❝There are a million reasons why I should give you up but the heart wants what it wants.❞

─ Selena Gomez

https://youtu.be/UxV_paz84Mw

I walk straight into my room I can feel his eyes on me as I close the door. My wolf is uneasy with me. I have been in the alpha's circle my whole life and I have never heard of him.

We've never seen him before. She pulls his face front and center as we try to remember him.

I know.

It seems weird since my father would hold meeting at the pack house all the time with other alpha's close by and not once did I see Alpha Hunter, not even as a beta. My mind searches through all the faces that came through the pack house. Some are very familiar while others I remember vaguely, Hunter is not among any of them.

Maybe he is new to the position.

Maybe.

Maybe he challenged the alpha and won!

Then he must be a strong alpha. New would have traveled through the packs about such victory.

I climb into bed curling up, pulling my blanket over my shoulder, I face my window. The moon is high and bright the stars are like little specks of light in the vast dark blanket known as the sky. Staring at the moon always seems to calm me. It never fails to arrive just like the sun it is something that I can count on.

Are we going to have a good night sleep?

I sure hope so.

Forcing my eyes shut I will sleep to come to me. It is not so hard since I have not slept right for a couple nights now. The darkness is a welcoming vision for both my wolf and I.

The warmth of his body against me makes me feel safe and peaceful.

"Melany," his raspy voice brings a smile to my face.

"Hmm..." he stiffens against me.

"Why do you hold on?"

The peace within me vanishes and my eyebrows furrow together, "Hold on?"

"You know you're no good for your pack. You can't even keep your mate by your side what makes you think your pack wants to stand by you?" His harsh words are like a slap across my face leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. "You couldn't even help your father. This pack would be better off without you!" He hisses into my ear his breath sends a shiver through me.

How can he say that? I turn to look at him and he is not by my side anymore but instead he is standing a couple feet away by my window.

"Marcus," it comes out a hurt whisper. There is a flash of gold in his eyes, his wolf wants to surface.

"A she wolf can't take a males place in the wolf world." I gasp as his body starts to trembles his wolf is ready to burst through. My wolf is pulling at my core wanting me to allow her to surface as well. He is challenging me for my place in the pack. He broke me and now he wants the little I have left.

"Marcus stop," he drops to the ground and convulses.

No!

My wolf bursts through the surface. We can't hurt him, I plea to my wolf. My chest feels as it has been ripped open but this time it is my wolf doing the damage. I chose Marcus over her, over the being that stayed by my side when I needed someone.

My room starts to fade away, the darkness taking over the edges of my vision. My wolf howls loudly in my head, a heartbreaking howl. My vision starts to dim and Marcus starts fading as well.

"Blake!" Something pulls me forward and my mind jerks out of its sleeping stage. The pulsing pain on my forearms give me the extra push to surface.

"Marcus!" The word leaves my lips as I search for him in the darkness.

"Blake wake up," my body is jerked once again and this time my eyes open up. My dimly lit room comes into view and there is no one in front of my window telling me it was all a dream. The relief washes over me like cold water being poured over me. Gasping for air my hands fly to my face. I'm still myself. The silhouette moving towards the door brings my wolf close to the surface once again.

"Hey," the person freezes and inhales deeply. Their scent is strong it reminds me of a musky forest smell.

"It's me." My eyes start to adjust to the darkness and I can see Alpha Hunter before me.

"What are you doing in my room?" I snap. Grabbing ahold of the covers and pulling them up to my chin.

"You were shouting so I came to see what was happening. I'm actually surprise that no one else is here as well." I cannot make out his facial features in the darkness but I can see him shrugging.

Everyone is use to your nightmares already.

"My walls are supposed to be sound proof!" I growl rolling my eyes in annoyance but surprisingly not at him.

"Yeah maybe but your door was left ajar and I got up to get myself a glass of water and..."

"And?" I growl at him and my wolf snarls in my head not letting me think that she forgot what I did moments ago.

"Your screams made me think you were in trouble but it seems it was just a nightmare," a nightmare it was, I sigh and lower my head.

"Sorry about that." Andrew must have checked up on me and forgot to close the door.

"Are you okay?" He shifts his weight from one foot to another seeming uncomfortable. My heart is pounding away in my chest but I nod. My body suddenly feeling cold, "okay then I'll see you later today." Alpha Hunter walks out of my bedroom and I sink back into my bed not wanting to let the darkness take over me again.

Kicking off my covers I jump out of my bed in frustration pacing the length of my bedroom, so much for a good night rest. My wolf is on edge and wants to work out her stress.

Don't let him get to you!

Him? He was trying to help me out even though I didn't need it.

I wasn't talking about Hunter! She growls and her anger lashes through me.

My wolf has nowhere to run, to get away from me, at the moment. I can feel her anger, it is shimmering down, but the heat in the pit of my stomach lets me know that it is far from over.

