Prologue
Leah POV
***Almost twenty years ago***
I woke up with a jolt, quickly sitting up in bed. I was breathing heavily. Sweat dripped down my brow and the back of my neck. The T-shirt I was wearing was damp and clinging to my sides. My muscles were tense. Fear flowed over me but gradually began to dissipate. It wasn’t real. It was a dream.
I wasn’t running for my life. I wasn’t fleeing as my pack was being slaughtered. I wasn’t being chased by rogues that wanted to kidnap me if I stopped. I wasn’t witnessing my pack being massacred as I ran through the pack streets.
I was safe in my bed with my mate sleeping peacefully beside me.
He wasn’t my true mate. We chose each other to be mates. Regardless, I loved him dearly. Like he was my true mate. To me, he was my true mate. My soulmate.
I took a deep breath as I firmly gripped my pendant necklace in the palm of my hand. It always brought me comfort. It was the only thing left I had of my mother.
I tightly squeezed it and closed my eyes. I inhaled deeply and slowly released it a few times to calm my shaky nerves.
“Leah,” My mate, Ben, called out with his voice raspy from sleep as he touched my arm.
I jerked away from him, not expecting his gentle touch. My brain hadn’t processed that he was awake and not asleep.
I looked at him with wide, panic-filled eyes and clenched my hands into fists ready to start punching if I needed to.
He put his hands up like he was surrendering as his eyes widened.
“Whoa. Whoa. Easy there, killer. Don’t shoot! It’s just me. … You know? … It’s just Ben. … Your chosen mate…” A smile that didn’t reach his eyes appeared on his lips. “… who you love… with all your heart. You don’t need to start swinging, babe.”
I smiled and laid back down, running my hands through my sweaty hair. I chuckled as I covered my face with my hands and shook my head.
“How do you do that?” I asked as I moved my hands and turned on my side to face him.
“Do what?” He asked with a broad smile on his face, turning to face me.
“You always know what to say to put a smile on my face and make me completely forget why I was upset in the first place.” I proclaimed and leaned toward him to kiss him.
“I don’t know. I guess you just got lucky, Leah.” He declared, pushing me on my back. “Whoa. You’re sweaty. You want me to get you another shirt?”
“Yeah, thank you. You know that your answer didn’t really make sense. Right?” I asked as I started taking off my shirt.
He got out of bed and went to our dresser to grab another one of his shirts. I tossed him the old one, but he didn’t give me the new one. He dropped it on the floor as his eyes roamed over my body and crawled back to the bed.
He crashed his lips against mine as he moved on top of me. My hands immediately went into his hair when he settled between my legs. His lips moved to my neck.
He pulled away slightly, and I wanted to whine. I didn’t want him to stop. I wanted more. I wanted to forget what I saw, but I knew he wanted to talk about it.
He brought his hand to my face and caressed my cheek. I leaned into his touch and grinned.
“Was it a nightmare or… you know? Another… vision?” He worriedly asked, studying my face.
I was a witch. At least, I was half witch. I never knew my father. My mother refused to tell me anything about him.
Everyone in our pack thought my mother and I were human. There was only a handful of people, if that, that knew the truth about us. Ben was one of them. Even our son, Andrew, didn’t know.
However, visions weren’t a normal power for witches per se. Yes, some could predict the future. But that was all it was. A prediction. A guess. Perhaps not the right one.
But mine were real. They were the truth.
I started having the vision about a year ago. However, I didn’t recognize that they were visions at first because they started as very vivid dreams.
It wasn’t until I touched someone, had one, and fainted that I found out that they weren’t just dreams. They were memories. But they weren’t my memories. They were other people’s.
I later discovered I would touch someone or they would touch me and I would have a vision. It would be a vision of something in their past.
For the longest time, I was afraid to touch or be touched by anyone. I wouldn’t even let my mate touch me. Every time I did, I had another vision. I stayed inside in our bedroom for weeks. Maybe even as long as a month.
One morning, Andrew ran to my side upset and hopped on the bed beside me. He shook my arm to wake me up. I panicked at first, but I didn’t have a vision.
When I finally I came to the realization that it didn’t always happen when I touched someone or they touched me, I couldn’t believe it. I was overjoyed. I was excited.
Perhaps, it sounds weird, but I yearned for physical contact. I needed it.
I wrapped my arms around my son and held him tightly. I repeatedly thanked and kissed him, but he didn’t understand.
He quickly got over whatever it was he was upset about and wanted to go. But I couldn’t let him go. I hadn’t touched anybody in so long.
Ben came rushing into the room, trying to keep our son from bothering me. But he was way too late. He immediately told our son to go over to his friend, Killian’s, house, and we made up for lost time.
Now, I was having visions of the future. But the future wasn’t set in stone. I discovered that I could change some events from how I saw them in my visions. However, others would occur no matter what did. No matter how hard I tried to change it.
All this terrified me. I didn’t know what they meant or why I was having them. For the longest time, I felt like I was losing my mind. I didn’t want to have this power.
My mother was gone now. Since I didn’t know anything about my father, there was only one person, one witch, I knew that could help me. Her name was CJ.
