from this place. With it, my whole future gone with it.

If I could have made it until I was 18, I would have had my wolf. I could have challenged my father for the position as Alpha and rid this pack of him, as it is things didn’t go that way. I release mum, wiping her tears from her cheeks as she does mine.

‘Let’s go,’ she says and we take off running once again.

We ran until our legs gave out. It would be faster to run in wolf form, but as I don’t have mine yet and the rejection has weakened mum, she can’t shift. We both stop by a tree slumping, catching our breath back.

‘Aurora … has that happened before?’ mum asks tentatively. I shake my head, wanting to reassure her.

‘No mum, you saved me,’ she gives me a sad smile but I know she will be okay, she is stronger than I could ever have imagined, I guess I was off limits she endured everything else as long as I didn’t come to harm.

I watched her dark blonde hair fall in front of her face as her eyes welled up once more. I looked so similar to mum she was the beauty of our pack and the envy of any visiting alpha. Her heart-shaped face, clear blue eyes, blonde hair, perfect hourglass figure. Your classic omega. She was a tiny thing as well, only 5ft 2” but like I said, she was strong and resilient even. I admired her in so many ways.

‘I don’t want you to suffer anymore either, mum,’ I whispered to her. She looked at me stunned, before looking even sadder than before. My chest squeezed. She thought she had protected me from that. Now she knew I knew.

‘It’s alright sweetie, let’s keep moving,’ she stood picking up her bag, and I grabbed the others as we walked through the forest until we found a road, looking both left and right we tried to see which way was best to go. We opted for the left as it turned further from our pack.

We walked for a further 30 minutes. I had no idea what time it was, but both of us we dead on our feet. I could see some sort of light in the distance and hoped it would be a small town or village where we could stay the night.

‘Mum, look I think that’s a light we can probably find somewhere to stay,’ she nodded, and I took her bag from her to lighten her load. She had had a rough night, we both had, but I knew no matter what, she was going to be affected by this worse than I was.

If I ever saw that man again, I was going to kill him. I just needed to make it until I was 18. I would get my wolf any abilities I might have and be stronger than before.

Mum gave me a sad smile as the village came into view. The place was quiet, probably given the time of night we were here. I took her hand, pulling her along until we found the only hotel in the place. Luckily for us, they had 24hour reception.

‘One room please,’ I said to the half-asleep receptionist behind the desk. His body jolted as I spoke, not realising that people were actually here in this ghost town.

‘How many nights will you be staying for?’ he asked. I looked at Mum. we were both so tired, but I knew we needed to keep moving. We were still too close.

‘One night please,’ he nodded, taking some details which I lied about before giving him the cash. He gave us a key, and we headed up the stairs to our room.

It was a standard room with a double bed. I had chosen it partly because I knew mum would need me and secondly because I would need her. I didn’t want what happened to haunt me as I slept. I needed to be strong if we were both to get through this.

‘I’ll take a quick shower, then I can run you a bath?’ I offered as mum just nods helping herself to the bottled water in the room.

‘Okay sweetie,’ I dashed into the bathroom, not wanting to leave her on her own. I also didn’t want to be caught off guard. I had no idea how far we had walked, how much distance we had put between us. I just prayed it was enough. Looking up at the moon, I prayed to the moon goodness for her help and guidance.

I jumped in the shower washing off his touch from my body. No amount of scrubbing made me feel clean. I had to deal with that another day. I’ll focus my attention on mum for now. Wrapping a towel around my body, I rinsed the bath before running it for her.

‘Bath’s ready, I called out.’ I heard a shuffle before she came through the door.

‘Thank you, Aurora,’ she looked close to tears once more. I left her too, hoping it would help her feel better. I looked through the items I had packed while drinking some of the water in the room. There were two other bottles and a few crisps and biscuits which I packed in the bag, not knowing what tomorrow would bring.

I dressed in jeans and a t-shirt as I towel dried my hair. I wanted to be actually dressed just in case. It would be a hell of a lot more obvious if I continue traipsing through the forest in my pyjamas. I looked in the mirror, not sure what to make of how I looked, his voice still ringing in my head.

I had got my curves from my mum; they weren’t anything like hers for sure. She had large, perky tits and an ass. Mine were still there. Even in this outfit, it looked sexy. My ass filled out my jeans and my breasts stretched out over the fabric of my t-shirt.

Was this my fault?

I sighed, shaking my head. No, I’m not going to think that way. As werewolves’ nudity isn’t a big deal, everyone strips before shifting if they have time, if there is an attack that’s not always possible, when it’s over and they switch back they all have to walk home naked or hope there is some clothes still buried in the woods or bush somewhere.

I reason that even if I wore shorts or skirts it shouldn’t matter, right?

‘It’s not your fault dear, your beautiful,’ mum pulls me from my faults and I turn to look at her. She still has that sad lost look on her face, but I can see she is trying to hold it together for me.

‘Let’s get some rest,’ she dresses similar to me, wearing actual clothes rather than trying to make a run for it in her slip. The thought makes me want to laugh.

We both get in bed as she wraps her arms around me securely. I drift off immediately, falling into a deep slumber.

WAKE UP

My eyes blink open hearing a voice, look around the room, the lights still on not seeing anyone, mum is still asleep beside me. Fear fills me as I head to the bathroom to make sure the place is clear. That’s when I heard voices outside the building of our hotel.

They found us already?