Luna Rising (Book One of the Black Alder Series) COMPLETED

Feeling Uneasy

POV: Elena

I woke up in a sweat. The dream I had seemed so familiar, as if I had dreamed it before, but in my dream I was only four. That was ten years ago.

Was that when I first had this dream? I wondered to myself. A warning — but for what? And who was she?

I could hear my mom and dad talking downstairs, making breakfast for me and my older brother Lynx. It was an average day here in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here, the weather was always humid, with limited chilly days. People in my pack hated the weather. I loved it.

By pack — yes, you guessed it. We were all werewolves here. Our pack was known as the Black Sun Pack, one of fifteen packs in the whole state. A wolf king and queen ruled each state. Our king did not live on our pack land, though.

Most of us had shifted; some of us had not, like me. The shifting age was not until eighteen, but you could get your wolf consciousness a little earlier than that. It was different for everyone.

A wolf consciousness was like a voice in your head that was you — just a more animalistic version of you. They felt what you felt and saw what you saw. When you shifted, they became you, and you became the voice in their heads, but you were still one. I could not wait for mine.

I got up, made my bed, and went to the bathroom. Today was my first day at Black Sun High, and I was anxious. Black Sun High was the high school everyone in Charlotte, North Carolina, attended.

It was filled with werewolves — shifted and unshifted — and humans. Humans did not know about us, and we preferred to keep it that way. Humans knowing about the supernatural could get them killed very easily, so we preferred to keep to ourselves.

I glanced at myself in the mirror as my messy, curly brown hair fell over my face. I could not help but think about how my body looked so different from all the other girls.

I was five foot five, with medium-length curly hair and deep blue eyes. My body was underdeveloped compared to all the others. They were toned in the stomach; I was soft. Where they were thin and lean, I was shorter and fuller.

I did not look like either of my parents, but my dad said he had family members with my eye and hair color who were special, and he believed I was too. I never worried after he told me this.

I was also plus-sized, but no one ever said anything to my face about it. Probably because my dad was the gamma of my pack, and any insults toward me were an insult to him. My dad was very overprotective of me, which was something I loved very much.

I was closer to my dad than to my mom or brother, as he seemed to be the only one who truly cared about me. Dad never let me train, so all the carbs tended to stick. The only exercise I could get was walking to school.

My brother was the opposite of me. He had blonde hair and green eyes, the same as my father, and they were both tall — I would say they averaged around six and a half feet, with my dad being a bit taller.

My brother and I had a strange relationship. He was not mean to me, but he was not nice either. It was like he only tolerated me because our dad did. Sometimes he acknowledged me if he was in a rare mood. He always had this bored look on his face, other than when he was with his friends. My mother's influence was rubbing off on him.

Speaking of mothers.

My mom, Diane, had an olive skin tone with black hair and hazel eyes that always seemed to narrow at me whenever I was around. I did not know why, but she seemed to get annoyed with me quickly, like I had done something to her. She yelled at me for the smallest things when dad was not around.

It was always like she was trying to punish me for something, though I had yet to figure out what that something was. I had learned to stay out of her way. My brother, however, was the apple of her eye. He knew how she treated me when dad was not around, but he said nothing.

She had never hit me or anything — she just yelled and called me names when I made a mistake. Dad knew something was up, though. I could sometimes hear them arguing when he caught her yelling at me while she thought he was not looking. I knew I was slowly coming between them, and I hated it.

I ran to the bathroom to wash up and get ready. I decided to go with a white collar shirt, skinny jeans, and white Forces. It was better to keep it casual. I climbed downstairs, greeting both parents. My dad kissed my head, earning the daily glare from mom.

"Morning, sweetie," he said. "Ready for school?"

"Yes, Daddy." I could hear mom grunting, but, as usual, I ignored her. So did Dad.

"Are you ready for your birthday next week?" he asked.

"Of course, silly," I told him. I had been looking forward to my fifteenth birthday. I felt like this was when my wolf would come.

"I'm walking with Jen today," I let him know. As soon as I said this, my best friend Jen and her brother Marcus came in. Jen never knocked on the door — she always barged in, as if she lived there, but my family never minded.

