The Lost Rogue Heiress

About 25 years ago The grass was wet beneath her bare feet as she ran to the opposite side of the meadow, dodging arrows from the Omega line that threatened to stop her from getting to him. Blood was running down her brow and into her eye, so she didn’t see the small brown wolf until he was already tackling her and snapping at her limbs in a frenzy. She was distracted; a young pup like this would normally have not laid a finger on her, with or without her wolf being in control. Diverting her attention to the pup at hand, she made quick work of snapping one of his front legs for a clean break so he wouldn’t follow. He didn’t deserve to die, but she needed him to back off so she didn’t have to kill him. His leg would heal within minutes, which would be plenty of time for her to find him. She quickly broke out into a sprint towards the other side, moving as fast as her legs would carry her without shifting. Aries howled inside to be released, to let her out to find their mate, to make sure he was safe. Sara knew that she should let her have control, but she feared what Aries would do to anyone in her way. She could feel the violence bubbling under the surface of her skin, just waiting to be unleashed on the first thing that came between her and hers. Aries had changed ever since Olivia, her daughter, had been born. Her wolf had turned into quite the mama bear. Their connection to their mate had only intensified after Liv was born also. The connection that now screamed to every fiber of her being that something was wrong, that he was still alive, but he was in danger, that his life was slipping away. Sara was fifty feet away when she saw another brown wolf sprinting in her direction from her right side. Not wanting to waste another precious seconds, she skidded to a halt and faced the wolf. Sara stayed in her human form, but she let Aries come to the surface enough so that the brown wolf could feel her power, her violence and her energy. She could feel the amber glow coming from her eyes and her canines partially elongated as Aries took over just long enough to let out a deep growl in warning. The brown wolf dipped its head in reluctant submission with a whimper before Sara dug her feet into the wet grass to start her climb to the top of the hill that was at the edge of the meadow. Even without his scent permeating the air, her body was physically being pulled at a cellular level to him. Within seconds she was at the top, but the sight below her on the opposite side made her drop to her knees in an instant. All she saw was blood, so much blood, and she knew they didn’t have long. Sara scrambled back to her feet and was at his side in mere moments but they felt like the longest seconds of her life. She pulled his head into her lap and looked down at his face stained with blood. Large tears threatened to fall as she looked into his violet eyes. “My love, what did you get yourself into?” Sara whispered to him softly. She knew that these would be their last moments, and she didn’t want to waste them on trying to prevent the inevitable. His once bright smile barely reached his eyes as he looked up at her. He was trying to say something, but no words were coming out, just heavy breaths that were getting more difficult each time. She didn’t know how he was still alive with the amount of blood that had already spilled from the deep gash in his neck, or the amount that flooded the ground with each desperate beat of his heart. “Shh, my love. Rest easy now. We will be together again. I will avenge you and we will be together again, always together,” Sara struggled to get the words out; she felt like a thousand knives were stabbing into her chest and being turned like corkscrews in different directions. A broken heart would be easy; broken things can be fixed. There is no description clear enough to describe the pain of your soul being shredded into bits so small they would always be beyond repair. Not heart broken; she was soul shredded. He scraped up enough energy to utter one word in between labored breaths. “Olivia,” was all he could manage. “She is fine, my love. She is somewhere safe. She will be okay,” Sara promised. “I made sure she would be taken care of.” They used to be the center of each other's worlds. Their bond was like no other and they knew each other in a way that was rare, even for mates. When Olivia was born, she somehow managed to become the center of both of their worlds, dropping each other down to second place while simultaneously strengthening their connection and bond beyond anything they could have imagined. He smiled with his violet eyes one last time before she saw his soul disappear from them, and he was gone. Her mate was gone. Aries forced the shift before Sara realized what was happening and immediately let out the most soul crushing howl into the night air. It was a cry of pain, of anger, of total and complete despair. Aries felt as though she had failed. She lost him because she had failed to protect what was hers, and now she needed blood. Her wolf blocked out any bit of humanity that Sara tried to bring to the surface, and took over completely. Aries didn’t want to survive, Sara could feel it and she was terrified. All she wanted was revenge and she didn’t care if they died in the process. “Liv, Aries. Remember Liv,” was all Sara managed to say through their bond before Aries took over completely and blocked her out. Liv, Aries. Remember Liv.