ZACH
I am changing into sweatpants when my door opens, and Xander comes in. He sees the bag on my bed and sighs. He knows what it means.
“You going again?”
“Yes"
“But it’s your birthday in 2 days. You know mom will get sad.” He isn’t wrong, and I know that.
“I need to do this, Xan,” I tell him.
“You need to try to move on, brother. We all miss her. But we have to think about that she most likely isn’t alive.”
“She is. I can feel it.” Xan looks at me, wanting to say something but just nods his head.
“At least wait till you get your wolf Zack, for mom’s sake.” I sigh. But nod my head.
“I will. I will just get the bag ready then.” Satisfied with my answer, he left my room.
I sigh again because I know he is right. Mom would be deeply hurt if I wasn’t here for the birthday. And maybe it’s not a bad idea. With my wolf, I would get stronger and my senses better. But after that, I will go. I can’t stop looking for her. Many say she is dead, but I can feel it deep in my soul that she isn’t. I just know she isn’t. I have been going out on searches since I turned 16. In the beginning, I went with my dad, but when I turned 17, I began to go out on my own.
I will never forget the day when my beautiful twin sister was kidnapped, and I wasn’t able to do shit. It’s been almost 12 years since that day, and I will never give up until I find her. Mom was never the same after, and dad still sends spies and wolves out scouting for her. When I was 13, mom and dad sat down with me and explained how dad wasn’t my biological dad and what happened back then. I was so angry, but not at mom or dad. But at my birth dad, how could he betray mom like that. They told me back then I was born to be an Alpha, but I wanted nothing to do with anything related to my so-called sperm donor. In my eyes, dad is my dad. And it doesn’t bother me that even if Xan is younger than me, he is the royal heir. I wouldn’t be a good king anyway. Xan is much calmer and better to use his head before acting.
“Why are you packing?” it is mom’s voice. She already sounds sad.
“Don’t worry, mom. I will wait until after my birthday.” I tell her and walk over to hug her.
“Thank you.” She whispers.
“You are welcome, but after I need to go, mom. Sorry, but I just feel it in my bones, my blood. I need to do it.” She nods. She understands me.
“Just promise me you will be careful.”
“I always am mom,” I promise.
Together we leave my room and go to the kitchen, where dad, Xan, and Granny Rosa sit by the table. Dad looks up and stands up to hug and kiss mom and Zoe, our babysister. They never stop showing how much they love each other even though they are not fated mates.
“Hey, my love. Dad whispers, kissing her softly before leading her to sit down. He then looks up at me.
“I have some maps you can get, Xan told me, that you will go after getting your wolf. And these are the latest updated ones.” He says, looking at me. Dad understands me, and I know if it weren’t for mom needing him, he would go himself. But mom is pregnant, and after several miscarriages, it looks like we are lucky this time, and I will soon have a new little sister. I am happy because mom deserves it, and so does dad.
“Thanks, Dad,” I say, nodding as I sit down.
“Remember your phone. And only turn it on when you need to use it, save on the battery like that. If you find anything.” He begins to say.
“Then I will call you.” I finish for him. We have been through this so many times. Dad nods.
“Good."
The door opens, and Aiden comes in together with Melanie next to him. She looks sad and annoyed. They have been together for a few years, but Aiden turned twenty last year and confirmed that they are not fated, mates.
“I hear you are going again?” Aiden asks me, and I nod.
“After my birthday,” I confirm, and he nods.
“Maybe I’ll tag along. If you want.” Aiden had also tried his best to save Zara, but we were just kids back then, even though he was four years older than us.
“Sure, it would be good with some company, and I think mom will like it better if I don’t go alone,” I tell him. Xan has offered to go too many times. But as the only heir, it is not a good idea, and we all understand that.
Melanie huffs but doesn’t say anything, and she won’t as long as mom and dad are here. Aiden gives her a warning with his eyes.
“It’s a deal then, I’ll talk to dad, and we can talk more about it later,” Aiden says, and I nod my head before he grabs Melanie and pulls her out with him.
