I barely said a word when I got back from the Pack House. My mother had only asked one question:“Is your father okay?”I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into tears at the question, wishing I could give her any other answer. But I couldn’t. And soon she pulled me into her arms tearfully, sobbing into my hair before we both sunk to our knees, weak from the stress and sorrow. My brother got angry instead, swearing that he was going to rip Fredrick’s head from his body.It took my mother standing in front of the door, tears streaming down her face to stop my brother from leaving the house. He tried to get past her but she held him tightly, begging him.“If you challenge the alpha you’ll end up just like your father,” She cried, clinging onto him for dear life. “He needs to pay! I’m going to tear him limb from limb,” He screamed.“Please,” My mother whimpered and I’d never heard her voice be so small in my entire life, “Please son. I won’t be able to take losing both of you.”That was
We didn’t say much else after the crying session. We managed to compose ourselves and had a few minutes in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence but more one that we didn’t need to talk to understand one another.Jackson was the first person to stand up and dust himself off.“I’ll give you some more time with your family,” he said before placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder, “Think about the offer I made you.”I only nodded, offering a small smile, “Thank you.” I didn’t need to add the ‘for everything’ for him to know what I meant. He smiled back at me and turned to go before he remembered something. He knelt again and with a small click, the silver band around my ankle was freed. He pocketed the item and offered another small smile before he headed away, giving me that valuable time with my family.I rubbed at my ankle, the cold air feeling strange against it. It was like the anklet had become another part of me and some weird part of me felt sad that it was now gone. Anoth
I had gotten so used to these dreams now that I wasn’t even surprised as I found myself floating in the sky above a familiar forest. I was pulled towards one direction and it felt like it would take forever before I ended up where I needed to be, even as the moon stayed stagnant and bright. Finally, I saw where I had floated towards. It was the New Moon pack. I tried to turn around and fly away, wanting nothing more than to never see this pack again, but there was a pull my body couldn’t ignore no matter how hard I tried.My body lowered itself to the pack house and I was forced to take a step closer towards the door that led me to my father’s fate.This time, I didn’t go down those steps, but rather I went up and some part of me was aware that this was the way to the Alpha’s Room. Frederick had the entire floor to himself and made it so he could access anything he needed. He had his bedroom, meeting room, an en suite and much more on that floor.It was cloaked in a black shadow and
Branches tore at my legs stealing blood from my body as they scratched me, begging me to stay, but I had to keep running, stopping and giving up wasn’t an option. A gasp left my throat as I stumbled from exhaustion and the darkness of the night, catching myself on a tree trunk just in time before I spiralled into the wicked bramble bushes. My only guide during this murderous night was the moonlight, blurred and weak from the rain and clouds charging across the sky.I contemplated stopping, to sit beside the strong and sturdy tree and recuperate, to let my lungs fill with that much-needed oxygen and let my legs recharge from the torture they’d been enduring, or at least give them a chance to stop shaking. Rain roared around me, but it was hard to care, even as the icy droplets chilled me to my bones. I could take two minutes, couldn’t I? Two minutes to breathe, two minutes to rest, two minutes to pretend everything was okay and then I could keep going. Just as I felt myself lowering t
The world toppled over around me and a deafening crack echoed throughout my head, almost distracting me from the sharp pain ripping through my skull. It was hard to breathe, and at first, I thought it was because of the impact, maybe part of it was, but the huge crushing weight of the dark grey wolf didn’t help.“Ow,” a whimper I didn’t mean to make left my throat.The wolf didn’t seem to care, baring its fangs at my neck, so close that if I moved an inch it would slice my neck like scissors to paper. I tried not to flinch, but saliva dripped down its mouth, splattering on my face, and another whimper formed. I could’ve sworn the wolf smirked at my fear. Its paws crushed one of my arms with such strength I was sure it was going to break. Another paw was pressed firmly on my chest, I wasn’t going anywhere. Opening my mouth, I tried to speak, maybe it would’ve been a threat or a beg, but as I did so, the sour taste of iron coated my tongue from where my teeth had torn my gum and instead
Melanie.So this was how they were able to track me so easily, despite the mud and the rain and the streams. I spotted one of my shirts in her hand and runes splattered in blood across it. A tracking spell. Everything had been against me tonight, the rain, my lack of a wolf, and now a tracking spell. I glared at the witch, promising to make her pay for standing in the way of my freedom.“Forgive her, Alpha Jackson, A slight misunderstanding between the girl and our alpha. We would never dare to intrude-”“And yet here you are, witch. You have brought an army into my territory, some may say this is an act of war.”Melanie raised her head, a paragon of proprietary and politeness, “I assure you alpha, we are only here to reclaim the girl. It was an oversight that we-”“Oversight?’ He cut her off again, eyes blazing with a dark fury, “My territory, was an oversight?”Melanie bowed her head again, out of fear or respect I wasn’t sure. The forest was still and silent, tension lurking in the
