A Birth-Death Celebration

Chapter One.

Aurelia’s POV.

“Happy Birthday to my Lia,” Dad’s voice rang out as he raised his glass of champagne to make a toast and the entire hall fell silent.

“This isn’t just about you turning twenty-one, this is to celebrate the mate bond the moon goddess has blessed you with and I am more than happy to have Liam as my son-in-law.” He added and a wide smile stretched across my face.

I felt my skin tingle as Liam, the son of my Father’s beta, reached out to hold my hand underneath the table as he winked at me.

Everything was perfect.

My cheeks fanned hot as my eyes dropped shyly to the ground. Liam and I have been friends since childhood so when we discovered our mate bond under the full moon during his first shift, our parents were elated.

My father, Alpha Zane, was the alpha of Blood Moon Pack, the strongest in the entire world and I was his only child, Mom had tried countless times after me but she just couldn’t have another and Dad was more than contended with me.

“To Liam and Aurelia!” Everyone chanted in celebration and music filled the hall.

My eyes instinctively dart towards the empty seats at the high table, right next to my parents, which had specifically been reserved for my foster brothers.

“Where are they?” I mumbled to myself as my brows furrowed lightly.

They were supposed to be here, I had personally sent out their invitation.

I exhaled sharply, Kaelen, Rylan and Torin wouldn’t miss this… would they?

I was looking forward to see their reaction about the news of my mate bond but… maybe they were off on some border patrol or carrying out father’s orders, afterall, this wasn’t the first time.

“It’s time.” Liam’s gentle voice filled my ears, sending a shiver down my spine like it always did as he took my arm and pulled me up from my seat.

He had been looking forward to this, his private dance with me since father told him about it and so was I.

I placed my head gently on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around my waist and we began to waltz around the dance floor.

My entire life had finally clicked into place and I was so happy and grateful for it.

Suddenly, a loud explosion came from outside the door just as it burst open to reveal my exiled uncle, Kade, standing at the entrance.

It’s been years since I last saw him, not after he had openly challenged my father and ended up with a silver blade buried in his chest, it was a miracle he had survived so father had him exiled.

“Brother!” He called out unenthusiastically, “no one told me it was my favorite neice birthday.” He added with a devilish grin that creeped me out.

I never liked uncle Kade, he always had this murderous look in my eyes that didn’t sit well with me.

“Guards!” Father yelled as he stepped forward angrily, “walk away Kade because I will not spare you again.”

“I should be the one telling you that.” He growled as his natural eyes shifted into that of his wolf’s and his sharp claws popped into view.

Before Dad could say anything, Kaelen, Rylan and Torin stepped out from behind him and I almost let out a deep sigh of relief.

My foster, triplet brother’s were the fiercest warriors in the entire pack, father’s own pride and the last Lycans to walk the earth.

Kade would be no match for them.

“Finally, get him out of here Torin!” Dad commanded but he didn’t budge.

Silence fell over the hall as every eyes turned to my brothers who remained behind Kade while a dark smirk crept up Kade’s face.

Kaelen with his stormy grey eyes and dark hair had tattoos peeking out above his neck and around his knuckles, his tall, muscular and imposing frame matched his identical brothers. Rylan with his icy blue eyes and dark hair clenched his jaw tightly with an unreadable expression on his face while Torin with his unruly dark hair and eyes burning like crimson embers had a deadly look on his face.

Something wasn’t right.

Why were they dressed in their battle armors?

With a terrifying growl, Torin charged forward and my heart dipped towards my stomach when he buried his claws deep inside one of the guards, before yanking it out roughly along with his intestines.

A piercing scream from one of the guests tore through the crowd as everyone began to race towards the exit.

My eyes widened in horror and my breath caught in my throat as I stared at the scene before me. Torin’s claws kept dripping with blood and his red eyes shone with rage, the kind I had never seen before.

“Stay behind me.” Liam said as he pulled me backwards, before he shifted into his wolf. A large, grey wolf with dark brown eyes.

What the hell was going on?

“Spare no one.” Kade snarled, Kaelen and Rylan charged forward immediately.

Chaos erupted as everyone ran as fast as they could for their lives but my brothers spared no one, they cut through the crowd and guards and within a few seconds, dead bodies littered the ground I had just waltzed on.

