My name is Alexis. Alexis Mariella Deyanov. I am half scandinavian half British. Scandinavian  on my fathers side. He met my mother ong a rogue hunt 25 years ago, and knew instantly that she was his. That’s how it works, I guess. You see them and you just know.                           

Who? You might ask. Who is it that you are seeing? And whaI’m t do you need to know? These were the questions I  asked my parents when they first brought up the subject. However, it wasn’t until 5 years later (when I was 11)  that I found out. It wasn’t an easy idea to get used to. At all. The thought that maybe I belonged to someone. Well of course, I pretty much already do. My Father is the Alpha of our pack. He is in charge. And in turn, we have given our very souls to that pack ( though not literally ). Yet somehow now, as I was told, I am expected to abandon my pack, my home, for some random male from another pack. I think about all this as I finish pinning up my hair. Staring at myself in the mirror, I sigh. Tonight I am giving away my life, my past. Over dramatic, perhaps. A lie, no.           

As the car pulls up outside the ballroom, I regret choosing to come alone. Everyone else seems to have come with family or friends. You can hear the sound of sobbing goodbyes and ruffling of dresses as people hug each other for perhaps the last time. Though I feel the pain of all the other females who are here today, I cannot relate. My pack was, IS one of the more well known packs of our hidden sub-species. In other words, my parents are so busy that I never see them. At all. That is the main reason I chose to come alone. So as not to disrupt their packed schedule. I doubt they even know today is... well... today.

I text my best friend, Tarctica, to tell her that I’m here. Soon her van pulls up from round the corner. She waves to her parents, but refuses to cry as it might spoil her eyeliner. Maybe that sounds shallow, but that’s Tarctica I guess 🤷🏼‍♀️. Really though, Tara isn’t shallow at all. In fact, she is one of the loveliest people you could ever meet. She is just VERY self conscious. We walk in together, Tara and I. Both nervous as ever. For as long as we can remember we have both been single pringles (excuse the expression) yet now we are finding our mates. This is one heck of a big deal. A lady calls my name. She is sitting at the front desk. I walk towards her, after glancing cautiously at Tar. The lady points towards a big door. After she sees I haven’t done anything she clears her throat and says “C’mon dearie, through those doors”, her voice dripping with fake niceties. I sigh, and smile. Knowing sarcasm will get me nowhere, I thank her. Trembling, I walk towards the doors. I place my delicate fingers on the thick, gold knob. It’s coolness soothes me. This is it, I tell myself. This is the beginning.

A sudden strength pulses through me as I shove open the door. I am the first, and only, daughter of Alpha Deyanova. I am strong, one of the strongest in our hidden world, and I will get through this. Surely the moon goddess would not have allowed for this day unless it was to help us. Me and all the other females, we are bringing peace to our packs. As are the males. Once the oak doors are fully opened I freeze in shock. It is beautiful. Dark wooden floorboards seem to strech out for miles, and the marble walls only add another layer of glamour to this gorgeous room. Though really you can’t call it that, it’s more of a large house. Soon people start flooding in. My ears perk up as I hear someone calling my name. Faint at first, but then much surer. I realise, to my horror, It’s my ex Owen. He’s looking for a connection. I turn to face him, a smile plastered on to my face. “Owen,” I simper, “good to see you.” He brushes the non-existent dust off his shirt. Then he smirks. “I should say the same,” comes his ‘witty’ response. Though, honestly, it’s not witty in the slightest. I roll my eyes. “Look, what do you want Owen.” Owen looks at me in fake shock. Eyes wide in disbelief. “Why Alexis,” he claims, “surely you know what I want.” God, idiot. Surely he knows that if there was anything between us, we would have felt it already. “Owen there is absolutely NO connection between us whatsoever, see? No hard feelings.” He takes a step towards me. “You sure?” he purrs, stepping closer. I nod hastily and turn to walk away, but be grabs me by the shoulders and spins me back round.I try to struggle out of his grip without causing a fuss, but I’m failing miserably. “I think we should find out.” He leans closer to my face. But before he could try anything a growl errupts behind him. Owen snaps his head up and turns round to face the offending growler. Shock then fear ripple across both of our faces when we realise that it’s the next alpha of the RedBlood pacl. Alpha Romero , the cruelest man on this planet. The fear is mainly on my side when I find him staring at me. And I know why.