I never liked that girl. She only likes Aiden because he will be the royal Beta when Xan is twenty-five and is ready to take over for dad.
-
AIDEN
I pull Melanie out of the kitchen and out of the house. When we are far enough away, I lead her to the back of the new training hall and turn to her.
”What the hell was that? Can you be a little more respectful?” I growl at her.
“I don’t get why you all are still looking for her. It has been 12 years. There is no way she is alive.” She says, not the least bothered by my anger.
“Even so, it’s not nice of you to go act like a spoiled brat in front of her parents.”
“The king is not even her real dad.” She says coldly. I have had enough of this bullshit.
“From now on, keep your fucking judgments and opinions to yourself. I won’t keep putting up with you hurting those close to me. Got it?” I ask her.
“Whatever, I have heard your parents talk, Aiden. They all think she is your mate. How do you think that makes me feel?” She whines.
“Even if she is or was, she is not here, is she? So stop this bullshit.” She comes close, putting her arms around my waist.
“I am sorry, Aid. It’s just that I love you, and I don’t want to lose you.” I clench my teeth. I know very well why she wants to be with me. For me, though, it is purely physical.
“Just stop this behavior. I mean it,” I say, getting out of answering her.
“Okay, I will, I promise.” She says, sinking down on her knees in front of me.
“Please don’t be mad at me, Aiden.” She says as she opens my pants, licking her lips.
ZACHThe day is finally here. I am turning eighteen and will get my wolf tonight. And tomorrow I will go look for Zara and bring her home, where she belongs.Walking downstairs this morning, I find everyone wishing me a happy birthday. Granny Rosa has made all my favorites for breakfast, and we sit down to eat together. In these 30 minutes, we smile and are somewhat happy, but we all still know someone is missing.“Tonight, we go out, and we will help you shift after your wolf has spoken to you,” Dad says, looking at me. I nod my head saying thank you.“We are so proud of you, Zach. You are a strong but kind young man.” Dad continues.“Thanks, dad. Thanks for always treating me as if I was your real son. Thank you for teaching me everything I know.” I tell him, but dad looks at me.“Zach and your sister will always be mine. Blood doesn’t decide who we choose to be in our family. And I chose to be in your and your sister’s life before you were even born. So I am your real dad, and I wi
ZARA When I woke up, the sun was rising, and Bryan are is already awake and waiting for me. We eat a bit of the leftovers from last night, and then he tells me to go undress and wash up in the river before I shift into Sierra's form. I do as I am told, and when I am shifted, we run. We have been running for a few hours when Bryan stops up, looking around the wolf to get in a defense position. Noises of someone getting closer reach us, and four big wolves come up to us, one emanating with a lot of power, even more than the master had. The biggest one, a brown wolf, suddenly shifts, and a big naked guy with dirty blonde hair comes into sight instead. “Who are you, and why are you tread passing on my land.” He asks. Before I know it, Bryan shifts and stands just as naked as the other guy. “My name is Bryan, and this is my granddaughter. We wish no harm and are just passing through on our way to The Royal Moon Pack.” I guess that must be the pack’s name where my parents are. “I see.”
