Chapter 1: Malady

Ivy

“Maybe there’s another way?” my best friend, Sara, asked me for what felt like the hundredth time today.

I couldn’t blame her - this situation was unfair but unfortunately, there was not much that either of us could do about it. The alternatives were grim.

I zipped up my last suitcase before turning to face her.

Sara Roe was beautiful. With her amber skin, dark curls, and warm, golden eyes - she was a showstopper. She had been by my side ever since I could remember and meeting her teary-eyed gaze now as we stood in my barren room only cemented the harsh truth of reality in my stomach.

I was never coming back.

I forced a smile and pulled her into a hug,

Her arms immediately had me in a vice grip, and I struggle not to get lost in her familiar, soon-to-be-lost scent.“You know there isn’t, Sara. It’s already done,” I said with much more conviction than I felt.

“Help me carry my suitcase?

I didn’t need her help pulling my small red suitcase down the stairs but I knew her and I knew that having something productive to do would distract her from our impending separation.

Sara gave me a little squeeze. “You don’t even need to ask, Ivy.”

As Sara slid my suitcase off of my bed, I cast a final glance around at what was once my bedroom. The walls that I had painted purple when I was eleven were now empty, and all of my posters, pictures, and art were gone.

Most likely ripped down by my mother to make way for her new mate and the child that they would eventually have together. My life and home had crumbled in these two weeks after my father’s passing.

It was a shell of the haven that it had been for me in my youth, all of the warmth and laughter that had lived here died when my father did.

I hastily wiped a stray tear from my cheek. There was no way in hell I would let anyone see me cry.

I followed Sara out and with a final glance over my shoulder,closed the door behind me. As we moved down the stairs, into the living room, kitchen, and eventually out of the house, I breathed in the scent of my old life.

Every family photo, every picture of my father and I laughing together, or my stern faced mother next to my father’s easy grin - were gone. Like those moments had never existed.

Most likely shoved into some box and thrown in the attic to be forgotten. My stomach twisted in disgust, I knew that it was tradition, that it had to be done to ensure the future of the pack.

But I still didn’t understand how my mother could just forget about my father like that, discard her only daughter.

Outside, my cherry-colored Jeep was surrounded by my now former pack looking to see me off. Even my traitor of a mother stood nearby.

I was the daughter of Alan Lynnd, the Alpha of the Thorn pack which meant that I had Alpha blood coursing through my veins. I had always imagined that my future would be leading the pack that I grew up in as second in command to whatever Alpha male I chose.

But now that would never happen.

When my father was shot and killed two weeks ago by a human hunter, my world was shattered.

The world of wolves, of shifters, was governed entirely by the Alphas and the local councils that they created. Here, in Mission Pointe, there were a total of four packs, Thorn, Hemlock, Nightshade, and Oleander.

Our council was made up of elders from each pack to assist in decision-making. When my father died suddenly, they had to act quickly to avoid a power struggle for the new role of Alpha.

Women were forbidden from leading alone which left my pack without a leader to guide them, despite the fact that my mother had been my father’s right hand for nearly twenty-four years.

The council had two choices: allow me to lead with a new Alpha male at my side or force my mother to remarry and remate a new Alpha. The council chose the latter.

At twenty-three I was too young to be trusted in leading a pack of so many established shifters and their families. So my mother was to be mated to Gary, eldest son of the Alpha of Oleander pack.

Thorn Pack would no longer belong to my late father and because I shared his blood, it no longer belonged to me.

I was being sent away.

The council had decided to give me a gift as they called it, a chance to start my own pack and learn what it meant to truly put a family before all else. That was the only lesson that Lunas needed to know. The only catch? I had to mate with the son of the Hemlock pack.

A stranger.

I felt as though I was being both used and completely discarded. Sure, I could run away. I could live a life on my terms and get away from it all. Sara could come with me and we’d live our lives on the road.

But Sara had her own mate, Jason, here with her. I would never ask her to give up the security of pack life and a mate that loved her for me. Living alone wasn’t an option as the life of a lone wolf was a difficult one.

We wolves were social creatures, we knew no life outside of one another. A wolf without a pack was lost beyond all measure.

I had nowhere else to go, no choice other than this.

My pack parted for me as Sara and I made our way to my car, their sympathetic gazes glued to me. I swallowed, feeling as though I was being led to my execution.

I had spent the last three days saying my goodbyes, giving away anything that I couldn’t fit in my two small suitcases but now, with everyone surrounding me, the reality of my departure was crushing me.

In the driveway, I caught sight of scarlet hair, straight where my own was curled and hazel eyes to match my own. In many ways, I was an exact copy of my mother, Adele. We shared red hair, hazel eyes, and freckles.

But I still had bits of my father in me, his curls and his thicker form. My mother was lithe and tall were I was shorter and softer. She stood just a little ways off, most likely giving me space.

