Chapter 3

~15 Years Ago~

I don't know how I survived the fall over that cliff. One moment, I am peacefully falling to a death I accept, and the next moment there is nothing.

Then, suddenly, I wake up… surrounded by flames.

I panic, and as soon as my feet are on the ground, I frantically roll around like a lunatic, trying to put out flames that are no longer there.

I must have been hallucinating from severe head trauma. I fell over 400 feet; I should have been flattened on the ground. Head trauma is the least I should have, and it would explain why I thought I was engulfed in flames when I woke up.

I walk in a daze. I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I am somehow still alive and completely unhurt by the fall. I try to think of every possible explanation for why I am still alive, and the only things I can come up with are that I'm either a ghost and I don't realize it, or… the Goddess saved me.

Last I knew, she didn't perform miracles. She doesn't come to you in your dreams, or in some sort of vision like gods do in fairy tales. She doesn't perform miracles, like saving you from a life full of torture or protecting you from a life-threatening fall. This is real life, and in real life, those things don't happen.

Since I knew she didn't perform miracles, I walked around thinking I was a ghost. But I realize I'm not when I curl up under a bush at night to sleep. My body is exhausted, and I am naked and cold.

Dead people don't get cold, do they? And when they wake up, they're not hungry, and their stomachs don't hurt when another evening comes, and they still haven't found anything to eat, right?

Thankfully, that was the last night I had to sleep naked and alone. My wolf came to me when I woke up, and for the first time in my life, I wasn't alone.

I walk all day. I don't know where I'm going; I just know I want to be as far from that hell as possible. Whatever connection I had to that pack died when I jumped from that cliff. So at least they can't search for that connection. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stay anywhere near that place. I head west. I walk for days, and days turn into weeks.

I fear other shifters and people in general. I stay far away from other packs, and when I sense their boundaries, I go the other way.

I fear wolves and other packs. I don't know if all packs are like mine, but I am afraid to find out. What if they are? Or what if they are worse? I am afraid to find out, so I keep my distance.

However, it becomes harder to avoid them the further west I go. The farther west I travel, the more land each pack has, until it seems each pack consists of an entire city with undefined pack boundaries.

These packs are not set up like the one I came from, which has its own little community away from humans. The packs further west have homes scattered throughout the human towns, and their lives are integrated with them. It makes avoiding their territory impossible.

I'm not sure how far I have traveled or where I am headed until, a month in, I stumble upon a cave far from people and decide to claim it as my own. It has a small opening and a short, narrow tunnel that leads to an opening inside. It isn't too small or too big. It is perfect, and much bigger than any space I have been given in the past.

It keeps me out of the weather and keeps me safe. My wolf's scent at the mouth of the cave keeps animals out.

I am content with my cave, and being alone isn't new to me. I was essentially alone in Alpha Jack’s pack. I don't know what it's like to have a friend. Someone to talk to. Someone to confide in. Someone to laugh with and someone to cry to. I don't have family or anyone who cares about me. So being alone in this cave is nothing new.

But I have my wolf now, so I am not completely alone, and I make use of what I have. I managed to find clothes and snagged a few sheets that someone had hung out to dry.

The days drag on, and eventually I can tell summer is coming to an end by how cold the nights are getting and by how hard it is becoming to find food.

Today, I don't want to leave the comfort of my cave. But I am hungry, and my stomach hurts. I haven't been able to find anything to eat in 3 days. I need to get out there and find something.

I climb out of the comfort of my sheets and shiver as the cold wind hits me. My stomach grinds against itself as I walk through the short tunnel to the entrance. When I step outside, I immediately feel the warmth of the Sun, and I sigh in relief as my body begins to warm up.

I walk quietly through the woods, trying to be as silent as possible as I search for food. Unfortunately, my stomach isn't cooperating and keeps making its presence known.

My stomach loudly protests for food, and I rub it, urging it to be quiet. I'll never find anything with all that noise.

A small laugh in the trees above my head startles me, and I shriek, making the first sound in months as I fall back onto my butt.

A boy around my age jumps down from the tree he is perched in and lands in front of me. I scurry back against the dirt and away from him. His smile turns to a frown, and he holds his hands up to show he means no harm.

“Hey. It's okay. I won't hurt you. I'm only 14. I can't do much damage,” The boy says as he sits on the ground and leans back against the tree. He grabs a small stick beside him and begins tapping his foot with it while looking me over, assessing me.

“How old are you?” He asks.

I don't answer; I only stare at him. It’s enough that he made me use my voice a moment ago when I let out that embarrassing sound.

I'm usually pretty good at being silent. I never spoke in my old pack, and the only time I screamed was when they hurt me bad enough. Speaking wasn't allowed, and the only time I can recall talking was when I spoke those four words on the cliff just before I jumped. So if this boy thinks I'm going to speak to him, he's mistaken. I don't speak!

The boy tilts his head at me when I don't speak, and he shrugs as he points his small stick at me.

“You look younger than me, but you also look like an Omega. If you're an Omega, you would naturally look younger than me, so I'm going to guess you're 14, just like me!” he states proudly, his chest puffing up with pride, assuming he got my age right.

He didn't.

I shake my head, and his shoulders slump, his pride deflating.

“Hump!” He huffs, folding his arms over his chest in an amusing little pout.

My fear of him is disappearing fast. He is an amusing little thing, and I am intrigued.

“15, and not a day older! There's no way you're that much older than me!” He says, pointing that little stick at me with one hand, and the other defiantly on his hip.

It is becoming quite clear that he doesn't want me to be older than him. Like it is a bruise to his ego that someone who looks younger is older than him.

I bite my cheek and try not to laugh when I shake my head and point one finger up toward the sky.

His mouth opens, his jaw hanging slack. I cover my mouth and snort out a giggle.

“16?!” He asks incredulously, and I giggle as I nod.

“Grrr, that's ridiculous!” He says in frustration as he throws himself to the ground, flops onto his side, and flops around like a fish out of water until he lies flat on his back, looking up into the tree.

I laugh for the first time in my life. Not just a little laugh. A big belly laugh that comes from deep in my gut.

I never knew what it felt like to laugh like that, and it feels… really good! It feels freeing. It feels like something dark has been stuck to me since the beginning of time, and it lifts away with my laughter.

I lie down on the ground, my body parallel to his, a few feet away. I let my head fall toward him, and he smiles a big, beautiful smile at me.

I smile back, completely unaware of what he will become to me. Completely unaware of how much he will change my life. Completely unaware that he would eventually own my heart, and destroy it, and that I'd never be able to love another after loving him.