Chapter 1.

The stars of the night sky seep through the gaps of the trees around me. They give me the much needed light to see the path ahead of me so I can run to safety. I've had 5 guys hot on my trail for an hour now. They don't seem to be letting up. I'm getting tired but I need to push through. I can't allow myself to be captured, not now, not ever.

A howl rips through the air. It sends chills right to my spine, but not the chills of something bad but of something good. It almost brings me to a halt but I know if I stop now then I would surely be captured and that will be the end for me. So I carry on running.

Half an hour has gone by since that wolf howled and it's only now I realise I have no one following me anymore. I decide to slow down and my aching muscles are thankful. There's an opening in the trees a few yards away from me. Once I reach it, I'm greeted by a little log cabin. There are no lights on which indicates no one is home.

I walk towards the cabin slowly and silently not wanting to alert anyone just in case it's not empty. I get to a small window on the left side of the cabin and look into it. It's pitch black but I can just make out a bed. An empty bed. Good. I head towards the front door praying it's not locked.

I push the handle down and the door creaks open. Seems like luck is on my side tonight! The cabin is small, with only two rooms. One being a bedroom and I assume the other is a bathroom. I'm too tired to investigate, so I strip down to my underwear and climb into the bed. It's the softest thing I have felt in the longest time!

My body sinks into a cloud like mattress and my head is welcomed by soft feather pillows. I'm in heaven, literal heaven. It definitely beats sleeping in a cave or the forest floor! The bed covers smell freshly washed though so the cabin must have been used recently which means I can only stay here for tonight. Tomorrow I must continue on my journey.

I close my eyes and succumb to my dreams. Dreams of things I wish to forget. Of things that break my heart all over again. Dreams of Caleb. The only man I will ever love. The man who means everything to me. The man who has all my firsts. My best friend. The man who destroyed me with just 3 words. The 3 words that no one of my kind wants to hear, ever.

~

The next day.

The sunlight shining through the window wakes me up, I check my watch on my right wrist for the time. 6am. I slept in longer than I wanted to, I should have been on my way by now. I leave every place I sleep at 5am everyday so I avoid raising anyone's suspicions. I definitely needed that sleep and I wish I didn't have to leave this bed or this cabin but I must. I regretfully pull back the covers and climb out. I give my muscles a nice stretch before walking over to the other room in the cabin. I was right. Before me is a walk in shower, a sink and toilet. Once again something else that is a very big luxury to me, usually I just bathe in a lake. I step into the shower and turn it on and the hot water cascades down my body, soothing every ache I have. It feels amazing and after 5 minutes I already feel cleaner than I have been in a very long time. I look to the stand in the shower to my right side and notice some coconut body wash and decide I might as well use it whilst I'm here.

30 minutes later and I'm dressed for the day and feeling refreshed. I grab my bag and head toward the front door; before I open it, I glance back and feel a little sad that I'm leaving this little cabin in the woods. Now I have felt the luxury of having a bed again, I don't want to give it up but I have to. This isn't the right place. I need to continue with my journey until I find what I'm looking for.

I run at least 2 miles away from the cabin and I stop to catch my breath and have a drink of water. I also pull out my map to see where it is I'm going next. Marked with a red spot is a little town not far from where I am now. Should only take me around an hour to run there. I can be in and out of the town by the end of the day without being noticed. Seems easy enough! I put everything back into my bag and I start heading north east. To a place called 'Nero Lupo', it's italian for black wolf.

An hour later I reach the edge of the woods. I stand behind a tree and peek around to see if there's anyone here. But instead of seeing people, I see one of the biggest houses I've seen besides where I grew up. The house I grew up in housed many people; though we weren't family we still had something bonding us together and it was a connection like no other. But this house in front of me was a mansion. It could easily have 20 bedrooms if not more. Without realising I'm walking towards it and I stop outside a small window. I peep through it slyly and see no one around. Hmmm where is everyone? Surely with a house this big there's bound to be someone inside.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" A feminine voice speaks out from behind me. I freeze. I've been here for only ten minutes and I'm already spotted. How could I be so stupid? I can't tell this person who I am, I don't know if I can trust them. I'm going to have to lie and pray they believe me.

"Hello?? I'm waiting." I slowly turn round to an impatient red headed woman. Her arms are crossed and she has an unimpressed look on her face. Her green eyes give my ice blue ones daggers.

"Cynthia. My name's Cynthia" I reply to her, acting nervous.

"Why are you here? You're trespassing." She spits out angrily.

"I was out running and I got distracted and lost my way. I have no idea where I am, so if you were to be so kind to give me directions that would be great." I smile politely at her, feigning innocence.

"Not sure I quite believe you. You don't smell human nor do you smell wolf. In fact you smell of nothing." She looks at me confused.

"Erm... I'm sorry I honestly have no idea what you are going on about." I timidly replied. She looks me up and down and grimaces.

"Yeah sure you don't. You can answer to the Beta" She grabs my left wrist and starts pulling me towards the front door of the house.

