Prologue

Mora

Asigh flows from my lips, as silent as possible as I put away the books from my last two periods and grab the one for my final class of the day. Thank god I only have another month in this place. I’m beyond ready to graduate, go to college. It’s definitely not going to be anywhere around here. I’m so done with this damn pack bullshit.

Being the only human, unmated human of the pack that is, makes me a target. The only reason I was allowed to live here was because my mom turned out to be the pack’s beta’s true mate. I was a package deal because my mom wouldn’t begin to leave me behind at just one. So, the pack’s alpha agreed to allow me to live with them, when previously, no unmated humans were allowed anywhere near the pack. Not even a mate before they were claimed, resulting in only a few human mates around here period.

The only reason the alpha relented on the rules was because my dad—he’s way more my dad than a stepfather, the only one I know—threatened to leave the pack if he didn’t. Dad is the only one that can begin to compete with Alpha Thomas’ strength. More than once, it’s been noted that Dad actually did take down Thomas when they were eighteen. It was just after Thomas became alpha when his father died unexpectedly. Thomas claimed it was only in a training fight, so it didn’t count, and Dad didn’t care enough about being alpha to challenge it.

That’s made me, for some stupid reason, a target for the alpha’s kids. I don’t know why because it’s not like there’s any need for them to prove that they’re stronger than me. It’s a given considering they’re full blood wolf shifters and I’m completely human.

Dana is in my grade, the youngest of the alpha’s three kids. Her two older brothers are three to five years older than I am, so when we were in elementary and junior high, they were still around, bullying anyone they could, but especially me.

It quickly became apparent that the others in our school were going to have to choose which side they were on, the alpha’s kids, or the human kid. Most chose the alpha’s kids to support, which in turn meant more bullying towards me. The few times when it turned violent, left bruises on me, or broken bones, Dad made sure to stop it. To him, I am his daughter. His only daughter at that, because all four of my younger siblings are boys.

Since my brothers started school, the number of people on the alpha’s kids’ side has dwindled. Mainly because my brothers don’t let anyone bully me in any way even though they’re all two to five years younger than I am. Sammy and Ryan are the closest to me in age, sixteen to my eighteen, but they’re both huge like Dad.

When they were in first grade, already bigger than I was, they would stand up for me, guard me against the others. But even with that, it wasn’t until the last two years since they reached high school with me, bigger than even the alpha’s sons Mark and Tyler that the physical shit stopped.

Well, beyond one instigator.

Dana is the only one that I’ve had to deal with since then that will still put her hands on me. She just does it in places where no one else will see when I’m dressed, and since I don’t shift into a wolf like they do, I never undress in front of anyone. The verbal crap is constant, the mocks from Dana, her friends, and her brothers’ friends that are still in school, are enough to make anyone want to get as far from here as possible.

The only reason I didn’t leave on my eighteenth birthday at the beginning of the school year is because of my family. Mom and Dad wouldn’t understand. Especially Dad.

If I left then, he’d want to know why I hadn’t told him the bullying hadn’t stopped. Why I kept it a secret from him. Let alone didn’t tell Sammy and Ryan that Dana was still physically coming after me.

He wouldn’t like knowing the answer to that—because it would hurt him.

If he knew that when he protected me, it just made the others worse, he’d do something to put a stop to it. And I’m afraid I know exactly what that would be—a challenge for the alpha spot, the authority to rule the pack, punish those that disobeyed his orders. I don’t know if Dad could beat all of them. Oh, I’m sure he could take down Thomas, but if that happened, then Mark and Tyler would issue challenges. I don’t want Dad hurt for anything, but especially because I’ve seen how much Mom loves him, needs him.

She seemed disappointed when I turned eighteen and wasn’t a mate for anyone here. She’d hoped for it to happen for me, and if the only thing I’d ever seen was her and Dad together, I’d likely want it as well. But I’ve seen too many bad couples to begin to risk it. Mix the obsession the men seem to have with the violence and I’m straight out the door.

I’ll stick with humans and deal with not being able to see my family than risk that any day.

Yes, it will tear my heart apart to know that I won’t get to come back and see them. That the only way for me to spend time with them will be for them to come see me, but that’s better than risking something worse happening around here after I graduate.

Nearly all of the jobs in town are overseen by someone in the pack. They’d rather hire someone they consider an omega over a human, and even if Dad managed to get me a job somewhere, whoever was in charge would make my life miserable.

I will not become a maid for the packhouse where the alpha’s family lives. Not because I think it’s beneath me, but because of the torture I know Dana and her brothers will put me through. Same with becoming a cook for the pack—it’s too dangerous. I won’t let any of them have that much access to me.

