TEARS BEFORE ALTARS

Aurora's POV

Every step I took towards that man he appeared more rugged and unappealing to the eyes, and by the time I finally looked him face-to-face he seemed ready to wither away as he recited the vows he must have learned earlier coughing in between every syllable that was when he was not licking his lips lecherously.

It took everything inside of me not to burst into tears.

My family made up more than half of the guests here and none of them were going to stand up to help, to stop this madness.

Time seemed to blur until the Elder was shooting daggers at me, it was my turn to say "I do' to solidly cement my life with a man that was already slipping out of his.

Heated tears began to gather in the corner of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

Reflexively my gaze turned around the crowd as if I expected someone to save me.

Then it stopped in its tracks when I saw him.

The Alpha son

Lucian.

Could he help me?

Would he?

I sent a plea with my eyes, he seemed conflicted for a second but slowly snapped his head away.

Oh…

"Say I do…" the Elder whispered hotly at me.

My lips parted but words failed to come out, rather it was the tears that came streaming down my cheeks. Seeing me burst into tears moved nobody, in fact I could see the Elder rolling his eyes.

I tried so hard to speak, even my 'groom' was getting annoyed.

But I didn't want to be here anymore.

Surrounded by these people they didn't care about me, all of them willing to further their agenda at my own expense. The thought of sharing a bed with a man who was old enough to be my grandfather was nightmarish.

Just when I was about to give up, a bright light appeared in my clasped palms, and I slowly opened it up. And the light became brighter, suddenly my feet were being taken off the floor as the lights enlarged itself into a sphere shape

Then it imploded.

My back was thrown against a tree, by the time I opened my eyes I didn't see anyone, not my actively rotting groom, or the passive guests, or ..

Or him.

Even the arrangements for the mating ceremony, all the plastic chairs and such a new way to be found, had also disappeared.

Did I faint somehow?

Is this a dream?

"If you care for your life you will stay perfectly still while you state your name and business here,"

The voice was like the dagger that had been pressed against my back, I couldn't look around but I knew it was the voice of a young male.

My heart was suddenly pounding.

"I'm no danger…" I said legs already wobbling, "... I don't even know how I got here,"

"That's funny because I can still sense the teleportation aura thickly surrounding you,"

Aura? But that was the power that witches possessed to perform acts of the supernatural.

"But I'm not a–" the next words I was about to speak, instantly froze before they could leap off my tongue.

I wanted to tell this stranger that I was no witch, but I stopped myself for two reasons.

I couldn't recall a time my mom had directly said my father was a werewolf, it had just naturally been implied and she never backed it once.

Secondly, if this person behind me could sense the aura so easily they must be a witch, announcing to them that I was their sworn enemy, a werewolf, was not a smart idea.

"I'm not a threat…I just awakened my powers and it happened out of the blue,"

In that deciding moment where The Dagger could have either retracted completely or been buried in my back the person behind me chose the option that didn't leave me bleeding out in the middle of the woods.

"Turn around," he said with a commanding tone. I did and saw that the boy who had spoken to me was around my age. My hunch told me that he might even be a year or so younger than me.

But he carried himself with an air of experience…kind of like him.

I have to stop letting him get in my head.

"Where are you from? I can't believe that you possess this much aura and you only just awakened your power…"

No light was coming to my mind it was just a sea of blankness,

Just as the boy in front of me was about to become aggressive again I heard a man calling out "Colt!" The boy, Colt, reflexively turned around to answer his name and I glanced at the man for a millisecond before sprinting off into the woods, for some reason I got exhausted quickly.

Something told me that it's hard to do with the teleportation thing I used.

I kept running until my feet ached and I could no longer hear their steps behind me.

I sat on a fallen branch catching my breath.

What would happen to Mom now? The thought came to mind.

I'm sure they wouldn't harm her since they knew that she was the only way that they could control me.

They would probably be looking for me now, their little golden goose.

I signed with my full chest, ribs lifting and coming down in the span of 3 seconds.

Just as I was lost in my thoughts I heard the crispness of someone stepping on dry leaves, I was about to sprint again when a more mature male voice called out to me.

"Please don't run…it was so hard catching up to you.. I'm not going to hurt you,"

I got up, turning around and recognizing the older man who had been calling for that boy earlier.

"How can I trust you?" I said skeptically.

He came forward, "because I'm your father,"