Chapter 1
What would you do if you could see the future? Would you fight it? Would you accept your fate? Would you lie and say it was just a dream? I never thought I would be thrown into the world where questions like this existed, but here I was, fighting for my life and the life of the man I loved. The worst part? I saw it all coming, like a bullet between the eyes.
I’ve never known much about what the wolf life was like. I saw the signs of their packs and passed them as I drove around places. I saw their clubs and their diners, and I ignored them because they weren’t for me. As far as I’ve known, I’ve never spoken to one, I’ve never interacted with one, but they look just like us for the most part. You know, I just couldn’t lift a car up and throw it across the street.
I lived a quiet and normal life, a human life. It was going perfectly, too. You know, I was doing great at work, up for promotion in my architecture firm. I have been dating my boyfriend for six years. I had a wonderful apartment. Nothing could go wrong.
That wasn’t until my boyfriend got a huge promotion that was taking him out of New York to London. Lance took me out to this big fancy restaurant to tell me, I thought for a second maybe he was proposing, but no. Instead, he called for two glasses of champagne and told me about the promotion, explained the big pay raise, a huge apartment, and how he’d have a secretary. He told me that he was so thrilled to be moving to London. I thought for sure in the next breath, he would tell me that he needed me to come with him to make it complete.
“All these changes, and I think it’s best that I keep rolling with that,” he’d said, making my stomach drop. “ I think we should take a pause.”
He called for champagne, brought me to a fancy restaurant told me to put on my best dress to break up with me. One last magical night, he had said. He didn’t wanna leave in anger, so he thought we could have one last night together.
Yeah, no.
I got up and walked out of there as quickly as I could. Then a week or two later, my wonderful job turned out to be shit as they promoted a dumbass over me. Stephanie didn’t know how to run the coffee machine, it somehow she had gotten credit for my proposal and got my promotion.
I had spent weeks putting my heart and soul into that building. Going over every single line and detail so that when we presented it to the bank, they would see my vision. I was sure that they’d make me a partner after that. Instead, they promoted Stephanie for her leadership skills. I was tempted to quit, but then where would I go and what would I do? How would I pay my bills?
Oh yeah, my apartment?
Oh yeah, that had to be fumigated so I was bumming on my sister’s couch. Praying for God to just strike me with lightning now so that I could end my misery.
Jess, my sister, well, my half sister. Our mom was never really lucky in love. I was the product of a one-night stand, and Jess was the product of a relationship gone bad. At least we had each other, though my mom died when I was 16 from cancer. Jess took me in and saw me through the last two years, and then off to college I went. When I graduated, I had one person in the audience, Jess.
She was a lot more go with the flow than I was, and she saw this whole thing as a way to start over and begin a whole new adventure. Maybe I should move somewhere else, maybe I should get a new job, or start a whole new life.
Yeah, I wasn’t about that. I had worked hard to get where I was, and I wasn’t gonna give up. I liked my apartment, and I liked my job. I just had to prove my worth. Stephanie couldn’t put up this facade for long, and I knew that I just had to wait it out.
“We could egg her car,” Jess had suggested to me.
Not really one for taking the high road, either, my sister. Well, I was busy at home, reading my book and practicing my drawings for my buildings. Jess was out partying and dancing, and going to art galleries. Taking random trips to Jamaica, or a spur-of-the-moment road trip down to Florida because they were craving the churros at Disney World.
So when she suggested that we go out to get my mind off of things I was firmly against it and ready to plant my butt on her couch with a nice book and some ice cream. I wanted to wallow a bit longer. Sadly, my older sister had other ideas.
“Yeah, Allie, I know, but sadly, he is way below your league for you to wallow over him. That job doesn’t see your worth, and your apartment is gonna be fine, so you were getting dressed and getting up and coming out with me,” my sister ordered me about throwing some low-cut shirt my way. ” Or I kick you out! Move!” She shouted, pushing me into the bathroom.
I decided I’d play along for the night. Usually, one night out with Jess doesn’t kill me. The hangover does its best the next morning, but my sister had a point; Lance wasn’t worth the wallowing. I put my golden hair up into a ponytail, and the tiniest amount of mascara and gloss on, before shoving myself into the satin olive green top. A gift from Jess, she always bought me clothes in this color, to match my eyes, she’d say. Whenever she said that, her voice took a melancholy maternal tone. I had my mother's eyes.
Jess was a lot like her, and I was happy to please my sister after everything she’d done for me. Maybe a few drinks and some dancing might lighten my mood. I don’t think I could feel quite so much like God was out to get me if I were in the middle of a pounding dance floor.
True to fashion, she found the loudest dance club there, that was blasting music so loud I couldn’t even understand it, and she knew the bouncer, so we passed the line and jumped right in. That was when I noticed the wolf symbol on top of the building.
Jess hugged the bouncer on our way in, sidling right up to the bar to grab drinks. She signaled for two shots. Oh lord, here with go. I took the small glass from her and downed it.
I turned around, feeling a chill run up my spine.
I brushed it off, pushing the odd feeling to the side. I didn’t consider myself a lightweight, but I didn’t drink as much as my sister. Perhaps she’d chosen a high-caliber tequila.
“Why are we in a wolf club?” I asked, shouting over the music.