Audrey

I stood in front of the house I grew up in. Looking around, I saw flashes of the battle that occurred a few days ago. My family was greatly outnumbered. The fight wasn't fair. Using my werewolf senses, I saw dried blood staining the green grass. However, there were no bodies.

Frowning, I walked up the front porch steps. I walked through the doorway, stepping on the cracked front door. The house was completely trashed. All the windows were broken, explaining the glass that scattered around the hardwood floor. Going deeper into the house, I imagined a few days ago when everyone packed into the kitchen and wished me happy birthday

Instead of the clean kitchen I was accustomed to, this kitchen was absolutely destroyed. Every single cabinet was open as well as the fridge. There was food littering the tile floor and a sticky liquid that was most likely juice. I looked to my right where our dining table used to be, but was now a pile of broken wood. In my mind, I saw Dad, Keith, and I sitting at the table with our breakfast. My hand subconsciously started playing with the heart-shaped locket around my neck.

My eyes landed on the living room. The couches were ripped with a few claw marks here and there. Blood stained the carpet. Our glass coffee table was broken. And in the corner was my guitar case. "Oh god. No. Please" I whispered as I shakily took a step towards my birthday gift.

They destroyed my house, my friends, and my family. Since I left the egg donor's house, I probably won't see Keith again. The locket and the guitar are the only things I have left of him and my father.

The guitar case was still closed as I laid it down. I flipped open the locks before taking a deep breath. "One... Two... Three" I pushed the case open, and it was empty.

I loudly cursed as I threw my fist through the wall. I heard a soft whimper, but it didn't come from my mouth. Turning around, I saw Kelly. She's one of the witches that lived with us. She has a daughter, who I didn't see with her. "Bay!" she cried out as she ran towards me.

Meeting her half-way, I wrapped my arms around her as she started sobbing. Her arms were loosely around my neck while I was rubbing her back in attempt to calm her. "Kelly. What happened?" I asked softly.

She sniffled before pulling away and wiping her face. I waited as she willed herself to stop crying. "Men came inside the safe-house. They took everyone. Bay, they have Riley" her voice cracked at the end. Riley turned nine a few months ago. She's an adorable little girl. No one is cruel enough to hurt her. Or at least I hope no one is.

"How'd you get out? Why didn't they take you?" I inquired. By the looks of it, Kelly is the only one here. I wonder where the others are. Did they kill them? God, they were innocent kids!

Kelly sighed. "We tried putting up a force-field. I blacked out, and I guess the men thought I was dead. I woke up in the safe-house earlier today" she explained. Using magic also uses a lot of your energy; so it is common for people to black out while doing a spell. "Everyone was gone" she said quietly.

My heart dropped. "Did anyone get hurt?" I blurted. Maybe she saw something before she fainted. Maybe she saw who did this. Or she saw if everyone got out.

Rubbing her temples, Kelly let out a grunt of frustration. "It's all foggy. I can't remember" she sounded apologetic and so extremely sad. I don't blame her. Her daughter was taken, and we can't be positive of her location

My money is on the egg donor and her family. Not Gardenia and David, but her 'mate' and pack members. If I saw what happened, then I could find my family. "Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "You can transmit your memory to me"

There is a spell where you can share memories with each other. The person receiving the memories would basically be watching a movie through the other person's eyes. The spell is really easy and doesn't take a lot of energy; so it won't tire out Kelly.

Kelly quickly nodded in agreement. We connected both our hands and closed our eyes. I took deep breaths to relax myself for the transmission. A bright light flashed through my vision before I was looking through Kelly's eyes

I saw little Riley playing on the swings. "Mommy! I can go really high!" Riley chirped. I felt the love that Kelly felt for her daughter.

The love was quickly replaced with worry as growls filled the temporary silence. Turning around, I saw wolves. There were so many wolves. It had to be over a hundred, but I didn't look for long. I turned around and grabbed Riley from the swing.

We followed the other women and kids to the safe-house. I heard snarling and scratching as I ran. Riley was crying as I clutched her to my chest, speeding up. We finally got to the safe-house, and we sat in the far corner.

A few minutes later, all the women and children were accounted for. Naomi was the last one as she appeared out of nowhere. Immediately, the witches started a force-field. We had it up for a few minutes until the door flew off the hinges. Half-shifted men stood in front of our force-field.

They banged on the invisible wall as we struggled to keep the spell up. Women were slowly giving up. Blood poured from their noses as they stopped doing the spell. Eventually, I was the only one still keeping the shield up.

I ignored the pain in my head and the blood dripping from my face. The fact that Riley was here gave me more willpower to keep the shield up. But it didn't last long. I felt myself slump down to the floor as my energy diminished.

