Chapter 1

Cali

“Faster, faster,” Gwen squealed with glee as she held onto my wolf’s fur as we ran through the woods.

“You heard her Lyra,” I laughed to my wolf as she picked up speed while Gwen laughed.

When Lyra ran out of steam, she lay on the ground for Gwen to climb off her back before I shifted back.

“That was so much fun, Cali. Can we do it again, please?” Gwen asked, smiling up at me with excitement.

“Maybe,” I said. “We will have to check with your Mom.”

Lyra groaned, knowing like me that her Mom and the rest of our coven hate that I’m half werewolf. I’m what’s known as a Hybrid, half werewolf, half witch. My mom was a witch and when she was eighteen, she flew to the nearby pack to visit her best friend who had met her mate and was becoming Luna. My mom attended the Luna ceremony and was surprised to find the Beta of the pack was her own mate. She moved to the pack, got married and had my brother Brett, then four years later I was born. I don’t have a lot of memories of my family, but I remember we laughed a lot, and I always knew I was happy and safe. When I was five, the pack was attacked, and they killed my family, but I was rescued by a witch named Cleo and her coven, and they raised me. I appreciate what you might think, that it was nice of them to save me, especially when they hate werewolves, but it wasn’t selfless. There’s an old prophecy that every 1000 years, the first daughter in the McGowen bloodline is known as the chosen one and she’s born with all the powers of her ancestors. That witch is me, or at least according to the prophecy it should be me, so the witches saved me and raised me, but they have always made it known that prophecy or not, I’m not one of them.

Gwen is only seven, and she loves the fact that I’m a werewolf and begs me for a ride every day. She's like the little sister I never had, but her mom is not a fan of mine and only lets me take her when she can’t get another babysitter. As soon as we walked into the house, Kat, Gwen’s mom, whisked her away and up the stairs.

“There you are Cali. I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Cleo said as soon as I walked into the kitchen.

“I let Lyra out for a run,” I replied.

“It’s time for practice” she snapped her fingers and walked out the back door.

I sighed and followed her, knowing it was useless to argue. I used to train every other day growing up but after I turned eighteen, two years ago, and got my full powers we started training every day because I’m half werewolf so we don’t know how that will affect my powers and if I’m not trained, I could accidentally hurt or even kill someone and partly because Cleo says she knows of a threat to us from the Crescent Moon Pack who also have a few evil witches in their pack protecting them and we need to be ready. She mentions that a lot and Lyra bristles every time at the thought of fighting against werewolves, and it causes a lot of animosity between the two of us. She understands this is the pack that killed my family and once we are safe, we can look for a pack to settle down in and meet our mate.

After training for what felt like hours, I was physically and mentally exhausted and took a nap and lay on my bed wondering what my life would have been like if my family were alive and I had grown up in the pack.

“Brett, wait for me” I ran along the street as fast as I could to catch up to my big brother and his friend as they kicked a ball back and forth. I almost got to Brett when the ball hit me and knocked me over. I cried as I looked down at my bleeding knee.

“It’s ok Cali, don’t cry” Brett’s friend picked me up and wiped away my tears before Brett even reached us. Both boys walked me back home to clean me up, telling me jokes to make me laugh. They ended up getting a lecture from my dad about being careful with the ball. Mom was in the kitchen making dinner and laughing at my dad for being overprotective. We sat down for dinner with Brett’s friend, also staying for dinner. I don’t know his name, but I’ll always remember his amber eyes. After dinner, mom and dad took us out for ice cream and then to the local park I loved to play at. Brett and his friend took turns pushing me on the swing with me screaming “faster”. I could see my dad watching, terrified that I would fall and hurt myself, but smiling at the same time at the sound of our laughter. When we got home, I bathed and then read a story with my mom lying with me until I fell asleep and I have never felt so happy.

The dream felt so real and when I woke up and could still see my mom smiling at me with so much love in her eyes; it hurt. I used to dream about my family all the time after they died but as I got older the dreams became few and far between until I was terrified I could never remember what they looked like but lately I’ve been dreaming about them every time I close my eyes, I can hear their voices and can smell my mom’s perfume. Knowing I wouldn’t fall back asleep again, I opened the window and quietly snuck out of the house, not that anyone would care if they noticed I was gone. They would assume I was going to shift and take Lyra for a run. I walked to the closest town which is only a few miles away and one which I am completely forbidden for going near as it’s also only a few miles away from the Crescent Moon Pack and Cleo thinks that if they recognise me, they may kill me on sight but I’ve always felt comfortable in this town. There’s a nice little cafe in the centre that I can sit in and watch people and imagine their life stories. Yes, I know that sounds pathetic, but it is this or sitting in my room alone in the coven.

“If we moved to a pack, we’d have friends,” Lyra told me solemnly.

“We can’t until we know if we’re safe. Once the threat from Crescent Moon is out of the way, we can go wherever we want. We’ll be free,” I promised her.

“If there is a threat,” she huffed.

I ignored her as much as I could, considering she’s in my head. She’s always been very distrustful of everyone in the coven, but I put it down to all the anti- werewolf comments.

“It’s not,” she snarled. “I think they’re up to something” Lyra then put up the wall between us, blocking me out so that I couldn’t argue with her.

As I continued to look around, I spotted Maggie and Ezra, two members of the coven. I froze, holding my breath, thinking that they must have followed me, but I quickly realised that they hadn’t noticed me. They didn’t look around as they walked with their heads down and their hands in their pockets.

“They look like they're up to something,” Lyra whispered. “We should follow them.”

“Oh, great, you're talking to me again.”

Lyra rolled her eyes and insisted I follow them.

