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Welcome to Silver - book two of the Golden series!!! 

Thank you so much for the unreal support already, the prologue alone has over 750 reads and I know you've all been patiently waiting for this to get started so HERE IT IS! 

Chapter one of Silver. 

I really, really, really hope you guys enjoy this journey with me. We're in for a ride!

I love you all immensely.

(I just know you guys have missed Trent as much as I have.)

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I never truly thought that I would have a mate.

When I was young, I often dreamed about it - about the girl who would come along and sweep me off my feet. Who would be perfect in every way that I could imagine but also imperfect too. The one person in the world who would see me for exactly what I was and not the image that I was so desperate to show.

I listened to every word that my parents used to tell me about their love, I would write down phrases that they used to describe the feeling of meeting your perfect match, I'd look out for them in every person that I so much as walked past on the street.

They often had to pull me away from strangers when I was a child, my eyes wide with wonder and heart longing to connect with someone that was made just for me.

My brother, Michael, used to laugh and dig his knuckles into my hair, his amusement shaking me as his arms would wrap around, swinging me onto his shoulder. He'd have caught me reading another book on soulmates or listening to words from different languages that I could use to describe her when I finally met her.

'Our very own Casanova', he used to say every time without fail, his laughter like streams of sunlight breaking through any dark cloud that could possibly fall over me.

He used to tell me to be patient, to wait and see who the moon goddess had created for me, that I would meet her at the perfect time - a time that I didn't even realise I needed her.

After he died,  I gave up on that dream.

I couldn't quite picture myself happy anymore. I didn't believe that I deserved someone, or that I was worthy of a true mate.

A soulmate.

When there were so many people who never met theirs, who went their whole lives feeling incomplete and lost - why would I be given the blessing of finding mine?

I had caused my brothers death, I had led him straight to slaughter - my own selfish ambition and ego the murder weapons that I'd placed in the hands of the rogues that tore him apart.

How could I possibly believe that I was worthy after that?

Any plans I had of a future shared with someone were gone, my mind was filled with dark thoughts and even darker feelings. When I saw my parents, I knew I'd never find love.

I'd stolen Michael's chance at it, I'd ruined the sweetness between my parents - I'd taken their son from them, the son that was meant to be their pride and joy, who was going to change the world.

I didn't deserve to be blessed with my own other half.

That's what I had believed for so many years.

I'd drowned myself in work, in the pack. I'd focused on the things that I could do right, the ways in which I could protect the people I care about, not just from outside threats but from myself too. I'd learned to ignore my wolf, to control the change enough that I only let him out when it was necessary.

When I needed to protect, to hunt... or to kill.

But then I saw her.

Like a beacon of light she appeared, breathtakingly beautiful and nothing like how I had imagined.

How could a person even begin to imagine something so perfect, I felt like an idiot to even have attempted to picture her before.

It was as if she was another wonder of the world.

It had taken a moment for me to see her, to let my instincts cave into the pressure of looking for what had awoken my wolf. As much as I tried to ignore it, I couldn't.

It wasn't until I gave into the temptation and stopped fighting that I understood what was happening, what that feeling was.

The world stopped in that moment.

The painful memories that clouded my every day thoughts were gone with a wave of her blonde hair, the nails that had dug into my soul for so many years finally lifting with a glimpse of her smile. 

It was as if I had been lost at sea; my arms growing tired and legs failing me as I tried to stay afloat but eventually the idea of being rescued seemed impossible. And then she appeared; a lifeboat in the distance, calling out to me over the waves and rocky shores.

It wasn't until I caught her in my arms and her sunglasses fell that I truly saw the beautiful creature that I had been so blessed with.

Eyes shining like sparkling sapphires, the shock and pure innocence in them striking something in my heart that had been dormant for almost five years.

Hope.

She was there; my soulmate, my Luna...

My Elle.

The books I had read prepared me for nothing.

Not the rush of feelings that bombarded my body as she breathed in and steadied herself in my arms.

Or the way my throat closed and words seemed almost impossible as she tucked her hair behind her ear and offered me an almost embarrassed smile.

Perfection.

An angel.

A goddess.

Minha Deusa.

She had to have been a dream, there was no possible way that she could be real and standing in front of me, her lips a mere foot away, her heart beating like a hummingbird in my ear.

But she was.

She was real.

And she was mine.

But now she was gone.

And as much as I try, I cannot picture my life without her. 

How am I meant to when she was my entire world?

A knock on my door pulls me from my mind, shattering the image of her laughing expression with one simple sound.

"Come in," I call, my voice hoarse and I wonder how long I have sat here in silence.

Hesitant footsteps stop in the entryway, their eyes no doubt surveying the swamp that I have become accustomed to, the darkness only lit by the one window that I've allowed to remain uncovered.

It's where I sit, looking out at the forest in the hopes of seeing a glimpse of her through the trees.

A stupid idea, I know.

A drawn out whistle makes me finally turn to look at who has been bold enough to disturb me, their arrogance only seeming to rile the wolf inside of me that does not take a break from howling in pain.

