CHAPTER ONE
Kyle
She was gone. A part of me ached at the knowledge I still hadn't been able to find her.
I released a frustrated breath while I scanned the forest from the ledge I was standing on. It was getting late and the light was darkening into a sunset. Another day had passed and I still hadn't found her. The cool wind blew across my skin. It was difficult not to feel disappointed I had spent another fruitless day searching for her and I was no closer to finding her than I had been the day before.
It was like no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find her. She had vanished into thin air. Logically it wasn't possible, she had to be somewhere. I had to keep looking and I would find her.
It had been a couple of weeks since I had last seen her. By the time the fight between the rogues and the packs had ended, she had vanished. When I thought back to the last time I had seen her, I couldn't help but think about Keri and how she had kept the fact Crystal was my mate from me.
Keri's betrayal weighed heavily on my shoulders. She was my friend and her betrayal had hurt and I hadn't spoken to her since. Thinking back to everything I had done for her made her betrayal worse. Even when everyone had turned their backs on her, I hadn't. I had seen beneath the cold exterior she had hidden behind.
Letting out a heavy sigh I rubbed my forehead trying to stop thinking about her. Every time she entered my mind, all I could think was how she had kept the most important information from me. She had known Crystal was my mate and she had kept it from me. It didn't matter why, there was no justification in her actions. If I had found out sooner I would have been able to stop Crystal from leaving. But it had been too late and by the time I had found out, Crystal was long gone.
My thoughts turned from the darkness of betrayal to Crystal.
Crys. That is what I had called her growing up. My mind scanned through my memories trying to pinpoint the moment when she had figured out we were mates. There was a lake on our territory and at any time she would have seen my birthmark on my hip. It wasn't exactly something we hid. Finding your mate was a joyous occasion to be celebrated.
It was hard to believe we had never touched. It was only when Keri had asked me did I realize we never had. Crystal had been extremely shy and reserved so she had kept to herself. There had always been something about her that had piqued my interest, and I wondered if that feeling had something to do with the fact we were mates. But any time I had tried to single her out to talk to her, she had a point of avoiding me. I had always put her actions down to her shyness, never once considering it might be something else.
I struggled to figure out why she was running from me. I had gone through every single scenario in my mind but I kept coming up with nothing. Something was keeping her from me. Was I not good enough? I shook the thought from my mind. I was an alpha, so of course I was. There had to be a reason she had run away and was trying to keep hidden, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
For a moment I stood watching over the forest, wishing to see a glimpse of her, before I finally gave in to the need to go back to my pack. I had been away since the fight in Keri's territory where all the packs banded together and fought off the rogue pack. I had responsibilities that needed to be dealt with and I couldn't follow my instinct to find my mate when an entire pack depended on me.
There was no giving up, I would never stop looking for her. She was mine, my destined partner for all time. It was hard to understand her actions but that didn't change our destiny. Mates gravitated toward each other even before touch confirmed and set in motion the love and fate that would tie us together until the end of time.
Frustrated and tired, I shifted back into my wolf. As the sky above darkened and masked me, I let out a sad howl into the air. Would she hear it and know it was me? I scanned the forest one last time before I turned back and began my journey home.
I ran as fast as I could, pushing myself to my limit in the hope of tiring out my mind and body so I wouldn't be awake all night thinking about Crystal. She was it for me; there would be no other.
My legs strained with the pace as I shot through the forest, whipping past the branches. The air in my lungs burned as I pushed harder and harder. Without stopping to rest, I raced back home to my pack.
A couple of hours later I ran to the tall iron gates of the compound that housed my pack. The gates swung open and I entered. As they closed behind me, I stopped. I shifted back into my human form while I was still breathing hard. I greeted a couple of the guards through my mind-link.
The night air cooled my heated skin as I strode to my house. I entered through the back door by the kitchen. My uncle and I were the only ones who stayed in the main house. The rest of the pack stayed in apartments at the bottom of the estate. It was a similar setup to Cade's compound, which worked well.
Soft light illuminated the kitchen from the passageway. I wasn't expecting anyone to be awake but when I left the kitchen I could hear a low hum of conversation coming from the living room. As I got closer I could hear two voices, my uncle's and Scarlett's.
What was my sister doing here? I hadn't seen her since I had left Keri's territory. For a moment I hesitated before I entered the living room.
