Chapter 0001

After being married for over ten years, my husband suddenly changed. He started saying he needed to chase true love, that since I’m not his Mate, he couldn’t stay with me and our daughter anymore.

But what’s ironic is, he forgot that before we got married, he was just an orphan my father took in. Without me, he'd be nothing.

{ Sky }

Every day I wake up, I feel blessed. I never get out of bed without expressing my gratitude to the highest power, the Moon Goddess, for giving me such a blessed life.

I might not have a fated mate like my sister Hope, but I have a man who makes me feel like having a mate is more than just about fate.

"Fuck! I'm running late," said man growls next to me and he untangles himself from my body to get up. I sneak a peak of his naked ass as he stumbles into our walk-in closet, "Today is opening day at the new training center."

"Oh, right. Good luck with that," I say, allowing myself to stretch in our bed.

"I didn't even remember it was today. Nico texted me about this last night, at midnight," he complains from the closet, then I hear a big thump like something huge just fell, "Ah, shit! I fell."

I laugh for two straight minutes, just imagining his big body hitting the ground.

Farrow Aleksei is easily the hottest, coolest guy to ever live, but he's goofy too. Sometimes. Only with me, though.

"Don't fucking laugh at me, babe," he mutters as he walks out, zipping up his dark jeans, "I have to go, I'll be busy all day... I'll see you tonight for dinner."

He comes to give me a goodbye kiss, a quick ‘love you’ and practically runs out of the room.

Oh, Moon Goddess, you really did a damn job with that man.

He’s a six foot four, muscular, dark-haired cutie. He has plump pink lips, a cute button nose, light green eyes and better eyelashes than me. He might try to act all tough, but he’s a softie at heart.

He thinks he’s not ‘book smart’ so he has dedicated himself to physical work. Now he owns two different training centers and he personally trains the pack’s security squad in both human form and wolf form, so they can be in top shape to protect our pack. My father—the Alpha—has tried to recruit him to be the head of the security squad and lead them out in the field, but it’s always a hard no from him.

I met Farrow Aleksei when we were both ten years old. His father had just passed away in battle, defending our pack from rebels. My dad wanted to make sure the boy was okay now that his only parental figure had passed away and he wanted me and my brother to play with Farrow, make him forget about his pain for a while.

But when we stepped inside the house, we didn't find a broken orphan, crying and devastated. We found a tall boy who looked even older than my twelve-year-old brother. He was cooking dinner for himself, drinking a beer.

My father told him we would find someone to take care of him. Farrow said: "I can take care of myself, Sir."

So, I didn't play with him that day. I hid behind my brother, a little scared of the most self-assured boy I've ever seen before. And when we left, my father said: "That kid hasn't been a kid in a long time."

Farrow refused to leave his house and he refused to be put up for adoption, he just looked into my father's eyes and asked to be treated as an adult. So, he became the only ten-year-old who lived independently in our pack. Or probably any pack, ever. My dad respected his wishes and agreed to let him live on his own. But, of course, he continued to 'bust his balls'. He had guards checking on him constantly and he forced him to eat with us at least once a week.

When he was in our home, he never played with us, the kids. He would talk to my parents and then say goodbye to us respectfully before leaving.

Farrow hadn't gone to school at all, ever, so my father forced him to enroll in the same school as us. He had no trouble reading, writing or understanding classes, but he had a lot of trouble socializing. He liked to be left alone, but everyone was obsessed with the 'new' kid. He got into so many fights, my father stopped being surprised when the school called him about them.

I heard him scolding Farrow one time: "You're bigger than the other kids, you could really hurt them."

Farrow scoffed and said: "They shouldn't piss me off then." And I thought that was the coolest thing ever. So... it was only a matter of time. Me, falling for him.

I started looking at Farrow with heart-eyes when I was twelve.

He wouldn't talk to me outside of my house, not even when we were side by side in school. Farrow said he didn't want to be seen as the Alpha's fourth kid. But when a group of girls started bullying me, he took notice. He came to me and said: "Don't let them."

I said: "Farrow, there's three of them and only one of me, there's nothing I can do."

He rolled his eyes and left... but the next time Hannah, Claudia and Annabelle went against me, he saved me.

The girls locked me in the bathroom and they were taunting me. I didn't understand why they hated me so fucking much, so I just cried and cried... until someone broke in. Farrow.

Hannah, Claudia and Annabelle got away from me, but I stayed in my ball, on the floor.

"Keep watch for me," Farrow said to his best friend out there. He nodded and closed the door, locking Farrow inside with us.

"What are you doing? This is the girls' bathroom. You will get in trouble," Annabelle said, trying not to show how scared she was.

"Will I? Then I guess I better make this trouble worth it," he said and smiled in such a way, the three girls cowered. Hannah looked at me.

"Tell your guard dog to leave," she ordered me.

"Aleksei, you should leave," I whispered. Not for the girls, but for him. I really didn't want him to get in trouble for the third time that week, "I'm fine."

"Really? I've seen these three bitches messing with you for weeks. The fat one," he pointed at Annabelle, Claudia snickered, so he zoned in on her, "The toucan-nose one. And the boy-looking one. I'm done."

When he started walking closer, the girls shrieked together and gathered in a ball, but he didn't go for them. He went for their three backpacks on the floor.

"Stop! That's expensive!" Annabelle snapped when he picked her designer backpack.

"Really?" Farrow asked and ripped it in two pieces like it was nothing, "Oops."

"Oh my god," her lip started quivering, "I'll tell my dad!"

"Go ahead, then I can tell him about you bullying Alpha Noah's daughter," he said, opening the faucet and dumping her notebooks in there. He did the same with the other two girls' things, "This was me being nice, okay? Keep bullying her and I won't be nice anymore."

Farrow offered his hand to me. I grabbed it and he pulled me up so hard, I almost fell forward.

I left that bathroom madly in love with him and my feelings are still the same today, sixteen years later.