"If I'd known we were becoming the Adams Family I'd have skipped that last haircut and got to work on my Cousin It impression."

I roll my eyes at my best friend and turn back to the view, choosing to ignore the humour he's trying to inject into my life and instead deciding to wallow in my own turmoil.

"Okay, so we're still not doing jokes, my bad," Cole sighs, walking over and pulling up the spare chair beside me, "Has the view changed at all in the three days you've sat here?"

I hold in a growl.

"No."

"Really?" Cole gasps, his chin falling into the palm of his hand, "You don't say."

He is making fun of us.

My brows furrow at my wolf's voices hissing in my ear, his tone clipped with pure hatred for my Beta.

How dare he disrespect us, we are more powerful than he will ever be.

I grit my teeth and tighten my fists, trying to push back the venomous words that are etching themselves onto my tongue with every second my wolf speaks. The sketches being drawn of how to rip his emerald eyes out of his skull and snap his neck discarded to the edges of my mind where I can't see them.

"What do you want, Cole?" I growl out flatly, my words jagged with the strain of withholding the fury inside of me.

And my fury too.

By the subtle way his arm pulls back from me and his spine straightens, I know that he can hear the warning in the undertones.

"You told me to let you know if there was any sign of movement around the pack line."

My ears prick.

"And has there been?"

A pause.

"No, Alpha. There hasn't."

My already broken heart seems to crack further, the idea of revenge the only thing keeping me from completely falling apart.

I no longer know why I even have hope- it has been three days without her light in my life, three days of sheer despair like a fog that refuses to lift. But a part of me cannot seem to let her go.

I'm starting to think that if my heart doesn't give out, my mind might.

I can't live without her.

"Trent..."

The softness to Cole's voice makes me recoil and I quickly morph my expression into a flat and emotionless one; it was something that I'm becoming accustomed to.

No one else deserves to join in our sorrow, they couldn't possibly understand.

"How's Kristie?"  I ask, desperate to stop the prying words of a person who cares about me from making me crumble, "Has she woken up yet?"

As Cole's eyes drop, I want to take back my words, the sadness on his face doing nothing to ease my own pain.

He deserves to be in as much pain as us.

My wolves overpowering echo shoots fire through my limbs and I feel my nails dig into the palm of my hands in response.

Stop it.

"She's still not awake," Cole answers quietly, "Deli isn't sure why she's not responding to anything, she says that something strange is going on - her vitals are all fine but it's like she's in a coma."

That's better than being dead.

"Did you send for specialists like I asked?"

He nods in response.

"Good. Let me know when they arrive."

And leave us alone.

I turn back to the window, my body shifting into the position it had been stuck in for hours.

Maybe this would be where I die.

I hear Elle's laughter like a wind chime outside, the soft and melodic tone drifting into my office and surrounding me as though her own arms were wrapping around me.

The last time she had been in this room I promised her that I would protect her, that we would find her father and the hunters and protect the pact.

Protect the people she loved.

Now, not only is she gone and there is nothing I can do, but Kristie also hasn't woken up. I have no leads on the person who betrayed her and escaped with his life, someone who was meant to be her friend.

There's no one else alive who knows what happened before we got there.

Have I been able to do anything right?

Every time I close my eyes it replays - the light from her gaze leaving, the smile gently slipping from her lips, her hand turning limp in mine, the cry of pain breaking from my chest, Kristie's scream shattering the forest around us.

I felt the world end in that moment. The life I had allowed myself to believe could be possible was snatched from me in a blink, the happiness I had finally been allowed to feel wiped away like it never existed.

If only you'd realised sooner, my wolf growls - blame dripping from every syllable.

If only you had used your head and all that training you learnt from your brother to actually realise what weapon they had. Maybe then you could have saved our mate, maybe then she wouldn't be lying cold on a table, her life draining from-

My hand breaks through the arm of the chair I'm sitting on, the splinters flying and scattering onto the floor, breaking the silence I've drowned myself in.

You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Cole finches beside me and it takes all my strength not to growl at the movement, my blood rushing into my ears and begging my fingers to wrap around something other than the chair. 

"Was there something else?" I ask, words grated as they pass my lips, like a ticking clock waiting to chime.

I feel his hesitation as he goes to tell me, even through my fog of rage and despair, I can feel it sliding through him and over to me like a snake curling around my ankle. 

"Kristie hasn't woken up but..."

But?

I only wait a few seconds before turning to look at him, my impatience overwhelming and he swallows as our eyes meet. 

"But?"

The name flashes through his head, our minds linking for the briefest moment as I open my own up and drop the defensive walls that have stopped my pack from being able to contact me.

Without a breath I am out my seat and out the door before Cole can stop me, his calls racing after me as I fly through the house; footsteps ricocheting off the tall walls that follow me.

'Trent, wait I-'

I raise the walls back around my mind, returning to my mental solitude that has been my only escape these last couple of days. 

I don't need to hear it.

I don't need to hear his opinion, or anyone else's. I don't need their words of pity, apology or kindness when all I can think about is how I have to get used to the reality of waking up every day not seeing her face, not hearing her laughter. 

