Never Goodbye, A Werewolf Romance - (Book 1-The Mist Series)

~ Louise ~ I really hate doctors…! It was a deep hatred that coiled in my stomach every time I crossed the threshold of a doctor’s clinic. No, not hate—that was too flimsy, too easily dismissed, for the churning resentment that threatened to overwhelm me. Loathing? Detest? Those words hinted at the depth, but didn’t quite capture the core. Okay, it wasn’t the doctors themselves I despised, but the constant reminder of what they represented—that I was different, cursed with a condition I couldn’t escape. I exhaled a long, theatrical sigh and resigned myself to the hard plastic of a chair tucked as far away from the other patients as possible in Doctor Anderson’s cramped waiting room. I tucked my unruly blonde hair, a wild, ear-length mess, behind my ears in a hopeless attempt at some order. Above, the ancient fluorescent lights sputtered and flickered, bathing the clinical white walls in a dull yellow glow. They came to life, illuminating everyone who had braved the early morning chill—not that the cold bothered any of them the way it did me. Tucked away in the room’s quietest corner, beneath a realistic painting of a golden sunset over a choppy ocean, a young, slender, fair-haired mother knelt on the carpeted floor next to her identical infant son. They were deeply absorbed with a set of beautifully crafted wooden toys. I watched them for a moment. A strange little twinge, almost like envy, tightened in my chest. They were so normal, so carefree, their world untouched by the constant discomfort that was my daily companion. The clinic’s administration desk buzzed with low chatter. A tall, muscular man with a cascading mane of thick brown hair stood with his back to us. He let out a hearty laugh. The young female receptionist, her blue eyes sparkling, erupted into a giggle so bright and carefree it was almost childlike. Another snapshot of normalcy, another reminder of what I was missing. Being around everyone, so healthy and full of life just made my own struggles heavier. Every laugh, every normal conversation, felt like a little jab, reminding me that my body was failing. It was a constant source of pain and frustration. These people were not just beautiful. They were fierce, and cunning—works of art crafted from a preternatural mould—werewolves. Like me. And just like me, these werewolves lived under the rule of our Alpha, George Black, and his Luna, Ruth. Our pack, the noble Mist Clan, was renowned for its size and imposing strength. We were fighters—warriors with a history that stretched back to our creation. We were fair, protective, and deeply loyal. Not every werewolf in the pack knew one another, but we were all linked by a connection forged by the Moon Goddess—our ethereal creator. Werewolves—or wolfbloods—came of age at eighteen when something inside us awakened, making way for the wolf’s soul given to us at birth, allowing us to transform into a wolf at will. From that moment, we became powerful, unnaturally tough and healed supernaturally fast. Even before that, we hardly ever, if at all, got sick. That’s all werewolves—but me. None of them had the illness I had. Shifting uncomfortably against the seat, fighting a sudden attack of nausea, I peered at my mother, May Carpenter, a tall, slender woman with straight, long blonde hair a shade darker than mine. She caught me looking and came over, perching in the chair across from me. “Well, Louise, we got here in the nick of time.” She said, dropping her handbag on the floor beside her, her gaze sweeping to the clock behind the desk before returning to me. “Thank the Goddess.” “Oh, yay…” I sang sarcastically as I twisted the corner of my navy-checkered school dress through my fingers. This had become a habit of mine a few years ago, but I couldn’t remember the trigger. It soothed me when things became too much. But when it didn’t soothe me this time, I reached for the zipper on my matching school blazer and twisted it, focusing on the sensation as the cold plastic glided across my fingertips. “I hate… no, sorry, I despise coming here… it’s never good… It’s only more bad results after another!” “Louise, stop fidgeting with your zip!” Mum scolded, her deep cocoa-brown eyes piercing through me. “You’ll break it! And these blazers aren’t cheap!” “Seriously, Mum…” I sighed, slumping into my chair and crossing my arms. “I’m a sixteen-year-old omega and I’m about to be told something life-changing. Sorry that my little habit annoys you!” I rubbed my nose, irritated by the eucalyptus sanitiser in the air. “I’m really worried, and this is the way I cope. What more do you expect from me?” “There is no excuse… We have to maintain appearances, for both our sakes.” She hissed as she attempted to neaten my blazer, brushing my nervous