Chapter 1
Winter
My eyes pop open as the rays of the early morning sun shines into my bedroom. Yay, today is my birthday! I am officially 18 now, which means that I am supposed to find my mate today as well. I am excited but scared at the same time. I wonder who it will be. I don’t have any family to celebrate my birthday with. My parents died when I was really young. Different members of the pack have raised me since. I roll out of my bed while rubbing my eyes, grab my clothes and toiletries and head to the bathroom to get ready for school. It’s my last year this year. I am not quite sure how I even survived the last 3 years. I am an outcast in the pack and even in the school. I am picked on constantly, specially by Cherry Thomas. God, I hate her. Just because she is the Beta’s daughter, she thinks that she is better than everyone else and that she can do as she pleases. But I get bullied by her more than anyone else because I am the orphan of the pack. Oh well, just another day and I hope no finds out it is my birthday. I walk out the door and I am immediately jumped by my two best friends, Kendra Johanson and Valyrie Jorgenson.
“Oh my god!! It’s your birthday!!!!” they both start screaming.
“Shhhhh, I don’t want anyone to know!” hushing them quickly. I started to walk towards school.
“Awe.... But Winter, this is the most absolute important day of your life!” whined Valyrie.
“Yea I get that but all I am is an outcast among the pack and school. I am nobody special.”
“Girl, shut the hell up!” snapped Kendra.
Valyrie and I looked at her, shocked that she spoke like that. You see, Kenda is the level-headed one out of the three of us, Valyrie is the dreamer, and I am just the pessimist. We are almost to school, and I stop the girls and, “Please just promise me that you won't tell anyone that it's my birthday?”
“Okay, fine.” they both say with frowns on their faces.
We walk into the school, and everything seems different. The scents of other wolves are staggering, the scent of the humans is so much stronger, and my hormones are all over the place. My wolf wakes up then, my eyes flash a bright piercing blue as she comes to the front of my mind.
“What is happening to us?” she asks. As we are mind-linked I can respond to her just by thinking my answers.
“I think this is part of finding our mate....” I reply.
No one has ever really explained to me what I am to expect during all of this, or how it all works. Kendra gently nudges me and the three of us start to walk down the hall. We are headed towards our first class when all of a sudden, I get shoved from behind. I fell on the floor, my books scattered in the hallway. I look up to see who pushed me and I see Cherry. She is laughing uncontrollably along with everyone else in the hallway. I feel my wolf get pissed as tears want to start welling up in my eyes. I hold them back as to not show her any weakness.
“You pathetic little runt. Can’t even stand your ground. Oh yea, your parents are dead, and nobody cares about you.” she scoffs down at me.
I say nothing, I just look away. I hear her high heels clicking on the tile floor as she walks away laughing. Kendra and Valyrie try to help me up. I push their hands away, get up and run out of the building. I ran into someone outside but didn’t look to see who it was, I just kept running. I ran into the edge of the woods, sat down behind a tree and just cried.
Aeric
As I step off my private plane, I look around me. All I see is fields and hills.
“Where the hell did my damn father send me now” I growl, extremely unhappy at the situation I am finding myself in.
My beast inside is just as unhappy as I am. You see, my father is the King of All Beastly Creatures. He sent me to this ungodly place, as if I were his errand boy! Ha!! No, he just wanted me out of the Palace because I am “careless” as he says. I am not careless; I just prefer my Viking ways. I continued to walk down the steps of the plane. My sister Astrid, behind me and my bodyguard Herrick, behind her. He has been my bodyguard for the last two centuries. My sister only came with me to help me with this mindless case. My father thinks there is something more to the packs are here continuously having territory disputes. I just say kill them all and be done with it. You see, we are lycans. We are bigger, better and meaner than these useless werewolves. But they are my father’s loyal subjects and I am obligated to treat them as such, unless the need were to arise to take one out. But that can only be decided by the council.
“Brother, you going to get in the car?” Astrid asks.
“Yes.” I growl, still unhappy to be here.
We drive for what seems like forever, until we turn into a drive with a huge metal gate that is locked. Herrick puts in the passcode and the gates swing open, closing again as soon as the car is through. We continue to drive for another couple miles until we pull up to this huge mansion. Astrid and I look at each other then the house.
“Home away from our damn sweet Palace. Shall we sister?” I give her a look of dread, knowing what lies in store for us tomorrow.
