Adea

I feel like I’ve been running forever. I get to the bottom of the stairs and push with everything I have on the door. Please please please, I think to myself. I step back and push my shoulder into the door and it opens for me.

I’m blinded. All I could hear was the ringing in my ears. The wolf’s bane grenade had gone off. I squint as the fog cleared. Everything was moving in slow-mo as I tried to find him. Tried to smell him.

I couldn’t hear Mavy. I stumble over a body and stared in shock as I found the head of the body belonged to Gabriel. I rushed past the arms, legs, and heads of familiar faces. Fumbling and moving trying to find him.

In the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I turned and see a pile rise up and fall as a shape pushes up through the bodies. I can see his black hair and my heart swells as I watch him search for me. When his eyes lock on mine I see the relief flood his face.

He stands up and I can feel the need to touch him grow and almost explode as he starts towards me. I can feel his need and his relief. I feel his shock… Shock fills his eyes and I frantically try to see what’s wrong. I look down at his chest.. his beautiful chest…

The mate bond snaps and my world is cold and I’m all alone. All I can feel is a numbing pain as I fall to the ground. I can’t look away from my mate but I can hear his footsteps coming closer. He drops something near my head and grabs my hair. He starts dragging me and I hit my head on a rock.

The last thing I see is the empty eyes of my mate before I lose consciousness. The last coherent thought I have is knowing that I’m alone.

*Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep*

I groan as I hear my alarm go off. I feel a migraine splitting my head apart as I reach around for my phone. Where did I put it? I feel around for it until I feel it on the floor next to the bed.

I roll over and groan. Fuck, I have to get up. The Alpha and his family get up at seven and I need to make sure that breakfast is prepared by the time they head to the kitchen.

The Moon Goddess must have been watching out for me because normally when a rogue stumbles onto pack land they are killed when found. I’m lucky that Alpha Joshua gave me a job at the packhouse and provided a room for me to stay in.

I’ve been here at the Half Moon pack for the last four years. My parents died when I was young and Alpha Joshua and his Luna Rose didn’t have to help me but they did. I’m thankful for the roof over my head and the warm bed I have to sleep in.

I mentally push myself to get up and I just out of bed and throw on one of two of the new jeans I own, a white t-shirt, and a hoodie. I have a bag of clothes Mavy bought me but I haven’t had the heart to open them yet.

I’m putting my hair up when I hear a quiet knock at the door. I look at my reflection in my small mirror and groan. “My brown hair looks stringy and frizzy, the only thing nice about it is its length. My brown eyes are dull and are a bloodshot red.

There’s nothing I can do to make myself look better. Oh well. “Come in”, I whisper. Knowing it’s just Gabe coming to grab me for work. He’s 5’11”, has blonde hair, and a crooked smile. Not the tallest man in the pack but from my 5’3” I’m basically a midget.

I turn around and Gabe whistles. “Morning Ady. You look like shit”, he chuckles, looking down at my frizzy brown hair. At 5’11”, he’s not the tallest man in the pack, but from my 5’3 perspective, he’s a giant.

One time, after we first met, something went missing the day Gabe and I were working in the kitchen together. Some of the pack members blamed me for the missing clothes.

Gabe stood up for me and told them that I was with him the entire time preparing their food. Since then, he’s been a great friend but sometimes he overshares his opinion.

I roll my eyes, “Morning Gabe.” Tactfulness wasn’t his strong suit, but at least I could rely on him to tell me the truth.

“Have that dream again?” He asks.

The dreams started after my 17th birthday and have been haunting me for a year now.

When I first had the dream, I woke up with tears running down my face. They were so vivid they had me questioning reality. The next night I had another dream and it continued. I would get them once a month until I was having them every other week. Nightmares have become a normal part of life.

“Like clockwork”, I sigh as we head down the hall.

We close my door and I lock it. As we walk down the hallways I look at the tall white walls. They always make me feel so small. When I first moved into the packhouse, I fell in love with the old-fashioned vintage 19th-century European feel. Alpha Joshua is a little OCD so everything has a place and there’s a place for everything. It keeps everything clean and organized so I guess it works.

“I had an amazing night with this she-wolf Ady you don’t even know. Goddess! You should have seen the tits on her. I had her in-” I cut him off before he can finish.

“Please spare me the details, Gabe. I do NOT want to hear where, how, or what positions you had her in. I’ll take your word for it. Now please shut uuup”, I groan. Gabe is one of my closest friends but I swear he’s a man whore.

After every sexcapade, he insists on telling me every detail like I care. He swings an arm around my shoulder and leans in. “Come on Ady, if I don’t tell you who will I tell?” he whines. I can imagine his wolf pouting and I have to stifle a laugh. “Oh, my virgin ears,” I say as I cover my ears. He continues to pout while we make our way to the kitchen.