Chapter One
Everything went to shit sometime during the night. I wake up in the morning and walk into the living room to see my parents gaping as they stare out the window. Shuffling over to stand beside them, I watch as a man chases down a young woman and viciously bites into her neck. Blood is everywhere and her screams echo in my head as I watch the practically man gnaw on her.
My parents immediately call Alpha Seren, who is the leader of our pack, and ask what to do. Thirty seconds later, my mother is telling me to pack a bag with clothes and other necessities and to meet them back in the kitchen in five minutes.
Wasting time is not an option. Quickly, I pack my bag and run into my sisters' room. My little sisters, Olive and Grace, are twins and barely a year old. The responsibility of packing their things falls on my shoulders, seeing as my mom is too busy packing the food and my father is packing his and my mother's stuff.
We meet in the kitchen five minutes later and pack everything into the car that is waiting in the garage. As soon as we are all in the car, my father opens the garage door with the button attached to the visor. It is pandemonium outside. People are screaming as scary humanoid figures chase them down. Some of the people run up to our car, hitting their hands on the doors and trying to get in.
The figures chasing them are grotesque. Some of them have ripped skin and others have blood dripping from their mouth, eyes, and ears. My attention is caught by a thud louder than the ones coming from the people trying to get into our car. My sisters are crying and my mom starts to practically growl. Turning around, I see a woman with ripped skin all along her face and chest, blood dripping from every opening, slamming on the windshield.
"Drive! Drive!" my mother screams, her eyes never wavering from the bloodied mess of a woman trying to break our windshield. With every slam of the creature's hand on the window, some of her flesh and blood is left behind.
"I'm trying, but I can't see anything!" my father yells back as he tries to move the gear shift. His arm muscles bulge as he tries to get it to move and I can see the frustration creeping onto his face. Silence comes over me, not wanting him to turn his anger on me, his usual outlet for his frustrations.
Just then, the disturbing woman stops banging on the car and runs towards something else. My father somehow manages to unstick the clutch and quickly steps on the gas, turning the car in the direction of our pack lands.
It is about a ten-minute drive, and I decide to rest my eyes until we get there. Nausea sits in my stomach as I listen to the people outside the car screaming. Placing a hand in the car seats on either side of me, I hope to calm my sisters' crying. Grace quiets almost immediately, her hand tightly wrapping around my thumb. Olive, though, does not seem like she plans on stopping her ear splitting screams.
Opening my eyes, I search for her pacifier, quickly slipping it into her mouth once I find it. Her muffled whimpers make my heart break, so I rest my head on her legs, hoping to calm her down with my presence. It seems to work because her cries seize completely once her small hands find their way into my hair.
We are just outside of pack lands when I see an even more disturbing figure than before chasing after our car. It almost looks like a large wolf but in the most disturbing way. Its ears are ripped and oozing gashes run all along the length of its mangled body. Red liquid, which must be blood, oozes from its mouth, leaving drops on the road as it chases after our car.
"Oh... My... God," I whisper, but parents are able to hear me. They both turn their heads to the right, seeing the lumbering beast closing in on us.
"Oh shit," my father says as he steps on the gas. We are able to make it onto pack lands before the creature can reach us, the car crossing onto the territory just as it is about to leap on us. It does not follow us anymore, though. It stops at the border and just growling at us, watching as our car drives away.
We drive straight to the pack house without stopping. As soon as we get there, my parents run inside, leaving us behind and the car running in their haste. They always forget about us, only caring for themselves. It is not out of the ordinary for them to leave us behind as they run to safety. As quickly as I can, I climb into the front seat of the car, turning the key to turn the car off. Stumbling out of the driver's seat, I hastily pocket the car keys before grabbing my sisters out of their seats.
Balancing a sister on each hip, I try to calm down their crying. We walk into the pack house and the pandemonium inside. Our alpha, James Seren, is in the front of the common room with his sons, Ethan and Erik. They are a year older than me and much bigger. They look like stereotypical alphas: tall and broad-shouldered.
"Alright, alright, everybody, calm down!" the Alpha bellows. He does not continue until everyone follows his orders, looking over all of us with a stern eye, waiting for the last few people to stop talking. "Everyone saw what was happening outside, and I have decided that everyone will be living on pack lands from now on." Grumbles can be heard throughout the crowd.
"I know that not everybody is happy about this, but it is the only way we can ensure everyone is safe," he continues, talking over the hushed conversations taking place. "While outside pack lands, my family and I came across two different creatures. One was humanoid, while the other looked like a deformed version of a wolf. I think that whatever is happening is affecting werewolves and humans. It even seems to be forcing werewolves to shift into their wolf form, something we all know is practically impossible."