“If they catch us, we’ll be in so much trouble,”

“Don’t let them catch us then,” she hissed back.

I stood up and followed them into the woods, staying far enough back that they couldn’t see me, but close enough that I could follow their scent. After following them for about fifteen minutes, I could feel Lyra getting restless. “Be careful Cali, we’ve stepped onto Crescent Moon territory and I can smell werewolves close by.”

Holding my breath, I hid behind a tree when Maggie and Ezra stopped. I couldn’t tell what they were doing and was about to creep closer when the sky lit up orange and they both ran away as fast as they could. I looked again and realised they had set the woods on fire.

“What the fuck?”

“Don’t move,” Lyra insisted as I was about to head towards the fire. “Look, there’s a girl trying to put it out.”

I saw a girl, roughly eighteen, rushing towards the fire, her hands up as she battled against the flames.

“Cali, she’s a witch and not one of us. I don’t think you should go near,” Lyra whispered. 

“I have to, she can’t manage that herself,” I ran towards the girl who noticed me at the last second and shrank away.

“I’ve mind linked for help, my pack will be here soon,” the words came out strong, but the tremble in her bottom lip betrayed her.

“Give me your hand,” I urged, grabbing her hand when she tried to move away from me. I threw up my other hand and let my magic amplify hers and between the two of us, we had the fire out in less than two minutes. 

“Thank you,” the girl said shyly as she dropped my hand.

“You’re a hybrid,” I was astonished. I felt the power the girl had, and she was powerful, but I could smell that she was also a werewolf. 

The girl took a step back and looked me up and down, then whispered. “So are you?”

“What’s your name? Is this your pack? Why did they set it on fire?”

“Harper, yes, this is my pack. My brother says they’re trying to start a war.”

“That makes little sense if they wanted to start a war. Why wouldn’t they set the fire closer to the pack house?” I shook my head to clear my thoughts. None of this making sense to me.

“We have a protection spell over the pack. I’m not supposed to be out this far. I need to go.”

“Wait, please,” I called as she ran through the trees and out of sight. I decided not to run after her into enemy territory. Instead, I walked home, thinking over what I’d seen and what Harper had told me. I climbed back into my bedroom window, changing into pyjamas and making my way to the kitchen. The door to Cleo’s office was closed but I couldn’t hear anything meaning either it was empty which was highly unlikely as the door was always left open unless there was a meeting or they were using a spell to soundproof the room which made sense if they were trying to keep a secret from me as with my wolf hearing I can hear any conversation in this house.

“I told you they’re up to something,” Lyra said, glaring when I rolled my eyes at her petulance. I made myself a bowl of soup, sat at the kitchen table to wait for the office door opened.

Cleo, Kat, Maggie and Ezra walked out of the office, startling when they saw me sitting at the table.

“Cali, what are you doing up?”

“Hungry? What’s going on?”

“Um, we just got word that the Crescent Moon pack may be planning an attack.”

“Why” I asked before I could stop myself, but luckily I kept my mouth shut before I asked if it was in retaliation.

“As if they need a reason,” Kat snorted.

“Tomorrow we need to work protection spells.” Cleo said. “I’ll set up some protection spells and you can try to break through them. Get a good night's sleep.” They all went up the stairs together. I sat and tried to work through all I’ve learned today.

“They want you to break the spell on the pack,” Lyra said.

“But why, if Crescent Moon are after us, then why would we go to their pack, and why would they antagonise the pack?”

“I don’t know, but we need to find out,” Lyra huffed.

The next day, Cleo was so happy when I almost broke all the protection spells. What I haven’t told her, though, is I’ve been holding back my powers for years, on Lyra’s suggestion. I could have easily broken all her protection spells and set one she would never have been able to break. Later that night, I snuck out again and went to the Crescent Moon pack to find Harlow. I was hoping she would give me some answers.

I wandered around the pack for an hour before I cloaked myself so that no one could see me and ventured further into the pack. It really was beautiful and much larger than I had thought it would be, considering it was so close to the human town, it was quite fun wandering around invisible merely a few steps from all these werewolves that would happily kill me like they had done to my family. I finally spotted Harlow walking hand in hand with a boy who gave her a kiss, then hurried away. When she was right in front of me, I touched her shoulder, stopping her. I forgot I had cloaked myself and the poor girl jumped a mile high before I quickly lowered my cloak, letting her see it was me.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you,” I said while Lyra snorted.

“What are you doing here?” Harlow grabbed my hand and led me into thicker trees so they hid us from sight if anyone was to walk past.

“I need to know why my coven tried to set fire to your pack, why they are trying to get me to break the protection spell, and why your pack is trying to start a war with us?” I huffed, relieved to get it all out.

Harlow’s mouth opened and closed like a fish as she struggled to speak, her brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t know why they tried to start a fire, but it’s not the first time they’ve tried something like that. We aren’t trying to start a war as far as I know we’re trying to stop it.” She suddenly looked up at me, horrified. “How did you break our protection spell?”

“I didn’t,”

“Then how are you inside it? It starts where the witches threw the fire last night?”

“Maybe we’re too powerful for it.” Lyra beamed.

“I…I don’t know,” I mumbled. “We need to find out more information. I think the witches are lying to me. Is there anyway you can find out any more about the bad blood between the pack and coven?”

“Yes,” Harlow nodded eagerly. “My brother is the Alpha and my dad before him, so I’ll ask them and then check the library.”

“Ok, and I’ll ask the witches. Can we meet here tomorrow and exchange information?”

“That’s too soon,” she grimaced. “How about the day after we meet here at 9.30pm?”

After agreeing with Harlow she rushed off and I cloaked myself and walked back to the coven, determined that tomorrow I would get the answers I was looking for from Cleo.