A light smile slips onto my lips as someone takes my book from my hands. I may not have the sense of smell like the others do, but I know my brothers’ scents well. I’ve lived with them long enough to know theirs versus anyone else’s, and I don’t instantly recoil at the touch to my shoulder.

“You okay, Sis?” Sammy asks, shutting my locker for me, before he walks us down the hallway towards our final classes. His is a couple hallways away from mine but in the same direction at least. Ryan’s is on the other side of the school but if I’m having a really bad day, he’ll risk being late to walk with me as well.

“Just ready for graduation to be here already. I’m so done with school,” I muse, not about to tell him what Dana and her friends were whispering behind my back last hour that had me on the verge of tears.

If he lays a hand on Dana, her brothers will come after him in return, and I won’t be the cause of them being hurt. Yes, the twins are bigger and stronger than the alpha’s pieces of crap, but my brothers don’t fight as dirty as they do. It’s one thing to use some of the tactics they do in a fight for their life, but definitely not during a training session where the goal is to subdue, not maim.

“You sure that’s it?” Sammy asks and I nod, keeping my emotions together until we reach my classroom. “I’ll drive you home. Ryan wants to run with the others to get some exercise in since they wouldn’t let him take another elective of PE.”

“He has twice the needed credits for it already, of course they weren’t going to let him take it again,” I muse, smiling for real this time. Of the two, Ryan focuses more on brute strength, letting it get him through to the final rounds in all of their competitions, while Sammy focuses on tactics and ideas that work best against that opponent.

Every tournament since they were in eighth grade has come down between Ryan and Sammy, making me incredibly proud, and also relieved that I don’t have to participate in the regular PE classes. Most of them are devised to teach the pack members to fight. Including how to pull strength from their wolves while still in human form and win fights. The more advanced PE courses teach fighting in wolf form, which means of course, the students have to have mastered the ability to shift.

For many, that happens during childhood, the latest anyone in the pack had ever shifted was likely sixteen, and that was someone who was born from one of the few omega’s human mates and a nearly full blood wolf. A lot of shifters that were less than half-blood couldn’t shift but they still had a thousand times more strength than I did at eighteen, at just six years old. By the time they were eighteen, a fight against a human for them was like fighting a newborn baby. There was no contest for who the winner would be.

“There’s our pretty girl,” Sammy teases, making me roll my eyes at him before I slip into my classroom, thankful that Dana and her groupies aren’t in this course with me. At least I won’t have to put up with them until Monday now.

Weekends are the best. I get to just relax and read usually, no worries about anyone else coming after me, saying something rude or cruel just to upset me. Even going shopping in town with Mom is relaxing. Other kids won’t begin to do it. They think it’s beneath them. The human mates like cooking for their own families and doing their own shopping, unlike the full bloods. Most of them only eat the food prepared by the omegas, don’t know how to boil water or do the laundry. They’d likely die of starvation if they couldn’t shift and hunt if the omegas were all killed or left.

School the next week is worse than the one before and the one after it even more so. It seems like Dana is out for blood, likely worried that it’ll be her last chance to draw it without being called out immediately. At the school, there are far more hidden spots than at home, especially since I don’t risk being near any of them along at the packhouse.

Every day at school is just one more that I can mark off my calendar. It’s also one more for my nerves to deepen.

It feels like something bad is coming. Like no matter what I do, how much precaution I take, nothing is going to be enough to keep me safe, even with as little time left as I have to face here.

The morning of graduation dawns bright and sunny, and I can’t keep the grin off my face when I see the breakfast surprise Mom put together on the table. Usually, it’s filled with every kind of breakfast meat possible, bacon, ham, sausage patties, sausage links, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, chicken fried steak and regular steak even because it takes a ton to fill up all of the men in our family. Today though, there’s French toast of every variety and fresh fruit as a side.

The guys grumble good naturedly until we leave for the school to get to the ceremony on time. I’d love to just skip it, but Mom’s been looking forward to this day for a long time, and I don’t want to disappoint her.

As we’re standing in line to get ready for the processional, someone grabs me, pulling me back into a darkened hallway, a hand over my mouth quieting me until it’s replaced with tape. A dark bag blocks my view as it’s pulled over my head, tied tight around my throat, barely letting me breathe as whoever is doing it keeps tightening it.

My arms are jerked hard behind me, and I scream against the tape when one of my shoulders pops out of place. Darkness is pulling me under, and it turns black as something is slammed into my middle, over and over, until I pass out, unable to stand it another moment.