Good. I wasn’t ready to talk to her. I didn’t ever want to speak to her again. Defiantly I met her gaze before turning my back to her and returning my attention to the rest of the pack.

While I may not belong to Thorn pack anymore, these were my people, my family, and my pride wouldn’t allow me to leave with my tail between my legs.

My father’s voice sounded in my head: ‘Never let them see you weak, Ives. Even if you’re on your last leg. Stand tall.’

“Thank you all for seeing me off,” I said, addressing them. “It means so much to me. And I just want you to know that no matter what happens from this point forward, you will always be my family.”

Marie, an older woman that used to babysit me and the other younglings in the pack when we were pups stepped forward. She offered me her hand and I took it.

“You will be sorely missed, Ivy, dear. May the Moon bless your path and guide your way, my girl.”

She pressed my hand to her forehead, a sign of deepest respect. Tears began to prick at the corners of my eyes again and I quickly blinked them away - if I started crying now I would never stop.

I forced a smile and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Thank you, Marie. I’ll miss you, all of you, so much. I-“

“The sun is setting, Ivy,” my mother interrupted from behind me. “He’s going to be here soon.”

I swallowed the rage that threatened to boil over.

Logically, I know that none of this is my mother’s fault, I know that she had just lost my father and there was a part of me that believed that she had loved him.

I know that she was probably hurting more than I could imagine, but all of this doesn’t stop the resentment I felt toward her.

The strength of it nearly choked me.

“Ives!” Sara, having thrown my suitcase into my car, nearly tackled me to the ground in a bear hug. I squeezed her back just as tightly. “I can’t do this!”

“I know. It’s already done. Everything is going to be okay,” I said against her shoulder, to myself just as much as to her. I pulled away because I knew that if I didn’t I would never leave. “I’ll call you the moment that I’m settled in, I promise.”

Sara nodded down at me, not even bothering to hide her tears. “ I’ll kill you if you don’t.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” I replied with a smile that I imagined didn’t reach my eyes. I felt like I was going to be sick, a wave of nausea slamming into my gut.

I had a nervous stomach and anxiety would nearly always have me doubled over a toliet, vomiting my brains out.

I backed away from her and moved toward my car before I bumped into my mother’s familiar form.

I turned to face her and glared up at her. My mother was a tall woman and while I didn’t consider my five feet and six inches to be short, she had at least four inches on me.

“What?” I snapped. “I’m leaving so that your precious Gary doesn’t catch sight of me. What else could you possibly want from me?” I wasn’t being fair and I knew it but damn if I wasn’t angry with her.

She reached out to smooth a strand of my scarlet hair from my face and I darted out of her grasp. “Ivy, I-“ she began before she sighed and took a step back from me. There was a rift between us now, in more than one way.

“I never wanted this for you but I think that in a way..this is going to be good for you.”

“Good for me?” I asked incredulously. “Good that I’ll never see my family again? That I’m moving to a place I’ve never been to mate a shifter I’ve never met? Good that I can never come home?” Emotion broke my voice at that last sentiment.

“Remember, Ivy, the pack must always come first. The Moon has blessed us with all that we are, we owe it to Her to protect and cherish what we have.”

“Like you cherish me?” I shot back. She doesn’t respond, instead, she looks at down at her feet. Of course, I don’t know what I was expecting from her.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, pushing past her to shove my way into my car. My mother stepped back from the car and melted into the pack. Sara began to openly sob now, Jason tucking her against him. I felt my heart breaking.

How much loss could one person bear?

I slid my keys into the ignition with trembling hands and started the car while I still had the strength to do so. I pulled out of my driveway slowly, trying to burn the faces of my pack into my memory before I sped away.

In my rearview mirror, I saw the form of a tawny brown wolf chasing after me. It tore through the driveway, kicking up bits of gravel and dust as it did.

It didn’t take long for the wolf to catch up with me as I drove and it kept pace with my car. I recognized the fur and the honey eyes immediately.

Sara.

She ran alongside the car on the driver’s side and it reminded me of the dozens of pack runs that we had gone on together as children and into adulthood. She had always been faster than me but she never raced ahead of me, not even once.

She never let me win but she never outright beat me either. We had always been equals, we had always had each other.

The realization that this would be our final run together hit me like a bullet straight to the chest. My hands shook as the sadness finally overcame me and I sobbed, my tears blurring my vision.

I slowed the car down as much as I could to prolong this last run with her. Sara ran alongside me until we reached the border of our pack’s territory. I sped up, knowing that if I slowed down, I would stop and never start back up again.

Sara halted at the edge of our territory, watching me drive away. Her sorrowful howl filled the air and was quickly accompanied by several others until my entire pack sang to the Moon of their loss.

I watched her in my rearview until she and the world that I had known eventually faded away.

I could feel how much my pack was going to miss me, I could hear it in their howls. I had never felt more loved by them, by anyone than in this moment.

But as they disappeared from view and the unknown rolled rapidly toward me, I had never felt more alone.