Uncle Nate stopped talking mid-sentence and Scarlett stood up, turning to face me. Her expression hit me first. It was filled with relief as she beamed at me.
"You're alive," Scarlett said with a gasp before flinging herself into my arms. Taken by surprise, I braced to hold her weight without it toppling both of us over. I held her while I gave my uncle a questioning look. She held me so tight it was hard to breathe.
"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, not understanding her concern. Everyone knew I had left to find Crystal. She had been my sole mission.
"It's a good thing you're back," Uncle Nate said with a serious expression. He looked older than the last time I had seen him, tired eyes and lines etched in his features. His hair looked grayer as well. Scarlett hugged me tighter, her head against my chest. I held her, giving her the comfort she needed.
"What's going on?" I asked. Scarlett didn't say a word as her hold tightened.
Something was up. I pulled away from her gently and lifted her chin upward so my eyes connected with hers. Her expression hit me hard. There was a glistening of tears mixed with fear. I frowned, not understanding their reactions to my arrival.
"A lot has happened since you left," Uncle Nate informed me, the disapproval clear in his voice. He hadn't been happy I had taken off and been gone for the last two weeks.
"You know I left to try and find Crystal," I reminded them. They all knew finding her was my top priority.
"You shouldn't have been running around alone for the last couple of weeks," Scarlett lectured as she pulled away from me and hit me in the arm. "Something could have happened to you."
"Hey, what was that for?" I asked, rubbing my arm. I couldn't understand why my sister was upset with me. "I'm an alpha of a pack of werewolves. There isn't a lot out there I'm scared of."
"After what has been happening since you left, you should be," Cade said as he entered the room, and Scarlett turned to face her mate when Cade came to a stop behind her. They made a striking couple, both with midnight black hair. Cade's eyes were blue and Scarlett had the same gray eyes I did.
I frowned as my eyes studied his. He looked dead serious, and I had a foreboding feeling ignite in the pit of my stomach. Cade was no sissy. He was a powerful alpha whom, despite some disagreements through the years, I respected.
"Is someone going to tell me what the hell has been going on?" I asked, finally losing my cool.
Deep down inside, I knew whatever they were going to tell me wasn't going to be good.
Crystal
"You can't stay here forever," Claire told me in a resigned voice.
My eyes flickered to her and I studied her for a few moments before I pulled my gaze completely from the slit in the curtain. Her light brown eyes held my deep green ones. Her long hair had once been a dark chestnut brown but now it was gray, the color a reminder of her aging.
The small cottage was surrounded by thick forest. Other than the occasional sound of a forest animal, it was silent. For the moment I was safe but she was right. It was only a matter of time before I was found.
The only reason I had been able to hide up to now was because Kyle and the pack weren't looking for me on their territory. Claire lived on the edge of the territory away from the main compound.
The vials filled with wolfsbane I had taken from the medical center before I had left Keri's pack had also helped to mask my scent. It was almost impossible for them to find me as long as I kept injecting myself with small doses of it.
I gnawed on my bottom lip as I tried to contemplate my options.
"I wish you didn't have to go," Claire added and I left my lookout by the window to take the few steps to put me in front of her so I could hug her close. Her body was old and frail in my embrace. I held her tight, never wanting to let go. A deep breath in and then I exhaled it sharply, trying to build up the courage to do what I needed to. The back of my neck throbbed with a familiar heat as I held her.
When I pulled away from Claire, she brushed my cheek and looked at me with glistening eyes. Once I stepped away from her the throbbing at the back of my neck eased.
"Maybe there's a way you can stay," she said, her voice hoarse with emotion. The lines in her face deepened and I felt a pang of guilt for putting her through this. I shook my head. I wanted to stay but we both knew that was impossible. I didn't have a lot of wolfsbane left and once I ran out of it Kyle would pick up my scent. He would find me and I couldn't let that happen. The sooner I left, the better for everyone.
"I can't. We both know that," I reminded her, and she nodded.
"You'll be safer here," she said but I was shaking my head at her.
"I'm not safe anywhere," I said, saying out loud what we both knew deep down inside. It was hard to admit that it didn't matter where I went, I would always be looking over my shoulder and expecting the worst. From the day I had entered the world, my path had been guaranteed. There was no changing it.
"Your parents loved you," she murmured softly and I felt her words pull at my heart. "They wouldn't have wanted this life for you."
