TAKEN BY TWIN ALPHAS

For as long as I can remember, I have been an outcast - even my own parents didn't want me and abandoned me in the woods as a small child. I still can't understand how people who were supposed to love me more than anything in the world could do something like that. The note that had been found alongside a small bag of belongings said something about needing someone to give me a better life than they could, but I just took that as their garbage excuse to feel alright for just dumping me like I was trash myself. Being raised by the Cherry Moon pack brought many opportunities that I wouldn't have had had my parents kept me, but even still, I never truly fit in as one of the pack - I could hear the whispers about being an "orphan", some would go as far to even call me unwanted, and many would stick their noses up as they walked past me to show they were too good for the likes of me. I had spent most of my life in a small bedroom on the first floor right beside the supply closet, where no wolves would wander unless they were hired hands. Friendships were scarce, but there was one member of the pack who treated me kindly whenever our paths crossed, and that was Cyrus Sturgess - future alpha to the Cherry Moon pack, a position he would share with his twin brother Alexander. Cyrus was the type who always had a smile on his face, would be the first to reach out to lend a helping hand, and truly looked out for, and supported the pack members. His kindness wasn't a sign of weakness though - in fact, his protectiveness made him one of the most powerful members of the pack, even before his alpha status. I will never forget the day when I was being harassed at school by a neighboring pack - such hurtful names being venomously thrown at me, a few of the boys shoving me back and forth, refusing to let me keep my balance, but as soon as Cyrus noticed he bound over there and put the entire group - all six of them - in their place, broken noses and a few cracked ribs to show them that any member of his pack, even an outcast like me, was not to be bothered with - he swiftly made them apologize to me while blood spilled from their noses, one even having to spit out what looked like a tooth. When I approached him to thank him for helping me, he brushed it off like it were nothing, that damn gorgeous smile situating itself back across his lips (as if he hadn't just snarled and taken out half a dozen men), picked up the books I had dropped to hand them to me before he nodded and left. I watched in awe as he walked down the hallway - nodding and waving towards friends of his, as though our interaction hadn't just happened. The way he exuded confidence - he was one of the sexiest men I have ever laid my eyes on. Towering over me, he had to have been at least six feet, those dark wavy locks sitting messy atop his head, his sun-kissed skin and broad stature - he looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine, and you could tell he knew that much too, considering the way he carried himself around the school. Like a god among mere mortals, and didn't he leave every girl's knees trembling in his wake. Every girl hoped to be his mate, but even if they were only a weekend fling, they still seemed satisfied enough - him and his brother being the two most eligible bachelors in the entire pack. Alexander was just as tall and sun-kissed, with broad shoulders that any woman would love to get their hands on, though his hair was much lighter than his brothers, the dirtiest of blonde and cut shorter. While his brother was never seen without a smile, drawing one out of Alexander took patience considering the pensive state he always seemed to be in. He had a few select friends he spoke to, only allowed the most gorgeous of girls to be arm candy for a night or two, and everyone else just wasn't worth his time - myself included, considering he'd never said three words to me since I had been found by the pack so many years ago. I'd heard the remarks made about me as he passed alongside his friends, biting quips to show our status differences, putting me in my place at the bottom of the pack food chain. The brothers were no longer in school with me anymore - the pair turning twenty-one in just a few months, and I would even be out of school myself in a matter of months. By the time I graduated, the brothers would have had their twenty-first birthdays, taken on their dual role as alphas, and once I was of age I was certain they were going to cast me out, no longer needing the burden of caring for the abandoned outcast. Even if I had never had a negative interaction with Cyrus before, it would be Alexander that I would have to worry about making that decision for the packs' benefit. At eighteen, I would be old enough to fend for myself, and would no longer need to rely on the pack for food and shelter - this gut feeling I had led me to saving all the money I made as one of the pack's nannies. It's funny, everybody thought I was beneath them, but they'd throw their children at me if it meant having some time without them. I bought only what was absolutely necessary, splurged on nothing, and watched my savings grow the closer I reached my eighteenth birthday. At least if I were tossed out of the pack house, I would have enough money to suffice until I got back on my feet - perhaps my fated mate would take me into their pack, if/when I ever found them. That's if the Moon Goddess even felt I deserved a mate, and that is also assuming that person would actually want to be with someone like me. I was nothing special - standing at only 5'3", long wavy brunette locks that cascaded over my shoulders and fell halfway down my curvy frame. I loved my hourglass figure, but it was the topic of much ridicule from the stick-thin girls of the pack, though I never understood why they thought they were so much better than me, just because they fit into size zeros while I was wearing a size 10. Perhaps it had to do with how I wore baggier clothes that hid my figure while they chose to wear the tightest fitting clothes that made it look like it was hard to even breathe in. As I stood in my room holding the invitation to the New Years Eve ball in my hand, the gold trim on the ivory envelope, I couldn't help but smile - not because of the ball, but because January 1st was when I turned eighteen. While everyone would be inside the grand ballroom kissing and partying to usher in the New Year, I would be shifting into my wolf form for the first time underneath the moonlight. For the evening festivities, I opted to wear a sparkly red dress and a pair of black high heels, wanting to look as mature as I would soon feel after my first shift, the outfit hanging beside my mirror as I admired it every chance I could. The party was just three days away, my eighteenth birthday in just three days, I was so close to shifting, to becoming of age, and although I had no friends or true family to share the moment with, even through the pain and agony of that initial shift, I was happier than I had felt in a while - I was one step closer to being on my own, no longer anyone's burden, a free wolf.