Chapter 1
Sophia PV
There was nothing particularly special about the house as the U-haul pulled into the drive. An old tree stood in the front yard with a tire attached to a rope hanging from it. That alone told Sophia that she wasn’t in the city any longer. This fact she was grateful for. Her mother had been talking about a change for the last six months or so. She had been telling Sophia they were getting a new beginning. Sophia began to see hope in her mother’s eyes. She began to see a glimpse of happiness. This she hadn’t seen for almost two years, not since Sophia’s father was killed.
Wolves are creatures that mate for life and usually have only one true mate. So when a wolf’s mate dies, their wolf fights with their human side to die with its mate. Sophia had watched her mother fight for damn near a year not to let her wolf die. Her mother endured months of agonizing pain to keep her wolf. She almost lost the fight a time or two. There were many nights of terrible screams and gut-wrenching sounds of Sophia hearing her mother’s bones breaking over and over. Her wolf wanted nothing more than for the two of them to die so they could be with the mate they loved and missed so desperately. Then, as quickly as the fight began, it was over. After her mother lost her mate and fought with her inner wolf to not leave her, the ridicule, the blame, and the shame began from Sophia’s father’s pack. The pack blamed Sophia for their Beta being killed. After all, he was searching for his daughter when he died. The Alpha blamed Sophia as well for his lifelong best friend being killed. A scorned pack is a difficult thing. The two became outcasts in every facet of pack life.
Sophia’s mother came to the Mystic Rain pack when she found her mate, Sophia’s father, Oliver Jackson. The two were inseparable. True mates have a bond, a connection that is no match for anything else in the entire world. They are able to feel what the other feels through the connection that only they share with each other. They are able to communicate with each other without either hearing or saying a spoken word. Your mate’s touch has an effect on you like no other person. A wolf’s mate is able to lift the other to a place of boundless emotions. There is a bond between mates that is almost unbreakable, except with the death of one. This brings unbearable pain to your human and your wolf. That is the reason for wolves mating for life and to only one that the moon goddess picks for you herself. Each mate completes the other, as the other half of yourself. When one mate dies, you lose that half. You lose the bond you share. You lose part of your soul. This is the reason your wolf tries to leave you and die. Sophia’s mother is one of the few wolves that has survived losing their mate and not turning rogue or dying. Rogue wolves are soulless shells that are dying at a faster rate without their mate with them to keep them balanced between human and wolf. These wolves let the pain of their mate consume them until their wolf can take no more and both their wolf and human die.
Sophia didn’t have friends due to being shunned by the entire pack. The kids her age did not associate with her by order of the Alpha. They were, however, allowed to play cruel jokes and to torment and physically harm Sophia. There was nothing to bind Sophia to this pack except the memories in the house made with her father. She had memories of her family at a time when the house was filled with happiness. Memories of a time when the house was a home and not a prison.
The moving truck was arriving, which made the move real. As the last boxes were loaded onto the truck, Sophia walked through the house thinking of her father. She touched the frame of the kitchen door where the markings were for her yearly growth. “Ready to start a new adventure?” Sophia’s mother, Olivia Jackson, asked just as a tear fell from Sophia’s eye that she quickly wiped away.
“Sure mom. If you are.” Sophia replied as her mother pulled her into an embrace. “I miss him, mom, so much.”
“I miss him too. Sophia, dear, this is for the best.”
“I know mom. You keep saying that.”
The last box was being brought into the house that sat on a large piece of property. There were many trees and large areas of grass around the large white cottage house. The street was lined with trees and similar houses with lawns also cut. Sophia could hear lawn mowers in the distance which made the air smelled of fresh cut grass, clean. The neighborhood was quiet with no sounds of the busy city. Sophia stood in front of her new home taking in its surroundings. The house had a porch across the front that already had two rocking chairs. The trees brought added charm to the already coziness of the house. As Sophia stood picturing her new life, a few kids rode passed her on their bikes. Each of the children said some sort of greeting. She soon sat in one of the chairs on the porch looking out into the street as she rocked. Sounds of birds chirping and crickets filled her ears. Two squirrels ran around the grass next to her new home and quickly up a tree in a game of chase. Sophia’s wolf began to sit wagging her tail in Sophia’s mind. Her wolf was becoming at ease with their new surroundings. Maybe this move won’t be so bad.