What am I meant to do when my reality is now worse than my nightmares?

How can they all possibly say anything that could make that easier, how can words comfort a heart as shattered as mine?

They can't.

I reach the stairs to the basement in record time, my feet clattering down the steps with every ragged breath that seems to shake my chest. 

But he might be able to.

When I see him something inside of me grows; not happiness, not anger but relief. A relief that there's a way for me to feel something, to feel anything. A way that I can actually help my lifeless mate. 

A way for me to not be so useless.

And a reason for us to lose control and give into the bloodlust.

I shake my wolf's voice away. 

He looks up at me through the small window in the door that leads into the cell, his body crumpled and twisted, his mouth dry as it stretches out into a smirk. 

"And what do I owe the pleasure?" he asks, voice scratching and breaking off in syllables, "I must have done something right to be given such an honour-"

"You're never going to see the light of day again," I whisper, interrupting his arrogant words as my own fingers curl around the bars, "You're going to scream until you lose your voice, you're going to beg me to stop, you're going to pray for death. I'm going to make sure of it."

He climbs to his feet, his legs shaking from under him as he stumbles forward - eyes glowing in the small piece of light that lets me see his face as he approaches. His cheekbones are bruised, cut and daunt, his skin a pale colour and the bags under his eyes dark in comparison. Clearly being injured and hiding in the woods for three days didn't suite his spoiled, rich boy lifestyle.

But his eyes still shine with the same venom, his lips still drip with hatred and confidence as he snarls at me. So familiar, yet now so different.

"Is that so?" he chuckles, leaning forward so that his nose hangs through the space and his stale breath floats over to me, "Like you were going to make sure that Anna was never hurt again?" 

The clang that echoes around us signals my hand hitting the door, my rage denting it ever so slightly as growls pour from my gritted teeth, my wolf begging me to be released and to attack. 

As it flies open, the figure moves back, the confidence in his body dwindling as I step into the cell, my shoulders shaking with the withheld fury inside of it. 

He should be grateful that he didn't use her real name, not the one those monsters gave her - otherwise he would be dead already. 

He should be afraid.

"You know what's funny?" I taunt and I know that the words are only half my own, "You have this confidence, this arrogance and belief that you are actually something great. That anything you do could have significance, that you are actually worth something."

Another step into the shadowed room but this time he doesn't move, his body either frozen in defiance or fear. Either way, it only seems to aggravate the burn in my core and the heat spreading through me, the room starting to grow smaller.

"I just want to understand where that kind of idea comes from?" I prod, tongue clicking slowly, my words held level with fake calmness. Then in a blink I grab him by the throat, my nails digging into his skin in the exact same way I know his must of done to hers multiple times. 

His eyes widen in panic as he tries to pry my hand off of him, his nails scratching my skin in an attempt to claw his way out but my body is numb, the pain barely registering in my mind. 

What was physical pain when I've already suffered the most excruciating pain imaginable. 

"Why, exactly, would you ever think that you were worth any more than how useful you were to him? Why would the idea that you mattered in any way shape or form even pass through your mind when you are nothing but a worthless, shit-eating, pathetic, weak and spineless creature that is nothing without his master to tell him what to do?"

I watch the sweat trail from his hairline, his heart hammering in his chest and echoing through my ears. I can feel the hitch in his breath and the shake of his bones far beneath the skin. 

Finally. Fear.

"But he's gone and he's left you here; defenceless, without orders or any support and now you're all on your own and there's no one to stop what's going to happen to you." My fingers tighten and our noses almost brush as I snarl down at him, revelling in the way his legs begin to collapse, "The screams that echo around this room are only going to be yours, the pain that will hang over it for years to come will be left by you and the blood that stains this floor will be no one else's but your own, dripping slowly as your tears mix with it."

I release his gasping body, throwing him back so he stumbles and hits the wall, the smack against the concrete making him cling to it for support.

"You are nothing but a follower, your strength only as strong as the one who you obeyed but me?" The laugh that leaves my chest turns my own blood cold, the lifelessness of it blinding, "I am an Alpha whose own people are scared of him, I have the power to crush you with one hand if I wanted but I want to watch you suffer, a slow and agonising death that will only pale in comparison to the pain you've put me through."

How I wish she could have seen him - how she could have watched the way his knees buckle in fear, how his eyes glaze over as I tower above him, finally seeing me for who I truly am. 

Who he truly is.

Monsters.

"So tell me, Carter," I smirk at his name, my teeth glinting and eyes beginning to glow as my wolf breaks through, his shaking body trying to press itself even further into the wall.

"How strong are you really?"

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And we're off!!!

Trent is in so much pain and it breaks my heart - but considering Matt got a quick death, it was only fair that the other asshole has to suffer!!! F U CARTER x 

There will be a new chapter twice a week (hopefully) -the next one will be tuesday! I'm hoping to make tuesday and Friday/saturday's my upload days (depending when I'm working etc) but I will keep you guys informed and let you know! 

Lots of love x