Chapter 1

Age 15

Third Person

Ethan snarls as he rips through the attacking rogues with blinding speed. He watches as the twins usher their Aunts and cousins into the safe room before turning to look back at the burning house. Emmett's house.

The smell of blood floods his system. He watches as the Royal Pack makes its first stand in 16yrs against a vampire/rogue attack. He growls as he sees a scentless rogue creep from the forest.

He has to make sure no one sees the boys, or the Queen's plan will fail. He darts forward as silently as possible. He twists the wolf's head swiftly, breaking its neck immediately before running back towards his princes.

Once in the room, he sighs a breath of relief. The royals knew this day was coming for years and had planned accordingly. King Emmett and Queen Lisa knew the vampires would come for their sons once they hit their teen years. So they put an elaborate scheme together that Ethan had huge doubts with. Lance agreed with his opinion, but the royals wouldn't be swayed.

They planned to fight, but they planned to lose. The Queen had selected look-alike twin werewolves to fight in her son's places. The look-alikes would either fall, be taken, or the vampires would be defeated. But the Queen refused to allow her sons to be put at risk, and after years of asking, Ethan finally knew why. The Queen and himself were actually the only ones that knew the truth. The Twins were the key to werewolf survival. If they fell into Lord Stefan's hands, the werewolf species would be in grave danger.

Ethan's eyes narrow as he watches Jason pace the room. Out of the two, Jason is the hothead. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and has his mother's quick temper. Jackson is calculating like his father and uncle.

Jackson growled lowly at his brother's pacing.

"Stop it, Jason. You are making the girls uncomfortable," Jackson said harshly, glancing at Lenny.

Moira, Simone, Lenny, and Clara were huddled together silently crying. At the same time, the male cousins were glaring at the floor. Mike and Tray were close friends. Having grown up together their whole lives.

Lenny was 15, just like the twins, while her siblings Mike and Clara are 11 and 9.

Tray was born a month after Clara and was also 9. He is the only child of Simone and Clint. The future Delta since Mike is older. He will rightfully take the Beta position.

(Author side note for the curious reader::: Lance's family does not appear again. But Jane and him have three children. All boys. 9yr old Ben, 7yr Travis, and 2yr Layne. They also adopted Mark, who never again had a wolf. )

Suddenly a pain ruptures across the family's chest, and they all fall to their knees in shock. A loud thunderous roar pierces through the supposed soundproof walls. Jason and Jackson's eyes connect. They know the roar came from their father, and the only reason he would ever roar like that is if their mother was.........

Jason and Jackson lunge for the door at the same time. Ethan wraps the large teens in the best headlocks he can manage. They struggle and growl loudly as he fights to keep them safe.

Nothing can be done now. The Queen is gone. Ethan can feel it in his very soul. He can also feel his Alpha's murderous rage. The twins fight and sob as their emotions overload their senses.

Finally, Simone and Moira act. They each grab a boy and begin to shower them in motherly comfort. Lenny sobs as she holds the younger children tightly. Her Aunt is gone, and so is her uncle, basically.

After hours of tense grief, Clint links Ethan.

Clint- The plan is in place, Ethan. The Queen and the look-alikes fell to the vampires. I. I. I handled Alpha. He and Luna are together again. Use the tunnel. The boys will have to live in secrecy for the next three years, just like Luna wanted. How is my family?

Ethan- Safe. How many did we lose?

Clint- so far, the number is at 73. Not bad, considering the force they hit us with. But no vampire survived. We will announce the demise of the Royal family just like they planned. And hopefully, if all goes well, the boys will take the crown at 18, shocking the vampires and the world.

Ethan- we will head that way.

Ethan cuts the link. And looks at the people closest to him. The people he would die for.

"The plan is a go. The twins are considered dead. The King and Queen are rejoined with the goddess. Let's head to the house," Ethan announced, moving towards the secret opening.

The tunnel leads to the newest mansion on Riverstone territory. It was built far away from the pack members in the farthest corner of their land. It will take hours to hike there, but they must. The mansion will be the twins and Ethan's new home.

JASON POV

How? How were they gone? I can't believe they are truly gone, but I feel it. I feel the hole in the pack bond. I glance at Jackson. His face is a mask of grief, and I know my face matches his.

