CHAPTER 1: Run

KATHLEEN

I should have had a large party, the kind that creates forever memories; laughter, dancing, and most of all family on my 18th birthday. My wolf would emerge, I would become whole, and finally be able to sense my mate.

But, instead of gifts and cake, I was surrounded by blood and the bodies of my parents. Death was my only gift, given by the one who should have been my fated mate, Charles.

He's ruined everything.

We met at the University’s orientation party. I was a freshman eager to fit in with my human counterparts. I didn't know which college he belonged to, and when I first saw him in real life, I didn't care.

He was so sexy. Tall, his form imposing over many of the students at the party, with dark wavy hair styled perfectly and a square jaw with just a hint of stubble. My thoughts crashed together, my emotions confused. I both wanted to connect with him, tell him my secrets… and run away as fast as I could. He was dangerous to me, and my instincts  screamed a warning into my mind. I couldn't tell him about my real self...so I babbled on about funny things instead, little aspects of my life that didn’t give me away. I found we shared many of the same interests, and he listened to it all as if he was fascinated by every detail. He had a sense of humor, and I was drawn to him. I couldn't help myself, even if I was about to turn eighteen, even if my true mate was waiting for me.

Before we’d even parted ways, I couldn’t stop thinking about when I could see him again.

I didn't expect to see him at school the next day, standing at the front of the lecture hall in the most important class I had registered for. His white button-down shirt highlighting muscles I'd memorized the night before, a silver brooch on his lapel, reminding me of the tattoo on his body…one of the exact same symbol. 

He was a professor. My professor.

Shame filled me. What had I been thinking spending the night with someone so much older? I was determined to forget everything, pretend it didn’t happen…but things from there got complicated, and my life became even worse. As Alpha’s son in his own right, and a friend of my father’s, he showed up and attended the inter-council meeting at my home. He had stroked my hair and whispered that he'd see me after the meeting, and I fell for it. My heart was thundering in my chest, the desire to be with him again overtook my common sense. I decided then to follow my heart. I no longer cared about fated mates. All I wanted was him, to be with him.

But, the reality was, I was wrong. I should have listened when my brother Edward warned me away from Charles Wilson.  

If… If only I’d listened, but I can’t take it back now.

He is a liar! He is a demon!

On that day, as the daughter of the Alpha, my celebration should have been huge, and I couldn’t wait to be back home. Edward picked me up from school, and we joked and laughed all the way home. It was the last happy moment I will remember. Where everything was still alright.

When we arrived at the manse, the wide gates were left open, the front courtyard was empty. The main hall was brightly lit, the curtains on the floor to ceiling windows had been pulled open letting light stream onto the marble tiled floor. None of that registered for me, though, because my wolf rose from within me, and I could finally feel her. Then it hit me. 

A scent...the scent. I nearly doubled over with the strength of it. Excitement and longing, attraction...and a primal lust filled me. My mate was here, he was close, and I had to find him.

But, as I dashed through the double front doors of the manse into the main hall, I could only see blood…so much blood. 

There, spread out on the entry hall floor, were my parents, pools of crimson already growing cold beneath them. My father, dressed in the suave suit he saved for celebrations, his arms spread wide, a huge gaping hole in his throat. My mother was several steps past him, she’d run toward the stairs. She lay, still reaching for the stairwell with one perfect hand, her shoulder torn into a bloody mess, crimson staining the cute, flower-patterned dress we’d picked out together a few days before. 

New, terrible, scents flooded me. Everywhere, the scent of blood and death.

My attention snapped to what I'd missed in my panic. Charles, standing from the crouch where he stood over my father, his face frightful and marked with blood. His mouth twitched, and his hands were trying to touch me. He looked like a demon, evil incarnate. Blood on his mouth, his hands, and his whole body.

Why did he kill my parents and my pack? Why?

I was shocked by what I saw and couldn't believe it was Charles...

My wolf was going crazy in my mind, I leaped for Charles. I couldn't tell in my raging grief if it was to rip his throat out or to embrace him. My confused emotions wanted both.

"We have to go, it isn’t safe," Edward murmured and stopped me. Like lightning, he was backing me away, toward the door and standing between me and Charles. 

When I looked back, I swore to myself  I would never forget the scene. My mate, Charles, standing next to my parents’ bodies.

Inside, my wolf came to her senses. The scent of my parent's blood now overpowering the mate-drive. Lust became fear. A real, imminent fear for our survival.

But an urgent and shaking voice echoed inside my head, that was my wolf, Patricia, and she was urging: "Run, don't look back."