Prologue : Echo Ruth

Echo Ruth

"Coalition before everything", were the last words my mom told me before I had to leave my house. 

"Even before your own beloved daughter?" I was looking for resistance in her voice, her eyes.

But she was stern, just like my dad. Because I didn't fit into the new system of their world.

Her silence screamed abandonment. Just like my pack, my parents had also abandoned me. 

Our world has been divided into two coalitions. 

At the end of the 30th century, the community of werewolves are under threat of extinction. 

To make their pack powerful, each of the packs is getting rid of weakness. Competition sparks the community of werewolves who dominated the secret world for thousands of years. 

To save the existence of werewolves on this Earth, the commission has promised to help the most powerful packs. They don't wanna waste their valuable precaution on weak ones. 

Thus, it creates the hunt of the weak, the hunt of the wolfless. 

Wolfless don't fit in their system of a strong pack. We're the reason for the destruction of our pack, even though we never had any control over that. That's what the Royal authority is stating now.

They split us into two collations. 

The Perfect and the Deviant.

I am, unfortunately, the Deviant.

I stare at the truck, loading males and females who are just like me. Broken, abandoned, shamed and wolfless.

Until now, we were considered the weakest, but we were never abandoned. We held onto hope that we would find our place among the pack.

But the Royals, who claim to work for the welfare of the pack, have made their decision. They will go to any extent to ensure their precious pack's safety, even if it means axing us from their midst.

The Royal advisor along with the head of royal security was making sure we are escorted as soon as possible, leaving no dent of a wolfless inside the pack. 

"Quick! Get inside!" a soldier yelled, jolting me out of my thoughts as I climbed onto the truck filled with weeping females.

To my surprise, Hannah, Ivory, and Gina were also there, looking just as helpless as I felt.

"What do you think they'll do to us?" Hannah asked between sobs, her fear palpable.

"They won't kill us, will they?" Gina's voice was surprisingly steady compared to Hannah's.

"I don't want to die!" Hannah wailed, provoking a middle-aged female to scold her for scaring others with her tears. She sternly explained how Hannah should keep her composure.

"Why are they doing this to us?" a man gasps.

"Because they have to compete with other packs and get all the support from the council. If the council leaves the pack's side, the entire pack will be destroyed without precaution", Gina explains.

I lean back against the wall of the truck, staring at the moon with a sack against my chest. Mom fulfilled her motherly duty by putting on two pairs of old clothes and some food. 

"Echo!" Ivory snaps. "Why are you here?"

"Because I'm a deviant", my voice is calm.

"And you're the future Luna of the pack too. How can you forget that?" Being one of my well-wishers from childhood, Ivory urges. "Did you meet Alpha Prince Archer?"

I shake my head.

"Why? You should do that. He might not know what is happening with you", Hannah speaks.

"He'll surely stop them from kicking you out. You're his mate"

The next thing I do is flee the truck with the help of my friends who want at least one of us to be saved. 

Running through the dense forest, I can hear the soldiers chasing after us, hunting us down and subjecting us to tests. The pack house is heavily guarded, with security everywhere.

Fortunately, my familiarity with the pack house from my mom's lower authority job allows me to slip past their watchful eyes. But my fear intensifies as I think about facing Archer, my mate. It's only been a month since we discovered our bond during the banquet on the full moon, held in the pack house for Archer's sister's wedding. We recognized each other's scent and drew closer for a brief moment, before he revealed that he had to leave the pack that same night for his training, putting our budding relationship on hold.

Archer is only nineteen, and he rarely stays in the pack due to his constant training and preparations for his future role as Alpha. I've only seen him once in my life, that night at the banquet. We barely spoke more than a few words, but I hold onto the hope that he will stand by me, as that's what an Alpha does for their mate, right?

"Hey!" 

I freeze at the high-pitched voice of Archer when I was about to sneak into his room. My throat dries up and I turn around to the side of him. 

Archer, tall, lean, and exuding masculinity, looks more like a fully grown man despite being just 19. His emerald eyes lock onto me, but he shows little reaction.

"Archer!" I exclaim, unable to contain my surprise.

"It's Prince!" he grunts, correcting me. "What are you doing here?"

Did he forget me? He just looked at me for seconds that night. It's not his fault.

"I'm Echo", I pull on a forced smile. "You remember me?"

"Clearly!" he scoffs. 

Feeling confused and nervous to my core, I take a step towards Archer. His captivating scent overwhelms me, sending waves of heat through my body.

"Stop right there", he howls. There's no anger, hatred or disgust in his voice. It's just a dead one. "You better leave before any of the elders see you"

My heart cracks. 

"What?"

"If you don't wanna be slaughtered, you better leave"

"I have something to talk about"

"I know what you want to talk about. But it'll be a waste of time. You may lose your life for nothing if someone locates a deviant breaking into the pack house", he says like it's a ranted script.

"Deviant? And what about my other identity? I'm your mate!"

"You were", he announces.

No!

No!

No!

My eyes enlarge at him. 

"Archer! You can't—"

"The moment you were found unfit for the pack, you were proved to be unfit for the place as my mate and future Luna too", Without flinching, Archer delivers his words with apathy that sends a chill down my spine. His body, his eyes, his voice - all devoid of any emotion. It's like I'm talking to a man without a heart.

"I thought we were fated—"

"It doesn't matter. Fated or not. You're not worth it, Echo. I can't risk our whole pack to save you. I choose my pack and all the members who are truly capable of building a strong pack and never let us down. I can't fight my elders for you"

The pain is unbearable as I realize that Archer doesn't seem to feel the weight of his own words.

But each of them cut my heart countless times, making it bleed to the point I can't hold my tears anymore.

"Don't do—"

"I, Alpha Prince Archer Ezekein Blackwood reject you as my mate"

Ache surges through my entire body. Each of my organs burns with uncontrollable pain. I scream aloud but I can't hear my voice. It's as if my voice is swallowed by the overwhelming agony that courses through me.

"Accept the rejection, Echo. It'll lessen your pain"

I wrap my arms around my aching body and screech. 

"Leave before anyone sees you. Leave!"

That's the last word I hear from Archer before I black out.

* 

I hear the sound of waves, and the buzzing sound of night bugs and feel the cold whiff grazing my body when I get up to the shore of the lake out of the pack. Bitter memories reflect through my sanity. My chest aches. My heart burns.

I don't know how I ended up here, who brought me here, threw me out of the pack. If they found me, why didn't they kill me or shove me back into the truck? 

I have nowhere to go. Nowhere. 

Except the truck loaded with some familiar faces. But it was too late. There's not a single trace of any deviant when I reach inside the territory again. They are taken away and I don't know where they are. 

However, I know that I'm no longer safe here. I'm declared a traitor of the pack for fleeing away and not cooperating with the authority. Soldiers are looking for me all around the pack.

I no longer belong to the place. I no longer belong to them. 

Touching my chest, I feel the ache. This ache of rejection. As much as my body wants to get rid of this pain, my sanity doesn't want to.

I stare directly at the moon and swore under my breath.

"They will need me"

"They will beg for me"

"All of them"

With another step forward, I walk out, crossing the boundaries. I'll not look back, nor will I ever come back. 

I'll be summoned. 

Miles after walking bare feet, I land at the beautiful sight of territory in the middle of the river, just like an island. 

Being near the dreamland pack I had always heard about in school seems like a figment yet. 

Canis Anatomica Research Pack.