Chapter 1: Return

“Mum made a feast for you with your favourite dishes,” Tasha said without once taking her eyes off the road. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, a telltale sign of her anxiety. She hated driving, always did. It made her anxious, but she insisted on picking me up from the airport today. She said she wanted to be the first to welcome me.

My sweet sister.

“Oh yeah ? I can’t wait,” I replied, watching her face brighten.

The truth? I couldn’t have cared less. I hated the idea of being here, back in this place that held so many memories. Bad memories.

I’d left a week after high school graduation, suitcase in one hand, resentment in the other. My mother tried to stop me. She’d raged, manipulated, pulled all the cards in the book, even reported me to the Alpha, Alpha Black himself.

He summoned me to his office, demanding I stay back in the pack and get a job. I handed him my report card with my 5.0 GPA and told him I’d be wasting my potential by staying back. To my surprise, he let me go. He wished me well.

I had returned home to find my mother livid. We got into a huge argument that ended in her beating me so badly, I almost missed my flight.

It’s been four years since then and I’m back. Not on my own accord but by a decree. The Alpha issued a summons for all pack members abroad to return home, to witness the crowning of a new Alpha, his son Cassian.

The person I hated the most in the world. The person I swore to never forgive.

“We’re here !” Tasha announced, pulling up to our driveway. The house was exactly the way I remembered it, a three-story masterpiece that held so many memories. The lawn was trimmed to perfection, the fresh scent of roses thick in the air. Warm light spilled from inside, welcoming me. If I didn’t hate it here, it’d feel good to be home.

“Come on in,” Tasha invited, running inside excitedly. Her childish excitement brought a smile to my face.

I heard a twig snap and froze, my hand on the door. I frowned, glancing around. The street was silent, still. The warm light from inside bleeding into the street. The tiled pavement was spotless, the neighborhood perfect, just as it always is.

I focused on the door again, wanting to go in but I couldn’t bring my hand to twist the knob. There was something eerie about the atmosphere. I could sense it, a pair of eyes watching me. It made the hairs on my nape rise. I just didn’t know where it was coming from.

I let out a slow breath then pulled my hand away from the door. I could hear Tasha’s laughter echoing through the walls, warm and inviting but I stepped off the porch, moving along the side of the house. My boots crunched softly on the gravel lining the edge of the garden. I passed the rows roses, and followed the narrow path that led to the backyard.

It was exactly as I remembered it, tall trees looming and welcoming. It called out to me, inviting me to explore it. The woods had always been my comfort place, a place a ran to whenever my mother started her tantrums or when school became too much to bear. Tasha was always the one to find me and bring me back home, holding my hand tightly and scolding me.

I heard another twig snap then whirled around, searching. I knew that sound, it wasn’t a squirrel, or the wind. It was someone. Someone was here, watching me.

It was creepy.

Something brushed past my shoulder in a blur. I whirled around again, growing agitated. What the hell is going on ? My gaze swept the area, in search of something, anything, a clue as to who it was.

I looked down and noticed a large imprint on the muddy ground. A paw. I looked up slowly, in the direction the paw led to. Then I saw it, a pair of glowing yellow eyes hidden behind bushes.

A wolf.

It growled, the sound sending a chill down my spine.

It wasn’t just any wolf, I knew it in my bones. No normal wolf looked at you that way, like it knew you, recognized you.

Who is that ?