chapter One

CALI'S POV

TWENTY ONE YEARS LATER.

I TOOK a small step on one of the stairs at the pack house, leading to the alpha's office. It was my twenty first birthday and I wanted to hear what they were planning. The Alpha was having a meeting with his Beta and Gamma. This day couldn't have come sooner. In our pack, every wolf was given a position. The men were given positions exactly when they turned eighteen and the women were given positions at exactly twenty years old. I had waited last year for my position but it never came. I complained to the Alpha, Seth, but he told me I wasn't ready and I didn't fight back. Everyone knew not to question the Alpha's authority.

I always wanted to be a warrior and I trained everyday since I was fifteen. I developed passion for fighting when I was eleven. There was an attack launched at the pack. A group of rogue wolves came together and decided to take revenge on all the packs in the state. Our pack, the Moon shadow pack, was one of the packs that suffered casualties and death. We lost few wolves and the only human, my mother.

Alpha Seth took my mum and I in when I was just three. Against all odds, he took care of us, specifically my mother, who was Luna. According to what Alpha Seth, who I used to call Dad, told me, when he laid his eyes on her, he knew she was his soulmate. I didn't understand then, but growing up around wolves enlightened me. I heard rumours about Alpha Seth defying the moon goddess and asking her for my mom in place of something. I never knew what it was and I never asked. My mum made sure I didn't ask till she died. She died when I was eleven during the war against the rogues.

I miss her a lot. A lot of things changed when she died. I stopped calling Alpha Seth dad because he stopped behaving like one. I learned to shift with the help of the Beta and Gamma. Now, I was at the door of the Alpha's office, eaves dropping and trying not to breathe too heavily. If I breathed too loud, the Alpha would catch my scent. I could hear their voices but I couldn't hear what they were saying.

The doors were made extra thick and sound proof for reasons like this.

I was about to lean into the door again when I heard footsteps coming from the office. I tiptoed back to the edge of the stairs and acted like I was just coming up. I saw Gamma Lou coming down with a sad smile on his face, when he got to me he gave me a hug. "I was just about to come get you, the Alpha has called for you." I nodded and took a deep breath. This was it. The moment I became a warrior. I was going to do just as I promised my mother during her last minutes. I was going to become a warrior and avenge her.

Gamma Lou immediately opened the door as I got to last stair with the same uneasy smile on his face. I ignored it and entered the office. Alpha Seth's office was huge. I had been here a few times. It had a tall bookcase filled with journals and books written by our ancestors. The walls were painted black and the ceiling too. It gave me chills everytime I entered his office. He had a large desk too, that had a few files, a pen case and a MacBook. Overall, the office was plain but beautiful.

"Hello Cali". Alpha Seth said with his cool but deep voice

, I could see Beta Kane standing right behind him while Gamma Lou was at the door. "Hello Alpha". I replied barely looking at him. He was emotionless and I was wondering if he was about to deliver some bad news or good news. "Still not calling me Dad?". "You lost the rights a few years ago Alpha". I said again in respect. "Hmmn. Well, you might not like what I'm about to tell you Cali but I am left with no other choice".

Bad news it is then. I took a deep breath and thought of a the possible things he could want to say. Maybe he was making me an omega. The goddess forbids I take that position. Omegas were not treated well in this pack and since I'm not the Alpha's legitimate child, there's nothing stopping him from making me a maid.

"I'm banishing you from the pack Cali." As soon as those words left the Alpha's mouth, I slowly looked up and looked him in the eye to be sure i didn't hear wrong. His face was still emotionless but the look on the man standing behind gave it all away. Exactly what he said was exactly what I heard. "What? why would you want to throw me out? I am your daughter and you promised my mother you'll take care of me." I said raising my voice in anger. Gamma Lou cleared his throat as a warning sign for me to get it together.

I hated this man. I dreaded him. How dare he lie to my mother.

"It is true that I made a promise to your mum on her death bed to protect you. I can no longer do that because you're no longer something I can protect Cali . Having you in this pack will bring my pack danger and as Alpha, I can't allow that." He said clasping his hands together. "What's that supposed to mean? How am I bringing danger to this pack, all my life here, I have been nothing but obedient and loyal."

"You're an Hybrid Cali. Half werewolf and half witch". The words he said were like music to my ears. Sure, I knew I was different from everybody else. I had the whitest hair and the bluest eyes but that's just because of my biological father, at least that's what my mum told me but I'm not a witch. I don't have witch powers, I know that. "That's impossible Alpha, My father was a werewolf not an Hybrid."

"Cali, you glow in your sleep and sometimes you chant spells. And when you wake up the following morning, you have no idea of the previous night." I stared at him in disbelief. He motioned for Gamma Lou and he withdrew from the door. He pulled out a phone from his pocket and handed it over to me. There was a video on the screen. I hit play and the video started. I was the one in the video sleeping but my mouth was moving, my body was also levitating and I was glowing. My body was glowing this bright blue colour, brighter than my eyes and towards the end of the video fire started going off in the room but nothing was burning.

I was still in shock when Gamma Lou took the phone from my hand. "You can see what I mean now Cali. If you can do this in your sleep, imagine what you'll do awake." My brows furrowed in confusion. "But you said it yourself that I always have no recollection of what happened, I didn't even know I had powers until now. There's no way I'll use them."

"You can't access them now does not mean you won't access them years later and I can't risk that for this pack. I'm sorry Cali, but you have to leave". I took a deep breath and held back the tears. I wasn't going to cry in the front of this devil's incarnate. I looked at him and saw him frowning too. I forgot he could hear my thoughts, they all could. "Do it then, banish me. You'll be doing me a favour."

If I was going to leave this pack, I was leaving with my head held up high.

"Winter Cali Olwen, you serve as a threat to this pack and for that reason, I Alpha Seth of the Moon shadow pack, hereby banish you. You're to leave and never return". Alpha Seth said with his Alpha voice, the only voice I could never resist.

I nodded slowly and got up. I was just about to leave when he spoke again. "Happy birthday Cali, I'm so sorry".

"Fuck you." I seethed as I walked out.

I had expected everything but not this. Being banished on my twenty first birthday. How great was that. I passed the secret elevator to my room. I knew well that I could not let anyone see me leave. It was against the rules of this pack. When I got to my room, I stared at my packed bags. I had packed them in anticipation that I was going to become a warrior and move to the warriors' part of the pack house.

I guess it was fate after all. I picked up my phone and booked a flight to New York. It was the first city that came to my head, maybe because that's where I was born. I wiped the tears that ran down my face. I wish my mum was here. Everything would have been better. As soon as I got the notification that my flight was booked, I took my bags and passed the same elevator out. I already saw Gamma Lou outside, in front of his car. I looked at my phone. I had another ten minutes before I started feeling pain.

A banished wolf had the grace of thirty minutes before he or she started to feel unbearable pain. I got into the car and said nothing. I'm glad Gamma Lou appreciated that I wanted silence because he said nothing throughout the entire ride to the airport. I was leaving L.A for good.

I was about to opened the door when Gamma Lou stopped me. "I'm going to miss you kid." "No, you won't." I replied harsher than I wanted to sound. I left the car and made my way to the doors of the airport.

THE WORST FUCKING BIRTHDAY.