It was dark and I was running again. Running through the forest with its sharp branches and stones and unforgiving cold. Someone was calling my name, over and over, singing it like a song. The further away I got, the louder it became and the singing turned into screaming into screeching. With my lungs heaving and sweat trickling from my forehead, I turned to try to see just what was following me. But that was a mistake. I lost my footing on something, maybe a stone or an exposed root, but I started tumbling. I waited for the blow of the ground, preparing myself for the pain and to get up again, but nothing came. It was like I was thrown into an endless void of darkness. Was I standing up? Was I upside down? Was I awake? Was I dead? The screeching got louder.“Elise!”The voice was familiar, so familiar that it hurt my heart to listen to it, my mother's voice calling for me.“Elise come home!” “Moth-”My call to her was cut off and my father suddenly appeared before me. His body was
I took a long look at the second man who had appeared as the alpha’s backup, recognising him as the golden wolf from the night before; his golden hair and brown eyes betrayed him so obviously. The Beta. His second in command would ensure I was no threat towards his alpha. Maybe I should’ve felt flattered he felt the need for assistance.“Thank you, Christian,” Alpha Jackson said, his smirk still prevalent on his face.Turning to me, his expression finally shifted to one that was cold and calculating, “now to business. Who are you?”After a moment of silence, looking between the alpha and his beta, I finally answered, “Elise.”“Elise what?”“Clares.”“And you were a part of the New Moon pack, is that correct?”I looked at Christian with that look that asked is he slow? Before answering properly, “duh.”The alpha looked at me with disdain and I fought back the smile that tugged at my lip, ‘Why bother asking? You’re just going to kill me anyway,” I retorted to that glare, not particularl
I had gotten so used to these dreams now that I wasn’t even surprised as I found myself floating in the sky above a familiar forest. I was pulled towards one direction and it felt like it would take forever before I ended up where I needed to be, even as the moon stayed stagnant and bright. Finally, I saw where I had floated towards. It was the New Moon pack. I tried to turn around and fly away, wanting nothing more than to never see this pack again, but there was a pull my body couldn’t ignore no matter how hard I tried.My body lowered itself to the pack house and I was forced to take a step closer towards the door that led me to my father’s fate.This time, I didn’t go down those steps, but rather I went up and some part of me was aware that this was the way to the Alpha’s Room. Frederick had the entire floor to himself and made it so he could access anything he needed. He had his bedroom, meeting room, an en suite and much more on that floor.It was cloaked in a black shadow and
We didn’t say much else after the crying session. We managed to compose ourselves and had a few minutes in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence but more one that we didn’t need to talk to understand one another.Jackson was the first person to stand up and dust himself off.“I’ll give you some more time with your family,” he said before placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder, “Think about the offer I made you.”I only nodded, offering a small smile, “Thank you.” I didn’t need to add the ‘for everything’ for him to know what I meant. He smiled back at me and turned to go before he remembered something. He knelt again and with a small click, the silver band around my ankle was freed. He pocketed the item and offered another small smile before he headed away, giving me that valuable time with my family.I rubbed at my ankle, the cold air feeling strange against it. It was like the anklet had become another part of me and some weird part of me felt sad that it was now gone. Anoth
I barely said a word when I got back from the Pack House. My mother had only asked one question:“Is your father okay?”I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into tears at the question, wishing I could give her any other answer. But I couldn’t. And soon she pulled me into her arms tearfully, sobbing into my hair before we both sunk to our knees, weak from the stress and sorrow. My brother got angry instead, swearing that he was going to rip Fredrick’s head from his body.It took my mother standing in front of the door, tears streaming down her face to stop my brother from leaving the house. He tried to get past her but she held him tightly, begging him.“If you challenge the alpha you’ll end up just like your father,” She cried, clinging onto him for dear life. “He needs to pay! I’m going to tear him limb from limb,” He screamed.“Please,” My mother whimpered and I’d never heard her voice be so small in my entire life, “Please son. I won’t be able to take losing both of you.”That was