As we enter the mansion-like house, I am blown away.

The woman told me to sit down on the sofa in the magnificent hallway I was dragged into. The outside of the house was nothing compared to the inside. In front of me was a large beautiful white fireplace. A painting hung above it. A dark haired woman with golden orange eyes sat down on a chair, behind her was a very handsome man. The man's eyes were just as stunning as the womans but they were a browny yellow colour. In the woman's arms were two little babies and next to them sat on the floor was a little black haired boy. He looked so cute, his face was pouty like he was fed up of sitting still. He was playing with a little wolf toy. His eyes were the same colour as the womans. You could tell they were a very important family by the way the man and woman held themselves.

I was so distracted from studying the painting that I hadn't realised someone had entered the room till they spoke.

"Cynthia I assume?" A deep voice said behind me. I turned to face the man who stood 6 foot away from me. I walked towards him stopping just a metre away from him. He was the little boy from the photo but he wasn't pouty here nor did he look little. He was tall, 6 foot 7 I would guess. His eyes bore into mine, searching for something. His black hair was slicked back into a quiff. He looked like he hadn't shaved for a couple of days, he had slight stubble coming through around his jaw and chin. Whenever Caleb had stubble, I would say he looked untidy but this guy was different, it added to his good looks. It gave him the handsome rugged look that any woman would swoon for. I'm not going to lie, he had me weak at the knees.

He raised an eyebrow and I saw a slight smirk form on his lips, it was right then I realised I had been ogling him for 5 minutes. I felt my cheeks getting warm and I'm sure I was blushing.

"Yes, I'm Cynthia. Look I don't want any trouble so I'm sorry if I was trespassing but I lost track of where I was running and somehow ended up here." I replied and I was surprised how easily that lie came out when he was looking at me like I was his prey.

"Oh cut the crap would you, I know you're a wolf" He spat out at me angrily.

He stared me down and I swear if looks could kill, I would be 6 feet under right now. But of course I didn't fear my life at this very moment so I started laughing like a damn maniac. My laughing seemed to make him more angry though.

"What is so funny?" He came closer to me and I could feel the rage coming off him.

"Do I look like a wolf to you? I swear when I looked in the mirror this morning, I didn't have a snout or 4 legs, a tail and fur." I shrugged at him, still laughing a little.

The man now had his face just inches away from mine. Getting a closer look at his eyes, I can see swirls of green amongst his golden eyes. I looked down to his lips and saw him lick them, I flickered my eyes back to his and saw he too, was looking at my lips. The look in his eyes no longer held anger but something else. Is he.. no surely not. He's not going to kiss me... Is he? I gulped and his flickered back to mine and he pulled his face away.

"You are to stay here until I know more about you. I will give you a room because I don't believe in throwing women into cells but mark my words, you are here as a prisoner. You will abide by my rules. You are not to leave unless you are escorted by one of my pack members. Are we clear?" He crosses his arms and looks down to me.

I nod my head too afraid to use my words. He calls the red head back in using the name Mary so I assume that's who she is. He told her to take me to one of the guest rooms. As I started to follow Mary, he grabbed my waist pulling me up against him. I could feel the muscles he had through the shirt he was wearing. He was as hard as rock but somehow soft. I don't know how to explain that but that's how he felt. He moves his face closer to mine and it looks like he's about to kiss me until he puts his lips to my right ear and in a warm husky voice he whispered

"Don't even think about running away. I will catch you and punish you." I was so glad he was holding on to me cus just his voice alone left me feeling like jelly. His words though sent tingles all the way down there and I don't think I could be more turned on about the idea of a punishment. I think he knew what I was feeling because as he pulled away from me he gave me a wicked smirk. I quickly rushed off in search of Mary and heard him chuckle lowly as I left.

My room was the last one on the second floor. It was cosy and very homely, something I wasn't quite used to. There was a large king size bed in the middle of the room, with a big grey headboard attached to it. The floor had nice dark wood floorboards with a nice fluffy rug next to the bed and by an extra door which I assume is a bathroom.

"This is your room, it has an en suite so you don't have to leave unless you need food. I shall bring some clothes for you to wear" Mary said, I nodded in reply and she left. I collapsed onto the bed and let out a big sigh.

I was in trouble, big trouble. I just told a big fat lie to one of the most powerful wolves ever. I should really be thanking my lucky stars it was just the Beta I spoke to because if I spoke to the Alpha, I wouldn't have lasted the night.

I am in fact a wolf. A shifter, though humans call us werewolves. Which we kind of are but we can change into a wolf at any time not just on the full moon. I should have told them the truth but I'm not sure if they are trustworthy. My wolf is special and no one knows about her but me and for now I would like to keep it that way.

There is something about this Beta though, something I can't quite work out. He's made me feel things I haven't felt in a while. Things I haven't felt since Caleb.

I sit up in a huff and decide to go for a shower and get into bed for the night. I'll deal with my consequences in the morning. The bathroom was similar to the one in the cabin except it was a little bigger and there was a shower and a bathtub this time. I climb into the shower and allow the hot water to wash over me.