Being an identical werewolf is strange. Our emotions tend to run together, and we feel each other as mates would. He is one-third of my soul. We will become complete when we find our mate. But no one but other twins truly understands our bond.

The look-alikes were our friends. They took our places with honor, and we hated it. We lost so much tonight. But at least we still had each other and Lenny. I glance at our best friend and confidant. If we had lost her as well..... we would be feral at this moment.

Jackson glances over, meeting my gaze. I grab my brother's hand. I don't care if people find the gesture gay. We need each other right now. In school, we continuously have to fight douchebags who refer to our closeness as abnormal.

Jack- I can't believe it.

Jason- I know. Me neither

Jack- gone jas. Gone. Our parents are gone.

I stop and yank Jackson into my arms. Ethan pauses, feeling some of our emotions through his life bond with us. But he doesn't push us forward.

My brother sobs into my shoulder as I fight my own tears. Lenny rushes to our side and wraps her fragile arms around us the best she can.

Lenny- I love you. They wouldn't want you sad. They would want you angry. It's time to get strong. Use these three years.

Jackson and I both tense. Lenny is right. Revenge will be sweet. Watch out, Lord Stefan, because you just made us your number one enemies.

JACKSON POV

Four hours. Four hours of walking and feeling numb to the world. Well, except for the pulsing rage coming from Jason's side of our bond.

Lenny's words struck home with us. Mom and dad never cried over spilled milk, and neither will we. We will avenge them.

Finally, when I think I can't take another step, we come to the bend. The iron door at the end of the tunnel looks solid and uninviting, but I breathe a sigh of relief at its appearance. We made it.

Jason and I waste no time. We head straight to the West wing. It holds our private quarters, and all we want is our bed. We share a vast room with a huge King size bed. We always have. And Ethan is stationed right across from us.

Jason uses the toilet first before helping himself to our mini-fridge. He tosses me a water bottle, but we don't say a word to each other. We don't need to.

The new house, really mansion, is lovely but it will never be home. The home we shared with our family. We no longer will get to explore or play outside. We will be confined for our safety. Ethan will train our bodies, and Clint will train our minds. The entire basement is rigged to look like a training field.

It has false sunlight over a full track. In the middle of the track is every single piece of weight equipment you could think of. And it will be our only escape for 3yrs. The vampires won't be able to turn us when we become adults, according to mom and dad. As soon as we are men, we can return to the pack's central area and lead our people.

I groan loudly as I slip my tennis shoes off. My feet freaking hurt. Jason throws himself on his side. While I was brooding, he was shedding clothes. His basketball shorts are old and familiar. That must mean our clothes were delivered already. Probably Clint.

I open my dresser and pull out my sleep shorts. I get dressed slowly. I feel weak. I know its from losing my Alpha, my father. My heart clenches at that thought.

As I approach the bed, I see Jason's tear-streaked face. As soon as I am on the bed, I pull my brother to my chest. We don't care about our open affection. To us, it is natural. It is not sexual, but we know in the future, our intimate moments will be shared. Identical twins usually get one mate. It only makes sense to get comfortable with each other now. Plus, he is my brother. We need each other right now. Now more than ever.

JASON AND JACKSON JOINT DREAM.

Jason looks around, as does Jackson. The field is beautiful and untouched, but something about it is familiar.

"Jason," Jackson says with a question in his voice.

"I don't know, Jack. Maybe The Goddess," Jason says, answering his brother's unspoken question.

The boys look all around themselves slowly, trying to find someone. Jackson starts walking, and Jason follows. Soon transparent wolves join them. Walking side by side with the teen boys. A small cabin comes into view, surrounded by hundreds of ghost-like wolves.

Jason takes a sharp breath in. "It is. It's just what mom described," he said lowly knowing his brother could hear him.

Jackson's eyes grow wide as he sees his father and mother's wolves walking towards them. Jason doesn't need to be told as he, too, sees the approaching couple.

Behind them walks a young woman. A breathtakingly beautiful woman. I woman who looks like pure innocence mixed with extreme intelligence.

Jason and Jackson halt two feet away from their parent's wolves and smile.