There is a collective gasp that can be heard throughout the room. It is unusual for a disease to harm werewolves. We are usually immune to any human diseases, and the fact that it is changing us into wolves is even stranger. All of us have been taught that our wolf is the spiritual side of our soul, something that we can not reach, only tap into when we are hurt or in need of a burst of speed or strength.
"We will start building a fence tomorrow along our border, and from now on, everyone will participate fully in the pack. The pack house will house everyone as we set up the houses throughout pack lands. School will be set up here in the main building, and everyone who has yet to graduate high school will have to be enrolled. The mating ceremony will still take place next month, but until then, all teenagers are not allowed to leave pack lands."
Ethan and Erik look surprised as they stare at their father, and I can tell they were not expecting that. Before anyone can say anything, the Alpha continues.
"Everyone has been assigned a room. All of those who are already mated will be on the fifth floor, and everyone else will be placed on the third and fourth floor. Pack dismissed."
"Yes, Alpha," is everyone's response. Everyone starts talking again, forming little clusters around the room in order to talk and be near to their close family and friends.
I ignore my parents, just as they are doing to me, and start to shuffle towards the Luna, Maria Seren. She is standing in the doorway that leads to the kitchen and the stairs, telling everyone their room assignments. After about twenty minutes of waiting, I reach her.
"Name?" she asks, without looking up from the clipboard in her hands. Pieces of her bright red hair fall into her face from where it is tucked behind her ears, and she swipes it away in agitation.
"Liam Sattler and my sisters are Olive and Grace Sattler," I respond.
"Status?"
"Omega and theirs are unknown," I say while looking down. Grace and Olive stare up at me from where they are standing on the ground, smiles on both of their faces.
"Oh yes, Liam. You will be in room 306. There is a double bed, and I will have Ethan or Erik bring up the cribs."
"Thank you, Luna."
"You're welcome, sweetie," she says with a smile. She presses a quick kiss to my cheek and stoops down to rub my sisters' hair before stepping aside and letting me through the doorway.
Luna is one of the only people in the pack who actually acknowledges me, and she always treats me like her own child. Whenever someone would push me around, she would make sure they are given proper punishment. The thing that makes me respect and love her as my Luna, though, is the way she tries to protect me from my parents. She knows how they treat me, but has never witnessed my father hitting me or my mother's harsh words, always just seeing the aftermath of their abuse.
Tugs on my hand bring me back to the present and looking down, I see Olive trying to climb up the stairs while Grace looks hesitant to approach them. With a quiet chuckle, I scoop Grace up and help Olive balance as she takes wobbly steps up the stairs. Slowly, we make our way up to our assigned room. As I am trying to unlock the door, I suddenly notice the quietness of the hallway. After swinging the door open, I turn to see that my sisters have toddled off.
"Okay, my dears, where have you gone now?" I look around, not seeing them anywhere in the hallway. "What have you girls gotten into now?"
I hear them cooing at something and walk into the room next to mine. It is about the same size as mine, but the window is on the right wall from the door, instead of being on the opposite wall. Two twin beds sit on either side of the room, and boxes are haphazardly stacked around the room.
"Olive and Grace, what do you girls think you're doing? We're not supposed to be in here," I say as I bend over to pick them up from where they are playing with an empty cardboard box.
I hear two people talking and getting closer to the room I am standing in. Knowing I can't make it out of the room without being caught, I stand next to my sisters and grab their hands, waiting for the inevitable. Just then, Erik and Ethan walk in and come to a halt when they notice me.
"What the hell are you doing in our room?" Erik says.
"Um... Uh... I was just grabbing my sisters. They wandered into here. I'll just leave," I stammer out, looking at the ground while pulling my sisters closer to my side.
"I don't think so. You can't just come into our room whenever you please. I think you need to be taught a lesson," Ethan says, cocking his head to the side. He takes a step in my direction, but his brother wraps his arm around his arm, preventing him from getting any closer to me.
Just then, Olive starts to cry and the Alpha twins seem to realize that we are not alone. While they are distracted, I quickly pick up my sisters before running out of their room and into mine, slamming the door as soon as we are inside.
Releasing the breath I had been holding throughout the entire encounter, I set my sisters down before slumping against the door and sliding down onto the floor. The twins barely ever interact with me, but whenever they do, it always makes my heart race. Taking a calming breath, I open my eyes and notice that the cribs have been delivered.
Standing back up, I decide to give the girls a snack before putting them down for their afternoon nap. It only takes about ten minutes of cuddling before they are both out like a light, and I slowly place them into their cribs, not wanting to wake them from their much-needed nap. As soon as they are settled, I trudge back to my bed and face plant into the mattress, letting out a loud groan that is muffled by the blankets.
"God, I can't wait until I find my mate. I do not want to live next to those assholes any longer than I have to."
******
The picture at the top is of Liam.
Thank you, everyone, for starting this story!
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