Once I finished in the shower, I walk back into the bedroom to find someone had placed a white shirt on the bed. I put it on and it drops to mid-thigh. I climb into bed and once again it feels like I'm sleeping on a cloud. Darkness easily finds me and I find myself in dreamland. Only this time I'm met by the eyes of the man I had the pleasure of meeting earlier.

~

I'm awoken by a rather loud noise coming from my stomach. I look at the clock on the nightstand on my right side and it says 5:00am. I might as well go and get some food whilst I can, I highly doubt anyone will be up at this time. I climb out of bed and stretch out my body. 2 nights in a row now I've slept in a bed instead of on the floor in some forest, it actually feels amazing not to wake up feeling all achy.

I didn't have any other clothes to put on so I decided to head to the kitchen in the shirt I put on for bed. It took me a while to find the kitchen. With how big this house is and not actually ever being here before, it was easy to get lost. Once in the kitchen I found a waffle maker and proceeded to make waffles for myself.

The waffles surprisingly didn't take that long and as soon as they hit my mouth, they were gone. I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning so I was starving. I felt a presence behind me, I turned around to face whoever it was and I was stunned by what I saw.

Stood before me was the man from last night. He was wearing a loose tank top and some basketball shorts. On his right arm was a tribal tattoo covering his right side of his chest down to his elbow. I could see beads of sweat running down the top part of his chest. When I realised I was staring at his body I looked up to his face and saw a smirk on his lips. My eyes soon found their way up to his. He was looking at me like I was his prey again and it made me swoon. I backed away and he walked closer to me until I hit the kitchen countertop.

"You know you shouldn't really be walking around in just my shirt, especially in a house full of unmated wolves." His voice was husky but strained like he was trying to control himself from doing something.

"Your shirt?" I replied realising that I just completely forgot he said wolves.

"Yes my shirt, I left it on the bed last night for you whilst you were in the shower" He pressed himself closer to me. He was so close to me I could feel his breath on me and it sent shivers down my body.

"Well erm thank you" I gasped out.

He placed his right hand on my waist and pulled me closer and with his left he moved my long light blue hair away from my neck. He tilted my head to the side so he could look at my neck better. He then stepped back and looked at me. I noticed him trying to get his breathing under control.

"You're not marked which means you haven't found your mate yet." He said after he gained composure.

"Erm, what? Have you taken your crazy pills yet cus I think you might need to..." I said to him, trying my hardest to look confused at what he just said. All of sudden a growl comes from within him and he's up against me within a flash and he's angry, no he's seething. I push him away and walk towards the door but he grabs me and pushes me against the wall. His arms on either side of my head resting on the wall. His body is touching mine. He has me trapped. I look into his eyes and he looks startled for some reason and drops his arms to his side and takes a step back.

"Ah Kane, my son there you are." A deep voice booms from the kitchen entrance.

I saw my chance and ran off back to my room. What just happened? Why does he care whether I'm mated or not? And why did he look so startled at me?

Once I enter my room, I slam the door shut and slide down it. I rest my arms on my knees and put my head in my hands.

"I'm sorry" A voice in my head speaks out.

"S... Selene?" Selene is my wolf but she hasn't spoken to me in 5 years.

"He... he startled because he saw our eyes change. I couldn't help it, I surfaced." She timidly replies.

"Oh this is brilliant. No honestly it is! 5 years it's been, 5 years! And now out of all the times you could have come back you chose now! When I've got us mixed up in a lie?! Are you stupid? Seriously?" I want to scream with how stupid she can be!

"I'm so sorry, but there's... There's something about him, Cynthia I just couldn't help it. And this place... it feels right. I think this is the place we've been searching for."

"We've not even been here for a day, how could you possibly know that?" I shake my head and push myself up from the floor and walk towards the bathroom.

"I don't know but surely you feel something too? It feels like home and he feels like something else. Surely you feel the pull to him?" She sheepishly replies.

"No I don't know what you mean. I feel nothing. We have a mate Selene, well rather we had one. We don't get another one so get over it, I have!" I cut her out before she had a chance to reply. I can't listen to it anymore.

A mate is what some would call a soulmate. Our souls are bonded together by the moon goddess. She created mates for all wolves, so we will never be alone. We find our mates at the age of 18, they have a unique smell which attracts us to them. A mate can also reject you. It's rare, but it happens. It's what Caleb did. The day I turned 18 and found out he was my mate, we kissed but something happened. A power came over the both of us, a power like never before, but Caleb pushed me away and said those 3 words no wolf wants to hear.

"I reject you, Cynthia."

My heart was crushed that day and so I ran. I ran from the only home I had ever known. I never looked back and I don't intend to now. I'm not opening my heart up to anyone ever again especially not to this stupid Beta who I know now is called Kane. It's lust I'm feeling and that's all. There's only one way to get that out of your system and I'm sure he wouldn't say no, especially with the way he's been looking at me.

I need to figure out whether this pack can be trusted.

I need a game plan.