The Ashen Sisters: Ivy & Rowan

POV: Ivy

I sat in a field surrounded by bright wildflowers of every color. The sun was shining. The air was warm. Soft laughter echoed with the wind. A shadow framed the distance, a tall man, undoubtedly my mate. Children ran around me.

I was exactly where I had always dreamed of being.

With my mate—-with a family. I was a mother. I was a Luna.

Everything was perfect until I heard it.

The sharp sound of screams.

I was dreaming again.

But my dream was turning into a nightmare.

The sunny field full of wildflowers quickly disappeared as I blinked my eyes open and pushed myself up into a seat in bed.

My room appeared normal, nothing seemed unusual except for the sound of hurried footsteps and the loud echo of screams from the hallway.

Before I could even form a thought, before reason could catch up with the pounding of my heart, the door was flung open with a violent crash. In the frame of the doorway stood my father, his eyes wide and unblinking. Behind him were my sisters, Rose and Willow.

The room felt smaller all at once, the walls pressing in as their gazes locked on me. Words died in my throat as time slowed and in that charged silence.

“Come!” My father urged, his voice rising in fright.

My forehead wrinkled as I got to my feet, obeying him without even knowing what was in store for us next.

“Willow,” my father turned to my oldest sister, who was 20 years old. “Go.”

But his words confused me.

“Why?” I asked before Willow could respond, pulling a cardigan around me. “Dad…”

Then my gaze caught something through one of the windows, and the world seemed to tilt.

Wolves fighting. Blood spraying. People running.

My mouth fell open as I tried to process what was happening.

“Go!” He roared again, pushing us towards the back door.

“No!“ Rose began, she was always the more assertive one out of the three of us. “We won’t leave you! We can’t leave you, dad!”

Panic ignited in my father’s eyes, spreading across his face like wildfire.

I’ve never seen him quite like this. Scared, even.

He was an Alpha. An Alpha of a smaller pack near the Washington/ Canada border but still, an Alpha, who was usually confident and fearless not plagued with fear.

“Rose—not now! Not today! You must listen for once!” he demanded.

I tugged at Rose’s sleeve, urging her towards the door as Willow hovered protectively behind us, watching and waiting for an attack.

I glanced back at my dad, hoping to see him smiling, waving, promising us that he’d see us soon but all I saw was terror on his face. He gave me one final look, that said be strong. He’d always look at me that way when I was a child—when I bruised my knee, when I first shifted, when the girls in my wolf class teased me for being too small. But this—-this time that look didn’t give me hope. Instead of comforting me, it stole all the hope from me.

Still, with tears in my eyes, I clenched my fists tighter, assuring myself that I did needed to be strong—for my sisters sake–especially if we were going to make it out of this alive.

As soon as we opened the door I smelled them.

Rogues.

Willow’s voice cut through the tense air from behind me, pulling my attention back to the room, “go south!”

So we did.

We barreled past wolves caught mid shift, their bodies twisting and snapping as they fought and snarled, teeth bared and eyes wild.

We ran past pure chaos, hoping, praying to the moon goddess above to save us from a horrid fate.

We ran through the dense tree line, nicking our skin on sharp tree branches and our bare feet on stones.

We decided it was better not to shift. Our human senses would be harder to smell than if we were in our wolf forms. So we ran as fast as our human feet would take us.

We must have run for miles, the world a blur around us, until finally we collapsed, gasping for air, hearts hammering and lungs burning as the ground beneath us felt like the first solid thing we’d touched in an eternity.

I couldn’t control myself any longer so I cried.

Tears burned down my cheeks because I knew, deep in my bones, that my father was gone—that he would never come back. The certainty crashed over me like a tidal wave. Because I knew that our home, our lives, the world I had known were all obliterated.

That’s when we heard it.

A branch cracking.

A footstep sinking into forest soil.

A foreign scent.

A rogue.

My feet moved before my mind could catch up, carrying me forward frantically. Behind me, Rose and Willow followed swiftly.

But the rogues came from every direction.

And suddenly we were surrounded.

Rose protectively grabbed both of our hands and pulled us towards her. But I knew… I knew deep down that we were screwed.

The first rogue stepped forward, towering over us with a slimy grin. “Oh what do we have here? The Alpha’s daughters?” He chucked darkly.

I flinched, taking a step back, and knocking into another rogue just as disgusting.

“Oh sweetheart,” he drawled in a southern tone. “There’s no reason to be afraid. We’ll take very good care of you. Won’t we boys?”

His words sent a shiver down my spine.

Rose stood, shoulders straight with her head tall, glaring at him.

Willow stood quiet and composed.

And I stood there, a strange calm settling over me even as unease twisted in my chest, fully aware of what was coming next yet utterly powerless to stop it.

Rose spat, stepping forward with her eyes narrowed. “You might as well kill us.”

“And why’s that, sweetie?” He smiled, his eyes flickering down our bodies.

A deep smile spread on her lips. “Because otherwise I might kill you first.”

My eyes grew wide as I glanced at her.

“Kinda like how I killed your dad, huh?” He laughed wickedly.

Another rogue stepped up beside him, leaning in close to whisper something quick into his ear.

The only word I could make out was a name. Thorn.

Rose lunged forward, fire rising in her eyes as she scratched as the rogue, connecting with his face before he pushed her body into the mud.

The other rogues grabbed Willow and I next and separated us.

The leader, Thorn only smiled, holding Rose’s face into the mud and laughing. “You’re feisty, I think I’ll take my time with you.”

I didn’t whimper.

I didn’t beg.

But internally I was crying.

I glanced at Willow, and she offered me a smile, a soft one. She learned it from our mother. Even during times of fear, she tried to reassure me.

I had forgotten all about our restraints or the gross men that leered over us.

Then I felt it.

The hot breath of two men as they pressed their chests into my backside. “This one’s young,” one said.

I closed my eyes, trying to force away the fear.

I heard Rose being dragged away, kicking and screaming.

Willow’s voice echoed through the forest distantly. “Ivy! We will find each other again! Stay strong!”

But the last thing I wanted to be was strong.

Right now I wanted to die.

The voice came in a whisper, a whisper that crept up your spine and settled in your gut, filling your throat with bile and your stomach with sickness.

“I’ve always wanted to break in a young one.”