TWO

*Two months earlier*

~Alden 

“Let her in.”

My assistant nods, pacing toward the door. I watch her slip out, and moments later, another figure walks in. She’s all pushed back shoulders and overbearing confidence. She strides into the room, sinking into the chair in front of my desk with no grace at all. 

“This is exciting,” Melia says, chewing on her index fingernail. I’ve noticed she’s always done that out of habit. “What does my Alpha need me for?”

I’ve known Melia since she graduated high school. She failed the standard test that requires an 80% pass rate. We can only have the most intelligent members within my Pack. Before she could be sent out of the Pack, I caught and trained her. I needed someone who could commit themselves to my venture.

I have committed myself to removing the brands from the victims of a powerful immortal named Time. With a single brand, he is able to turn innocent mortals into his slaves. He uses them to do his bidding. And I have promised I would free them. 

However, there is one traveller who has escaped me multiple times. 

“I’m sending you out on a mission,” I inform her. Her expression startles, her eyes widening. Plenty of warriors who are trained for missions like this spend years doing so. Melia is still young. “I need you to find me a Traveller who has avoided me thus far. You’re my last resort before I hunt her down myself.”

“I have some questions,” she says pointedly, tapping the tip of her chin. “First of all, why me?”

Turning the file I have around, I push it in front of her, flipping the top up. We both stare at the subject in the photo. Hazel eyes alight like fire, flecks like gold swimming around her pupils. Hair raven black, painted like ink curls around her neck, to her chest in thick waves. She’s a born Vengeance Pack member. Her beauty is immeasurable. 

But she is a criminal. 

Melia stares at her for a moment, crystal eyes examining her target thoroughly. I see her mentally storing the subjects features. The curve of her brows, the angle of her hairline, the shape of her lips. She will do an excellent job in finding her.

“This is subject #062. She has been evading us for a substantial amount of time. If you find her, you will be rewarded handsomely,” I tell her, pulling the case file back into my possession. “I know you will find her. I have trained you for this.”

“Name?”

“Kezziah Elizabeth Williamson.”

She nods promptly. If anyone is going to find the subject, it’s Melia. I’m positive that I will not be following up on this case after she has dealt with it. That is how much faith I put in her. 

And I don’t have faith in anything. 

***

~Kezi 

“Is it seriously necessary for me to go to school?”

Avia sets down a plate in front of me. It has a single pancake on it. Something is seriously going on if she is putting this much effort into breakfast. By the look of her - hair thrown up, ingredients smeared on her clothes - she’s been up early. She must have went to the store this morning to get groceries for this rather empty home. 

“Absolutely,” she says shortly. That tight smile is so painted, it’s unnerving. Why would she take me here if we are being watched so closely? Who is behind all this anyway? “I think this is going to help you settle in here, and find some new friends.”

“I don’t need friends,” I say pointedly, picking up the syrup she slides on front of me. In other words, I don’t want friends. 

Avia doesn’t say anything, occupied with dishes in the sink. 

I eat the pancake quickly. The facade she has painted across us is for our protection. I would be foolish to do anything that would risk that. I need to be nothing but the quintessential Harmony Pack member I’m required to be. That will be the only way to hide from Alden. 

“I’m going to have a shower,” I say sweetly, kissing Avia on the cheek as I slip the dish into the sink water. “Thank you for breakfast.”

The shower turned on the moment I slid the door open. Technology here has been adopted from the Wisdom Pack, making the lives of the members here as easy as possible. That seems to be the theme I have gathered here. Everything is so...Perfect. 

My feet step onto the cool white tiles. There’s green accents everywhere in this bathroom. It’s the only thing that gives it life between the dull whiteness. It’s a shade I hate. 

The water is warm and velvety. I spend an unhealthy amount of time in there.

When I step out, I pause in front of the mirror. Wiping the condensation from the surface, I turn around. Glancing over my shoulder, I see the one mark that has ruined my life. The lines are thin, streaking up my spine to my right shoulder blade. The curve into something I don’t understand. It’s been there for a year in a half. He simply touched my lower spine with his finger and that was it. 

Everything changed.

I quickly shoulder on my shirt, covering it. Too many people are affected by this. Me, the immortal who did this, and the Alpha who is hunting me down. 

Time never truly revealed his intentions. He hasn’t approached me since. All I have heard from rumour, and from what Avia has told me, is that he has Travellers to use when he feels fit. I could become his slave at any moment. At this point, I’m not sure what scares me the most; Alpha Alden pursuing me to no end, or Time, ready to appear at any point. 

School turned out to be a mess. And I swear everyone could tell I’m two years too late for this. 

No one approached, and the teachers ignored me. This place is like a bubble. And no one is letting me. It’s fine by me, though. I don’t need friends that I potentially may leave behind. The less people I associate with here, the better. 

However, there was one girl.

Our lockers were a few spaces apart. When I was fishing around for my next class books, I noticed her staring out the corner of her eye. Turning to face her, I summon the best possibly greeting that hopefully won’t get me struck in the face. 

“I love your hair,” I say warmly. A white flag of soughts. 

I’m not lying either. It’s pin straight, woodland brown and looks shinier than the surface of a buffered car bonnet. I can tell instantly where she is from. Her eyes are like sharp crystal, chiseled out and stained a pale blue. And her skin. It’s porcelain smooth and immaculate. Nothing about her is out of place. She’s a Wisdom Pack member. 

Knowing that fact leaves a bad taste in the back of my mouth. Cursing myself, I keep the smile painted upon my face. Not everyone out of the Wisdom Pack is out to get me. 

“Thanks,” she says slightly. Her accent is liquid smooth, but doesn’t drag at the end of each word. It’s all clipped and proper. She’s been bred in the depths of the Wisdom Pack. “I’m Melia.”

“Kezi.”

I can’t tell if she’s smiling at me or not. Her lips are slightly tweaked up, but her eyes are like piles of shovelled snow. Cold. She looks like she doesn’t want to be here, which I can relate too. Perhaps I’m reading to deeply into this. She’s simply a student here, slotting her textbooks into her locker, shoulder a book back on. 

“You’re new here. I say you from the back of History class. I’m kinda new here too,” she tells me, knocking the door to her locker closed with her elbow. I flinch at the clinical bang it makes. 

“Oh yeah,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “I just moved from the Vengeance Pack. My...My mother moves a lot for her job,” I tell her. It’s a fabricated story I had pronounced to everyone I’ve met since this began. 

“I saw you sitting alone at lunch. It’s hard to make friends here, I totally get it,” she tells me, motioning toward the end of the hallway. We fall into step with each other, shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor. “Especially when you’re not a born Harmony Pack member.”

She gets it. Finally. Someone does. 

“Tell me about it. I’ve accepted the fact that everyone will forever avoid my until I graduate,” I exclaim tiredly. It’s a fact that never truly bothered me until this moment. Looking at Melia, as strange and as foreign as she may seem, I may have someone to relate to. 

“Have you see the main gardens in the square yet?” She asks. 

I shake my head no. 

“It's amazing, you have to see it. It’s like their pride and join in this place. Everyone village has one apparently. You should come with me to see it after school,” she says. Her tone seems to have lightened. Perhaps she’s shy, and that beginning persona was a front to protect herself. I wouldn’t blame her. 

“Sounds good,” I say. 

At that moment, I broke every rule Avia had etched into the forefront of my mind. I made a mistake. A big one. One that changed my life forever.