Prologue
Five Years Ago
I watch in horror at the events happening in front of me.
Fear erupts in me shaking me to my core. With my breath shaky, hands shaky, and knees shaky, I stand in shock watching everything unfold before me. The horror the fills me is so foreign I can’t help but hate my parents for sheltering me so closely throughout my life because at, barely, 18 years young I’ve never known life could be this cruel. It is hard to believe that 24 hours ago I wasn’t just celebrating my eighteenth birthday, but I was also celebrating the fact that I had found my mate within my own pack.
I thought it was kismet. I thought that it was a fairytale. I was happy...right? We had barely had more than one conversation together, but I knew that he was my future...my lifeline and despite the initial shock, I was thrilled I’d been so lucky to find my mate within the boundary lines of my own pack.
If I could go back in time and somehow stop this from happening, I would, and yet I have no idea what I could have done differently.
Matthew challenged Paxton for the Alpha position, and there was no backing down from a challenge. I knew what it meant; I’d read about them before. I knew that only one of them would come out still standing and the other would meet a dark and tragic fate. There was no stopping it, no ending, or even skipping it.
Though Paxton hadn’t had his Alpha Ceremony yet, we all knew that it was right around the corner. The Alpha title isn’t just any title...its who he is deep down to the core and it’s his birthright. Matthew challenging him was child’s play even with the fact that he hadn’t been crowned yet.
Truthfully, I know that there isn’t anything that I could have done to stop this from happening and nothing can prepare me for the outcome I know I will face.
My heart will be broken.
If Matthew dies and Paxton keeps his birth given title, if Paxton dies and Matthew takes over as Alpha, the results will remain the same for me and my death would be imminent. I’ll either lose my twin or my mate and there is no in-between for me.
My mother and father stand on the opposite side of the makeshift circle the pack has made around the two wolves looking almost as distraught as me. Most, if not all, of the pack members are in support of Paxton but there are a few in support of Matthew and that surprises me but it’s not my busy, I’m not Alpha or Luna or anyone of importance outside of who and what my parents are.
I watch in horror as the eyes of my fellow pack members drift from the wolves in the circle to me because they know what this will do to me.
They also know what this will do to my family.
I watch in horror as my parents look from me to my brother.
They also know what this will do to us and more specifically, me.
We might now have finalized the bond yet, hell, we haven’t even formally accepted one another or the Goddess’ divine pairing of the two of us but doesn’t matter. Not anymore.
To the core of my being, my wolf and I know that if I lose my mate, I lose my heart and purpose for living. The Goddess designed mates that way and there is little to nothing I can do to change that. I also know what will happen if I lose my twin...a part of me will die in there with him. Does Matthew not know what he is doing to me? Does he not care?
So here I stand, watching in horror already knowing that my mate will not win this challenge at all, and yet I stand still like a statue watching it all unfold.
As my mate takes his final breath, I know that I will never be the same and instead of waiting for the eyes of those around me to snap to my now weeping and hollow frame, I shift and take off without a second thought.
With nowhere to go and no place to call home, I leave without saying goodbye.
