Chapter One: The Invasion

The earliest memories that a person holds should be some of the most treasured, perhaps a little picnic that you and your family went on, a wanderer's day out that brings you such immense joy whenever it pops into your mind.

But for me, my earliest memory is of pain and despair, it's my earliest yet my most agonising memory that I hold. When I was only a young child, our peaceful little pack was attacked one night by the infamously cruel Dark Warrior Pack. They not only took us for everything that we had but took one of the purest people to grace this earth. The one person who sacrificed her own life to save that of her children.

My feet skipped along the frozen cobblestone path leading from the pack house, my mind consumed with excitement for what this day would bring. The freezing temperatures of winter pricked my rosey cheeks as I skipped, along with my breath emitting an icy cloud of mist, I couldn’t help the giggles that escaped my lips.

“Fern hunny, please put your cardigan on, I don’t want you catching a cold!” My mother called from behind me, my light pink cardigan hanging from her hands as she chased after me.

Listening to my mother's request, I pause my happy filled skips and allow her to place the delicate fabric over my arms. My eyes travelling through the woods watching as many other people with the biggest of smiles on their faces continued on their journey.

Some held beautiful decorations that they were able to create at home to hang on the trees, whilst others held the most mouthwatering food, I believe I had ever seen. The feeling of excitement and happiness that clung to the air allowed each person to forget the freezing temperatures or any other troubles they may be facing. We all just could not wait for the day’s festivities to begin.

After I was safely inside my cardigan which matched the beautiful flowers of my little white dress, my mother allowed me on my way again where I ran even faster down the path to reach the party.

Stood off to the side watching as the many decorations were hung from the trees and offering some suggestions of where he believed they should hang stood my father, the Alpha of our lovely little pack, as always, such a smile of genuine happiness stood on his lips. Which only grew bigger when he saw my mother and I walking over.

“Daddy!” I cheered running over even faster, my father soon turning and scooped me into his strong and safe arms holding me so tightly.

“Hello, my Fern, I have to say you look beautiful.” He smiled looking down at my dress, where I only giggled as my mother who nervously rubbed her arm walked closer to us but looked around the area frantically. “And Beatrice, you always look beautiful.” My father smiled complimenting my mother as he always did, but this time, she didn’t smile but continued to look around the area.

“Where’s Hadwin?” She asked looking over to my father for the first time, who smiled pointing over to the opposite side of the forest.

“He went to play in the woods with some of his friends before the celebration begins.” My father explained with a smile, whilst I saw some of our fighters make their way over to one of the borders, where I send them the biggest wave that they soon return.

“Can you have him come here please?” Mother asked still nervously rubbing her arm, where my father went to speak and tell her Hadwin was fine, but she cut him off. “Just please! Please Cameron just go and collect him, I want the kids close by me for minute.” She exclaimed but seemed to calm down after she spoke, looking a little confused but nodding his head, my father handed me back over to my mother before walking away to collect Hadwin.

Now it was only my mother and I, she looked around the area but didn’t seem excited or happy like my father or anyone else for that matter. The way she kept taking deep breaths in to calm her down made me turn my head to the side a little.

“Mama?” I ask grabbing her attention once again, where she looked over at me worried for a split second before the same beautiful smile which always clung to her lips looked back at me.

“I’m okay Fern, mummy just wants to make sure that both of her babies are close so she can look after them. I can’t let anything happen to you.” She smiled lifting her hand up and placing it down on my cheek, her face seemed happy but even at my young age, I could see her eyes were upset.

With a smile, my father with my older brother Hadwin in tow begin to make their way over, Hadwin held a little stick in his hand which he smacked off each tree that he past. But before my mother and father could engage in a conversation, one of the fighters I had waved to not moments before rushed through the trees, a look of horror on his face and blood all over his hands.

“The Dark Warrior Pack are invading! They’ve infiltrated each one of our borders and are heading here!” He shouts reaching my father and all the other once happy people, who all soon sink down into confusion and worry.

“ALL WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE PACK BASEMENT NOW!” My father shouts in his loud Alpha voice, so loud I was forced to hold my hands over my ears and place my head on my mother's shoulder to hide my face. “Beatrice, you take the children and go hide in the basement.” He soon says walking over to my mother whilst Hadwin cling to his leg, he was much older than me and understood more of what was happening around him but still longed for his parents' comfort.

