Prologue
It’s been ten years since I have been back home. Ten years since I have seen my family, my best friend, and my pack. Missing my brother was the hardest part of being gone. Growing up, all of us kids were always together, but my youngest big brother was my protector and partner in crime.
Video chat isn’t the same, but it is all I was able to manage most of the time. I have seen my family a couple of times since I left. They came to me a time or two since I was not ready to go home. Memories still haunted me, and going home felt like I would be visiting ghosts.
In the beginning, going home seemed impossible, but after a few years, I just enjoyed my life and the company of my friends. My ghost seems to finally start to rest. College helped a lot, and that is where I met the person who would help my healing begin. He was just as broken as I was. I knew I would go back home eventually, and I did.
Going home when I did brought me so much more than I thought it would. After everything I lost, I never thought I would find happiness, love, or embed my roots deeper. I guess Fate had other plans.
My best friend growing up, Asher, has been begging me for the last 5 months to come home. He found his mate 2 years ago, and they are having their first pup. I have only met Celeste over video chat, but I already feel like we have been friends all our lives. She was from a neighboring pack and met Ash when she visited Dark Hollow with a friend.
I remember when Asher called me, he was so excited. I could barely understand him; it all came out so rushed. I was so happy things were working out for him, though. Despite my heartache, I could never begrudge his happiness with his fated mate. We all deserved that chance; it just didn’t always work out.
I only hoped my brother Brock would find his happiness soon. He is Asher’s Beta and still alone. He is still young, but I know he is getting discouraged the closer he gets to 30. I don’t want him to give up, and I know he will find his happiness. Let’s just hope it is soon.
Asher is now the pack Alpha. His dad retired 3 years ago. Ash insisted he needed time to get used to being the next Alpha, so he refused the role at 21. He wasn’t groomed all his life to be the next in line. He wasn’t supposed to be Alpha; his brother Jeremy was the Alpha heir, but 10 years ago, everything changed in the blink of an eye.
We all grew up believing we knew our roles in the pack's future, but acts of fate changed everything.








