RORY

“Alpha Nickolas is holding a pack meeting. He’s finally declaring who his mate is,” Mama tells me as I walk through the front door from school.

I stop in my tracks at the news.

Alpha Nickolas found his mate?

I can’t help but feel jealous. The most advantageous thing about being a wolf is the fact that they can know who they truly belong with… who their soulmate is.

We humans have to go through life, through different relationships, in the hope that we’ll be right this time. That this man or woman is who we’re meant to be with.

Or, maybe, because we don’t have mates, maybe we don’t have “the one.” Maybe we’re destined to look for many types of love.

Still, I adore the mate idea: the feeling of truly belonging with someone, feeling safe in their arms, their wish to make you happy and vice versa.

But alas, I’m human. The chance of a werewolf being mated to a human is rare. The compatibility of soulmates should at least be based on the same species, right?

I do have a boyfriend at the human school that I go to. His name is Eddie, and while I like him a lot, I could never imagine telling him that I live with werewolves. I mean, I haven’t even told my best friend Freya.

How can Eddie and I ever end up together when I have to lie about so many parts of my life?

Mama pulls me out of my spiralling thoughts, frantically tugging on my arm in order for us not to arrive late.

Another thing to know about me is that I’m cursed with clumsiness, so of course I trip over my feet as we rush out the door.

***

At pack meetings, Mama and I stay at the sidelines, hoping we are invisible and willing ourselves to shrink into nothingness.

Of course, being human, my scent is wildly different to others, making it impossible for me to stay completely in the shadows.

The previous Alpha welcomed me into his pack when my mama brought me home; however, the new management, Alpha Nick, hates me.

In fact, he detests all humans.

“Today is a momentous occasion for me,” Alpha Nick begins, his voice echoing throughout the hall. “I have found my mate, right here in our pack.”

Wolves can only smell their mate when they turn of age, eighteen.

Alpha Nick has been waiting a few years, so his mate must be just of age, or maybe they’ve known for a few months if she belongs to this pack.

“Here she is,” he declares. A tall, beautiful girl joins Nick on the stage, her glossy hair cascading over her shoulders and hazel eyes glistening in the lights.

Victoria.

A girl, a wolf, who has bullied me every day of my life.

We’re the same age and her and her friends were my tormentors in my childhood. Ever since I started going to a human highschool, I see her less. Thank Goddess…

But that doesn’t change the fact that she will become the Luna, the female leader of this pack, as she is mated to the Alpha.

And, like her Alpha, she detests humans.

***

I fall asleep with my thoughts in turmoil, images swimming in my head uncontrollably.

In this picture swirl, a particular wolf emerges with piercing blue eyes and black fur.

Those eyes capture me like a spell, entrancing me in an endless sea of blue and green and yellow.

”Who are you?” I try to call out to him. My voice catches in my throat.

And then they leave just as they came. But those eyes are still burned into my mind.

The next day, I dress for school, kiss my mama goodbye, and walk through the streets of pack territory.

It’s a medium-sized pack, with a fair amount of forest separating us from the humans. Our land is protected by guard wolves. I pass them every day in order to leave.

However, this time, the new Alpha and Luna seem to be on border patrol today, milling with the Gamma of the pack, the third in command.

“Look who it is,” Victoria says, throwing a stone at me.

Why? I have no clue.

I whimper a little at the impact of the rough object, however, instead of standing my ground like the rebel inside of me is willing me to, the responsible side deems it wiser to take their abuse on the chin.

I weigh the probability of which method would make them stop.

“Are you going to cry?”

“Luna Victoria, may I pass?” I ask politely as she blocks the way. She drags Alpha Nick to her side to obstruct my exit even more, just out of spite.

What a bitch. I just want to get to school.

“Humans and wolves don’t mix. I don’t even know why you’re still here,” Victoria hisses. “They especially don’t mix with weak little bitches like you.”

I should say “you’re the bitch,” and that would be obvious because she is a wolf. But I remain silent, my eyes begging for her to let me be on my merry way.

“Alpha…” I appeal to Nick, who holds the same stance as his other half. He raises his eyebrow in question, as if he’s clueless as to why I’m pleading with him.