“No Rylan, Rylan, it’s me, your mother and your Luna.” Mom’s voice rang out and I glanced to my side to find Mom crawling backwards as Rylan approached her, blood splattered across his amor.

“No! No!” I yelled, my body shook violently but I staggered forward, away from Liam and towards my mom.

“W-What are you doing Rylan, that’s Mom,” I said, my heart pounding against my chest and my hands trembling.

“Stay away from her!” Dad charged forward and in the blink of an eye, he shifted into his wolf form and attacked Rylan.

“Get her out of here Liam.” Mom screamed and I barely got a chance to react before I felt someone grab my arm and pull me towards the door.

“Mom! Dad!” I cried out, confused and shocked by how quickly things had spiraled out of control.

Out of nowhere, Torin jumped in front of us and Liam snarled in a protective manner. In the blink of an eye, Torin had pounced on Liam’s wolf and in a single breath, he buried his canine deep inside his neck.

I saw him tremble…. I saw him writhing in pain before his body suddenly went numb. I saw him drop down to the floor, lifeless.

The sight punched the air from my lungs. The shockwave hit me a second later, a wall of force that made my ears pop and my head ring. For a single, disorienting second, there was perfect silence, the kind that follows a car crash.

My skin went cold and tight. My vision spinning, everything at the edges blurring into nothing.

Then the screaming started. Not from outside. From inside me.

A high, thin, desperate sound I didn’t recognize as my own voice was ripped from my throat.

“Liam!”

I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were sealed shut. This wasn’t happening. This was a dream, a bad dream.

The pain that shot through my chest was unexplainable, like a part of my soul had just been ripped out of me. Our bond, that beautiful, humming, perfect sensation that had been the most real thing I’d ever felt—was just… gone.

Brutally ripped out of me.

I crumbled to the floor, the hem of my dress drenched in blood, Liam’s blood.

Mom’s scream tore through the air, brutally yanking me out of the misery I was slowing sinking into and I spun around to find Rylan overpowering father.

It all happened so fast, Rylan broke Dad’s arm with a brutal kick that filled the air with a sickening crunch sound before he forced him on his knees before Kade. Mom was dragged by the hair, her screams and pleas fell on deaf ears as she was shoved down on her knees beside father.

“Please… Spare my Lia, she has nothing to do with this.” Father begged, blood pouring down his mouth but the men I once knew as brothers stared at him with an unrecognizable, cold expression.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep her safe while you rot in hell.” Kade spat as he raised his silver blade high in the air and brought it down heavily on father.

My body went rigid, every muscle screaming inside of me. I tried to move, to run, to help, but my legs felt like rocks underneath me, I couldn’t move.

I was trapped in, forced to watch it happen.

I saw the exact moment it happened. I felt it.

My parents bodies fell to the ground, the smell of their burning flesh filled the air and wrapped itself around my senses.

My throat burned and my pain wasn’t the kind that could be located. It was everywhere and nowhere.

The world lost all color… all sound… as the tears began to pour down my face.

The hands that grabbed my chin were rough and covered in blood, my parents blood,

“Don’t worry niece,” Kade sneered as he brought his face close to mine, “death is a mercy you haven’t earned, so until you earn it, your life is mine.”

My eyes remained glued to my parents lifeless bodies as Kade’s men dragged them out like filth, like they weren’t the Alpha and Luna, like they weren’t my parents.

“Strip her and toss her in the dungeons.” Kade commanded and his men stepped forward with sleazy grins on their faces as they ripped off my blood stained clothes.

Naked, humiliated and with eyes blurred with tears, I stared at them,

The three people I’d trusted my entire life, the brothers I’d loved, the ones that taught me how to slide down the stairs in the hallway, the ones that had carried me on their shoulders whenever I had a bruise.

Rylan’s eyes looked straight through mine as if I was a stranger, while Kaelen glanced away from me, a muscle twitching in his jaw.

Why? Why would they do this?

I didn’t fight as they shoved me down to the dungeons, there was nothing left to fight with, I was empty and wounded.

I could still hear the laughter and music from the party ringing in my ears as my naked and shivering body hit the cold concrete, I could still picture Liam’s and my parents lifeless body like it had been burnt into my memory but I could only feel the crushing weight of one question on my chest,

Why?