Prologue
*trigger warning: book may contain mentions of SA and hints about certain traumas, reader discretion is advised.*
Once upon a time there lived a girl who wanted to blah blah blah. This is no fairy tale, this will not guarantee a happy ending. This, this is life. My life.
I use to believe in fairy tales, that happy endings and prince charming exist. Not anymore. Life taught me that it was not all butterflies and rainbows. That the bad guys didn’t always get defeated by the good guys. The problem was, I didn’t realize at the time that life was not supposed to be like that. I thought my life was normal and that everyone dealt with similar problems but as I started to learn more about myself, I realized that was all a lie.
***
“No don’t, don’t touch me….” Whimpering
“Please stop, I don’t feel good, I just, I just want to sleep…PLEASE!…” Tossing and turning, crying, I feel sick.
I jolt up and rush to the bathroom. It happened again, I dreamt about him, my own personal boogeyman. Someone I haven’t seen in 10 years but still haunts my dreams. Will the nightmares ever end? I thought I was getting over them. Thought I was getting better. What is triggering them again? I sigh, trying to calm myself. No one can see me like this. My family has no idea what I went through as a kid, the only one who knows is my boyfriend, he’s been the best at helping me overcome my trauma. When I first opened up to him he was shocked and angry, wanting to get revenge, that’s how male wolves are. They are extremely protective and would rip the world apart to protect those they care about. Having him know and being so caring has definitely helped me over the past couple years. It’s why I thought the nightmares were over, after a year of dating I didn’t have one, so why are they back?
I couldn’t sleep so I decided to message my boyfriend. He was always ready to help me when the trauma of my childhood started messing with my head.
Me: Hey babe, you up? I had a nightmare.
A few minutes later he responded.
Cliff: Hey Baby, I’m up now. Want 2 talk about it?
Me: Boogeyman came back, my nightmare is starting again. I don’t know why, I thought I was doing better.
Cliff: O no babe, I’m sry, I wish I was home. I’d come over n hold U. Maybe something triggered U 2day N it’s y Ur having the nightmare. Do U want 2 video chat? I will stay on all night even if U fall asleep?
Me: that sounds good actually.
Cliff: Ok called now.
I answered his call and we spent the rest of the night talking. We even did a little phone s*x and shortly after that I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning, true to his word he was still on the phone snoring away so cutely. It’s one of the many reasons I love him so much. He always takes care of me even when we are a state away thanks to school. He is seriously the best mate I could ever wish for. Sometimes it saddens me that the moon goddess didn’t pair us together but since we both aren’t traditionalists it doesn’t bother us that we are chosen mates. I honestly can’t wait until the summer when we officially mark and mate each other. It will be the best day of my life.
***
History
I knew I didn’t grow up in your average family. At least not by most human standards. Heck even in our pack my family was considered above average. Very few families were as big as ours, but my parents wanted a huge litter and that’s exactly what the moon goddess blessed them with, 12 pups. There’s me, Amethyst, the oldest, my 6 brothers; Reed III, Forrest, Jasper, Brooks, Cedar and Bear and 5 sisters; Raine, Jade, Hazel, Brooke and Ivy . My dad, Reed Jr, is a pack warrior and my mom, Rose, is an Omega. They both had similar upbringings but for entirely different reasons. My mom grew up in a pack, The Ice-blood Pack, where females, especially omegas, were abused mentally, taught to be nothing but submissive and were only there to serve the highest ranking wolves and to pop out pups. She was never allowed to have any opinions and had to do as she was told. It wasn’t until she met her mate, my dad, that she found out that she could do more with her life if she wanted. Not that it mattered though because my mom was more than happy to be a doting house wife and mate. My dad, however, grew up in two very different packs. His first pack, The Iron Heart Pack, was similar to my mom’s, he grew up living with both his parents until he was about 8, but his father (my grandfather) eventually cheated on his mate (my grandmother) and rejected her, forcing her to move back to her family in the North and the pack, The River Mights Pack, she grew up in. Because of the laws in the pack, my grandfather sought to make sure she couldn’t take any of her 6 pups with her, not until they turned 16, got their wolves and were able to make their own decisions. My grandfather was an abusive wolf, believed that he was to be obeyed no matter what. It was the way most of the males in his packed lived, she-wolves and pups were there to obey the males, especially the higher ranked males. My grandfather however thought he should be higher ranked then he was and he didn’t like authority, especially if it wasn’t his. He hated being controlled and would constantly disobey his Alpha and Beta, and whenever he got punished for his disobedience he would come home and take it out on his pups. The abuse resulted in his pups, including my dad, the second to youngest, leaving one by one after they turned 16 to live with their mother. Eventually my grandfather was turned rouge for his disobedience and never heard from again. My grandmother however welcomed all her pups back and showed them the love and care they deserved when they came back to her. Her home pack taught them how families and all pack members should be treated and because of this most of her pups, including my dad, grew up with a different perspective on families and a new found loyalty to pack life.
My parents had met at my mother’s pack during an event her pack Alpha had thrown for all newly trained warriors from the local academy. Most warriors, no matter where their pack was located, were sent to special training academies throughout the US. Depending on their skill sets and what specialties their Alpha wanted them trained for would determine where the warriors went for academy. Since most warriors were males, after they graduated they would return to their respective packs, on rare occasions, the academies would have female warriors and once they would meet their mates, they would decide to stay in their mate’s home pack instead of returning to their own. Most of the time, different packs would host events after graduation as ways to hopefully start alliances or strengthen existing ones. These events also helped unmated wolves find their mates since so many different packs came together to celebrate. My mother, being an omega, had to attend the event as a server. Her Alpha only allowed warriors and higher ranks in his pack to attend as guests. My dad being a recently graduated warrior attended to celebrate with his buddies and to help represent his home pack. He was 21 at the time so he was also hoping to find his true mate since anyone could find their mate once they turned 18. My mom being 18 was also hoping to find her mate so she could do her duty and start creating a family. Her alpha made sure all omegas that were unmated and over the age of 18 would work the main hall serving cocktails or drinks that way he could keep an eye out for any possible mate bonds that could potentially help secure more alliances. My parents knew they were mates immediately after coming in contact and married a month after the event. My mom became pregnant with me a year later and just kept popping out pups until my dad decided he was done growing their family. Their history was rough and how they found each other was definitely meant to be. I just wished that their past didn’t affect me like it has. I wish I had a better upbringing because goddess knows I want a better life than this.
***
Note:
*This story is a work of fiction. Though some of the trauma comes slightly from the author’s own personal experiences, all characters, names and situations are completely from the author’s imagination, and used in a fictitious manner. Any similarities to real life experiences, events or actual people, living or dead are completely and purely coincidental.
*As previously mentioned this story does have triggers and the author cannot guarantee that there will be a warning for individual chapters with such triggers. Reader discretion is advised.