"My children, how lovely it is to meet you," the woman says with a voice like the breeze.

Jackson nods, and Jason smiles warmly.

"Nice to meet you as well, Goddess," they say together.

She smiles at them, and the field seems to shine with her happiness. "I have much to explain and only a small amount of time to explain it," she says sadly. Suddenly two wooden benches appear—one behind the boys and one behind the goddess.

"Sit. We must not dally," she says with a small child-like chuckle.

Jason and Jackson sit down quickly, and their parent's wolves move to lay at their feet.

"Your mother and father are happy to see you," she says warmly, watching the wolves.

They nod with tears in their eyes.

"Your parents are eternal mates. Their wolves will always find each other now," she says quietly more to herself than to them.

"Well, let us begin," she says before clapping softly.

"You two are special. What I am about to tell you will be hard to accept, but I trust you to be strong enough to handle my plan. Tomorrow at midnight, you will both meet your wolf spirits. But I must warn you they are technically not wolves," she says, looking serious for a moment.

"They are Lycans. They were the first of your kind, and they were my lovers," she says with a suddenly sad/angry tone.

Jason and Jackson look at each other before looking back at the Goddess.

"Long ago, I fell in love. I fell in love with two identical human males. They were my world, but they were also mortal. I was afraid of ever losing them, so I gifted them both a beast. A beast that gave them unbelievable strength to protect me and to give them eternal life. They could not live here in my realm, so we lived on Earth together. We were together for many centuries before my human/Lycan mates began to betray me. The men I fell in love with fell out of love with me. They began sleeping with human females. The humans soon began to fall pregnant. Breeding the first werewolves into existence. The new wolves did not get their fathers gift of eternal life, but they did receive the ability to shift into wolves," she said as if she was far away and sad.

"After a century of infidelity, I left my loves and returned to my realm. I could no longer bear their betrayal, but I also wanted to protect the female werewolves they were creating from ever feeling my pain, so I created mates. A lasting type of love that is true and pure. From up here, I watched my ex-mates rule their new species. For 1,500 yrs they flourished until another Goddess accidentally created vampires. The goddess of the night was as lonely as I was, and she needed a partner. So she created a beautiful man, but that beauty came with a price. His soul was dark, and he needed blood to maintain his youth-like appearance. So she cast him down to Earth to be damned. She considered him a failure," the goddess says with a growl causing both boys to jump.

"Sorry. We are almost to the point, I promise," she says softly before returning to her far away daze.

"The vampire lusted after women and power. He soon began infecting humans with his curse, creating more and more vampires. The mortal humans of old became terrified. They sought out the werewolves for help. And in return, they, of course, offered up their daughters to be breeders for my Lycan lovers. Thus began the war between werewolves and vampires. My ex-lovers did a fantastic job eliminating the vampires and breeding more werewolves. They killed thousands before Stefan finally killed them and their lycan souls returned to me, but now it is time for them to fight again. To use the strength, I gifted them with when I created them. Just like a werewolf, my lycan spirit lovers were always faithful to me, their mate, it was their human sides that betrayed me, so I hold no anger towards them. They are strong, and they will protect the world again from the growing threat of the vampires," the goddess says with an exhausted sigh.

Both boy's mouths hung open. They were receiving immortal spirits. The first wolves. The Goddess's personal mates.

"So will we be your mate," Jason asks with a hint of hope.

The Goddess chuckles lowly while shaking her head. "No. I actually am unsure if you will be gifted a mate," she said lowly

Jackson shot to his feet in an instant. "What? Why? Why do we not deserve love," Jackson bellowed as Jason stares at the grass, trying to hide his rage.

"I am sorry, but I have yet to decided on that part of your futures," she whispers lowly

Jason's mind begins to piece together the nightmare of a life they are being given. His rage consumes him before he glares up into the Goddess's eyes.

"So we are being punished for their past. We get no mate, and we will have to watch our loved ones die... one by one.," Jason says with a snarl, and Jackson grabs his shoulder but grits his own teeth.

The Goddess's eyes fill with tears. "I do not do this to you for punishment. I do this to protect my wolves," she whispers, and the field suddenly fades.

The boys jolt awake. Both more angry and depressed than when they went to sleep.