The men started grabbing people as my ears rang from the women and children screaming. I was looking around. I felt fear fill my body as I searched for Riley. But everyone was blocking my way. I was suddenly covered with a cloth of some sort.

Someone hid me from the men. But I could still hear their voices. "Who are you people?!" a woman cried out.

I heard more growls that would have me shaking in fear if I had any energy. "King Asher sent us" a man answered coldly.

Another flash of light passed and I was back in reality. Pain erupted in my chest causing me to squeeze my eyes shut. This shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't hurt when I come out of her memories. I forced myself to open my eyes.

Rather than seeing Kelly drained of energy like I expected, I saw her drained of blood. There was a puddle of crimson red liquid going around her body and soaking into her clothes. "Kelly!" I cried out. I quickly dropped to the floor and shakily turned her body over. There was deep claw marks covering her stomach.

They had to be made less than half an hour ago, that's how long it would've taken her to bleed out. The spell wasn't over. The spell dropped because she died.

I gently took her head onto my lap as tears fell from my eyes. Kelly didn't deserve this. No one in our family deserved this. With trembling hands, I shut her eyes and stood up.

"Thank god you're alive!" a voice shouted. I jumped in fright before turning around. There was a guy maybe a few years older than me. Just by looking at him, I knew that he's a werewolf. Power flowed off of him, but I couldn't tell what rank he was. I would guess that he's a Beta. The power felt slightly weaker than a Beta, but it was stronger than a Third.

I kept my eyes strained on him, not letting my guard down. He sheepishly rubbed his neck. "I'm Jesse, future Beta of the Midnight Howlers" he introduced himself.

Midnight Howlers. It sounds familiar, but I don't know where I heard it from. "Hi" I said quietly. I looked down at the ground and saw the pool of blood at my feet. My head snapped back up to the Beta. "Do you know what happened?" I asked in a slightly accusing tone. I can't mourn over Kelly if her killer is still here.

He nodded. "I saw her doing some spell on you; and I know that you can break spells by killing the witch who cast them. So... I broke the spell" he said proudly. Jesse was probably expecting me to be at his feet while praising him. He probably thought that I would be grateful. He couldn't be any more wrong.

Using some strength from Casey, I punched him in the stomach. He grunted and instinctively, his hands flew to his gut. I sent a blow to his throat, and he coughed as he rubbed his neck. But two hits wasn't enough. My foot went flying up to his jewels and he doubled over in pain. I took the opportunity to grab a fistful of his hair and ram his head into my knee.

'More!' Casey growled, bloodthirsty. I didn't object; I wanted to kill him, too. He was already on the ground as he groaned in pain. But he deserved more. I swung my foot into his body, making him slightly lift off the ground.

Before I got another hit in, I was pulled away. Strong arms wrapped around me, holding my arms close to my chest. I was lifted off the ground; but I continued to thrash around, trying to loosen the man's grip.

I struggled in his arms as I watched Jesse slowly get off the ground. With pitch black eyes, he sent a blow to my face that knocked me out.

********************************************************

Waking up wasn't fun at all. My head was throbbing and my arms were asleep. Not to mention, the ground was absolutely freezing. I was in a cell. There was a bed and a toilet that I would never even go near. I got up, hearing the clinging of chains. Looking around, I noticed a cuff around my ankle. The chain connected to the cuff was bolted into the cement ground.

I attempted to use my magic, but it was like I was disconnected from it. I couldn't do a simple spell to unlock the chain. I couldn't even teleport!

"Shit!" I lowly cursed to myself. There's no way I can get out of here. Unless I can get this thing off my ankle. I sat against the bed and twisted my foot around, looking at the cuff from all angles.

I could probably just use werewolf strength to break it. My hands started moving to the restraint, but a voice stopped me. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" a soft voice said. "It's silver. You'll get burned" she warned.

Turning towards the sound, I found a woman. She was in her thirties, I believe. Her brown hair was dirty and tangled. Her clothes were ripped, barely covering anything. "Where am I?" I whispered. Honestly, I was afraid someone would hear me. I'm obviously at a disadvantage.

I watched as the woman moved closer to the bars that separated our cells, however she still sat a few feet away from them. I guess I can't be trusted or something. "Midnight Howlers prison" she answered. "A few hours ago, the Beta's son and the Third's son brought you in. You were out cold" she said with a wince.

The guy that held me must have been the Third's son. Jesse is the Beta's son. I opened my mouth, but a sound of a door stopped me from speaking. I scooted as far away from the cell bars as possible. Why did I lose control? I shouldn't have hit Jesse. He thought he was helping me anyway.

Just like I expected, Jesse appeared in front of my cell with another guy. "Good, you're awake" Jesse said as he clasped his hands together. "Alpha would like to see you, so you have to be a good little mutt" he teased.

