Chapter 2

　Damon

I had become the Alpha of my pack, the blue moon pack, the strongest Wolf pack in the Kingdom of the Angels and in the coming days, it would be a countdown to my 103 years of life, making it 85 years since I had been leading the pack, after the tragic death of my father during the last pack wars. The angst I felt for aging was being felt by not just me but everyone around me, especially my mother, the Queen mother who spent far too much of her time praying to the goddesses Cersi and Luna to bless me with my own mate, as time was running out before I would be forced by nature to become a rogue if I did not find my mate soon.

The moon goddesses had decided to place a time clock on wolves, a thousand years ago when the barriers and rules had been put in place for all supernaturals. Now, if we passed the age of a hundred and a few years to it without a mate, we would lose our powers and for a wolf, to not be able to transition.

It was a worse fate than a death sentence, it would force me to become a rogue and the first thing rogue targets in their blood lust was the lives of their loved ones and I couldn't imagine losing myself and hurting my mother and sister.

Pacing around in my Chambers, I walked to my window and gazed upon the homes that housed the pack — the blue moon pack. They were my family and I always made sure to treat everyone within the pack like one. My eyes strayed off to the thick dark forest that surrounded the pack and I exhaled deeply, wondering if I'd end up in that dark forest if paraventure the effect of the curse began to take place.

The scent of cinnamon and vanilla filled my nostrils, my mother was on her way up. I took my gaze from the window and turned around to watch my mother approach, the queen mother of the blue moon pack, walking towards me in all her glory. Raising her hands as she got closer to me, I closed up the distance and wrapped my hands around her, patting my back, she pushed me away, “I didn’t see you down for breakfast? Are you starving yourself now? You know that is not a good look, the pack will believe you have started losing your strength and power as a leader”

she stared at me, in her no nonsense way that I had grown to love as a child, my mother had green eyes, which my sister had inherited and brown hair that she’d passed onto me. “I was busy mother, I apologize”

“I know you are worried son but the moon goddesses care for their own, don’t worry too much, I know you are worrying, don’t lie to me.” I smiled and hugged her, my mother knew me better than anyone else, she knew I had opted out of breakfast because of the shame of not having a mate, it was a disgrace for an alpha such as mine to have gone this long without a mate, such was frowned upon but I had survived this long because I was a good alpha.

“I understand mother, thank you for your kind words, I’ll be down for dinner. For now, I have to go with the men to inspect the noise we heard in the forest in the middle of the night.”

She squeezed my hands, “ah, yes, that was very strange, it felt like a barrier shift. Be careful, my son.”

“Yes mother.” Kissing her forehead, I made my way out of the room and signaled to my Beta Kieran, who was stationed outside my room, “are the men ready to leave?”

“Yes Alpha, at your command”

“Alright, let’s move, we have to be back before it gets dark, we don’t want any casualties.”

•

•

(Carlisle)

The moment I realized where I was, my will to survive outweighed my want to rest as I was exhausted from the beatings I had taken. I tore a piece of clothing from my dress and cut it into two, I stuffed one in my mouth and held onto the other, touching my twisted and now swollen ankle delicately, I used the rope I had left to tie it while I shifted it and bit on the clothe in my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

Ensuring that I had shifted it from its twisted state and tied it up to make it easier to walk, I picked myself up and dusted my hair and began to limp from where I’d been sitting. I had to get out of this forest, one way or the other or die trying because the forest would kill me if I didn’t get out soon.

I trudged you and began to limp my way away from my current surroundings, biting my lips to stifle the pain I felt and the screams I wanted to let out because of it.

•

•

(Damon)

“Do you feel that?” I asked my beta. “feel what, Alpha?”

“Actually, it’s nothing. It must be my exhaustion making me hear things. I’d been feeling restless since we left the palace, my wolf was barking at me, he was usually quiet so it felt odd that he chose today to nip at me. We were at the edge of the path of the dark forest that was connected to the Kingdom of Angels, also known as the city of wolves, my pack was the closest to the dark forest so we were in charge of inspecting the forest for any suspicious activities but the closer we got, the more my wolf paced.

“Did you hear that? Hold on, don’t move, I can hear a voice.”

Kieran looked at me, “a voice? Would anyone be so stupid to stay so long in the forest? That is a death wish.”

“We’ll find out now.” I took two steps forward and thrust my hand into the barrier that had been placed over the forest entrance to protect my people.

•

•

(Carlisle)

Everything had gone wrong immediately. One minute I was limping slowly and trying to find my way out, the next minute, I could hear voices all around me screaming at me. The forest seemed to get colder and the trees began to look larger and more vicious. As though they were about to grab at me, I had to run.

“Foolish child, where can you run to? Come, come, come, come play with us, you’ll become a tree and you’ll grow. Hahahaha.”

The chants became more frequent and I could feel my body waging a war with my mind. If I didn’t get out soon, I’d lose the fight soon and the trees would gain control over my mind.

Running forwards, I could see light shining from a distance, I just had to go closer to it, it might be safe. I was two steps away before I felt thorns enclosing my legs and I let out a scream.

•

•

(Damon)

I’d just stepped into the forest when I heard the scream, right in front of me, the thorns that surrounded the forest were wrapping themselves around what looked to be a body. My wolf started barking out and the transition from human to wolf forced itself out of me before I could even think twice.

My wolf form pounced on the thorns and tore at them. Howling for my men to step into the barrier and join me, I grabbed at the human they seemed to be holding and started to make my way out of the barrier, as my men raced in, transitioning to their wolf forms and howling at the thorns who seemed to have a mind of their own. The entire place felt eerie.

I made it out of the barrier and set the body I was carrying down. It was a girl, with dark skin and hair so white it was a contrast to her skin but somehow, she managed to look regal with it. She was unconscious and her lashes were long, with full lips and a black dot right about her left brow.

My wolf started howling at me as I started transitioning to my human form, I could hear him screaming at me, begging me, I had only been in my human form for two seconds before my wolf started to scream the words “Mate! My mate.”