I swallowed my emotion down. I didn't blame them. I had been told I had been an unexpected pregnancy my mother refused to end. Their story had been a forbidden love story without a happy ending. They had both been killed shortly after I was born.
"It's not their fault," I said. I had no bad feelings for the parents who had brought me into the world. When I thought of them they were faceless. Claire had no pictures to show me. She had often described what my mother had looked like but it was hard to keep those features she described in my mind. I had inherited my fiery red hair and green eyes from my mother. Claire had cared deeply for her and had been a good friend to her. Their friendship had ensured Claire had watched out for me through the years and we had formed our own close friendship out of it.
"Liv and Robert have been so worried about you," she told me. I felt a pang of guilt at the mention of my adoptive parents. I loved them like they were my true blood parents but the truth was they weren't. They had raised me from a baby but the blood that flowed in my veins wasn't theirs. They were good people and they didn't deserve what I had put them through but there had been no choice. By leaving, I had kept them safe. No one was safe around me.
"There's no way I can tell them the truth," I said even though we both already knew it. Knowing my secret was too dangerous.
I had started to notice slight changes after my sixteenth birthday. Strength I couldn't explain as well as the sensitive circular mark on the back of my skin. Granted I had been expecting some changes but these had been unexpected. Frightened and unsure, I had confided in Claire.
Finally realizing it was time to come clean, she had told me the story of my parents and my birth. That day would be engrained in my memory. It was the day I had discovered why I was different, which had only increased my fear. Only Claire and my real parents knew the truth. If the wrong person discovered my secret, it would be dangerous.
For a moment she stared off into the distance before pulling her gaze back to mine. I knew she missed my mother dearly. She had lost her close friend and I had lost any chance to know my parents.
Claire had done what my parents had instructed to dissipate any suspicion by pretending I was an abandoned baby in need of a home. She had told the pack she had found me abandoned outside her front door.
Inside the pack I had been given to Olivia and Robert to raise and they had done their best to give me a loving home. They had loved me like I was their own. Up to my sixteenth birthday I had lived a normal life within the pack. After discovering the truth from Claire, I made the decision to leave to keep them safe. Discovering my existence risked the lives of the people who loved me. I had been scared but there had been no choice.
Claire and my parents loved me and they would have done anything to protect me. And if Kyle had discovered I was his mate, it would have put his life in danger as well. I was his to protect.
Even now, over a year later, I was in the same situation I had run from before. I had to get away before I was discovered. But I had nowhere to go and there was no one who could help me. There was no plan of action, just a need to get as far away as possible.
Subconsciously my hand went to the back of my neck and touched it gently. The burning sensation continued on the slightly raised skin of the circular mark. The wolfsbane would hide my werewolf traits but it wouldn't stop the throbbing at the back of my neck hidden underneath my flowing red hair.
It reminded me of who I was and why I couldn't stay there. It was the reason I had to leave.
Kyle. Thinking of him made my heart ache. The werewolf in me wanted to go to him and live the destiny that had chosen for us to be together. But I had to resist it.
Memories of seeing him for the first time since I had run away swept through my mind, making me put a hand on my heart to handle the emotion I felt. He couldn't understand my actions. After the fight with the rogues had been won I had left as quickly as possible before he had a chance to confront me. It had been cowardly but if he knew the truth he would not have let me go. I still had no idea if he knew he was my mate. Had Keri told him?
Afraid for my safety since there were still a few rogues in the area, I had found safety with the only person I could trust.
Now that the war with the rogues was over and things had died down, it was safer for me to leave. And I had to do it soon. It was only a matter of time before Kyle found me here and once that happened there would be no hiding who I really was.
"Come have something to eat," Claire suggested, breaking me out of my heavy thoughts that burdened my small shoulders.
Not having much of an appetite, I took one last look out of the gap in the curtain to ensure there was no one in the vicinity before I followed Claire into the kitchen. Despite my lack of hunger, I ate as much as I could. I needed to keep up my strength.
The unknown loomed over me. I had nowhere to go and, other than Claire, I had no one I could trust. I had to find a place where I could hide away from everyone—humans and werewolves. Irrespective of whether Kyle knew I was his mate or not, after a while he would give up and stop looking for me. I had to believe that.
There had been times I had wondered if staying alive was worth it but when I thought of my parents' actions to ensure my survival, I felt the strength to carry on.