*edited*

8 years later...

I woke up and stretched out my back. Today is my eighteenth birthday.

"What are you doing up already?" Asked James, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Another nightmare?"

I just shook my head softly. "Do you think they are safe?" I questioned just like I do on my birthday each year. It always brought me some peace of mind when James would speak to me about them.

"Honey, I wish I could tell you." He gave me a sympathetic smile and pulled me into a bone crushing hug. "I know they would be incredibly proud of you, no matter where they are." He spoke placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Can we check my height?" I questioned. He nodded and raised the ruler above my head. just like every birthday, we always had hope I would continue growing. As the years have gone on, its continuing to look unlikely.

"Same thing 4'8"." He said. I groaned. I hate being this short. Being 18 and 4'8" is not something fun especially in the werewolf world. I'm currently living in a pack and no one except James and Lincoln know what I am. Or who I am for that matter.

Lincoln and I used to be close but we grew apart as we got older. It hurt a lot to lose my best and only friend. We would fight often and he would leave me for his other friends in a heartbeat. He was too popular to be my friend anymore. It sucked, but I have finally moved on.

James felt bad for me once he knew my current condition of being a Tribrid. He knew that going to school wouldn't be a good idea for me so he's kept me here and I still get upset about it. Even though it's for my own safety. Everyone's safety.

"I'm going to go out to the garden and practice." I smiled.

"I have a surprise first." He chuckled. His hair was grey going white and he had sweet chocolate brown eyes. He was the kindest person I've ever met, even though I haven't met many at all.

He walked back in with a box wrapped in purple wrapping paper.

"Open it." He laughed. I tore the paper off and looked amazed at the box. It was a photo book of me from the first year I was here. The first page was on my eleventh birthday when Lincoln and I were covered in chocolate cake. The next one was me playing with my dolls that he had gotten me, there were so many of them. He had every picture he had of me in this.

I felt tears fill my eyes. "Thank you so much!" I smiled and gave him a hug.

"Anytime kiddo." He smiled. "I'm so proud of you."

I walked into my room and placed the book on my bed before heading outside. "I'll be out in a minute." He spoke. I walked out the dirt crunching beneath my feet.

I took a seat on the grassy patch. "Okay, I read about this somewhere where you can bring flowers back to life." He smiled pointing at the dead flowers in front of me.

"What am I supposed to do?" I questioned him.

"Channel your inner magic." He chuckled. I gave him a dirty look and he laughed even harder. "Here's the book, wake me up if you need anything." He said laying down in the lawn chair. 

He really is sweet he never leaves me out here by myself incase something happens. He always wished he could help me more but he was a retired alpha who knew little when it came to magic. Witches were hard to find and it wouldn't be safe to tell them my secret anyways.

I placed my hands into the dry grass and began thinking happy thoughts. When my mom would bake cookies for me and we would eat them together. My dad always playing with me and helping me train. I felt magic coursing through my veins. I closed my eyes and felt the breeze pick up. I refused to lose my train of thought when I started feeling a little more drained I opened my eyes.

What I saw shocked me. Instead of just just having the few roses and tulips in front of me alive, it was this entire property. Bloomed flowers beautifully decorated the border before the woods and surrounding the house.d

"Woah." I turned to see James staring wide eyed, his book fell onto the ground below him.

"How did I do that?" I asked to no one in particular.

"That was amazing. How are you feeling?" He questioned.

"Fine." I smiled feeling ecstatic that it worked.

The grass was healthy everywhere and flowers were now blooming along the outskirts of the woods. I've never done anything even remotely close to this. Ever.

"This next one is destruction." He spoke sadly.

"I'll go get the glasses." I shook my head furiously.

"No, I don't want to do that one yet." I blurted out.

The glass shattering always brings me back to the day I never saw my parents again. When I accidentally shattered all the glasses when I lost control.

"Bri..."

"I don't want to." I cut him off. He just nodded.

"You might find your mate soon." He smiled changing the subject, knowing that I didn't like doing spells that reminded me of my past.

"They wouldn't want me." I sighed earning a dirty look from James.

"Have you heard from Lincoln?" I questioned. He shook his head. James was the old alpha so he would always tell Lincoln to update him no matter what. Which you can guess Lincoln rarely ever did.

"Hey, you know what it's him missing out." I smiled seeing the sad look on his face.

"Can we do something today?" I asked dying to leave this property for once in my life.

