Chapter One

August 29th, 2013

Returning home from school, I walked into the kitchen with my exam results in hand. My mom was standing at the stove, stirring the pasta she was cooking for dinner tonight. "Hey," I greeted her. She turned to me with a smile.

"Hey sweetheart," she sang. "What's that?"

"It's my exam results," I told her timidly. "I haven't looked at them yet."

Just then, my older sister, Carla, sauntered into the kitchen with her results. "Got mine too, Mom," she huffed as she shoved it into Moms' face. Mom sighed and took it from her, opening hers first.

It didn't take long for Moms' disappointed face to settle in. "Carla, all you've gotten is C's and one B," Mum sighed. "That's not good enough, I know you can do better than that." Carla just shrugged and went to sit at the dining table. Mom opened mine up and she was soon beaming with pride. "All A's and one B, oh, Angel, I'm so proud of you!"

"What's happened?" My dad walked in from the back, covered in grease and oil from working on his truck. Mom showed Dad my results, without him touching it, and he grinned proudly like Mom did. "Well done, sweetness!" Dad wiped his gross hands and then ruffled my hair a bit. "All that studying paid off, huh?"

I grinned and nodded. "Sure did." I heard my sister huff but I pretended I didn't. "So how was work, Dad?"

Dad shrugged. "Same old, same old," he sighed. "The Alpha wants me to lead a patrol tonight, again."

"More rogues spotted?" Mum asked worriedly.

Dad nodded. "The Alpha also wants me to be in a meeting with a neighbouring pack tomorrow afternoon as well." Dad was the Beta of our pack in Canada named the Winter Pack, the strongest pack in Canada, the third strongest pack in the world. You'd think that's an overstatement, an exaggerated statement, but it's not. Packs aren't measured by numbers, they're measured by the strength of the pack, the loyalties of the members and the authorities of every Alpha.

"Goodness, darling," Mom stroked Dad's cheek, his eyes closed lovingly and I smiled. Being mates, their love has never died and it'll last until their dying breath.

It was the only thing I wished for in this life of Werewolves - I want to meet my mate. I couldn't wait to have what my parents have - happily ever after.

After a few moments, I coughed. "I'm gonna go to my room and study for my essay due. The French Revolution won't write itself." I headed upstairs and closed my bedroom door. I sat on my bed with my laptop open in front of me and began to type away on The French Revolution. I got three paragraphs done when I heard a loud knock on my door. "Yeah?"

Carla opened the door and leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. Great, I thought while mentally rolling my eyes, she's in one of her moods again. "What's up?" I asked casually.

"You think you're so great, don'cha?"

"Huh?"

"Your Mom and Dad's precious little perfect girl while I'm the black f*cking sheep. I get average grades, they're disappointed - you get perfect grades and you're a f*cking Goddess. It's not fair."

I sighed. Yes, she may be older than me by a few years, but she acted like a spoiled sixteen-year-old.

"I'm not their perfect daughter. I worked hard for my grades."

"And you think I don't?"

"No, Carla, you don't. All you do is the party most nights and hang out with your flavour of the day boyfriend." I could feel my frustration growing as she continued to deny everything, claiming Mom and Dad were playing favourites. "Carla, Mom and Dad are only worried about your future. Where are you going to go? What are you planning to do?"

Carla scoffed. "I'm going to be Luna of this pack some day. The Alpha's son, Richard, is my boyfriend. We'll mate, he'll mark me and I'll live a life of power and pampering."

"That's just assuming he'll even want to mate with you," I sighed. She used to be my everything until she hit puberty, then she started to be a little bitchy but still smiled at me and hung out with me the way a sister would and gave me words of encouragement. But as we got older, she got worse. Now all she cares about is mating and being marked by a man in power.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Carla hissed. At that moment I knew I stepped over the line as she stomped towards me, grabbed a fistful of my hair and shoved me off my bed. I shouted in pain as I hit my carpeted floor. "You don't know anything!" Carla screamed. "You're a fake! Everyone thinks you're so perfect but you're not!"

"Carla! What are you doing?!" I heard my mom's voice shout. But I wasn't thinking about that. My sister just attacked me - my dearest sister attacked me. She'd been verbally nasty to me but never has she ever been physical, hurting me the way she did just now.

Mom and Carla's voices were drowned out as I picked myself up and ran down the stairs, ignoring my mother's pleas as I burst through the back door and headed towards the forest behind our house. I just ran, ignoring the tears, the twigs scratching me, the leaves getting caught in my hair, the ache in my chest. I ran up a cliff and found my spot. It was a place I go to escape everything, watching the moon and the stars twinkle and shimmer together, I sometimes pray to the Moon Goddess when I needed advice or help. She never answered me but she did always let me know that she was here for me by gifting me a sense of calmness, a sense of hope. Right now, I needed our Moon Mother. Kneeling down and placing my hands in front of me, I gazed up at the moon. "Moon Mother, Moon Goddess, please hear me. I'm hurt, by my own blood and now I feel lost. I don't know what to do. Moon Goddess, please help me-"

A rustle from the bushes behind me made me turn around, wary. My wolf senses heightened as something was coming closer. I then remembered what Dad was saying earlier about the rogues. Damn it! It was a stupid idea to come out here.

Just as I got into my fighting stance, a scent invaded my nose and destroyed any thoughts I had. I closed my eyes in pleasure. It was a delicious mixture of sweat and mint and when I opened my eyes I saw a guy walking over towards me and something inside me stirred, awakened by his presence and it only said one thing. Mate.