PROLOGUE Meridia Sometimes, I find myself wishing someone would have asked me if I wanted to be what I was. Why couldn’t fate be considerate enough to check with us before throwing us into the lives we had NO CHOICE but to live once we got here? I mean, as children, we are lectured and taught about the use of proper manners. But if that’s such an IMPORTANT thing, then why is it the powers that be don’t use it? I was born on the first night of the Summer Solstice. My Father is Soren Windcatcher, the Alpha of the Tribal Moon pack. It was not the largest pack in the Country, but it was the oldest. Something my Father has ALWAYS been extremely proud of. We are the descendants of the first Shifters born into the Tribes of the Indigenous peoples in the U.S. Because our Pack is descended of the original citizens of this country, we are also the only Pack which is not forbidden in interacting with the human world. The reason for that, is because when THE MOON GODDESS decided to make our people hers, the tribe accepted the ones chosen as blessed and embraced it as a gift. Therefore the ones of us descended from those gifted as wolves, are our Pack. But the humans, descended from those who knew and to this day, still walk side by side with us; our Tribe. I realize from what I first said, I must sound like I have no pride in our history or heritage. That’s not true. I have a lot of pride in both my Pack, and my Tribe. My wish for having a say in my destiny is because I just took part in my third Tribal Mating Ball. The one where all the Indigenous Tribes come together, and try to catch scent of their mates. If our mates turn out to be human, they can stay human, or choose to envoke the ancestors to be gifted a wolf of their own. It doesn’t matter to us. Our Tribes are made up of Wolves, Warriors, and Shamans. No person is considered beneath us. But this year was different. This year was the first time the Royal Ancient Bloodline Pack from across the world was invited. They are a pack, rumored to be descended from the first werewolves to walk the earth. The Lycans. Their Alpha is Marius Draconis and he is literally the biggest man I have ever seen, with long blond hair that falls to the middle of his back, and dark brooding eyes that seem to pierce the soul. Or at least, they seem like they would. That’s all I know of him. I’ve tried very hard to avoid him since I first saw him. You see, this was the year, I scented my mate. And he’s not from my Tribe.