Chapter 1

The forest was a different kind of silence. It was a silence that didn’t envelope you, didn’t make you lonely. It made you feel apart of it, it beckoned you to become part of it. The wind through the trees and grass, the birds making their calls, the bugs alerting each other of their presence. It was a place where you could just breathe in the fresh air. As a werewolf, the forest meant so much to us. It was a freedom and peace that we reveled in. Being in the trees, being with nature was just a nature state of being.

“Auri!”

I took another deep breath. It was a safe place, a place where there wasn’t anyone bothering you, where you could just be safe in its….

“AURI!”

I sighed. “Yes, Maddie, I’m here.” I didn’t know how long I had been missing from the house but apparently it was long enough for my half-sister to come home from school and try looking for me.

“Mom’s already home and she is pissed. You didn’t set anything out for dinner tonight.”

Madison or Maddie as she preferred to be called was four years younger just turning fifteen. Though she could be mistaken for my age with the amount of makeup and short shorts she wore. She was the girly princess that you would expect the most popular girl in school would be. Her energy and bouncing positivity could be nauseating at times. But, even with our parents, she turned out okay. Spoiled, but nothing that would make you worry for her mate in the future.

I turned 19 a few months ago and I was proof of the love my father had for my mother. They were not fated mates, but chosen. That was, until Melissa came into the picture. Melissa was my fathers fated mate and it ended up being awkward few years. That was until my mother died in a hunter attack when I was four. We, my mother and I, had been captured and tortured by the hunters. My pack found me days later, wandering in the forest. I was left scarred permeantly. My mothers body was found days later.

Almost immediately, a pregnant Melissa and Tyler, my two year old half-brother, moved into our home. That’s when it started. I, being the reminder of my dad’s “indiscretion” as Melissa called it, was shown just how unwanted I really was in the family. They never failed to remind me of how I was broken and undesirable and that would never amount to anything. That even if I had a mate out there, they would reject someone broken like me. Whether that be a verbal reminder or physical reminder.

“I left the casserole in the oven to just be turned on and the salad is in the fridge. There is also ice cream sandwiches in the freezer in case anyone wanted them.” I kept my voice down not to let it carry too far into the forest.

“Oh. Well, she’s pissed. Might wanna explain before she tells Dad.” I could hear the sad smile in her voice.

I nodded and got up off the tree roots I had been sitting in between. Maddie’s footsteps were hard against the ground and I head her almost trip a couple times. One of the times I reached out to grab her.

“HOW do you do it?” She huffed at me and I chuckled.

One of the worse scars that I had been left with were my eyes. From the pack doctors, they said the hunters had injected a wolfsbane liquid or poison or something directly into my eyes. It had blinded me. Well, blinded my human side of me. My wolf, Kai, still had her vision and we had become well versed in me using her eyes to see. But out in the forest, my forest, I didn’t need sight to know where I was going.

“It’s easy when you memorize every part forest.”

“Yeah right. One day Auri. One day you are gonna have to spill all your secrets. Including that damn cake recipe. If I find my mate and go without that recipe, I will lose my mind.”

I laughed. “You watch me every time I make it! You know all the ingredients.”

“Yeah! But you never measure ANYTHING. And you just throw shit in when you like it.” She laughed as well, opening the back door to the house.

Our house was a modest two story house. As we were reminded of it’s modesty every time Melissa got a new pair of shoes or a new purse. It was too modest for her taste. My father worked at the Alpha’s business as an accountant but he didn’t make enough to keep Melissa happy. He would say that we would move into a bigger and better house once he was promoted to Lead Accountant. But I liked our home. The kitchen still had enough space to work and even had an island with a bar. It had three bedrooms, an office, a den and living room. Plenty of room for a family of five I thought.

Walking in after Maddie, I heard Melissa stride up to me, and I knew what was coming. A slap reverberated outside as I hadn’t even closed the door yet. It took me a second to collect my rattled brain when I realized she was talking to me.

“…bitch. Nothing but a useless layabout and you don’t even do anything…”

“Mommy! Auri made dinner!” To her credit, Maddie would sometimes try to help. But she would never go or speak against them. Ty was a little more vocal, feeling that I was somehow his responsibility, but my father was the next Beta to the current Alpha. And Ty was in line to be the Beta as well. So there was only so much he could do.

“It’s in the oven, I just need to turn it on. Then the salad is in the fridge, in the red container.” I managed to cough out, after the the stinging subsided a little.

“You were told multiple times never to leave this house. Madison had to go get you. How often do you go out? What if someone saw you?”

I sighed. “I will get started on dinner.”

“You better. Your father will hear about this.”

I walked into the kitchen and started to prep the salad, turning on the oven at the same time. Maddie was still trying to make a case for me, but Melissa was quick to shut her down. Melissa moved to somewhere else in the house and Maddie came into the kitchen, sitting on one of the island stools.

“Sorry Auri, I tried.”

I smiled. “The attempt is appreciated. Though you would think she would be too busy with the Gathering ball planning to come home early.”

“I’ve never been so excited in my whole life. What if I find my mate the first time I go?”

I chuckled. “Then I would have to give you my cake recipe.”

“Do I get it too if I find my mate?” Ty came down from upstairs and leaned over the island.

I slapped his hand away from the croutons I had made for the salad. “No snacking. Wait for dinner. And now you want my recipe too?”

Ty huffed. “Just because I don’t watch every move you make, doesn’t mean I don’t want it. Cause I do.” He paused. “Like a lot.”

I laughed at them. They were probably my saving grace in this house. Even when they had to turn a blind eye. They never hurt me directly and tried to include me in their brother-sister relationship.

The front door opened and closed. We all stiffened. Father was home and Melissa had already reached him, talking in hushed voices.

“You guys better go.” I whispered to them as I turned and quickly got a glass, filling it with a can of beer from the refrigerator.

“Ingrate!” My fathers voice boomed through the house. He strode into the kitchen where I passed him the glass already You could smell the alcohol on his breath and the slight slur in his speech. Ever since he got passed up for the promotion last month, every day he started to smell more like alcohol than wolf.

“Dinner is almost ready, it’s in the oven and we can eat as soon as….”

“Your mother told me that you were outside today when she came home. That Maddie had to find you.”

I swallowed. “Yes father. I was sitting in the trees just outside the house.”

He took hold of my arm and dragged me through the house. Throwing me into the floor in the den, he growled, “How many times do I have to tell you that you are not allowed outside.”

“I just needed…”

“Did you shift?”

“No father, I would never.”

“DID YOU SHIFT?!” He yelled and kicked me in the stomach as I laid on the ground.

I coughed out; “Never.”

“Why didn’t they rid me of you? Why do you ALWAYS cause me PROBLEMS?!” He yelled as he kicked me again.

I whimpered, curling up into a ball. Times like this Kai, my wolf, would try to help calm me down. She never asked to be let out at home, not after our first shift. She feared for my safety while I was in this house. Sometimes she would urge me to fight back, to show them just who I truly was. But it would only be worse for me in the end. I wanted to see Ty and Maddie free first. I waited for more hits but none came. The timer on the over was beeping.

“Maddie, get that will you and put it on the table.” He picked me up my shirt, nearly choking and ripping it off me. “You, will go to your room. No food. No water. Nothing. And I’ll see how long it will last this time.”

He basically threw me into my walk-in-linen-closet that was converted into my bedroom. I landed on my bed as my head hit the wall and let out a small cry. My father shut the door and locked it. Clutching my head, I had gotten off easy this time. Probably because tomorrow was the ball but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I just waited for the headache to end.