Chapter 1: Family Talk

"Violet, are you here?" a voice came from outside of the bedroom.

"Yes! Just a minute." she answered, getting up from the bed.

Violet was about to go on the mission of her life. She didn't have much of a choice, since her adoptive father summoned her to be in charge of that.

While going through the plan on her mind over and over again, she couldn't stop her anxiety from kicking in. She was so nauseated by her fear and worries, that she could throw up at any minute.

If she kept overwhelming herself with those thoughts, she was going to cry for sure. She couldn't allow that to happen.

She had to be strong. She was strong. She just lacked a little trust in herself.

Violet closed her eyes for a few seconds, breathing in and out slowly, trying to stay calm.

Another knock on the door pulled her out of her meditation.

"I'm coming!" she yelled, annoyed.

Violet opened the door to find a woman from her pack waiting for her impatiently on the other side.

"Finally! I thought you had given up or something. Come on. Arden wants to talk to you before you leave." the woman said making way for Violet to pass.

She closed the door from her bedroom and followed the woman to the living room.

Arden was the Alpha of the Diamond Pack, and ever since she could remember, Violet lived at his palace, which she always found unnecessary and stupid. Why did they have to live in a palace anyway?

But she never complained because, how could she? He had adopted and taken care of her during all her twenty-one years of life.

She owed him too much. Every little thing she ever learned came from him. Everything he gave to his biological daughter, he made sure to give to Violet as well.

Arden.There he was, waiting for her seated on the couch, smoking his cigarette and looking at the window, contemplating the big yellow moon that was starting to rise in the sky.

He was a middle-aged man with gray hair, blue eyes and a goatee that Violet thought it was ridiculous. But she never told him that, of course.

"Violet, my daughter. Here you are!" the man said enthusiastically, getting up and opening his arms to her.

Violet smiled and hugged him tightly.

She was having mixed feelings about that whole situation, but was trying her best not to show it.

After all, Arden had trained her himself, alongside Gwen, his biological daughter, and a boy named Lance, and Violet had learned not to show weakness to anyone. Not even her family.

Violet was left as an orphan at a very young age, because her parents died on a rogue attack.

She didn't know much about that incident, but she never felt very comfortable to ask Arden about it.

She was then brought to the Diamond Pack, which was a very powerful shifter empire that enforced law and order across the continent Crescent.

Crescent was populated by wolf shifters and was mostly ruled by the Diamond Pack.

"So, is everything ready for your departure?" Arden asked, sitting on the couch again.

Violet did the same, while some servant offered her a glass of water. She politely accepted, although she felt that whatever entered her stomach would come out as quickly as possible, since she was feeling very sick and nervous.

"Yes, I believe so." she nodded, taking a sip of the water, because the servant was still looking at her and she didn't want him to feel upset or anything like that.

She liked to value other people's work. And something that always made her out of her mind was when someone didn't treat the servants from the palace correctly and politely.

"You probably don't need me to repeat everything about this mission, but do you still have anything you need me to clarify for you?" Arden asked inhaling the smoke from his cigarette.

Violet nodded her head in denial, trying to keep herself calm and not think about the worst that could happen.

"Once you pass the gates from the palace, you'll be by yourself, honey." Arden continued. "I have faith that you can get the job done, so don't worry about it. I wouldn't put you up to this if I didn't think you were capable."

Violet smiled at him, although his words weren't very reassuring for her.

She couldn't think of a worst person to do what he wanted, and as much as she tried to persuade him previously to change his mind, Arden was very stubborn.

At that moment, a hustle came from the door of the living room, and Arden stopped talking to see what was happening.

A young man with brown eyes and a black hair perfectly coiffed was crossing the room and coming towards them with a smile on his face.

He had a very strict posture and was wearing a military uniform.

"Violet, you're still here!" he said looking at her.

"Hi, Lance." she smiled at him as he got closer.

"Lance. What are you doing here?" Arden asked looking a little impatient for the interruption.

"I just got home. I had some things to discuss with you, but I didn't know you were in a meeting. I'm sorry!"

"It's ok." Arden waved his hand and put out his cigarette.

"How are you feeling?" Lance asked Violet with a concerned look.

Her relationship with him was something awkward sometimes.

Violet grew up with Gwen as a sister, but Lance joined them later on when his parents died.

He was left as an orphan just like Violet, which kind of served as a bond for them.

Gwen and Lance also got along well, so the three of them started to do a lot of things together, including training with Arden.

But when Violet turned eighteen years old, Arden said that she was supposed to marry Lance someday, because Arden's plan was to make him the next Alpha.

She could never understand that one of the rules of the Diamond Pack was that bonding with one's destined mate was extremely forbidden. The marriages were always decided by the council.

Lance was the Beta of the pack, and Violet simply couldn't believe what Arden wanted. How was she going to marry someone she didn't love in that way?

She kind of considered him as an older brother or something like that.

And why her and not Gwen?

But Lance didn't seem to be very opposed to the idea, which left Violet intrigued. Did he like her that way, that's why Arden wanted him to marry her, instead of Gwen or anyone else?

Since that day, Violet tried her best to pretend that conversation didn't happen and tried to act normally in front of Lance, like she always had.

They always liked to tease each other and talk about silly things. Just as she did with Gwen. So she continued to do it, until she was forced to face her destiny with him.

Which she prayed it would take long.

"I'm okay, I guess." she answered, trying to sound positive. "I mean… I'll only know once I get there, right?"

"You'll do great." Arden said, trying to ease her mind. "Now is the time to put in action all those years of training. You're going to see if you're finally able to control the wolf inside of you." he smiled, but that only made Violet feel worse than she was already feeling.

That was her biggest fear. And Arden had to bring it up.

That was keeping her awake every night in the last days.

Violet had always struggled with her werewolf side since she was really young.

She suffered from an uncontrollable shifting and her inner wolf was feral, unstable and very powerful. She couldn't control it. So they trained her and taught her how to suppress it inside.

She was doing much better now, as a grown woman and all that.

But there wasn't a day that went by without making her worry about her actions.

Was the mission a test from Arden, to see if she had learned correctly? That's why he chose her instead of anyone else to go?

And suddenly Violet felt the need to ask something.

"What will you do if I don't come back? Will you send someone after me?"

Arden seemed to be caught off guard for a moment, but he was very good in pretending, so that passed unnoticed by everyone present.

"Nothing will happen. But if you don't come back after a few days, we will figure something out. So don't worry about that, just think about your next move."

Violet nodded.

She didn't feel very secured with his words, but it was getting late and she was getting more nervous, so she decided to simply accept her fate, whatever that was.

"Thank God you're still here. I thought I missed the chance to say goodbye to you." a soft voice came from the door, and Violet didn't need to look to know who it was.

"Always late, right?" Lance mocked the girl.

Gwen was a very delicate and nice girl. She had the same blue eyes as her father and her black hair fell down her shoulders like a curtain.

Violet felt a lump on her throat.

Seeing Gwen there made her want to cry so badly.

She wasn't having a good feeling about the whole thing and was trying her hardest to accept that. But the fact that she had to say goodbye to her family was making Violet doubt herself.

What if she failed? What if she wasn't able to control herself once she got to her destination? What if something went wrong? Would she still be able to fulfill her task and come back home to her family?