Chapter 1: Murder and chains

The dining room was alive with laughter, the clinking of plates, and the faint melody of my mother humming as she set down another dish. The table was laid out perfectly, just like she always did, even for small family dinners. Except this one wasn’t a small family dinner, It was my birthday.

“Nineteen,” my father said, his deep voice with a mix of pride as he poured himself a glass of wine. “Hard to believe you’re not a pup anymore.”

“I haven’t been a pup for years, dad,” I replied, grinning at him as I reached for another slice of cake.

“You’ll always be my pup,” he said, ruffling my hair before taking a seat at the head of the table.

I rolled my eyes at him, stuffing my face with cake. 

Beside me, my brother, Damon stuffed his face with a cinnamon roll, ignoring the amused look my mother shot him. “If you’re going to eat like that,” my mother teased, “you might as well shift into your wolf. At least then you’d have an excuse.”

Damon swallowed with a grin “The food’s too good, mum. The whole pack is missing out on this, maybe you should run the big kitchen for the whole pack.”

My mother laughed softly, shaking her head. “Not a chance. This is just for us.” Her smile widened. 

My dad, Alpha Asher, chuckled. This was my family. My dad was the Alpha of our pack, red claws pack. My mum, she was Luna. My thirteen year old annoying younger brother, Damon. 

And I, Mima, next in line to my father. I was so happy that I was finally 19. Zahra, my best friend and I would talk about meeting my mate for hours when she had sleepovers. Zahra had already found hers months ago after her birthday and I was ecstatic and eager to find mine.

My dad was about to reach for the bottle of wine again when the smile on his face died out. “I can't feel them…” my dad murmured. 

“Sorry? Dear, what did you say?” My mum asked as she put her hands on his shoulder. 

“I can't feel some of our members' bond. It's like… it's like they're dying out one by one.” He said a little louder. 

In haste my father stood up and went to the home phone, dialing his Beta and best friend, Beta Jaxon.

My mum walked towards my brother and I and put her hands on our shoulders trying to comfort us. 

“Jaxon, can you figure out what is going on in the pack? I seem to be losing contact with our members' ” my dad said into the phone.

‘okay Alpha, I will do that right now but do wish your daugh— Arghh” Beta Jaxon's sound of cry terrified my father. The line went dead after that.

My father was shook and decided to go out on his own to figure out what was going on. 

“Elara, stay with the kids. Something is wrong somewhere” my dad walked towards the door carrying his sword. He had opened the door by a slit when a spear tore through his chest, protruded from his back and he fell backwards to the ground, his eyes open as life left his body.

I heard a scream but I couldn't focus on whose it was, all I could see was my father's lifeless body on the floor.

I couldn't stop staring.

 My mum immediately recovered herself and pushed my brother and I upstairs to go and hide. 

“No mum, I'm not leaving you here” my brother, Damon cried as my mum tried to convince him.

“You can and you will, Damon. Protect your sister. I love you both… very much” my mum said before walking towards the door and trying to distract the intruder. 

I tugged on my brother's hands and dragged him up the stairs into our store room. We barely used it so it was the last place they would check right?!

We both hid in a large cupboard and had our hands over our mouths, silently crying. 

I heard a scream of agonyreverberate through the whole building and I knew whose it was… my mother. I held back another round of tears and held my brother close. 

The house went quiet.

I was starting to think they had left when the cupboard door opened and a masked man came into view. His spear in his right hand dripped with blood. He tried to stab my brother but Damon was quick to tackle him. For some reason, I knew it was a bad idea. 

Damon was able to get the spear off the guy's hand but the intruder held Damon by his neck and squeezed hard. Damon began to gasp for air, I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and tried to save him.

I tried pushing, biting, kicking the killer, but his focus was on my brother. 

I turned to get the spear but before I could, I heard a cracking sound. I turned to face the killer only to see my brother's lifeless body on the floor staring at the ceiling. 

He was gone.

He killed my brother. 

I crumpled to the floor and held my brother's body close. “Kill me too” I whispered.

All the masked man did was shake his head and drag me out of the building. When we got outside my house, I realised that the whole pack was in disarray. The floors were littered with bodies and houses were set ablaze. I gasped.

Ahead, where the masked man dragged me to, I saw some of my pack mates… including my best friend, chained and In a long line. I was roughly tossed and cuffed with them. 

We, the captured people were thrown into the back of a vehicle. The vehicle drove away as I stared at my burning house and fallen pack. 

That was the end of the red claws pack, my pack.

“ Happy birthday to me” I muttered under my breath as more tears streamed down my face.