Broken Moon

New beginnings

Lizzys POV

"That's her. The black wolf."

I could hear the footsteps moving away from me. Some braver souls would stay put to look at me before hastily looking away. No one approached me. It hurt but it was not like this was the first time. I liked to think I was used to it. But as a wolf you never get used to the isolation. We are supposed to be a part of a group. We are supposed to play together. If I tried to join my packs games the playing would stop. People would bow, offer to play whatever game I wanted by try to leave as fast as possible. Everyone in my pack, even the alpha feared me. Therefore, it should not be shocking that I was sent away to be trained at a different school. This made everyone sleep better at home. I don't know what had made this pack forced to take me. Maybe they owed a debt or they were desperate for cash.

I however agreed as they were also willing to take my little sister, Lina. She had just turned 18 and had not received her wolf. That was not supposed to happen. It never happened. If everyone looked at me with fear, then everyone looked at her with pity. A werewolf without a wolf. It would be like a human without a soul. She felt something was missing every moment of every day. She could not take part in most courses. She could not heal or transform. There was no need for the breeding program as everyone knew no wolf would take her as a mate. Some people even wondered why she did not just join the human world. But they failed to understand. She was a wolf. It was just missing. She felt the call, could not disobey the alphas orders. She was stuck.

"Hey Lizzy! What is your first class?" Lina asked.

"Battles with fairies. And you?"

"Wolvine economy."

"How does that compare to normal economy?"

"It is the exact same thing but they put "wolf" in front of it. But it is still the class I look forwards to the most."

Lina loved numbers. She was great with them. Even though she was four years younger than me she could help me with my math’s homework as a child.

The bell rang and we moved to our respective classes.

My class was taught in the dojo. I'd been showed around the school yesterday and easily made my way there. The class was small. Unreasonably small. 5 people were in the room. All men. The battle program was always the most filled program in all packs as we were in a constant need for fighters. This room should have been full. I move to introduce myself to the group when I hear a movement behind me. And then it hits me. A smell like nothing I have ever smelled before. It is like chocolate and marshmallows, and butterscotch and Christmas. It smells like happiness and home. I'm almost afraid to turn around but completely incapable of stopping myself. It is a man with jet black hair and dark grey eyes. He is easily the largest male in the room. Defiantly an alpha. Maybe even James Strongbourn himself.

I feel a strange desire to scream mate but Darkness stops me.

"He is not my mate", she says.

"He feels like my mate", I respond to her.

"No, I would know my mate," she says again, and settles down to rest in my mind.

This is not the first time this has happened. Darkness, my wolf, and me often don't agree on things. Wolves and their bonded are supposed to be one. Work together. Feel together. Definitely mate together. But my bond with Darkness had never felt quite right. When I spoke to my masters about it they say it is because she came to soon. A wolf should emerge on our 18th birthday. Darkness came to me when I was 8.

I suddenly realize that I have been staring at the man for too long of a time and that people have noticed. I need to diffuse the situation. I give him a smile.

"Hi, I'm the new trainee. Lizzy Blacktail."

I reach out my hand and he instantly recoils. My hand drops and my smile falls. So not my mate. I give him a sad smile and move towards the front of the classroom. I actually feel tears begging to fall from my eyes. I have not cried for years. I won't start here in this embarrassing moment.

James POV

I'm heading into class and suddenly the world just stops. There is a new girl with dark wavy hair, a simple white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She smells like the little clearing in the forest where I used to play with my brother when I was a child and we were considered

safe enough to let us play alone in the forest. She smelled of joy and family. Mate?

I was a second from saying it when my wolf, Star, stopped me.

"Not our mate?" he said questioningly.

"No?" I ask.

"Doesn't feel right. Both is mate and isn't mate."

"That makes no sense."

"Something is wrong. Darkness is not my mate."

"Who is Darkness?"

"The wolf, her wolf. She introduces herself as Darkness and she is not our mate."

Broken out of the moment by movement I see the girl take a step towards me. She is talking but I can't hear

what she is saying. I suddenly feel terrified. I haven't been terrified since I was a pup and lost my big brother. I take a step back and instantly regret it.

I see the pain on mates face. No, not mate. But it feels like my mate. Just like when one meets ones mate I instantly start to feel her emotions. I feel the pain my step back just caused her. This thing, which usually made finding one’s mate so wonderful was hurting me.

Normally when one feels the mate bond one feels the others joy at finding ones mate. One feels the others desire. It

creates the best form of relationship. Where both parts want their partner to be happy and always share joy. It means that rejections are very rare and only occur with a very good reason. For to reject one’s mate causes both to feel the others pain and both must agree to the severing of a mate bond. It also leaves both feeling like one has lost the most precious thing in one’s life. Something

one can never replace.

"Did I just see that correctly?

Were you just afraid of a girl half your size, oh great mighty leader?"

Devin, my beta, communicated silently to me. I could feel his slight amusement but also worry. For an adult alpha to be afraid of something it had to be really dangerous.

"Where is everyone?" I signal back.

"Everyone is avoiding this class since Blacktail joined it."

"People have left warriortraining?" I could not believe what I was hearing. "Where has everyone gone instead?"

"The afternoon-group in now filled. The ones who could not fit in there have moved to medicine or assassination

mostly." We needed so many warriors that we had two groups. But most chose to be in the morning group because I was there and they were hoping to prove their ability to me in order to get stronger positions in our army. At the start of term we also had an onslaught of girls joining this group hoping to be my mate. These usually left after the first class though once they knew they

were unsuccessful.

I had been trying to avoid looking at the girl but the urge proved irresistable. A Blacktail, really?

I remember my father saying we were taking in the Blacktails. Their father had once saved his life in battle and he

felt he owed them. Their story was also harrowing. But he knew there would be a lot of backlash. Everyone feared the Blacktails. They were one of the oldest families and occasionally produced werewolves with gifts. No one knew what

Lizzy Blackwells gift was but everyone knew it was so dangerous being in the same room as her could mean death.