“No, I am the Luna, I will stand with my pack and fight each step of the way. The children can hide in the cellar, that is why I asked you to build it.” My mother responds not listening to what my father told her, who looked beyond fearful and confused as mother knells down to be at Hadwin’s height whilst I clung onto her.

“Hadwin, I need you to do a very important job for me okay?” She asked in such a soft voice, whilst Hadwin looked back nodding slightly but still clung onto father.

“I need you to take your little sister down to the secret cellar that your daddy showed you remember, I want you both to stay down there until daddy comes and gets you later, okay?” She asks placing me in his arms safely, as he was only little himself, it took him a little while to steady himself with me in his arms, but as I was only tiny, he managed.

“W-what about you and daddy?” He asks looking up at our mother a little afraid, but her beautiful smile sat on her lips as she placed her hand to rest on his little cheek.

“Me and your daddy are going to be just fine, your daddy’s a big Alpha and will do all that he can to keep everyone safe. Now, you too will one day grow up to be a big and strong man, so I need you to promise me that you’ll always keep your little sister safe, even when she’s big too and doesn’t always want to listen to you. Can you promise me that?” She asked as the once joyful land was filled with fear, many more fighters rushing over to each border with looks of determination on their faces.

“I promise mummy.” He says with such a brave look where she shakes her head with a smile placing a kiss on his forehead before turning to look at me, even to this day I still remember the tears in her eyes as she looked deep into mine.

“And you my little Fern, you are so special to such a degree that some will attempt to manipulate you, but you’ve got your father's spirit and will never allow them. Just remember that I love you so much, throughout everything, I will always be there” She smiles leaning forward and also placing a soft kiss on my forehead, the feeling of one of her stray tears leaving her eyes and landing onto my tiny hand.

“Now go as fast as you can okay, do not stop no matter what you see or hear” She smiles mainly looking to Hadwin, who nods his head before turning around and beginning to sprint as fast as his little legs could carry him.

The faster that Hadwin ran, the tighter I held onto his shoulder with the icy cold blasts of wind hitting my little face with such intensity, I began to worry my face was beginning to bleed. I would have most likely caught such a fierce cold if it wasn’t for my little pink cardigan which hung from my body.

As we ran deeper into the woods, loud sounds of shouting, screaming and clanging of swords began to ring out from all around us as though they were drawing in closer. The trees which towered above us never looked so big before, my heart pounding in my little chest so fast, but in the same breath, I was much too terrified to cry.

After intense moments of Hadwin running as fast as his little body could, we stop in the centre of the thick woods where the special tree that father had shown Hadwin stood. Taking two worried looks around him to ensure no one was coming, he leans down unsteady due to me still clinging from his body and begins to move away leaves and other debris before he finds the camouflaged handle.

Using all the strength his little body had, Hadwin pulls open the hatch revealing the pitch-black stone staircase, my little heart once again pounding in my chest as I bury my little face into my older brother's shoulder. I was petrified of the dark and in front of us was all I could see.

“Don’t worry Fern, mummy said that we’ll wait in here for a little while until daddy can come and get us.” Hadwin says hoping to make me feel better but still had yet to take his first steps into the cellar, even though he wanted to seem brave to make me feel better, he was still only little himself and would have benefitted from one of our parents with us.

Lifting my face up so my eyes left Hadwin’s shoulder, I watch him take a deep breath like I saw our mother do before he slowly starts his descent down the stone steps, the deeper that we went, the darker it became and the more fear my little body felt. After the fourth step, Hadwin’s little hand lost grip of the door above which slammed closed, the sound echoing through the cellar along with the pitch-black darkness, I couldn’t help the scream with escaped my lips.

“I-it’s okay Fern, I’m going to look after you.” Hadwin’s shaking voice reassures me as we continued down the steps, but this time, you couldn’t see the hand which sat in front of your face. “Here’s the light.” He says lifting his arm up and pulling down a cord, a tiny little light hanging from the ceiling not offering us much but enough that we could see.

“Mummy said we only need to stay down here until daddy comes and gets us.” Hadwin says with a smile taking his seat down on the concrete flooring under us, his breathing fast and heavy due to how much running he had to do, whilst I sat on his lap staring up at his face with such worry.

