The Gifted Warriors

Chapter 1

“Layla! Come here please!” I hear my mother call me from the kitchen.

“Ok I’ll be right down. Just let me finish this real quick.” I am so close to finishing my masterpiece of… I don’t really know yet but it’s almost done. My father has always said that I had a gift with painting and that it always shows some big event that will happen in the future.

“Your father is back from the pack meeting and wants to talk to you about it.” My father was the Alpha of the Arizona pack and he was away for a meeting with the rest of the packs in South Dakota for weeks. I jump from my chair, threw down my paint brush not caring about the paint on the carpet in my room, and run down the stairs to the kitchen. My feet pound against the dark wood floor as I rush to my father that I missed so much.

“Dad! Your back!” I see him sitting in one of the chairs that are placed next to the island in the middle of the kitchen. I fling my arms around his neck squeezing firmly, expressing how much I missed him while he was gone.

“How have you been, my little moon?” I hear the smile on his face as he hugs me back.

“I’ve missed you so much. What took so long this time?” I loosened my grip so I could look at his face.

“Well, the council and I, had to work out the plans and small details. Which took a lot longer than what I had originally thought.” His smile slowly slid off his face as he said his words.

“Plans and small details? For what?” I asked in a state of confusion.

“Your eighteenth birthday is coming up, isn’t little moon?” He lowered his gaze from mine to the floor.

“Yes, it’s tomorrow, but what does that have anything to do with what you and the council talked about?” I sat in the chair next to him.

“We have found the Gifted Warriors.”

“That’s good news, right? That means that darkness will get smaller.”

“It is good news, but it is also bad news. It means that times are going to be awful. It means we are doing poorly at our jobs we were created to do.” Rarely have I seen tears in my father’s eyes. This is one of those times.

“What’s the matter? This is what they are here for. The Great Mates know that we are just enough to keep the good alive. They created the Warriors to destroy it. It is not our job, Dad, we have not failed.” I developed my father back into a hug as my mother came over and put her arms around us, crying from the pain she feels from him.

He let us stay like this for a few more seconds until he spoke again. “We have decided that they need strong mates, and who is stronger than dominate females? So we called each pack and requested that they send their unbonded dominate females who are eighteen or older to the Gifted pack. The females can only go back to their own packs if they are not mates with any of them.”

“So as soon as the day of my birthday comes you're kicking me out to try and win over a mate? Has it ever occurred to you that maybe some of us females aren’t ready for a mate yet? Or that it is dangerous to have so many unmated females in a pack house with a bunch of unknown, unmated males?” I let go of my father angry.

I didn’t want a mate yet. I couldn’t have a mate yet. I haven’t even graduated high school and yet he wants me to hurry up and settle down? I have not even lived long and yet he wants me to spend the rest of my long life span with a guy I haven’t even met.

“I know you’re angry, but you have to understand that they aren’t like the rest of us. They can go rogue faster than the other unmated males. They need their mates soon or they can destroy the world themselves.” He stood up from his chair and placed his hand on my shoulders. “Right now they are in the darkness and I told the council that you will arrive first because you have more light to share than anyone I know, little moon. More light that can be shared with just your mate. You have way more than you know.”

“So that’s it then. I’ll be leaving tomorrow?” Tears fall from my eyes. I don’t what to leave, I want to stay here. I love it here.

“I’m afraid so. But on the bright side you have an opportunity to find your mate and be happy. And you can always visit and I will be coming up there multiple times for meetings and your mother will come with me.”

“I don’t want to leave. I’m not ready to leave.”

“I know, but you have to do what is right. It’s not going to be easy, but going is what is right. You are strong, beautiful, and you could put anyone back in their place if they step one out out of it.” I smile a little knowing that this is true. “See, there’s that light that I was talking about. There is no way one of those boys won’t feel your light like a true mate does.”

“I’m going to go pack for tomorrow.” And with that I climbed back up the stairs thinking about if going there will be the biggest waste of time or not.