Prologue
Jesse groans as he pushes himself up from his bed as he hears his mother’s sing-song voice calling from the direction of the kitchen. Today was his younger siblings' birthday; they were twins and about four years younger than he was. Not that he cared; they were just as mischievous and playful as if they were ten. They were always up to something or causing some sort of havoc, but he would not trade them for the world.
“I am up, mom! I will be there in just a minute.” He grins, shaking his head. His mom always wanted to go all out for birthdays, but this was the twins sixteenth birthday. She was going nuts with it; who could blame her, though she was the Luna of their pack after all? Not to mention, he still had no clue what happened before he was born, as no one ever talked about it, but he knew that his dad and mom both went through hell to get to where they were now, and the only family his mom had was her cousin Aiden, who was mated with her childhood best friend Sarah.
Jesse shakes his head, focusing on what was going on in front of him again as he runs his fingers through his messy brown mane before he grabs a band and pulls it back into a ponytail. He looks around his room, looking for anything clean to put on, and sighs as he remembers his mom bitching at him the day before about how she swore she could smell stale old man funk coming from behind his room’s door. He could not help but smirk at that, and he ends up grabbing a black muscle tank and pair of basketball shorts from his dresser and slipping into them. Jesse quickly gathers his dirty laundry, his nose wrinkling. ‘Okay, maybe they do smell kind of bad...’ He quickly tosses them into the washer and gets it ready to start.
When he reaches the kitchen, his smirk changes into a genuine smile as he sees his mother standing beside the stove, mixing what he would guess had to be cake mix for his siblings' birthday. “Hey mom, what did you need? Oh, and by the way, I took care of your old man’s stench and put all my clothes in the washer.” He chuckles as she turns to him, holding the mixing bowl, and with a glare, she shakes her spatula at him playfully.
“You should have taken care of that yesterday….” Jesse jumps and grabs the bowl as his mother stops talking mid-sentence and the bowl slips from her fingers. He furrowed his eyebrows at her as he knew something was terribly wrong; he knew she was communicating through their pack mind-link with someone. With whom she was communicating, he did not know or what was being conversed about; he was just as clueless to as well. Jesse sits the bowl down on the counter before he slips his arm around her petite frame and guides her to a chair to sit in as his worry becomes stronger as the color starts to flush into her face as it turns red.
He knew that was not a good sign, especially as the dark lines started to form on her cheeks, signaling she was starting to flip. “Mom… What is wrong? What is going on?” His voice carried a deep well of concern, as he had only ever seen that side of her when she was showing what it looked like to fully access their powers, never out of necessity.
Anna blinks a few times before she looks at her son coming back from the mind link. As soon as she lays eyes on her son, she throws her arms around his neck and holds him tightly. “My son...” was all she could murmur for a few moments as her body trembled with rage. She knew he was able to feel her anger. “You are needed at your father’s office; you are late. Remember, you are supposed to help him with training today before Kai’s and Kiarra’s party.” She finally adds, as she pulls back, standing and pulling off her apron, taking a deep, steading breath before she turns back to him, placing that same happy smile he was used to seeing.
