Chapter 1: More Questions than Answers

*Ada*

Darkness surrounded me.

My hand began subconsciously rubbing across my slightly raised belly.

My eyes blinked, yet it didn’t change anything. They were black when they were open, and black when they were shut.

The door to the room was thrown open with a large bang.

Heels clicked across the hard floor. Sharp nails suddenly dug into my chin.

The perfectly manicured claws started to constrict and my breathing became strained as they clutched the soft skin of my neck. I began to struggle.

A laugh from the woman who was finally happy to see a reaction from me. Happy to see me suffering.

I saw the flash of silver.

The blade was pointed at my abdomen. My body didn't feel like my own, it was heavy.

The darkness morphed and changed.

Flames burst to life in front of my eyes.

I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

There was no way out.

In the distance, through the flames, I could make out a tall, strong man standing somber.

My mate.

The man remained still and silent and the world continued to burn. All the while, indifferent. His silence boomed.

The woman continued ："Your mate is going to get married to me today," her soft voice sounded too loud in my ears. "Don't you think you should attend?"

Her words angered me and I found myself pushing against her harder, struggling to get her fingers off of my neck. My eyes focused on her finally as I gripped her wrist and tried to pull while kicking out with my feet.

My movements froze as I saw the flash of silver.

"I wanted to invite you, but he found it troublesome and asked me to deal with you…and your child."

The blade was pointed at my abdomen, and I knew I should cry out, should struggle, but I couldn't. My body didn't feel like my own, it was heavy.

Then shadows danced around as more and more people swarmed the room.

The darkness morphed and changed and suddenly I found myself standing against a pillar in the center of a circle of people, my arms bound tightly behind me.

Flames burst to life in front of my eyes and I realized what was happening as the bundle of wood at my feet caught the flames easily.

No—-!

I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

Adrenaline, panic and desperation coursed through me. There was no way out.

I gasped in the air as if I really had been burning, trying to calm down my beating heart. I touched my own belly, nice and flat as it should be. No baby.

The darkness and the torture had seemed so real. And that woman and that man…My mate…standing there and watching me burn. Even the glow of the flames seemed to linger in my vision…

I jerked upright as I realized that the glow around me was no longer part of the nightmare.

My cottage was on fire.

A low, dominant growl that I would recognize anywhere sounded from outside my room. It was my father, and his message was clear: the rogues were attacking.

I didn't even think. Years of dealing with rogues had prepared me to act on instinct.

Lucky for me, the fire hadn't spread to the door side at all, so I easily escaped my house without even a burnt hair. Unlucky for me, as soon as I left the sanctuary of my home I was ambushed.

Something rammed into me hard from the side, knocking me to the ground. My breath came in gasps and I wondered if I had broken a rib. Stupid weak body.

As I turned to face my rogue attacker I gripped the knife I always kept strapped to my leg. You didn't live in a werewolf pack without your wolf and not have some form of protection.

The giant rogue stood before me, lit by lights and shadows as the flames continued to grow on the cottage behind me. He growled, with a satanic menace that threatened to stop my heart.

I tried to ignore the fear that threatened to consume me as it always did in battle.

Where was my father? Maybe I could signal him…

The rogue took another step forward, and I tensed. My eyes locked onto his and I stopped breathing completely. His eyes seemed to burn hotter than the fire at my back. As if in confirmation, I felt a bead of sweat trickle down my spine.

Suddenly he collapsed. I jumped back at the motion, at first mistaking it for a strike, but then I saw him lying on the ground.

I jumped at the opportunity of his incapacitation, knowing I wouldn't get another chance even half as good. The blade pulled cleanly from its sheath as I darted forward to finish him before he could finish me.

Another thing I had learned by being a wolfless girl.

As I drew nearer though I found myself coming to a stop once more. From up close I could see something on him, some sort of tattoo. My eyes kept a close watch of his body, looking for any sign that he was faking his collapse. I moved slowly closer, unsure of what I was seeing on him and wanting to take a better look.

It was a tattoo. In fact, clear as day was the tattoo of the Grandmoon pack, a tattoo that only members were allowed to bear. This was no rogue.

My eyes shot around, trying to interpret what was going on around the camp. Shapes moved and ran, disappearing and reappearing as chaos continued.

I moved my blade back and forth between my hands so that I could wipe off the nervous sweat that covered my palms.

The cold metal of the knife was unforgiving as I squeezed tighter and tighter, my eyes never leaving the man laying collapsed in front of me.

But I just kept standing there.

And standing there.

Staring.

My parents' words started to pound in my head, a lesson repeated over and over as I grew up: Stay away from the Grandmoon Pack.

I lifted the knife up, but my hand stilled again.

But, why?

Another growl had me forgetting about the current dilemma and taking off.

I ran across the grounds, trying to find a way through the fire where my parents and everyone else was. The fire had drawn a clear line in the land, separating me from those that loved me. And the longer I looked, the more panicked I became.

