Prologue.

No one saw the war coming, least of all me.

There were no warnings, no clues. It all happened suddenly in the middle of the night. I fell out of bed, landing on my back sending pain and panic running through me. 

Ourpack is being attacked!

Jumping to my feet, I knew I had to move quickly. Glancing at the clock I see that it is barely one in the morning. Shaking my head, I hastily pull a jumper on. I was a wolf, well an unshifted one, but it was still cold outside. Pulling my trusty running trainers on, I grab the emergency backpack out the bottom of my cupboard.

Searching the packhouse, I find it empty. My father, mother and my siblings were already gone, why hadn’t they woken me??

The noises of the attack outside were deafening. The screams and the cries of women and children echoed across the grounds and throughout the packhouse, the smell of blood already filling the air and invading my senses.

Peering through a small window, I was shocked by the scene unfolding in front of me. I could see some of the houses that were already alight with flames, the reds and yellows making their way over the buildings until they were completely engulfed. 

I knew it would only be a matter of time.  Whoever was attacking us would enter the packhouse, searching for my father, the Alpha of Moon Bay Pack.

There was nowhere for me to run, they were too close and there would be no escaping them. I wasn’t ready to die and tears spring to my eyes, I was only seventeen, I had barely lived my life.

Pulling the backpack over my shoulders, I slowly open the front door of the packhouse and quietly step out. The air stank of burning bodies, blood and sweat. I was horrified by the things that I saw. Bodies were littered all across the ground, wolves were missing heads, some bodies had been set alight.

As I look around, some of my closest friends and enemies from school lay motionless, their eyes wide and full of fear, scared as they were struck down, their life taken from them. 

One person I couldn’t see was Bea, my closest friend. My eyes scoured the grounds, searching for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. I just hoped that Bea had somehow made it out alive, somehow escaped the clutches of these brutal men.

The screams and cries continue as more and more wolves appear, running from all directions. Bodies and wolves became mingled as everyone fought for their lives and I couldn’t tell who was on which side.

“Aria, you have to get out of here” a deep voice is attached to the hands that find my shoulders and I yelp a little at being touched, but feel relieved just to hear his voice. Kyle, my older brother and Alpha to be!

He doesn’t hang around, pulling me from the ground and over his shoulder, running in the direction of the dungeons. Lowering me to my feet, Kyle tucks a strand of my dark hair behind my ear. “Aria, are you listening? You have to stay here, it’s not safe for you up there!”

I bob my head up and down but the words were not sinking in. There wasn’t a single mark on him, no specks of blood either. He may have healed already, but no blood had me confused and I pull my hand from his hold. I wanted to ask him about it, but there were bigger problems.

“Who are they Kyle?” A tear falls down my cheek.

Shaking his head, he looks at me with his deep green eyes and sighs “Crimson Pack.”

“Crimson Pack?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Stories of that pack were true, I had heard about them over the years, The most aggressive wolf pack. They slipped in, overpowered a pack and took them as their own. My ex had told me that much.

“Aria, you cannot shift yet. They will slaughter you”. I knew that what Kyle was saying was the truth, I had seen my dead friends and they were just like me, not mated or not quite old enough to shift and they hadn’t been able to defend themselves. As the third child of the Alpha, my strongest point was my kind heart and how easily I forgave, not exactly useful in a fight. 

My older brother Kyle, who I looked most alike, was set to be Alpha. The eldest of all three siblings, he was the most capable, intelligent and strong. While my older sister Seren was drop dead beautiful and she knew it too. Instead of having dark hair and green eyes like me and Kyle, she was blonde with brilliant blue eyes and curves in all the right places. The men lined up to see if they were mated to Seren but she was yet to find her mate.

I reluctantly agree and nod my head at Kyle but from what I had seen, Moon Bay Pack were losing. We didn’t stand a chance against them.

“Where’s Seren?” I ask, suddenly panicking about my sister's whereabouts. 

Kyle looks back over his shoulder at me,

“She’s fighting. You know how the men fall for her, she is using that to her advantage.” My head moves up and down knowing full well what my sister was capable of. A long time ago, I wished that I looked just like Seren.

My brother disappears out the door, back to the fight and I throw the backpack to the ground, sliding down the stone wall. I wasn’t prepared for this, none of us were. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, but any sound I made would bring them directly to me.

As the cries and screams continue, I slam my hands over my ears and close my eyes, trying to drown out the sounds as tears roll down my cheeks. Suddenly hearing my mothers voice, I realised that she was linking all three of us, Kyle, Seren and I and that could only mean one thing. Something was wrong!

“Kyle, Seren, Aria! Just know that your father and I love you so much and we will always be in your hearts!”

I couldn’t stay in the dungeons any longer, not after hearing the desperation coming from my mother. I had to see what was happening. Rushing outside, I find Seren. Her body completely still, facing away from me and as I move around her, my parents come into view.

Both on their knees, hugging one another, their eyes closed, ready and waiting for their impending death.

I link hands with Seren and watch as a hooded man swings a sword and takes off both the Alpha and Luna’s heads in one swipe. The heads tumble to the ground, landing just in front of me.

Letting out a blood curdling scream, my body drops to the ground, while a man begins ordering people into the dungeons. They had won, with my parents dead, they had won, getting exactly what they wanted. Crimson Pack owned us now.

Someone grabs hold of Seren and a different man holds me, his rough hands pinning my arms to my side, ripping Seren and I apart. Seren puts up a fight, but the man continues to drag her along the ground by her blonde hair, not caring what he was doing.

The hooded man walks towards me. His walk, the hood, it's Ryan...?!