“Daddy won’t be long.” He whispers as I place my head to rest on his shoulder, whilst the distance sounds of the raging fight outside nothing but a muffled noise whilst my brother and I embraced waiting for one of our protectors to arrive.

Hours seemed to tick by with no sign of our father, every time I would look up, Hadwin would send me a smile as to not worry me before the cellar slipped into the deep silence once again. Through the silence, we hear the fast sounds of feet above us get closer before the door flies open, the sudden glimmer of light from the twilight sky seeming to blind Hadwin and I due to the lengthy hours we spent down in the almost complete darkness.

Before Hadwin and I could blink, our father, looking more disheveled than before, his face littered with cuts, bruises and what seemed to be blood splattered over his clothes, appeared at the top of the stairs. His face holding relief as he watched us sat on the floor, his breathing fast as though he had dropped all that he had done and ran as fast as he could to us.

“Dad?” Hadwin asked sitting up a little when our father didn’t go to move from the stairs, his question seemed to snap our father from his trance, who takes the final steps of the staircase to stand right in front of us.

“Yes, it’s me, you both are safe now.” He breathlessly says walking over and taking me from Hadwin’s lap, where I wrapped my arms around his neck for support before he takes Hadwin in his other hand.

Without saying a word, he turns around and starts his journey back up the stairs, Hadwin and I holding him so tightly as we reached the top of the stairs and out into the woods. But the longer I looked around and saw many people staring over at us with sadness on their faces, the more I realised there was one person missing.

“Mama?” I ask staring over at my dad with a confused expression, our mother never left us for long and always offered us the biggest hug when she returned.

My question only caused such sadness to spread through my father’s expression as he takes a look down at me, even at my young age, I could see the look in his eyes had changed, there was now darkness as he looked back at me.

“I’m sorry baby but mummy has had to go away for awhile, don’t worry, daddy’s going to take care of you and make sure not a single person ever lays their hands on you.” He told me in a soft voice as we began our climb up the pack house steps, behind us, the once beautiful celebration grounds, was now left in ruin just like our pack and family.

My father was never the same after that night, his eyes held nothing but pain, grief, and the deep rotted lust of revenge.

The same look in my father eyes still remain to this day, but with the years which had passed, he only grew darker. His whole being has become obsessed with the idea of revenge and from the way he talks and acts, it’s all that he thinks about.

As me and Hadwin grew, that same idea of revenge for our mother was drilled into our heads whereby the age of five, it was normal for me to hear all that he wanted to do to the Alpha which killed our mother. But Hadwin stayed true to his word and protected me, whenever the topic would turn gruesome and our father took it too far, he would take me out of the room until he calmed down.

So, when I walked into my father's office and heard both men having an argument about me, I knew my father had overstepped yet another mark.

“No dad it’s much too dangerous for Fern, assign me to set the traps and leave her out of it!” Hadwin exclaims with worry as he attempted to change my father's mind by putting himself up for it, but our father shakes his head looking furious.

“You can’t Hadwin it has to be Fern! I can’t trust you to set any of these traps considering what happened last time! Your sister is doing this task, and you have no say in the matter!” Our father shouts so loud I was worried the glass to the window would shatter, I stood by the wooden door of his office where I was able to catch a glimpse of my face, I was in constant worry for what my father would do now our mother was gone.

“And there she is! Fern, I have a mission for you that your brother here seems to think you aren’t tough enough for.” My father spits looking towards Hadwin as he spoke, but I simply walk further into the room putting a brave face to appease the men.

“The packs fighters have created some of the best traps to date that we plan to set around the borders of The Dark Warrior Pack, we plan to do so tonight. But we need an individual from our family to watch over the proceedings, so we know it’s being done properly. I can’t go as the pack are very aware of my scent, your brother can’t go due to the fuck up he made last time! So that only leaves you.” My father explains sitting back in his chair as he spoke, whilst my eyes go to Hadwin he looked worried right back at me.

“There will be no need for you to touch anything, you’ll just stand and make sure none of the fighters fuck it up. Your brother feels that you will not be capable to watch over fighters.” My father says which makes Hadwin throw his arms in the air, turning to face me and not our dad.

“I never said that I just thought perhaps it would be safer for me to go so Fern isn’t put in harm's way. Mother would have-” He begins to say but now he had brought up our mother, I see familiar emotion of anger consume my father.