It was worse than any of us had imagined. I smelt it before I saw him as I was encouraged to walk down the thin corridor that led to the basement of the Pack House. I could taste the ash from the candles and smell the burning of skin the second I walked down the first step. Frederick wanted that, to prolong my thoughts and fears of what he’d been doing to my father. I was almost sick from the anxiety, and still we walked. It felt like we would never reach the bottom.The claustrophobic corridor began to open up and the first thing I saw was Fredrick smiling at me with that sadistic smirk on his face that made me flinch. He held out a hand like a groom accepting his bride and I trembled as I took it. He led me to a silver-lined door with bars and inside was my father, bound in silver, lying on the floor, screaming in agony through his gag.I rushed to try to open the door, but Fredrick held me back, firstly by my shoulder, then by encircling his arms around me like a lover’s embrace. I
I don’t know why it affected me so much, him saying those words with a deep sense of promise. He was offering me something I hadn’t had in a long time, a home. Even with Annabelle I had felt so alone because it felt so temporary but now... now I could stay.I thought about it for what felt like forever before I opened my mouth.“I don’t know what it is I want anymore,” I whispered, looking at my family’s grave. They had tried so hard to protect me from one pack only for me to be trapped in another. How would they feel if I gave myself to this pack so easily, as if to forget them? Why was I allowed to move on when they were still stuck there?But didn’t I deserve that? I desreved a chance to start a new life, have a new home and maybe even find someone to love. You weren’t a blessing! I heard my father’s voice from that dream so long ago You were a curse! It made me shudder, immediately making me feel guilty.No… No I didn’t deserve something new, not when it was my fault that they we
This path through the forest was familiar to me. I came here at least once a week to visit the graves of my family and to offer a prayer to the Moon Goddess that their spirits were safe with her. It didn’t surprise me that the alpha knew the way here too considering he’d seen me make them.As we rounded towards the three small mounds that had begun to grow grass on them, I noticed the small daisies placed on top of one another. The small bundles looked new and I was sure they were because I hadn’t seen them before.“What are you trying to do here?” I asked suspiciously, turning towards him. “Nothing bad, I promise. If there’s one thing I respect, it’s mourning,” He replied with sincerity as he moved towards my family’s grave and kneeled just in front of it. I hesitated before I took a deep breath and sat beside him, looking at the dainty flowers on the ground.“Did you do that?” I mumbled, feeling the tiny stem of one of the daisies that was on my mother’s grave. It wasn't much, but
“How would we get it out?” I asked desperately. I had never dreamed that I would be able to meet my wolf in real life. I wondered what her name could be and what she would look like. What would our first conversation be like? Had she seen everything I’d seen but been unable to do anything about it? But never had I truly thought I would be able to meet her.Clarissa thought for a moment, looking at my shoulder once again, “I don’t know how deeply the Blessed Silver is embedded. I would have to make an incision into each scar to find out first. The procedure to extract it will be painful and we’ll need to get help from a healer just in case it.”I bit my lip nervously, “Do… do we need to tell them why?”“Does anyone outside of me and you know about this?” She asked me out of professional curiosity to see who could be trusted with this secret.“No,” I shook my head, “I haven’t told anyone… But I think Doctor Heath suspects.”“Why would he have reason to suspect this?”I remembered the g
That question. That damned question! This was exactly why I didn’t want anything to do with a witch because deep down I knew she would find out! I spun towards her with a fear I hadn’t known before clawing through my body and I shifted away from her, knowing that I was completely at her mercy. Who knows what she would do with that information? Would she tell Alpha Jackson? Would she try to blackmail me? Only my family knew about my lack of a wolf and I trusted them, but I didn’t trust Clarissa, not that much anyway.“Elise,” She said softly, not making any movements to try to get closer to me, “Elise, I’m not going to hurt you, I-”“You’ll just need to tell the Alpha, is that right?” I cut her off harshly, my hands curling around the bedsheets desperately and I tried to look for a way out.The only exit was a door that was shut. Could I get there before the witch stopped me?My mind was a blur of panic as multiple scenarios shot through my head and my chest grew tighter, so tight th
Clarissa let me cry alone for a little while as I bundled myself up on the bed feeling every negative emotion possible: sadness, anger, betrayal, pain. All of it built up into that long, painful crying session. I’d wrapped myself in a blanket so tightly I could barely breathe, or maybe that was just the ache in my chest. I thought we’d gotten past that stage of our hatred and distrust toward one another. I hadn't caused any more problems as far as I was aware and he'd been the one training me. He’d even seen me plant the graves for my family, and I knew it was him who had given me that blanket that night. And yet, he was still blinded by his hatred of rogues and suspicious of me."Miss Clares?" Clarissa knocked at the door before letting herself in, carrying a tray with toast and a cup of tea.Hastily, I wiped away the tears that had left streaks on my cheeks and sat up, the blanket still wrapped around my body as a comfort. I didn’t say anything to her as Clarissa set the tray on t