She was a friend of my mother’s and part of our coven. But my mother and I left the coven when she found her true mate. I was around four or five. I think.
Her true mate was a werewolf, and we became part of his pack. That was also where I fell in love with Ben.
I called CJ to help me figure out what these visions meant. She helped me learn how to control them, but I wasn’t always successful. Particularly when I was sleeping.
“It has to be a vision. It’s becoming clearer and clearer each time I have it.” I replied, sounding defeated, and turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the tear fall down my cheek.
I didn’t want it to be one. I wanted it to be a nightmare. Because if it was another vision, it meant I would lose everyone I loved.
However, I felt it in my bones that it was a vision. This wasn’t the first time I had this vision slash nightmare. I had been having it for weeks. It was horrible.
In it, I witnessed complete destruction. Rogues attacked our pack. I saw so many people I loved being slaughtered and that included Ben. Rogues murdered him and dragged me away, leaving our six-year-old son behind. Leaving him an orphan.
Over the weeks this vision slash nightmare was becoming clearer and clearer. Along with what I needed to do. But I wasn’t sure Ben would forgive me if I did it.
I hadn’t told my mate everything. Like the fact that I was going to be the mother of the prophesied child. Or that he wasn’t the father. I didn’t know who was. I never saw a clear image of him. I could tell by the color that it wasn’t Ben.
I prayed to the Goddess every day begging her to change the future. Begging her not to force me to do what I needed to be done.
“Hey,” Ben whispered as he grasped my chin between his finger and thumb and turned my head so I would look at him. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. But… I’m always here whenever you need to talk. I’m always here for you. No matter what. … I love you, Leah. Forever and ever.”
“I love you, too,” I said as tears started slipping down my cheeks.
“Hey, hey. Please, don’t cry, baby. Everything is going to be okay, Leah.” He laid down beside me and wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me close and kissed my forehead as I moved closer toward him.
“No, it won’t,” I said, shaking my head.
He pulled away as he furrowed his eyebrows. “What does that mean?”
“Ben, there’s… there’s things… I haven’t told you. Things that you… should know.” I slowly started.
“What do you mean? What haven’t you told me?” He anxiously asked.
Usually, I told him everything about my visions. The sights. The smells. Who was in it. What they did. Every little detail that I could remember, I always told him.
But I didn’t dare to tell him about this one. The one I had been having in my dreams for weeks.
How could I explain what I had seen? It was every parent’s worst dream. Not being able to be there for our child. Ben was murdered as rogues dragged me away, leaving our six-year-old son alone as his pack was being slaughtered. I wasn’t sure if anyone in the pack survived to take care of him.
I blinked away the tears pooling in my eyes. I sat up and leaned against the headboard. Ben mirrored my movements. I explained everything to him.
When I was done, he stared in front of himself, not looking at anything in particular. He was mulling over my words.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand.” He finally remarked.
‘Only one thing?’ I thought to myself. I had hundreds of questions, and he only had one. Really?
“That’s it? Just one? Heh. What’s the question?” I nervously queried as I placed my hand on top of his.
“I mean—. … Maybe, I have two or three. But… rogues don’t usually kidnap. They kill. So… why were the rogues taking you away? Why didn’t they just… kill you? ” He turned his head to look at me.
I hadn’t thought about that being a strange thing, but he was right.
“I’m the one that’s supposed to have the prophesied child. I forgot to add that bit of information.” I sighed.
“We’re going to have another pup?” He inquired as a small smile played on his lips.
Of course, he would find the light in this dark world.
“No,” I replied, closing my eyes, and he furrowed his eyebrows with confusion plastered all over his face. “It’s not your child. I don’t know who he is or where he is… but I know the child isn’t yours.”
“You’ve seen his face?” He queried as he gritted his teeth and turned away from me.
“Not clearly. But I can tell it’s not you.” I quietly answered, looking down at my hands.
“All right.” He nodded his head and got out of bed.
“That’s it? ‘All right.’ You’re not going to yell at me or… I don’t know. Something besides saying ‘all right?’” I asked shocked as I stood up.
He pulled a sweatshirt over his head and sweats on.
“Wait where are you going?” I walked to his side.
“Leah, what do you want me to say? I’m pissed? I am…” He growled the last words, and I flinched. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. His voice was calmer. “But I… I need time to process all this so that I… don’t say something I regret. I’m going for a run.”
That really meant he was going to shift into his wolf.
“Please, don’t leave me.” Tears rolled down my face.
“I just found out that you cheated on me.” He snarled.
“But I didn’t.” I proclaimed, grabbing his arms.
“But you will.” He shouted as he ripped his arm away from me.
He walked out the door as I dropped to the floor. I covered my face as tears flowed down my cheeks.
I wasn’t sure if Ben would come back. I knew he was furious. I knew he would be. He had every right to be.
I didn’t want to hurt him, but I wanted him to know the truth. But I also didn’t think he would run out on me.
It was becoming clearer and clearer what I had to do. His reaction was proving that I was right. I would have to leave him so that the rogues wouldn’t attack our pack. So that our son wouldn’t be left alone.