“I think I’ll take over from here,” Alpha Romero growls. I shiver. “N-no. We’re fine thanks, I was j-just saying bubye to a-a friend of mine.” Perhaps my response was weak, cowardly even, but I can be forgiven can’t I? “Perhaps a little too friendly,” he snaps. He gives me this intense stare, and I can’t help but look away. Everything about him is telling me to run. As far away as possible. Then Owen stupidly interrupts. “Um, excuse me, what right do you have to tell Alexis what to do?” “Alexis,” Alpha Romero mutters. He grabs my forearm and starts dragging me along. I pull back. Nobody drags me from a building. Even if that someone happens to be not only my mate, but Alpha Romero. “And what do you think you are doing?!” I screech. People turn to stare. He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Alexis,” he sneers, “just come.” Shaking my head I turn to storm off. But then I freeze. My wolf growls. At me. I sigh and walk back. All the sense in my brain is telling me I should obey her. Alpha Romero raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t question my sudden obedience. He pushes through the back door, I follow. We are in a massive stone car park, barely reached by the soft moonlight. I’m pulled towards the silhouette of a Jaguar XKR. Sliding into the back, I notice someone sitting in the drivers seat. They are staring at me. “God Lucas,” the person laughs, “you must’ve terrified the poor girl.” Alpha Romero stiffens at this. I glance curiously at him. Lucas, I am guessing, is his first name. “Perhaps Daniel, you should keep your nose out of my business.” Daniel is the name of the person in the front then. “C’mon Lukie, thats no way to speak to your bestie!” He winks, Lucas growls. I giggle. Alpha Romero stares at me. Covering my mouth, I stare out of the window. You would have to use a very sharp knife to cut through the tension in this car. It’s nearly 11:00. Normally I would be getting ready for bed. Tonight, I will just have to make do with the car seat. I wonder if I should ask how long it will take to get to the RedBlood territorial lines. Just to check if maybe I could stay awake until then. Forgivably, I don’t feel comfortable sleeping in this car with ‘Daniel’ and Alpha Romero. I try to keep track of where we are going. Left, right, right, left... maybe it will help if I ever need to escape. But soon I lose track of where we are. Lost, I sigh. “A-alpha Romero,” I stutter, “are we close yet?” Alpha Romero stares at me. “3 hours,” he replies. Dammit, I definitely can’t stay awake for that long. Gently, I place my head against my arms on the windowsill of the car. I shut my eyes and decide to get some sleep. Just as I’m about to slip off to sleep, the whispering begins.

I am awoken by the sound of crunching gravel. A door bangs from the front of the car. Looking around, I notice we have arrived. It’s pitch black outside and I can’t see a thing. Struggling to find the handle, I fumble around the door. Soon, the door swings open and I stumble out. The smell of this pack is so strong, it makes me want to throw up. It’s a mix of damp fir and chestnut as opposed to the light fruity smell of honeysuckle that I’m used to. The disgust on my face must be visible as I look around. This forest is so packed you can barely see through the trees. And the house looks like it cost more than my life, but it seems lifeless. As if no one has lived there for years. It’s massive. “So this is the pack house,” I spit. Someone snickers. I snap my head up to see Alpha Romero standing on the marble porch, waiting for me. “Alexis, this isn’t the pack house,” he smirks, “this is simply my house.” The shock on my face must be evident as Romero looks satisfied. I lived with the rest of my pack back home, and even for all of us, the house wasn’t this big. Noticing that I’m all alone out here, I reluctantly scamper through the open front door. Just as I guessed, the house is just as dead on the inside as it is on the outside. Modern, expensive but dead.

As I enter the house, I hear arguing from a room in front of me. I tiptoe towerds the room and look through the keyhole. Lucas is sitting on a sofa looking stressed as some girl yells at him. “It was supposed to be ME,” she yells, “I would make the best luna. Not her.” Is... is she talking about me? My wolf tells me it’s none of my business, but my curiosity knows better. Lucas sighs. “She’s my MATE Vanessa.” Defffffffinitely talking about me. What did I do now? I really can’t remember seeing this girl ever before. Like, ever. How can she already hate me? Beside, it wasn’t my fault that I have to be Luna to... to... him.

I am too busy angrily wondering what it was I did to annoy this girl to notice Alpha Romero walking out of the room. In fact, it isn’t until he grabs me by the shoulder that I realise he was even near me. “Were you spying Alexis?” He half whispers accusingly. I nearly jump in shock. “A-Alpha Romero,” I stutter, “of c-course not.” He rolls his eyes. “Really Alexis? You’re lying to me?” His anger is evident. Is that a question or a fact? “Well what do you think I’m gon’ do, huh?” I reply. “Just admit the fact that I was spying on the one person who really might actually kill me to his face?!” Alpha Romero looks shocked, and then even angrier. “Do you honestly think I might kill you?” It takes me a while to realise that it is a genuine question. When I notice, I nod hesitantly. Yes, I do believe that he, my mate, would kill me. I do not doubt it for a second. Alpha Romero storms off, muttering under his breath.

