Started When We Were Younger Novels & Stories

"We were so young and foolish back then." I chuckled, nodding in agreement. "But that's what made it so special, Elena. We had no idea what the future held, but we were brave enough to take a chance on each other." As we continued to reminisce, our conversation flowed effortlessly, interspersed with moments of comfortable silence. It felt as though no time had passed since that night so long ago, as if we were still those same two teenagers, discovering love for the first time. But deep down, I knew that things had changed.

“We were barely ten. You told me you’d never let anyone else be your mate. That it had to be me.” A sharp breath escapes me as I recall the memory. It was long before my world fell apart, before I lost everything. We had been inseparable then, childhood friends promising each other dreams of the future. I let out a soft, almost bitter laugh. “I was a foolish child.” He turns to me, something raw in his eyes. “Were you?” We had been young, foolish, untouched by war and loss. Back then, the idea of mates had been nothing more than a fairy tale.

that made her eyes light up. “The thing … that happened to me … that causes all my nightmares…. It happened on Thanksgiving.” She said. Ah. So that’s what started all this. Frankie bringing it up today … her coming over here. It was starting to make more sense now. “I can’t remember how old we were. But I think I was 8 or 9. Back then we were still having Thanksgiving and all of our get togethers here, at this house. We snuck out. Remember?” She said.

And I took a sip of my wine to steady myself. "Your turn," he said. "What?" "The game, it's your turn." I groaned. “Oh please, not tonight." "Yes, tonight." I'd actually forgotten about the game. We'd started it years ago, back when we were teenagers. It was a truth or dare with a twist, and every dare had to be something embarrassing, something ridiculous, or something that would make the other person squirm. It was stupid, it was juvenile, but it was our thing.

Who initiated us? Having run around the whole apartment, looking for some unknown alpha, but not finding anyone, I wearily sank into a chair. Or rather, in what is left of the chair. There was almost no whole furniture after our race with the she-wolf. The very same culprit of the mess snorted in embarrassment and fell silent, apparently she herself was waiting for an explanation. In the community, three simple truths are hammered into us from childhood.

I've lost so much. I remember how things used to be. The way we would argue over the smallest details, each of us trying to outdo the other. The way our classmates would watch with bated breath as we pushed each other to be better. We were unstoppable then, both of us. We had dreams, ambitions, fire. But now?

“Yes, our old escape. You remember.” Of course, I remembered. The meadow had been our haven as teenagers—a place we ran to when life within the pack walls felt suffocating. We would sneak out at night, lay in the tall grass, and dream about the future. Back then, we thought we had all the time in the world. That was before everything changed. I hesitated, but Lila’s grip tightened. “No excuses, Eleanor. You need this.” And maybe she was right.

We had known one another since grade school although our deep friendship wasn't forged until our freshman year in high school. By the time we were seniors, we were so wild and popular that we were dubbed the “Thrilling Three”. It caught on and stuck. There was never a dull moment. We missed that part of our lives. We weren't trying to relive or rekindle our untamed youth. We were simply trying to spark up our present lives.

He turned back to me, smiling slyly. "You have a dirty mind, Eves. I was talking about our childhood. We were around three at the time. In fact, it was even before that we became friends. Our parents were all friends from same college and even after marriage they all stuck together. Adrian and I were next door neighbors and both our families were like a single big family. It still is.

“Then let’s finish what we started.” And just like that, we weren’t just lovers planning a wedding anymore. We were a team—preparing for war.