She was the beta's daughter, and we had always been close growing up. She was super sweet, but she could also be fierce to anyone who messed with her or me. I was so happy to see her, as I had not been able to see her all summer — she had been at her grandparents' — and she had changed.

She used to be short and soft like me, but over the summer her blonde hair had gotten darker, and she wore it straight now instead of wavy. Her eyes were also blue, but more of a light sea blue.

She had lost a lot of weight, which told me she had been training over the summer. Her figure had brought out her hips, and her waist was thin. I had to admit I was a little jealous of her. Marcus was her male twin in every way — blonde hair and green eyes — even though he was older.

I always seemed flustered whenever he came around, and he knew it, giving me a wink as they sat down. As far back as I could remember, I had always had a crush on Marcus. He was always nice to me.

He and I did not really talk much, as he was always spending time with my brother, but whenever he saw me, he gave me his lady-killer smile, and I just swooned. All the girls did. He was a popular jock at school — one of the top three. My brother was also one of the top three, which was why they were best friends.

"Sup, girl, are you ready?" Jen said.

"Coming," I told her.

"Take some toast with you," my dad said.

"Of course, Daddy. I love you."

"I love you too," he said.

My dad called upstairs to my brother that Marcus was waiting for him. They usually carpooled together, but Jen and I walked to school since it was not far.

As I grabbed some toast off the counter, I could hear my brother coming downstairs. His blonde hair was tousled, and he was wearing all black with a leather jacket — part of his bad-boy vibe.

As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he locked eyes with Jen and growled. Marcus stepped protectively in front of his sister as the whole kitchen went tense. My dad told Lynx and Marcus to go to the living room. Jen and I were laughing as we left.

"Wonder what that's about?"

"Is it just me, or is your brother getting hotter with each passing day?" she said.

"Ew, Jen," I told her.

She threw her hands up. "I'm just saying — he can growl at me any time," and she twirled her hips.

"Your brother can growl at me too," I told her, thinking about her very attractive brother Marcus. She knew I had been secretly crushing on him since we were small.

We were both laughing and catching up as we got to school. Our high school was made up of wolves from different packs in the neighborhood. Nine times out of ten, people found their mates by senior year.

All the boys were taught to control their shift starting in their first year, as guys — especially alphas and betas — tended to shift as early as sophomore year. Girls had to wait until they were eighteen to shift, or they shifted when they found their mate.

Lynx, Marcus, and the alpha's son David were pulling their motorcycles around just as Jen and I reached the school.

David completed the top three. He was your typical alpha's son — black hair, green eyes, taller than my brother by a few inches. Just like Lynx, he dressed in dark jeans and a leather jacket, his signature look. He was overconfident and arrogant.

All the girls loved him, hoping to be his mate. I would have hated to be mated to someone like him. I had heard he bullied and beat up people here — people who could not fight back since he was the alpha's son. I planned to do my best to stay out of his way.

I had also heard he was with a different woman every day, and they just gave themselves to him willingly. He had a bad attitude and was short-tempered, which he got from his father, our alpha. Thanks to my dad, I had never been allowed near our alpha. My dad said it was because he was a nasty piece of work, and if our alpha ever disrespected me, my dad would most likely get himself killed trying to defend me.

Lynx seemed upset about something as they walked toward the building, but Marcus just had a beautiful smile on his face as he waved our way, and I blushed immediately.

"Ugh, I wish I could end up being your brother's mate," I told Jen, but her gaze was not focused on me. It was fixed in their direction — specifically on my brother. The school bell rang, signaling the start of the day.

"Earth to Jen — we have to go," I told her, tugging on her shirt. I would ask her about that later, I told myself. I was ready to get through the day, but somehow I could not shake this uneasy feeling that someone was watching me.

I turned around briefly, but since I did not see anyone, I kept walking and entered the building. As Jen and I picked up our schedules, I still felt like I was being watched, but I kept my focus. I had no classes with Jen, as she was in a higher grade. I did notice that I had the same lunch period as the juniors and seniors. That would be interesting. I was already looking forward to catching a glimpse of Marcus.