Mine by Destiny

CHAPTER 001

CHAPTER 001

I ran over Lady Isabella, Alpha. She was fleeing to the edge of the forest and bade me not to pursue her. I think something happened. She looked unwell."

He was hearing those words as his wolf gained pace, paws falling upon the loose ground with a crash and bang. His steps shook his chest and constricted his muscles with terror. Isabella never asked anybody to help her; she was the one who always stood on her feet even where she did not belong.

His was Edward Blackthorne. Some called him Eddie.

The following day he would be sworn in as a new Alpha of the Black Shadow Pack. All his life had been leading to that.

He had been on the training ground earlier in the same night watching his father engage in combat with men whom he trusted. Alpha Jacob Blackthorne had passed his last evening as leader in the one way he had known to do, in fighting side by side with his Beta and Gamma.

Edward had pride in watching. His father still was alert and cruel enough at his age. Against Beta Gavin and Gamma Aaron, both unrelenting, Jacob was made to understand why he had been prime minister for so long.

They were the best warriors that Edward had ever witnessed, and he hoped to somedaybecome like them, Tyler his Beta and Austin his Gamma. It should have been a quiet night of a farewell before the metamorphosis. He had emptied his calendar so as to calm himself down for the ceremony.

Then a warrior had discovered him with bad news—Isabella had fled into the woods close at hand of the Shadow Academy in her white and desperate flight. His family and Alpha Circle had made his mother see her dream of the Shadow Academy come true.

It imparted both human and wolf lifestyles on young shifters. A dozen years after its opening, it held a considerable number of heirs under the protection of the pack. One of them was Isabella Hartwell.

She was the daughter of Alpha Aeon and Luna Alexa of Blood Moon Pack, the firstbornAlpha female. She was sixteen, the same age as his sister Catherine.

Edward recalled the times they had been intimate; she was his shade when they were boys. The distance had been created by time and growing. Isabella now was bringing her close to Catherine and Edward and to the boys of his age.

But there had been a promise years before, and no distance could obliterate it. He had vowed to protect her.

She smelled like wind, and his wolf was lowing, restless and raw. The odor was frightening, acute, and alien. Isabella had never been a coward, and that by itself convinced him that something had gone amiss.

They discovered her not much distance off the dormitories, not far away in the clearing. She was huddled on the forest ground, hands clasped over her stomach, with a thin whimper jerking out.

Edward froze. Black pictures scratched his head.

Had someone hurt her?

He did search her body to see whether she had any bruise or blood and experienced a relief and a rage when he discovered that she had neither. Had anyone injured her, he said to himself, he would rip them open with his own nails.

ISABELLA'S POINT OF VIEW

She gave a scream, and her body drew up. The wet ground was chilly on her, and fire appeared to burn her stomach.

This was not normal.

This was not the case with shifters. It was not an easy two-step; she had never experienced anything of the kind. Her spine ached, and every bone felt as though something in her were breaking.

Tears blurred her sight. Nothing she desired was that the pain should cease.

Branches snapped nearby. Leaves rustled. Footsteps of paws sank in the ground. Someone was coming closer.

Her heart stumbled. May it be a person she could look upon.

And when the pain started, she should have gone to the dormitory headmistress, but her obstinate pride had pushed her further into the woods. She had believed that she was able to cope with it. Courage was now a pretense and was fading away with each surge of pain.

She could make out the figure of a wolf through the haze, and its black fur was snaring the moonlight. One of the Alpha wolves came nearer.

She dabbed the back of her hand on her tears and lifted herself on shaky arms and perched herself on all fours to face the dark shape.

"Zero..." Her throat gave the word "crushed" before her members collapsed and she dropped.

The wolf moved, and a man was present where hair had been, concern gnawing at his features.

Edward.

He ran up and slipped his arms under her, picking her up so gently as though she would break. He held her to his breast in painfully impatient hands.

"What is happening? "Where it pains you, speak, speak," said the one;

"Everywhere hurts," she managed, she thought.

The thought of which had passed through the minds of both of them made Edward clench his jaw and narrow his eyes.

"Did someone touch you?" he questioned, his hold tightening, his heart pounding against her ear.

"No. I do not know what this is." Her reply was in a broken scream.

She now screamed, and this startled him. He fell on his knees and put her on the floor.

"Isabella... I believe you are displaced," said he.

Shifting. The word spun in her head. It felt impossible.

"I am just sixteen years old," she panted.

"You are the firstborn Alpha female," he said (the words were heavy with meaning).

"Only the males change early on," she panted. Her voice went down between pains.

Most shifters never changed until the full moon prior to turning eighteen. Alpha males occasionally shifted at an earlier age of fourteen or fifteen, but she had never heard of a female shifting at sixteen.

Could he be right?

His hand touched her wet forehead, and the anguish calmed a little of the fire within her. His hand stabilized her breathing.

"Please... touch me again. It helps," she whispered.

"Like this?" His hand was there against her flesh again.

She said yes and bent over him. Her body longed to have the comfort and stability he provided.

He adjusted their position and pulled her to his lap, holding her as though she might break. She curled against him, small and shaking.

"We must loosen your clothes," he murmured. "At least your shorts and bra. They will bind you if you shift."

Heat rose to her face, but she nodded. He was the only one she trusted not to hurt her or walk away.

Her cheek rested against his neck; his scent grounded her.

"Do not sleep," he said, voice rough. "You need to shift."

"It feels... good here," she murmured, words slurring.

"Stay if you must, but do not close your eyes. Do you want me to take off your shorts?" he asked.

The question hung heavy, carrying more than one meaning in the quiet of the trees. Trust and exposure pressed at her, the forest around them holding its breath.

Would she let him? Could she hand him that control here among the shadows with the fire inside her tearing at flesh and bone?

What choice did she really have?