hands away. “Worrying about my health is a decent excuse!” I argued, narrowing my gaze at her. She exhaled, and her eyes softened, filling with flecks of silver moonlight that danced in every awakened werewolf’s eyes—the proof of the connection to the Moon Goddess. “You’re right, Louise, and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound like I didn’t care…” She propped her elbows against her knees, relaxing her shoulders. “I’m worried about you… about what this appointment could reveal. And our pack doctor, Doctor Anderson—” “—is the only person I trust with this!” I finished for her. “I know… I know! You’ve given this speech a hundred times before!” I huffed out a skipped breath as heat flushed my cheeks and bile rose in my throat. The nausea was getting stronger. I closed my eyes and fought it back. Since I was fifteen, I had been visiting Doctor Anderson weekly with severe, almost crippling period pain, which was beyond unusual for our kind. When werewolves reached adulthood, they entered the ‘in heat’ stage every six months. But I was still four years too young for it. After fourteen drawn-out months of invasive tests—each one more intrusive than the next, they diagnosed me with ovarian cancer—a diagnosis never recorded in werewolf history. And that’s why I was here. After months of body-altering chemotherapy, severe nausea, hair, and weight loss, I was finally about to learn my fate. I rubbed my hands over my face and opened my eyes, sniffling back tears. “Each time we visit, it’s the same bad news, and I don’t know if I can do it again.” “Louise, sweetheart, I know you’re scared,” Mum said softly, taking my hands and stroking her thumbs across my knuckles. “Just remember, we’re doing this for you… so we can…” Her voice faded, and I understood why. ‘So we can save your life’ is what she would have said. If saving my life was even possible. The doctor’s office door creaked open, and I tensed. It was almost time. I released her hands and slid back against the seat. Bile bubbled in my throat, and my heart did a backflip. I closed my eyes again and pushed it down. I’ve got this… “If I see you back here, I will have a word with your father!” Doctor Anderson called out in his formal, yet soothing, no-nonsense voice. “I mean it! And we know what he will say!” “Yeah, no promises, Levine,” replied a deep, playful voice that, strangely, grated down my spine. It reached inside me and made my stomach clench. My unruly nausea bucked against it. “Besides, it wasn’t all on me…Kingston and I were sparring. It was—” His voice cut off abruptly, and the room fell silent, drowning out the dull murmur of the fluorescent lights. I sucked in a deep breath and caught a hint of salt, sand, and the ocean—an ocean breeze that made my heart race and my nausea reel. My eyes snapped open, and before me stood a young man whose imposing presence tightened all my muscles as everything around me faded to grey. A thick bandage covered the ripples of defined muscle from his left shoulder to his forearm, and a narrow row of stitches ran across his left eyebrow. His jet-black eyes, void of emotion, shadowed by waves of dark-brown hair, focused on me in purely animalistic determination. Was I suddenly prey? I swallowed and stuttered, “C-can I help you?” “Hey, you…” He snarled through clenched teeth, the muscles in his jaw tightening. “Me…?” I replied, sitting bolt upright. Heat prickled at the back of my neck, and the hold on my stomach tightened, sending a splinter of pain through me. He inched closer, emitting a growl that rose from deep within his chest—a dominate wolf’s growl. “Yes… You!” This man, whoever he was, was old enough to have his wolf—a powerful wolf. The power radiated from him in waves that I was sure everyone in the doctor’s office could sense. I peered into the intense blackness of his eyes, and there was no hint of moonlight. The air in the room grew tense as an unexpected warmth spread through my body. Something he sensed made his masculine shoulders coil. He bared his wolf fangs, brilliant white and deadly. My heart raced, pounding against my chest. Is he trying to intimidate me? At the thought, I balled my hands into fists, glaring defiantly back at him. The words escaped before I could stop them. “What about me?” An instant grin hugged the corner of his lips as his growls settled, relaxing the tight muscles feathered along his sculpted jawline. He said nothing. Slowly, his wolf-black eyes transformed into a mesmerising dusty silver swirl, and there I could see the moonlight—the link to our kind. And it was beautiful. He continued to stare silently at me, his nostrils flaring. “Can’t you speak?” I raised an eyebrow at him, my stomach doing somersaults. “I thought someone as rude as you would have more to say than hey you!” “Louise