chapter 1 : homecoming

*3 Years Ago*

I almost fall from my bed hearing the shrill sound of my alarm clock going off. I groan and stuff my face into my pillow and try to get a few more minutes of sleep, while reaching to turn off the alarm.

Right when I'm about to doze off again into my dream world, my bedroom door burst open and hear a voice shout. "Wakey! Wakey!" Really? What am I? Four years old?.

"Go away and get your annoying ass out of my room and let me sleep peacefully for another 5 minutes." I say sleepily.

I hear silence for the next few moments, so I assume she really listened to my request. Huh? That's a first. My surprise is short lived when someone jumps and lands on my back. I groan in pain.

"No way! You are going to wake up right now or else I'm going to pour cold water all over you like last time." Courtney replies.

  I can practically see the smirk on her face, while she says this. Bitch. I think to myself.

My eyes widen when my brain registers her threat and I know she has no problem in carrying it out.  I decide to wake up and escape her wrath by rolling over and I find myself lying on the edge of my bed. By my rolling over, Courtney fell off of my bed and landed on her ass with a loud thump and I burst out laughing.

“HA!” That’s what she gets for being so annoying in the morning. I stop laughing and see her glare at me and I sober up quickly "Okay. Okay.” I'm up. No need to go all cavewoman all over me...Sheesh!!" I say.

She huffs and replies. "You better".

I swung my legs over the bed and stand up and enter the bathroom to freshen up.

Looking at myself in the mirror that is attached to my bathroom wall just above the sink, I see a girl with a round face, big brown hazel eyes and long chestnut brown hair.

My eyes move down towards my lower half of my body and I release a sigh. I have always been a little curvier than the other she-wolves in the pack. Some may consider me a bit chubby even. It's as if my puberty is on a train that travels like 20 km per hour.

That fact alone makes me the subject to mockery of the jerks and bitches in the pack. This mockery happens only at times when I'm alone, because they know if the Gamma would come to know about the things they say to his daughter he'll not spare them.

My mind then wanders to a different topic. The topic of 'Mates’ makes me think about my mate. Will he accept me or reject me? Well I hope he doesn’t reject me.

Ever since I've learned about the concept of mates, I've been excited to meet mine.  I have had no luck so far.

  I've already turned eighteen and most of the young females like me have already found their mates. They usually find them when they're seventeen, which didn't give me much hope. There is also the fact that I've had no good experience with males in my previous pack.

Past memories flash behind my eyes, haunting me with all the torture and abuse that I have suffered.

I hope he will be from my pack.

Sometimes, I envy Courtney and how easily she found her mate. After all she is mated to Alexander, Alex for short.

He is my overprotective older brother. They found out they were mates on Courtney's seventeenth birthday and are happy with each other. I'm happy for them.

I release a huge breath and I continue my morning routine, while Courtney sits on my bed and scrolls through her phone.

I dress myself in some black jeans, a mustard coloured top and my all-star converse shoes.

"So, why did you decide to grace me with your presence this fine morning?" I ask Courtney, while glancing at her through the mirror in front of me.

She lifts her face from her phone and scrunches up her face a little bit and replies "You don't know?".

"Don't know what?" I ask her and wait for her to reply.

"Damien is coming back from Alpha training" she replies.

My eyes widen and I turn towards her fully.

"What!" I shout. My best friend rolls her eyes and mumbles something along the lines of 'dramatic much', which makes me narrow my eyes at her.

She replies after a few moments in a voice filled with sarcasm.

"Damien Blackwood, as in our future alpha, is coming back from alpha training to take up his position as the Alpha of our pack and the pack has decided to throw him a surprise welcome party.”

"Oh." I realize how stupid I might have sounded. Of course, Damien is going to be our Alpha.

Damien Blackwood, was the future Alpha of the Midnight Moon Pack. It is located in the rainy forests of Beacon Hills, which is situated in the center of California. He was eighteen when he had left for the training that is meant for Alpha's and Beta's all over the world.

He was also someone who I had a huge crush on. The only person who knew about my little crush on Damien was my best friend Courtney.

I never choose to do anything about my crush. After all, he is dating Emily Christy, my human best friend. Emily, Courtney and I have been best friends since we were fourteen. Emily is a year older than us making her nineteen.

I used to be jealous and get angry seeing them together.They were always happy and smiling like a married couple.  I brushed it off as a stupid crush. Thinking my feelings would subdue over the year, but it never did.

In time, I got used to them being together and that help in reassuring myself that nothing is going to happen between the good old boring me and Damien.

I often wondered how someone like Damien got in a relationship with Emily...Like they were polar opposites...If she is sugar, he is salt...If she is lemonade, he is Vodka. Okay. Okay. I know that was a bad example but you get the drift?!

Damien was the silent, brooding type of guy. He was ridiculously good looking.  I assume he's over 6 foot 3 inch tall. He was huge for starters. He was like a sin waiting to be committed.

His eyes are something you wouldn't notice. He had alluring grey eyes with a black ring in the center. The grey in his eyes bleed to black from anger, just like the shade when the sky is before the storm.

His chocolate brown hair, which he preferred to be slicked back, gave him a sexy look. It’s not that he is not sexy already.

He had a hulking frame packed with muscles. He had tattoo's covering almost all parts of his body, his neck, legs and his body, don't get me started on his body it is as if he was personally sculpted by the god himself. Each and every muscle in his body is defined and ripped... My thoughts make me blush.

I remember that each and every girl in the pack used to drool at the sight of him and would do things like hiking up their skirts or unbuttoning the top buttons of their shirt to flash him their cleavage, just hoping to grab his attention so that they could try to flirt with him. He never paid any heed to them.

Most females in the pack had a crush on him, but he stayed away from them or growled in warning when someone tried to make a move. Well, there were also the shy one's who use to admire his beauty from afar a.k.a me, no surprise there really.

I guess the only one who was able to catch his eyes was Emily.

"Well, what are you waiting for then? Let's go. He is going to be her at 11 am." Courtney says. I look at the alarm clock and realize that there is only fifteen minutes left before he is to arrive and reply "Okay. Let's go.”

I drag Courtney with me downstairs and upon reaching the last step, I realize that almost all of the pack members are running around to prepare for his arrival and they seem excited.

'Well, aren't I too oblivious to my surroundings' I think sarcastically to myself.

My thoughts are cut off by Emily, who is rushing towards me and Courtney with a smile on her face.

"Oh. Hey guys! Where were you? I didn't see you two earlier." Emily asks us.

"Well, somebody decide to sleep like a baby this morning." Courtney replies while glancing at me sideways. This makes me scowl and Emily's smile widens.

"Oh, well that's okay and I think he is going-" Emily starts to say but is cut-off by a fellow pack member shouting.

"The future Alpha has arrived" and my heart skips a beat.

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