Prologue

**This is the third book in the Guardians Next Generation Series. It can be read as a standalone book but will have references to events that occurred in Shattered Bonds. This book will run in a parallel timeframe to Shattered Bonds. Events in this book will overlap with events in that book.

Maeve

Three Years Ago

“Norman, what are we going to do?” I hear my mother saying to my father. I’ve just gotten out of school and I’ve come to help my parents in our shop, Conjuror’s Alchemy. They bought this store a year ago when they left their coven. They wanted a fresh start, and while the store sells things to non-witches who want to pretend that they are doing witchy things, it’s a front for real witches that need to obtain certain items to create real spells.

“We’re going to tell him no, LeAnn. We don’t want any trouble with a werewolf Alpha. If he ever found out what we’ve done, he could threaten to expose us, or worse, he could hurt the kids. I won’t allow that. Beta Trevor will just have to find someone else.” My father says.

“Don’t tell him about Levana. She will give him anything he wants for a price.” My mother says. Levana is the High Priestess of the coven that they left. She and the rest of the coven had started to dabble in dark magic and my parents had been concerned that they were doing things that are against the laws of nature.

My father looks up and sees me. “Hi, sweetheart. I didn’t hear you come in. Your brother and sister are in the back getting a snack. Why don’t you join them. Beta Trevor will be here soon. I’ll be meeting with him in my office and then we can begin unpacking the shipments that arrived today.”

“Is everything okay, Dad?” I ask.

“Nothing for you to worry about, Maeve.” He says.

“I made cookies.” My mother says absently, looking over my father’s shoulder at the papers they were reviewing.

“Okay.” I say and head to the back. When I get there, my brother, Tate and my sister, Meadow are sitting at the bar that my father installed just for us so we can eat when we’re here without having to stand or sit on the floor.

“The cookies are delicious.” My brother says with a mouthful of what looks like poop. I’m guessing the cookies are double chocolate chip.

“That’s disgusting, chew with your mouth closed.” I tell him, dropping my bookbag on the counter. I grab a couple of cookies and move to sit beside my sister.

My brother is 10 and thinks it’s funny to do things that my sister and I think are gross. Must be a boy thing.

“How was school?” I ask my sister who is 12 and in the crummy middle school years. I take a bite of my cookie. My brother is right, they are delicious.

“Fine.” She says. Always so talkative.

She’ll be a freshman in high school when I’m a senior. Other than elementary school, it will be the only time we go to the same school. Tate is in his last year of elementary school, so he and Meadow will go to the same school next year. My parents are thrilled. All three of our schools have different hours, so for them, it must feel like we’re coming and going all day long.

I hear the sound of the bell on the front door and I know that Beta Trevor must have arrived. I grab my bookbag and pull out my homework, starting in while I have some time. I’m hoping to finish up early tonight so I can call my girlfriend and make plans for this weekend.

I’ve been doing my homework for a while when I hear raised voices.

“You don’t get to decide what you will and won’t do for me. I ordered this potion and I want it completed.” I hear a thud on the wall beside us and all three of us jump.

“What are you doing? Let him go!” I hear my mother scream.

“I’m reminding your husband that I’m in charge here, not him.” The Beta snarls. It’s a terrifying sound.

I look at my brother and sister. “Stay here.” I whisper.

“Not a chance.” Meadow says.

“Me either.” Tate says.

I don’t want to argue, I want to hear what is being said. “Stay behind me.” I tell them.

“I’m sure you can find someone else that is willing to do this potion for you. There are witches that will give you any spell or potion for a price.” My father says and it sounds like he can barely get the words out.

I crack open the door. I can’t see anything. I turn and look at my siblings, putting my finger to my mouth before carefully stepping out the door and looking around the corner.

What I see makes my stomach drop. Beta Trevor has my father by the throat and he’s holding him off the ground, against the wall. My mother must have tried to get to him, but Beta Trevor is holding her away from him by her arm. She’s thrashing and fighting him but he doesn’t seem phased at all, as if they are nothing more than irritating gnats.

Beta Trevor pulls my father’s face to his. “Tell your mate to stop, or I’ll make her stop.” He says.

“LeAnn…” My father gasps.

“Put him down!” My mother screams and in an instant, my entire life changes.

I watch in what feels like slow motion as Beta Trevor extends his claws and rips my father’s throat out, letting his body fall to the floor. Blood immediately begins pooling around his body and I can see that he’s dead. I stare at him until I hear my mother scream.

She begins attacking Beta Trevor who backhands her so hard, I hear her skull crack. She instantly goes quiet and falls to the floor beside my father.

I feel paralyzed. My parents are dead. My parents were just killed in front of me. There’s so much blood.

“You!”

I jerk my head up to see my parents’ killer stalking toward me.

“You work with your parents, you help them, right? I’ve seen you.”

“Yyyyyy-yes.”

“Good. I need a potion for erasing memories. I’ll wait while you put one together for me.”

“What? I don’t…I’ve never….”

He takes the three steps to stand in front of me, leaning over and I can feel the air around me become heavy and intimidating.

“You will do this for me or I’ll kill your brother and sister as well. Do you want that?”

I’m already shaking my head. “No.”

“Good. I’ll wait. Don’t take too long. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

I reach back to take my siblings hands, to bring them with me to my parents’ workshop.

“They stay with me.” He snarls, grabbing both of them by the back of their shirts and pulling them back into the room we just left.

“Hurry it up.” He says to me.

I rush to the workspace, trying to think, trying to remember anything about a memory potion. With shaking hands, I grab the book that my parents use to find the ingredients for these potions.

That was the first time that I helped Beta Trevor, but he would make sure that it was not the last.