"It's probably not a good idea. But what would you want to do?" He questioned. I just shrugged.

"We can go get ice cream at that place you used to always tell me about." I tried hoping he would say yes.

"Lets go." He said shaking his head laughing.

"At any sign of danger you need to get back here as fast as possible don't worry about me I'm an old man." He warned.

"Of course... I wouldn't leave you." I said. He groaned.

"You give me more white hairs than I need." I just rolled my eyes and we began walking towards the pack. We lived kind of far from everyone. When James was alpha he would keep me here. I wouldn't leave since I knew better. He would do his work come stay with me almost all of the nights and then leave to do more alpha stuff.

I was always such a burden to everyone.

We ignored all the stares we were getting when we got to the ice cream place. "They have so many flavors." He chuckled.

"I'll take a scoop of banana, a scoop of  chocolate and a scoop of cookie dough on a cone please." Spoke James politely.

"And you miss?" She asked me. I looked up at Jason and he nodded.

"I'll have a scoop of peanut butter ice cream, Chocolate and banana please." I smiled.

We got our monstrous cones and began devouring them.

"Mmmm this is so good." I moaned, my face likely covered in chocolate.

"Believe my stories now." He laughed. "I used to get them every Friday with Lydia." He smiled sadly.

"She was lucky to have you." I said giving him a warm smile and taking another large bite of my cone.

"I was lucky to have her." He smiled.

"We are closing shortly." Said the owner walking over to us from behind the counter.

"What do you mean it's only eleven? Aren't you guys usually open until around ten tonight?" Questioned James.

"Alphas orders, he's having a ball to try and find our Luna." She said enthusiastically.

"Alright I guess we will head home then." He said leaving a tip on the table.

"Thank you, I hope to see you again soon." She said kindly.

James and I walked outside, the summer breeze connecting with our cold air conditioned bodies.

"It's beautiful out today." I smiled. I always loved it when the weather was like this. Everything just felt better when it was like this.

Once we got back to the cottage i decided to sit outside for a little while.

"Can we go to the ball?" I questioned before he walked through the wooden door.

"I don't think that would be a good idea for either of us." He sighed leaning on the old, chipped door frame.

"You should at least go, He would be happy to see you there." I said. I mean or course I would want to go but I feel bad that I'm the reason he doesn't get out anymore.

"I can't leave you here on your birthday." He said giving me a sad smile.

"I'm just going to practice spells anyway, you should go have some fun." I said walking towards him.

"I don't want to leave you here by yourself." He  said softly looking at the now blossomed flowers.

"I'll be fine. I can control my powers." I sighed.

"Your getting stronger." He spoke again countering my point for him to get out of the house and enjoy himself.

"I'll be fine, I won't practice my magic, if that's what your worried about." I spoke hoping that wasn't the case, I would be pretty bored if it was.

"You know what, you can come with me." He sighed. "I would feel awful leaving you here, especially on your birthday." I smiled and jumped up and down excitedly.

"What do people usually wear to things like this?" I questioned.

" I always forget you have never been to a party before." He chuckles. He walked with me to my room and started looking through my closet.

"You have nothing fancy." He groaned looking at my assortment of old jeans and leggings.

"Come on." He said pulling me to his room. He dug through his closet pulling out a trunk. He unclipped the clasps and pulled open the top. He dug through it a little bit before pulling out a stunning dress. (Picture at the top, I changed the original dress from when I wrote this lol. It looked too much like a wedding dress.) it was a light green dress that was extremely soft and light to the touch. It had small ruffles going down to a pool of fabric around my feet. It was way too long on me, but there was little I could do about it. I didn't want to ruin this beautiful dress in any way.

"This belonged to Lydia." He said referring to his mate.

"I couldn't." I said after hearing that." He waved his hand dismissively and quickly shoved the dress at me.

"Its a beautiful dress it shouldn't be kept away forever." I went into my room and started getting ready. I didn't own any makeup and decided to just leave my dark blonde curls flowing down my back.

About an hour later I heard James call for me. I was beyond surprised to see him in a suit, usually he's in khakis and an old t-shirt at the most.

"You look gorgeous." He smiled.

"You don't look so bad yourself ." I was wearing flats since I can't walk in heels for the life of me. For being so close to the ground I really am clumsier than anyone should be.

"Ready?" He asked and I nodded.

Once we reached the castle I took a deep breath not knowing what I was getting myself into.