“We can kick her out, right? Since you’re the Alpha,” Victoria suggests wickedly, a sly smirk plastered on her face.

“My parents allowed her to stay when that Omega mother of hers found her in rogue territory. They wouldn’t like it if I reversed a definitive decision they made. But then again, what do I care?”

“Funny, isn’t it?” Victoria says. “Even her own parents didn’t want to keep her. Why should we?”

Nick acts as though he’s contemplating it, although it’s obvious he wants me gone.

My mama always advises me to keep my distance from any of the titled wolves, all wanting to revert to the old ways of killing humans who are on their land.

By wolf law, it’s legal.

Humans and wolves don’t mix. That’s their mantra.

“Go,” the Alpha allows.

I zip past them, speed-walking carefully so as not to trip over my own shoes until I’m out of their sight line, and I breathe a sigh of relief once I’m away from the pack.

I don’t think I’m safe there anymore.

They want me gone.

And Nick is the Alpha, and Victoria is the Luna.

They can do anything they want, no matter what anyone says. My mama can’t protect me from them, which is why she always tried her best to keep me away.

***

Having gotten through the whole day of school with only a couple of slips, an achievement for me, I’m almost celebrating. However, as I barrel through the front door of my house, I fall flat on my face.

The sniggers I hear in front of me informs me we have company.

I compose myself before I push off the floor and back up onto my feet.

“Alpha, Luna,” I greet as my eyes widen upon seeing their faces. They stand beside my terrified mom, her expression aching with desperation and sorrow.

I give her a look, but I can’t understand what’s going on.

“We’re banishing you from the pack,” Alpha Nick begins. “Since you’re human, you don’t have any real ties that will break when you leave, but your mom won’t be going with you.

“You can say your goodbyes because you’re leaving tonight,” Alpha Nick declares stoically, as if he isn’t telling me I have to leave my mom and be forced away from the only life I’ve ever known.

Where will I go? As isolated as I felt in this pack, it was still my family, my home.

And they’re kicking me out?

“What?” I ask, astounded.

I know they were discussing it this morning. I just hadn’t thought they would go through with it so soon.

“Rory,” Mama calls out, taking my hands in hers with tears streaming down her cheeks.

I can’t even bring myself to cry, knowing that feeling pain is just the reaction they want, but those are my emotions inside.

She slips me an envelope without them noticing, and I pocket it, wondering what it is about. I guess perhaps it’s a goodbye letter, or maybe she has a plan.

***

Later that night, the pack stands, watching as I’m banished from pack territory, driven out across the borders with the Alpha, Luna and Beta pushing me along.

They didn’t even allow me to take anything, and my mama couldn’t stop them. Since she’s a wolf, getting banished from the pack would actually be painful, the pack ties having to be severed.

She has no choice but to let me go.

I turn my head and catch one last glimpse of her. My Mama, my protector, tears streaming down her face.

But then I feel Alpha Nick pushing me from behind and I know that I have to keep going.

Once we’re across the borders, we enter rogue territory, and I question why I have to be left out here.

Rogues are notoriously vicious, and will kill any unfortunate human that lands in their path.

They remain silent, an amused expression on all three faces as they notice my frightened one.

These three are evil and sadistic.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I feel a sharp knock to my head and I tumble to the ground. My vision blurs, the throb in the back of my head mind-numbing.

I cry out as I’m turned onto my back, pinned down by the Alpha’s large hands on my shoulders.

His full body weight crushes me, and I see the flash of his knife trailing along my jaw. His still-amused face wears a devious smirk.

“What are you doing?” I ask in an almost inaudible whisper.

“Why, little Rory, we’re getting rid of you permanently,” Nick tells me in a cunning tone. “I can’t have your pretty little mouth telling someone about wolves, about the pack.

“Humans can’t be banished,” he says. “Humans have to die.”

With no more warning and no seconds left, the metal digs right into the skin of my neck and slits it open.

I feel the need to cling to my neck, to try to breathe and stop the blood spewing all over my hands.

Before everything goes black, their smug faces are the last things I see.

It’s all over.

They’ve killed me…

I’m dead.