One: The Red Wedding Anniversary

CORA

It was my parent's wedding anniversary and as usual, the whole pack was invited into our house to celebrate them.

I've never liked crowds because I've always preferred my own company and the company of the few people that were the closest to me which were my parents and my best friend, Kella and left to me, I'd have locked myself up in my room to read a book or paint over sitting with hundreds of werewolves from the pack.

We live in Crescent Valley, a kingdom made up of infinite numbers of small packs that have learned to cohabit peacefully over the years. My father was the Alpha of one of the packs, the Night Shadow Pack and he was well-loved among the pack members and the other packs in Crescent Valley because of his great leadership skills.

Crescent Valley was really the best place to be in and the cohabitation makes it easy for the packs to unite against common enemies, thereby promoting peace and security. Crescent Valley would have been perfect if not for a particular misfit, a torn in the flesh, he who must not be named.

The demon that lives right in the middle of the large expanse of land that was Crescent Valley.

"Does a love like your parents' still exists?" Kella's voice interrupted my thought and I turned to see her looking at my parents with unabashed adoration and respect in her eyes.

My parents were standing up on the stage, glasses in hands as they toast to their everlasting love. The crowd erupted in screams and applauses as my old parents locked their lips together and I cringed hard, forcing my eyes away.

Those people were so in love with each other that their PDA was always over the moon and they don't even mind whose presence they were doing the PDA.

"Ohh," Kella sighed dreamily, "how I wish I could find a partner that'd love me the way your parents love each other!"

"Hmmm hmmm," I muttered distractedly, already fed with the crowd and the party and the loud music.

And the truth was even though I've never voiced it out, I've always wanted the kind of love my parents shared with each other. They were not even fated mates and even after 20 years, their love for each other is still as strong as it was when they started.

I've always wondered if I could ever find a werewolf that'd love me the way dad loves mom, that'd worship the ground I walk on and adore my entire existence, and also, I've always wondered if I could love a werewolf the way mom loved dad.

I grew up watching their relationship grow more and more beautiful and I've always wondered if I'd experience something as beautiful as that.

I've always wanted something as beautiful as that.

But the few guys I've been with were all major disappointments and they've made me believe that beautiful relationships ended with my parents' own.

The merriments continued in full force and I was already too tired of everything.

"I need to use the bathroom," I lied to Kella as I stood up and I prayed she wouldn't want to follow me because that's her niche and thankfully, just as she was about to reply, Cage, her crush for months now walked up to us and her expression brightened like a dull bulb that was turned on suddenly.

I slipped away quickly and I passed the longer route so Mom wouldn't notice me but she did because she was suddenly mind-linking me.

"Return to your seat, Cora," her voice sounded stern even in the mind-link and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"Should I use the loo on my seat too?"

I didn't need to turn back to see the look of displeasure on her face and after a while, she spoke up again.

"Be back before I open my eyes, Cora, if you don't want me to come to your room and drag you out."

"Yes Mother," I replied sarcastically as I cut off the mind link and I practically ran to my room.

Once I'm inside, I locked the door, plucked my earphones, and used them and I flopped down on the bed.

Bliss, I thought to myself as the softness and warmth of my bed enveloped me and the loud music playing in my ears started to calm me down.

I knew Kella wouldn't come to look for me anytime soon because of Cage and Mom would be carried away with socializing and eye-fucking Dad that she won't be quick to remember that I wasn't there.

And now that I was finally free from the merriment going on downstairs and the loud chatters and mom trying to set me up with the next most eligible suitor, I just wanted to melt with the music I was listening to and float away forever.

I must have slept off because the next thing I knew was that I woke up with a start and I sat up with a start with dread washing over me at the prospect of the fact that something might be wrong. The song blasting in my ears was the last one in the album which means I'd slept for over an hour and nobody came to check up on me!

Now, something must be amiss, something must be terribly wrong.

I pushed myself off my bed and I walked to the door with my heart in my throat and when I pushed the door open and silence instead of the loud music greeted me, I confirmed it that something was wrong.

My heart grew heavier and heavier as I walked to the stairs, scared of what might be happening. My wolf sense had picked up on the fact that something must be wrong but my conscious was still trying to hang on to the fact that this was just some sort of elaborate prank.

I started climbing down the circular steps and the more I go around in circles, the more my heart jumps to my throat, the more my hands get clammy, and the more I feel like like my legs were going to fail me.

My legs nearly gave way when I rounded off the stairs and I saw what was left of the ball where the party was taking place.

Everything was in disarray, everything was turned completely upside down but that wasn't what made bile rise in my throat and almost pushed the lunch I ate back to my throat.

It was the fact that everybody was dead.

Every single person that I left here alive barely an hour ago was all dead with various parts of their bodies severed. My eyes met with Kendall's blank ones and I quickly looked away as a scream got trapped in my mouth.

We've been attacked and only one person could have done this but...

Mom! Dad!

I turned to the direction of the stage where Mom and Dad were before I left and when I saw Mom's severed body, a scream escaped from my mouth and I collapsed onto the floor.

Dad was hanging in the mid-air and I knew someone powerful was holding him up, I could feel the Alpha aura, the intense power, and strength and I knew it belonged to one person, that it could belong to one person.

"The stupidest thing you could ever do in your life," the voice said calmly as s if it belonged to the person that controlled the world and beyond and I felt goosebumps, the terrible kind break out on my body, "is to attempt to assassinate me."

"I'm sorry," Dad's voice sounded pathetic, broken, scared, nothing like the outspoken voice of the man that I grew up knowing, "that was a mistake."

"A mistake?" the voice chuckled, a dark, sinister one that bounced off the walls, "now, that mistake will cost you your life."

"Pleaseeeee," Dad's pleas turned to deep retching of intense pain and I watched as his head disappeared between the monster's hand, his blood splattered all over and landed on my face and white gown that he had complimented earlier today.

His body dropped to the ground, lifeless and the monster's face came into view. His soulless eyes met mine and intense dread washed all over me.

It was he who must not be named.

Dablo, whose reign of terror was the only stain on Crescent Valley's perfection.