Jane Carpenter!” Mum spluttered. She rushed to my side and grasped my shoulder, digging her nails into my blazer. “What are you doing? You know that’s Joseph Black, the alpha’s son!” The alpha’s son? My eyes widened in belated recognition. It had been years since I had seen him, or at least noticed him. My sickness and school had taken up most of my time. As I stared at him longer, it clicked. This was the young boy whom I would pass on the battlegrounds almost daily. But he was different now, more mature. “J-Joseph Black!” I stammered, my insides turning to jelly. I’d broken a fundamental rule for omegas like me—respect our alphas and their heirs. It was a law woven into the very fabric of who we were. And I had shattered it in a second. An unnatural dryness invaded my mouth. “S-sorry, I didn’t realise…” “I can tell…” He leaned in, his nearness stealing the air from my lungs. With a slight tilt of his head, he whispered so only I could hear. “I feel like I’ve seen you before. How old are you, Omega?” “Sixteen,” I replied, unable to stop myself. The depth of his voice sent chills through my entire body, drawing out my words against my will. “Seventeen next month—on the nineteenth… Why?” “I see,” he growled, making my throat tighten and the pain more potent, causing my irritation to swell. Against my better judgment, I leaned towards him, closing the gap enough to feel his warm breath. Mum’s grip on my shoulder tightened, a command to back away, but something in me ignored it. “I answered your question, but you didn’t answer mine…” “Oh, Goddess above, I’m so sorry, Alpha Joseph,” Mum blurted nervously as her wolf Jewel’s claws completely replaced her nails. With a swift move, she dug them in and pulled me back into my seat. Pain radiated from my shoulder, and I knew Jewel meant business. “Please forgive her. Sometimes, her mouth runs, and her mind can’t keep up. She means no harm.” With a smirk that creased the corner of his lips, he nodded at her and stood back. Suddenly, I could breathe again. “Yeah, I noticed that… Although, I must admit, I’m surprised.” “Surprised that a sixteen-year-old omega can stand up to you?” I hissed, fighting against Mum’s hold. “Well, yeah,” he replied, the blackness swirling over the moonlight in his eyes again. “It’s rare that someone beneath my rank has the guts to talk down to me. You’re full of surprises.” “Well, Joseph, just because I’m below your rank doesn’t mean I can’t stand up for myself!” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “Louise, stop,” Mum pleaded, releasing my shoulder. She shook Jewel’s claws back and half bowed at Joseph. “Sorry again, Alpha. I’ll make sure she’ll take full responsibility for her actions.” Thanks, Mum! I internally rolled my eyes, ignoring the pain in my shoulder, and crossed my arms in protest. “I don’t see why…” Joseph’s eyes were void of colour as he faced me, sending fire through my chest. What was he doing to me? Was it the alpha aura, or was it just me? I shifted against the ache but didn’t pale. “Hmm, well, I’ll see you around, Omega…” He sniffed the air, then scrunched up his mouth grimly, driving all light from his face. “Oh Goddess, hopefully, by then, you’ll smell… better.” “Smell?” I almost screamed, losing all my calm. His words drove a hot knife through my chest. Could he smell the cancer? I jumped up and stood before him, ignoring all the warning bells in my head as every muscle and joint protested. “How dare you! No one has ever insulted me like that!” He towered over my tiny frame, but something in me refused to back down. “I don’t care if you are the son of our alpha. You have no right to speak to me like that!” “Louise!” Mum gasped, covering her mouth with a trembling hand that shimmered with Jewel’s onyx claws. “Hmm…” He hummed, grinning sideways at me. All darkness vanished, and a sparkle flickered in his silver eyes. “You’re surprisingly feisty for something so tiny, Omega…” “Excuse me! I have a name!” I glared back at him, my mouth agape. With a wink, he turned on his heels and headed for the exit. He paused halfway, peering back over his shoulder. “Well, I’ll see you around… Louise.” The way he said my name grated down my spine in splinters of anger. “What is that supposed to mean?” I called after him, ignoring all the eyes on me and the warning voice in the back of my mind. At the clinic door, Joseph glanced at me again, the look in his eyes more resigned than it had been. “I don’t know what it is, but you’re different…” “Different?” I sneered, crossing my arms. “What do you mean by different?” “I’ll definitely see you around, Louise…” he said, completely ignoring my question again. With another smirk, he left the waiting room. I watched in utter confusion, my body tense, as the door slammed shut behind him. What just happened…?