Chapter 1 - The Invader

If you had asked me a week ago “how are you Brooke?” Just a simple question, one I would have replied with “on top of the world… amazing, couldn’t be better”.

If you asked me that now… not only would I answer with something completely opposite,like... 'I want to die inside!' Or, I’d probably cry before I could even utter any words. It all happened so fast, it all fell apart so quickly, right before my eyes, and I didn’t know how to stop it, or even if I could stop it.

They came when we least expected it, when we had less guards patrolling than usual, just for one night, just for one special occasion, something to celebrate the future for us all. We were all so happy, merry, tucking into the delicious canapés that were so thoughtfully put together by our palace omega and expert chefs. The champagne bubbles filled our glasses, topped up regularly by our dedicated waiters. All of us women dressed in our best gowns, especially bought or made just for this one occasion, and the men looked like pure gentlemen in their crisp tailored suits. We danced, we chatted from one person to the next, we laughed, and everyone was just as excited for the night ahead as I was…as my father and mother were. A celebration my parents had been waiting so long for, one that I had worked years to be ready for… and I was ready…. Or at least I thought I was! I studied every detail about our pack, about our people and our history. I made sure our people loved and respected me. I was the daughter of an alpha and Luna, I played that part to the best of my ability. But little did I know…. So naively I didn’t make time to prepare myself for what turned out to be the most important thing my pack needed me for.

I felt like a complete failure! So useless and in no way fit to call myself the next Luna! No matter how much my aunty Emma tried to comfort me, tried to reassure me that there was nothing I could have done, that listening to my mother’s orders was the only way. But as hard as she tried to get her words to sink into my head, they never did.

Seven days and eight hours later, we all still felt doomed! Looking over our shoulders, quietly and carefully trying to survive with what little of our pack we had left. Hiding in a small little village tucked away by the surrounding woods and a river that the other three alpha clans believed belonged to humans. It was my grandfather’s greatest and thought out plan that he had spent years dedicated to building in secrecy. A safe place for us to escape to, should we ever be overturned by an enemy… a power grabber… a thief!

That’s what they were…. Thieves! Vicious, greedy thieves of the night, determined to destroy the one clan that they’d always seemed to despise!

There were so little of us left that there were still houses lying empty, dark and quiet. I looked out my bedroom window, past the secluded village at the foreboding woods ahead. I watched in fear every night as the few guards we had with us patrolled the area. I hated it here at night, it was so eerie, cold and isolated and the threat that loomed just past the trees made my skin prickle with goosebumps. Very few of us were content here, and although it looked a lot prettier and cosy during the day, we were always on edge, we felt too close to the monsters that burst through our lands that night and killed everything in sight. I already had my suspicions about who it was, the only clan that had attempted to overthrow us when I was just a baby…. The moon wolves. My father never did find out why they chose to attack. They had barely made it to our border by the time our men had killed too many of theirs and they reluctantly retreated with their alpha.

From all my studying though, I had learned enough about each pack that resided nearby. Our four packs dominated the forests and mountains on this side of the world, never would an alpha, a million miles away come to us, or have even heard of us! No… no, it had to be one of the other three clans.

The Earth wolves, led by the last and only Lycan. He alone was too powerful for anyone to want to mess with, but with all his strength and skill, he and his warriors lived peacefully somewhere out there deep in the forest where no other alpha even knew of their location. They’d have absolutely no interest in our land, we may have crops and animals that have always thrived, and our territory was vast with hundreds of pack members all doing their part to keep our lands green, nourished and clean. Earth wolves were too rigid when it came to their privacy, too rigid to expose themselves and attack a pack that wouldn’t benefit them in any way. They were at their strongest and happiest surrounded by nature and water.

Then there were the howlers, or what we call, the mountain wolves. I had never seen one. In fact, I don’t think anyone in my pack had, as the howlers never left their territory hidden up in the snow cold mountain tops. All I knew of them was that their fur was all white, not a speck of silver, grey or black… pure white that helped them to blend in with their environment, again where they were at their strongest. Their alpha was always protective, like each pack member was just an extension of his family.

Last but not least were the moon wolves, now led by their new alpha, Marco. He is the one that did it, I know it! It was his father that had attacked many years ago. Drawing their strength from the moon, they’d wreak havoc throughout the forest at night. Sometimes we could even hear their howls and taunts to any unsuspecting rogue or defenseless animal. They’d eat more than they needed as if they were a pack of hyena’s rather than wolves, like their bellies were never full or just killing for sport rather than necessity.

Long before Marco’s father attempted to attack our pack, a truce had been put in place between all four clans to live separately in peace. A treaty set by our ancestors, it was supposed to be criminal to try and take another’s land. But my father was never one to chase after a war so when they had retreated he didn’t go after them and there was no higher alpha or lord to report to. We were each in charge to protect and guard our own.

I reluctantly got back into bed and closed my eyes just hoping tonight there would be no nightmares, no flashback of that night. I hated having them, then waking up to see it was still dark and quiet. I didn’t exactly do myself any favours, staring out the window and scaring myself anyway before going to sleep, but I couldn’t help it, the guilt and worry of my people only weighed heavier each day. Could we really try and live here long term and feel safe? Would we ever relax hoping they would assume no one escaped? I had to make a choice, stay or get the hell away from here and try to blend into the next human town. Luckily, as the sun wolves, we were the only ones that could. Our strength was drawn from the sun even on its murkiest and stormy days and our eyes didn’t glow at night like the moon wolves. We didn’t need to be surrounded by nature or the blistering cold, we adapted to all conditions, and we could be assumed as a normal human unlike the rest of the clans. The only thing stopping me from leaving was the thought of running away from any pack members left alive instead of going back to save them.

In all my years of preparing…. Why, oh why, did I not put in enough time to train!  I scolded myself as I fidgeted in bed. I had learned fighting skills, but nowhere near enough to take down another alpha and his pack. I knew just by the crazed look in his eyes that if I went up against him, it would be me that lost…. That I was completely certain of.