I'm sorry but I'm trying god knows I am but he seems to sneak in through the cracks and tear me apart from the inside out.

My wolf does not answer me instead she seethes and growls at the imagines of my nightmare.

I am wearing some short shorts that I only wear to sleep and a camisole. It is supposed to be cold out today but I do not care I walk to my door barefoot and pull my it open. The dark halls are empty so I tiptoe out of my bedroom and make my way downstairs. There is no one out, it is too early for anyone to be awake. My hand grips the front door's handle and I step outside. The second my foot steps on the ground I am running my fingers travel to the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head in one swift motion, and then my fingers move to the waistband of my shorts and panties and pull them down together. My wolf is antsy waiting for me to let her out to let her roam free.

Hold on girl.

Flinging my clothes behind me I stretch my legs further throwing my body forward letting my wolf surface. My paws hit the floor in record time feeling absolutely no pain. My wolf and I may not be very compatible in my eyes but we have a strong bond. The closer you are to your wolf the more control you have over it. We might not have the strongest bond out of the pack we at least know where are faults are and we can work on them.

Most werewolves do not have a bond with their inner wolf so they lose control every time they shift. When they are in wolf form their wolf wreaks havoc. Then the person needs to decide whether they want to let go of their wolf, meaning stop shifting all together and eventually lose all connection with their wolf. Or risk being banished and becoming a rogue.

That almost happened to Andrew. Andrew and his wolf have become very close but that was not the case in the beginning.

Andrew shifted on his sixteenth birthday. His parents were elated but that was short lived. When Andrew shifted for the first time he destroyed his home and attacked his mother. Luckily his father shifted as well and managed to drag Andrew outside.

Andrew was not mentally prepared to have someone as strong willed as his wolf sharing the same mind and body.

Once outside Andrew ran away from his father and into town. We are supposed to keep our kind a secret so running into town in a panic does not help that.

At the time my father's mind linked with Andrew's. He ran out on me while we were having dinner, a rare occurrence having dinner with my father, it was not the first time he ran out on me but it was the first time someone other than my father mind linked me.

Help me!

I sat frozen in place as the images of a terrified Naomi, Andrew's mother, cried as Andrew went after her.

Then the images of panicked humans running away from a crazed wolf appeared. My wolf urged me to help him and she manage to pull me out of my chair I ran as fast as I could to my best friend shifting when I stepped out of the house, that was the first time I ever shifted without feeling a thing. We both wanted the same thing and that was to save our friend.

When we reached the outskirts of town my father had Andrew, his jaw clench on his neck, as Andrew wolf snapped at my father.

Melany go home.

My father was in full alpha mode, I whimper in protest.

I can help him father.

I didn't move closer as I feared he would take it as a challenge.

He's dangerous, he attacked his mother. My father growled at me.

Andrew had not spoken through the whole ordeal. He was on the darkest corner of his mind replaying his mother's face over and over. Her wide eyes, jaw dropped, and pale as a ghost. Her own son attacked her. I know what my father is planning on doing next.

He's part of my pack, you banish him you banish me.

The words lash through me and my father's body stiffens his white and black wolf stares into my eyes.

Are you being serious?

You know he is the closest thing I have to a sibling and he's scared just look at him.

He went after his mother and then came out in public where he could have hurt an innocent bystander.

Andrew was silently taking this all in, his frantic wolf calming down a bit.

He could have, we all could have but look he's fine and no one got hurt.

My father's jaw slowly starts loosening up on Andrew's neck and he slides to the ground with his tail tucked between his legs Andrew makes his way towards me and lowers his head knowing full well that I am the reason he is still here.

My father was livid with me, but he understood. He knew that he couldn't banish Andrew and I would be okay with it. He is my brother and my father knew I would raise hell if my best friend was gone. Andrew and I run back to the pack house. In the backyard I talking him back into shifting into his human form.

That was what made my father even angrier. I was in my human form and trying to convince a newly shifted wolf to come to his senses. Andrew cried and whined as he fought hard against his wolf. My father being the alpha felt all his pain and came out to help me. He told me that Andrew was afraid of hurting me and that I should back off and let him handle it. Andrew and my father's bond grew stronger after that night.

My father made Andrew make a choice either move to the pack house or leave the pack. Andrew's father made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Andrew. He cannot trust him and he does not want to lose his mate just because his son cannot control himself. You can guess what he chose. He has not talked to his parents since the incident but I know he really misses them but he saw my father as his own father figure always trying to make him proud. Now he's my most trusted pack member and my beta, even though we get on each other's nervous.

My wolf is running alongside a creek as the sound of a moose makes her growl as her animalistic side wants to take over.

Moose? Or else I will starve!

Dramatic much? Go for it!

I hate eating in wolf form but I have neglected my wolf for too long. I am too distracted with my thoughts that when the silence of the forest finally hits me it is too late. There are no animals running around, no birds chirping, and the moose is not moving. Silence like this means one thing.

The hunter has now become the hunted.