Being home for the holidays should be comforting, a time of joy and happiness surrounded by those you care about most.

Yet, here I am, heart pounding through my chest, tempted to jump back on the plane and fly back. Even though Christmas is only a few days away, home isn’t a place I really want to be.

After years of tear-filled phone calls from Mom, I finally caved, stepping foot back in the town I had avoided for years. All because of a certain alpha, one who made it his mission to chase me out.

I expected high emotions being back there, my wolf having revealed the moment I left this place after lying dormant when I needed her most.

What I didn’t expect was them, or the fact that being around them would trigger a chain of events that I could never come back from.

What started as a small trip to see my family for Christmas became something so much more, altering my life in ways I never thought were possible.

They say loss gets easier with time, but it was all a lie.

Loss eats away at your happiness until you are left a shell of your former self, wishing for the life you once had.

Escaping the darkness of my home was one thing, but leaving him behind was another.

It forced me to build an impenetrable wall, keeping everyone at arms length to avoid the pain of losing someone else.

For years I mourned him, his existence all but wiped from the earth once I left. My regular searches coming up blank every single time.

Until fate decided to lure him from the shadows one night, crossing our paths in a way that would change the trajectory of my life forever.

The encounter pushed me into a world I knew nothing about. One filled with beings that are not supposed to exist, and secrets that could potentially ruin me.