I scoffed. "I'm the mutt?" I asked incredulously. "I beat your ass a few hours ago" I taunted him. I could get him angry, make him lose he guard. Just long enough for me to escape.

Jesse growled at me, not liking the disrespect. For some reason, I didn't like it when he growled at me. I felt anger fill me, giving me the energy to stand up. I was at my full height as Jesse copied my actions. He was over six feet tall. I was puny compared to him.

However, I didn't back down. Jesse growled again, but this growl had force. He wanted me to stand down. It didn't affect me. With narrowed eyes, I growled back. A look of surprise crossed his face, before he quickly bowed his head, showing submission.

His friend unlocked my cell and opened the door. I only now noticed that they were both wearing gloves. Weird. They stepped out the way and motioned for me to come out of the cell. Cautiously, I obeyed.

Mr. Unknown walked in front of me while Jesse was behind me. We were silent as I followed the man to his Alpha. I prayed that I wasn't in the egg donor's pack. That would be awkward. I totally beat the crap out of this Beta though. I mentally cheered for myself.

'I might need some firepower' I told Casey. I got silence in response. 'Case?'

What the hell?! I was more alert as Mr. Unknown stopped in front of a door. Like a gentleman, he opened the door and allowed me to go inside first. There was a man at a large desk. His eyes were focused on a paper in front of him. Jesse cleared his throat, making the man's head snap up.

When his gaze landed on me, he instantly froze. With wide eyes, he gaped at me for a solid three minutes. "Y-You're Audrey" he stuttered. I slowly nodded. He knows me? He looked at Jesse and growled. "You hit her!" the man shouted while standing up.

I fought the urge to laugh when Jesse cowered away. "I didn't know, Alpha" he said apologetically. "I'm sorry"

The Alpha narrowed his eyes at Jesse. "Leave" he demanded. Jesse scurried away, whilst Mr. Unknown bowed his head at his Alpha. "Hello, I'm Stewart Laney" the Alpha introduced himself.

I nodded in response. I don't exactly have to introduce myself, since he apparently knows me. "This is the future Third, Sam Wright" he motioned to Mr. Unknown. Stewart slowly sat back down and motioned for me to sit across from him.

Well, I probably can't take both of them, so might as well listen to them. I sat in the leather chair as Sam walked to a couch that was against the wall. "I apologize for Jesse. I hope you and your family have mercy on him" he stated.

Have mercy on him? "I'm sorry. But can you please explain what's going on?" I questioned. I woke up in a freaking cell, and now this Alpha wants me to forgive his future Beta? First off, he killed Kelly. He deserved to get beat up. Secondly, he knocked me out and threw me into a cage. That was really uncalled for. He didn't even put me on the bed. Lastly, the ass-hole called me a mutt.

Sam stood up and walked to the other side of the desk. He was right next to his Alpha. "Jesse and I were looting the war-grounds" Sam started. "We found a witch doing a spell on you in the living room. Jesse killed her to stop the spell. She took a while to bleed out, though. I continued to look for items while Jesse kept an eye on you. When I came back, you were beating the crap out of him- you're an amazing fighter, by the way" he stated.

The Alpha cleared his throat as Sam got off track. "So, I restrained you, and Jesse knocked you out. We carried you to the cellars and waited for you to wake up. Now, we're here" he explained.

I nodded my head, but I still felt like I was missing something. "Why are you guys suddenly friendly?" I inquired. They wanted to save me, then they threw me in a cell, now they are nice?

"During all of that, we didn't know that you're a Royal" Sam said sheepishly. A Royal? I raised an eyebrow. "We didn't feel your power" he continued.

Shaking my head, I stood up. "I'm not a 'Royal'" I stated. "You're all crazy!" I exclaimed.

Stewart stood up and had his hands in a surrender stance. "You're the daughter of Queen Genevieve and King Asher" he said slowly.

King Asher. I remembered part of Kelly's memory."King Asher sent us" the man answered coldly. So the egg donor is a Queen, and her mate is the King. Good for them. "No" I denied. They are not my parents.

"I'm the daughter of Anthony Reynolds"

__________________________________________________________________

Hey guys!

Chris Zylka as Matthew Burke.

Katharine McPhee as Elise Hayes.

So in Rejecting A Princess, the Alpha of Midnight Howlers was Michael Laney. Stewart is Michael's son. Stewart has a son, who will make an appearance in future chapters.

Just to warn all of you guys, this book will contain a lot of different people and packs. The Midnight Howlers are going to be more present as well as the Royal pack and the Blue Moon pack.

If anyone gets confused, just comment or message me, and I'll try my best to answer any questions.

~A.J.