“Your mother cannot have a say in this as she was killed by those bastards years ago! Everything that I’m doing is to make sure those assholes pay for taking her away from us! I thought you would feel the same anger and hatred as me for all that they have done!” Our father shouts throwing the contents of his desk onto the floor, his action causing a jolt of shock to ripple through me, but with the memories of what happened when I allowed this animosity to continue, I hold my head up high and take the first step forward.

“Of course, we feel the same, I want nothing more than to ensure each and every person in that pack pay for killing mum. She deserved the chance to experience more of the world, but they came and stole her from us!” I shout moving to stand in front of Hadwin, who I could tell was growing angrier as my father carried on, mostly due to both of them having Alpha male blood and never know when to quit.

“I’m more than happy to assist the fighters tonight setting the traps, it will only push us closer to them fully paying. You can trust me dad, I’m not going to let you down.” I say looking him in the eyes, one’s that I couldn’t help but ripple of pure anxiety and fear which pulsed through my body each time my gaze falls upon them, he was not the man that mum knew him to be anymore.

“Glad to see at least one of you is on the right side and to think, it’s you Hadwin which will take over as Alpha one day.” My father scoffs looking towards Hadwin, who still stood behind me shaking with anger.

With one last look to my father, I grab Hadwin by the shoulder and drag him out of the office, where I knew my father was still smiling behind his desk. It’s as though he enjoys getting a rise out of my brother whenever he has the chance, he never does it to me but when Hadwin is thrown into the mix, it’s as though all his anger and annoyance is taken out on him.

I drag Hadwin all the way to his own office just down the hall and close the door behind us, now we were in the privacy of his office and away from our father, he picks up one of his glass items which was laying on his desk and throws it against the wall, the entire thing smashing into a million pieces on the ground. I didn’t even flinch as I watched this all unfold; it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve witnessed it.

“Now I hope that glass relived some anger for you, Hadwin, you know how dad gets especially, when The Dark Warrior Pack is thrown into the mix, he just wants what happened to mum to finally be rectified.” I say attempting to make him see that father was just angry, but he only places his hand to his forehead still very much angry.

“You and I both know why he does that; he doesn’t have to openly say that he blames me for mums' death, but in his eyes each and every time that I look at him, I can see, he only views me as the kid that couldn’t protect his own mother.” He sighs pacing up and down the room as he went, but I only stand there at a complete loss for words, he doesn’t actually believe that does he?

“You know he doesn’t feel like that, Hadwin, you were seven when our mother died, how on earth would you have been able to stop it?” I ask slowly walking around his desk whilst he still looked angry, but through that, he was upset.

“I don’t know I could have forced her to hide in the cellar with us.” He says pulling his hand away from his face where I could see the tears pricking his eyes, catsuit me to stand right in front of him and take his hands in mine.

“You know mother would have never agreed to that, all she could think about was making sure her babies were safe from the oncoming danger. I know I was only two, but I still remember the relief on dad's face when he saw us both sitting on the floor of that cellar, father was just so happy that nothing had happened to either one of us. We know fathers changed, I mean we can’t blame him he lost his mate and the mother of his children, that’s enough to fuck anyone up, perhaps getting the revenge he so desperately wants will turn him back to the father we used to know.” I say looking him in the eyes which I could see held sadness but understanding at the same time.

“That’s why I’ll go and set whatever traps he wants me to, as soon as all of this mess is over and father has gotten what he wants, we can all start to move on as a family.” I smile but once I brought up that I had to leave for The Dark Warrior Pack tonight, Hadwin just grows even more annoyed.

“I’m still not happy that you agreed to do that Fern, I promised mum right before she died that I would look after and protect you for the rest of our lives. But look, you’re venturing off into that pack and I can’t go, mother wouldn’t like that.” He sighs but I simply smile at his response, I knew he was only arguing with my father because he was worried about me.

“I’m going to be fine, it’s just like dad said, I’m not touching anything but just over seeing it all to make sure nothing goes wrong, and you have been looking after me, but sometimes I will have to set out into the world on my own. But don’t worry, I’ll always come back to my big brother.” I smile wrapping my arm around him for a side hug, I knew he still didn’t like the idea but did hug me back giving in.

But what I couldn’t have known, was that night was set to change my entire life.