My Youth Began With Him Novels & Stories

He must have noticed my confusion because he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “I started learning when I was a teenager. Before Nonna came for us, before my father died.” He continued, his voice taking on a nostalgic note, and for the first time, I saw a different side of him—a boy who had once found solace under the hood of a car.

“No. You deserve to know.” The moon cast a soft glow over us as we walked along the beach road, the salty air curling through my hair. It should’ve been a dreamy moment, but something about the way his voice dropped had my heart tiptoeing. “I was a kid when it happened,” he began, staring out toward the crashing waves. “Fourteen. Just had my first shift. I still remember how sore my bones were.” I glanced up at him, watching the outline of his jaw tighten.

he said to me. The game has begun.

The words seemed to be difficult for him, but they came out, croakily, one by one. “I’d only just turned eighteen when I met my mate,” he began, leaning back heavily in his chair. “I used to love going off on my own, you see, and I wandered too far. Both of my parents had been killed many years before, and for a while I was too scared to leave the pack lands. One day, though, my attitude changed. The worst had already happened to me. What else could possibly happen now? So I began my adventures, always alone.”

are you going to tell me who sent you? Because this is all too suspicious to me that you show up after my attack. I’m grateful you found me. I just want to know who I should thank.” He looked at me with such respect and affection and spoke. “At first I dreamt of you. That’s saying a lot due to the fact I haven’t dreamt in over a millennium. My dream felt so real that I thought I was awake. I could actually feel you, smell you, taste you. It wasn’t till my dream was interrupted that I figured out it was a dream. I couldn’t wait to sleep again so that I could see you again in my dreams. And lucky me I dreamt of you again the next night, and I felt the pain I could hear your screams that you r

Completely his. And I knew this was only the beginning.

Instead, he stood. “I’ll see you around,” he said, carefully neutral. “Yeah,” I echoed. He walked away before I could stop myself from turning back to watch him go. Something inside me cracked then quietly, invisibly but deep enough that I knew it would matter. Because this wasn’t nothing. This wasn’t coincidence. This was the beginning of something I didn’t know how to control, something heavy with expectation and fear and hope all tangled together. At seventeen, promises were dangerous things. And I had a feeling we were about to make some we didn’t yet understand.

Then, finally, his shoulders sagged, and he looked at me with an exhaustion that cut deeper than any wound. “You think you want to know,” he said quietly. “But once you do, you’ll never see me the same again.” “Try me,” I whispered. The silence that followed felt heavy, suffocating. Then, he turned away, walking toward a nearby outcropping of rocks where the rain didn’t reach. I followed, my heart pounding so loudly it hurt. When he finally spoke again, his voice was low—like he was talking to a ghost. “I was seventeen when it happened,” he began. “Damian was twenty. Our father… he was everything to us. A powerful man. Ruthless. Controlling. He built our family’s empire from the shadows, and

He began to take on small responsibilities, assisting in training younger warriors and helping to organize our defenses. Time had flown by so fast. My little Eden was now a young man, his spirit bright and his heart filled with determination. I marveled at the way he commanded respect among his peers, showcasing a maturity that belied his years. It filled me with pride to see him stepping into his own, embracing his role as part of our pack's future.

he added, his voice light, eyes shining with a hint of amusement. "Yes, please." He grinned, draping an arm across my shoulder. "It all started when I fought a werewolf at twelve." He continued to narrate.