ZARALeaving Bryan by his door, Alpha Chase showed me up to the top floor, opening a door into a big beautiful room. I look around the room, trying to avoid looking at the Alpha but feeling his burning gaze.“You can stay here. Feel free to take a warm bath, and I will get someone to come with some new clean clothes. I will come and get you when dinner is ready.” He tells me. I nod my head, still not looking at him.“Thank you, Alpha,” I say quietly.“You’re welcome. What’s your name?” he asks me.“My name is Zara,” I mumble, still not looking at him.“It’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Get some rest, Zara.” With those words, he leaves the room, closing the door.I look around and open a door that turns out to be a closet, so I close it again. Opening the other door, I find a big bathroom with a tub separated from the shower. In the cabinet, there are different soap towels and other things needed in a bathroom. Closing the door, I lock it, so I am sure I am alone, then I take
AIDENWe have been running for two days now, only taking breaks to drink water, so we stop to rest in a cave we found. Zack had gone out to catch something we could eat and said he wanted to see how good his wolf was at hunting. I didn’t pack out anything, as we will be sleeping in our wolf forms anyway. It’s safer that way. But I did find some wood for a fire.I feel Zeus pace in my head, and he wants to keep running, claiming something is pulling at him. He wasn’t disappointed when he discovered that Mel wasn’t our mate. He said he didn’t like her anyway and never understood how I could dip my cock into that bitch.To be honest, lately, I don’t understand it either, I mean, she is a good fuck, but that’s about it. She has become so whiny, and it annoys me like crazy. Other times she is rude, like the other morning in the kitchen. She knows how much the king and queen and the guys are suffering since Za
ZARA **Warning episode containing memories about abuse and rape.**We had been running the whole day after we early left Alpha Chase's pack. Grandpa wanted to put as much distance between the Alpha and us. When it gets dark, grandpa finds a safe place to sleep for the night. He found a small cave hidden behind a waterfall that ran into a small lake.We put our bags there, and while grandpa hunted for food, I found wood for the fire. I talked to Sierra a lot, and mostly I wanted to know if she knew about how I had lived when I was with the Master and mistress. She says she does because the moment we connected, my memories became hers, and she promised me she would never let it happen again.I also wondered about what grandpa had told Alpha Chase, that I have a mate waiting for me. I am not sure what to think about that. Maybe it was just a lie to make the Alpha stop his advances on me, and it did not help, though
ZARA I wake up to the sound of grandpa’s yelling, an angry snarl, and the sound of fighting. I jolt up and hurry outside the cave we are currently resting in. Grandpa is fighting against two rouges. But even if they are two against one, they are no match for my strong grandpa. It didn’t take long before they both lay dead on the ground, and grandpa did not even shift.It was three days ago I had that dream, and the feeling of being pulled is getting stronger. We have had some run-ins with some rouges. Some wanted to fight, but we also met a small family that just wanted to be left in peace.“Zara, hurry, get your bag. We can’t stay. There can be more of them lurking around.” I nodded, Being pulled out of my own thoughts, and ran inside the cave, got my bag, stripped off my clothes and put them in it, and shifted into Sierra’s wolf-form. She grabs the bag and runs outside where grandpa had shifted too.
ZARAI walked between the trees along the river. Feeling the pull gets stronger, and the scent of eucalyptus and cedar wood gets stronger too. I hear the sound of someone moving around in the water. Hiding behind a tree, I see the back of a strong body with tattoos. My breathing goes up a little, and I feel drawn to this unknown guy. I try to move a little closer but accidentally step on some branches and can see his shoulders go tense. But then the wind changed, and it came from behind me towards the guy in the river, making me gasp. I watch how his shoulders relax again, and then he slowly turns, and I am met with the blue-green eyes I saw in my dream.He is frozen, standing there looking at me. He looks exactly like I had dreamed about, and everything inside me tells me I can trust him. He wakes up from his frozen stance in the water and moves to the edge of the river before standing up on the ground, naked.I gasp and close my eyes, turning
ZACH We found her! It feels so surreal. We found my precious sister, and it turned out everyone was right. Aiden is her mate. Afterward, she took us to where she and our grandpa, whom I had not seen since we were kids, were resting for the night. We talked for a bit and agreed that Aiden and I would go get our stuff and come back here.We turned to leave when a small whimper came from Zara. We turned to look, and before we knew it, she ran into Aiden’s arms, and he held her softly.“I will be right, beautiful, promise.” He said, and she nodded. I guess she was scared he wouldn’t come back. He hugged her before letting go, and we turned again to run back to our stuff.When we got there, the first thing I did was grab my phone. It was just before midnight, but I knew dad wanted to know right away that we had found her. I turned on my phone and called his number again for the second time tonight.“Zach?&