 I am lost. I am in my new house for the first time, and I’m lost. Fuck. I’ve tried all of the doors on the first floor (trust me, there are a lot) and found that most of them are locked. The ones that aren’t are useless. I’ve already decided that going upstairs is not an option. Mainly because I might bump into him. And thank you, I do value my life. I try every handle once more, until I finally give up and flop onto the stairs. I let out a loud groan and then instantly feel stupid. God, everyone must’ve heard that. Though who ‘everyone’ is, I still don’t know. Soon, I hear footsteps from the landing above. I look round, searching for somewhere to hide. I end up behind a vase. The person starts walking down the stairs quickly. “Alexis,” the person calls, “Alexis, I know you’re down here.” God dammit, I’m sure you can guess who it is. I feel very smug behind my vase. In all honesty, it’s getting quite comfy back here. I could stay a while. Well, long enough for Lucas to go away. Of course he doesn’t go away. I can hear him fumbling through stuff, trying to find me. He’s getting really quiet close. I start shaking. What will he do if he finds me here, hiding? Suddenly two big hands grab the vase and tilt it to the side, revealing my hiding spot. I pretend to be asleep. ‘Cos as we all know, nothing can harm you if you’re sleeping. Luckily, I’m a good enough actress to fool him. He grunts and snakes his hands round my waist. My heartbeat quickens. Even more still when he hauls me over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. I gasp slightly. Quietly so that Alpha Romero doesn’t notice. Soon, he is on the move. With me slung over his shoulder like a sack. We are up the stairs. I peek out slightly, so as to see what this new area looks like. But I don’t get to see much before I’m carried into a large room and placed gently on a massive bed. My body heats up as I feel Lucas’ stare. He sighs for about the fiftieth time today.

An hour later, and I had fallen asleep for real this time. I wake up tucked up in a grand, king size bed with about 20 pillows supporting my head. It takes me a while to realise where I am. I sit up and tuck a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. Nervous whispering seems to be coming from a corner of the room. Rubbing my eyes, I look around the room properly for the first time. It’s big, that’s one thing. And there's an arch in the right hand side of the room (from where I am sitting) that leads into another room. Just in front of me is a door. Left slightly open to reveal a few marble tiles. I am guessing that it is the bathroom? To my left is the door. On either side of it are long thin mirrors. Standing by the side of the door are two people, dressed in black leggings and a black shirt. Once they sense me looking at them, they turn to face me. One of the people, a tall woman with dark brown hair, introduces herself as my maid, Patricia. But I am told to call her Pat by the other person, a cheeky looking boy about a year older than me called Leo. Pat is called downstairs by another unknown person, and I’m left alone in the room with Leo. “Um, hi,” I mutter. “Hey,” he smirks. Leo winks at me. I burst out laughing and he chuckles too. “It’s nice to know not everyone is evil,” I giggle. He raises an eyebrow. “Who is this evil person?” He questions. It occurs to me then that he works for  Lucas, so I probably shouldn’t diss Lucas in front of him. “Oh, just people,” comes my innocent reply. I can tell that that answer wasn’t quite satisfactory. He sighs. “Ok, well, I’ve kinda ‘gtg’, so... bye!” Leo walks out of the room just as Lucas walks in. He looks from me to the retreating Leo and scowls. “Where’s Pat?” Lucas mutters. I stare at him blankly. Why does he care? “Um, downstairs I-I think,” I reply. He walks over to the end of the bed and sinks into it. I curl my feet up close to my body. I’m as far away from him as possible. “So, you like it?” He demands. I sit up straighter in confusion. “Like what?” I question nervously, cocking my head. He waves his hands about a bit as if in explanation. Once he sees I still have no clue, he says, “this, the room, my room.” His room? I thought it was just a random bedroom. Why am I in his room. I look around once more. Only now noticing signs of recent humanity. Such as a laptop and charger, an IPhone on one of the bedside tables and some cough sweet wrappers. He is still looking questioningly at me, and I realise that I haven’t answered the question. “Oh,” I stutter, “yes Alpha, it-it’s nice.” Lucas  raises an eyebrow. He shuffles towards me a bit. “Great,” he says, “you can stay here then.” I shuffle backwards, uncomfortable withhow near he is. He doesn’t seem to like this, he growls  under his breath. His dark eyes flash befeore he says ‘don’t be such a wimp.’