So much so, that the second I finally caught sight of my parents through the flames I nearly burst into tears. My parents saw me at the same moment and I saw the relief I felt mirrored in their own eyes. My mother, like me, looked close to tears as well.

"Don't worry!" I yelled and reassured them, holding up my arms. "See? Not even a scratch!"

They however, were not so lucky. As I was showing them my good fortune, I noticed another rogue run up from behind them. I didn't even have a chance to warn them before claws and teeth were sinking into my mother right before my very eyes.

"Mom!" I screamed, ignoring the flame completely now and diving through it to get to her even faster.

There was the faint smell of burnt hair, but I didn't even notice it. All of my attention was on my mom and her attacker. I felt my rage spike and charged forward aggressively, wanting to join my dad as he lunged for the foul piece of scum.

Before I could reach him though, my mother reached out and stopped me.

"Ada, no! You don't have your wolf," my mom panted out. "And your involvement will only distract your father. Let him deal with the fighting, any you…you deal with me."

She swayed on her feet and I had to move forward to catch her.

"Mom!" I exclaimed in panic again, feeling relieved as she blinked her eyes back open.

"We need to-to-to" she paused and took a few breaths to attempt to steady her voice. "We need to go hide in the b-b-bunker."

I didn't even argue this time, I just supported more of my mother's weight and turned in the direction she had suggested. My parents were always on the cautious side and had built a hidden underground chamber that could house us in the events of an attack or an emergency. In reality, I think they had just built it when I first hadn't gotten my wolf. They liked to worry about me particularly.

It was coming in useful now though. The bunker was prepped and stocked for an event just like this, and it would be the perfect spot to analyze and treat my mother without interruptions or fear of attack.

My mind flicked back to the man in the shed, but it was out of my mind as quickly as it entered it. I had more concerning things at the moment. Like getting my mother to safety.

I glanced behind us and saw with relief that nobody was following us. Looking behind had showed me the trail of blood that my mother was leaving behind as well. This was not good. This was not good at all.

The bunker was easy to access if you knew where it was and luckily I did. In no time at all we were in the main bunker room, listening to the muted sounds of the battle above us. As soon as I set my mother down at the small table I busied about, looking for the herbs that I knew we stored in there just for times like this.

Times like this that were caused by the evil rogues always attacking our packs. A surge of anger at what was happening and the lack of control I felt pulsed through my body. I wouldn't let them have control anymore. While looking for the medicines to heal my mother of their poisonous antics, I vowed to myself that I would create a poison so powerful that it would easily poison all the rogues to death.

So that way we wouldn't have to live our lives in fear anymore.

While my mother's condition was very serious, I was a very gifted healer. I was able to stabilize my mother fairly quickly and get the bleeding to albeit stop. Once I was sure she was going to be alright and that she was safe I took back off out of the bunker.

My father was still out there.

When I reached the surface though I was surprised to find just pillars of black smoke and sizzling grass from where the fire was being extinguished. The rogues appeared to be all gone, and the normal cleanup had begun.

"Apparently they were after the herb garden," my father said from behind me, startling me.

He didn't startle me enough not to jump happily into his arms. "Dad!"

"Ouch, careful Ada-bug," my father said with a wince, causing me to instantly examine him.

His injuries were much less severe than my mother's, but still something I would want to take care of. When leaving the bunker I had thrown some of the herbs in my pocket. I pulled them out now and began to apply them to my father.

"The herb garden?" I asked, out of genuine curiosity and because I wanted to distract him from the pain.

"Yes, a couple members caught them snatching the herbs and making a run for it," my father continued, not even flinching as I stuffed a huge wad of herbs into a deep claw puncture. "They must have wanted our herbs for themselves and then set fire to them to make sure we wouldn't have them."

"Who else was all injured?" I asked. "Did anyone…"

"No, there were no casualties," my father answered, understanding. "And besides your mother and me, the injuries all seem fairly minor. It doesn't seem like they had much intention of getting caught or sticking around."

Getting caught. My mind again sprang to my man in the shed, and this time I couldn't ignore the pull.

"Dad, can you please go down to the bunker and take care of mom?" I asked. "I'll continue to make my rounds up here."

"Very well, but come and get me if there is even the slightest sign of trouble."

"Deal."

I raced off, worried by what I would find at the place I had left behind. Was there a chance that the fire had grown even more and created a casualty my father might not yet know about.

My foot collided with the collapsed man's hand. I flicked my gaze back and forth between the fire and the man. Somehow he still hadn't been consumed.

I began to chew on my bottom lip as I tried to figure out what the best course of action would be. If I left the man here now he would die from the fire, there was no doubt. So, what to do…

Cursing myself, I slid my knife back into the sheath on my leg and bent down next to the man. Maybe my parents would get mad at me later, but I needed to know more, and I couldn't just leave him there to die.