Chapter one

Elias pov

Everyone knew I was destined to be the King of all the werewolves. Which meant no one dared to be anything but nice to me, expect my friend Zoey. She had known me ever since she moved here, after her dad was taken by my grandmother. She would always tell me the truth and had no problem giving me a hard time when I deserved it. Today was one of those days. I had been seeing Lisa for a while now, but I had always been clear of my intentions. I did not want a mate, being my mate would be dangerous. Anyone close to me could be used as leverage. My mother was the Luminous Wolf and she could take care of herself, she had been practicing with her friends to find new ways to keep the pack safe. My father was Alpha of the Crimson Moon pack and although he had no special abilities, he was not one to mess with. But having a mate was not something that was in the cards for me. I had my fair share of practice though, being the next True King had it’s perks. But my parents had taught me to treat women with respect and I did not want to lead anyone on. “Lisa is in love with you, you know,” Zoey said. ‘I have told her this would be casual from the start’, I replied. “Well, that’s great and all, but she is literally following you around all week and I’ve seen you holding hands. That not casual,” Zoey said as she softly punched me against my arm. She was probably right, it had been nice to spend time with Lisa. It made me feel normal to have a girlfriend, even if it was just pretend. ‘It’s not like I blame you, I would date Lisa in a heartbeat’, Zoey said. ‘But unfortunately the only girls that want to kiss me are the ones that are trying to either make their boyfriend jealous or horny’. Zoey had been out of the closet since she was 10. My father had made sure our pack was a safe place for everyone, that included special wolves like her dad Noah but also anyone from the LGBTQ community. It made being friends with her that much better, I knew Zoey had no interest in being my Luna. “I will end things with Lisa,” I said. My 18 birthday was coming up and everything would change by then. I would meet my wolf, the White Wolf and I would be King. No one really knew what that would mean princely, although my mum’s wolf Ridley had shared I needed my mother close by for my first shift. Everyone was pretty excited for me, but I was actually scared shitless. What made me better than anyone else? Who was I that I could decide anything for anyone? Even though I had seen a psychologist for most of my childhood, I still woke up some night having nightmares. Having been kidnapped twice, seeing my stepdad Brian killed, seeing my mother being shot and me almost dying was enough to scar anyone. It had been twelve years and I had learned tools to deal with my triggers and fears. Ridley and my mother had thought me breathing exercises and my uncle Kenzo showed me how to focus my anger or pain by exercise and sparring. Uncle Kenzo is not my real uncle, but it was important for my parents to show me that family can be chosen. You are not obligated to love someone because of blood relation, you choose the people that surround you. But Lisa didn’t see me being scared or worried, she only saw the True King. And her looking at me like that made me confident, even though I wasn’t myself around her fully.

Zoey and I were standing in the hallway, we just had lunch and we were waiting for the bell to ring. Lisa came around the corner, looking at me like I was her price possession. “You see, that’s why you have to end it,” Zoey said and I turned towards Lisa. I walked towards her and she tried to give me a hug, but I said “Lisa, we need to talk. I really want to focus on getting everything ready before my 18^th birthday and that means I won’t have that much time for you. It’s better to end things now then drag it out any longer.” She looked at me with tears in her eyes trying to sound brave “we’re just casual right, I don’t mind seeing you less often. We can still meet up if you want.” I looked at her with remorse, I should have seen that she had feelings for me. “I’m sorry, I think it’s better that we don’t meet up anymore.” She ran away, not wanting me to see her cry. I tried to find Zoey, but she had already left for class so I walked towards my locker to get my gym clothes. We would be training later. I opened the door when I heard someone cough. “Excuse me, I am standing here,” she said sounding very irritated. I looked down and saw a short girl crouched down trying to open the locker beneath mine. I stepped to the side and crouched down “sorry, you just need to push first before opening this door. This was my locker when I was 8.” The girl looked at me, she must be close to my age. Gorgeous green eyes, long flowing chestnut hair and a cute face. I hadn’t seen her around before. She looked at me pissed “I don’t need your help,” she said as she grabbed her stuff and walked away. I grabbed some things out of my locker and walked quickly to the training grounds. Uncle Kenzo and auntie Keva were there to train the bigger kids. When we first started training they had separated the boys and girls, but we were almost equal in skills now so we trained as one group. I entered the grounds and uncle Kenzo called “You’re late Elias! Everyone is already partnered up, so you’ll be fighting the new girl Jade.” I looked around and saw it’s was the pissed of girl at my locker. Just my luck.