My eyelids shook severally as I struggled to open my eyes. The room swirled around for some seconds until I finally retained my sight and was shocked with the human figure at my front—Dylan Woodluck.

He was seated at my front with a tray of food in his hands. Despite the amazing aroma that emanated from the food, I felt dizzy and irritated as hell. The only way for me not vomiting was if a miracle occurred, and if you know anything about me, it is the fact that things like miracles and luck were never on my side.

In other words....I vomited.

He placed his hands on my back and rubbed it gently. "You're alright, okay."

"Get off me!"I said, shrugging his hands off me.

He retreated, picked the chair which he had been sitting on and moved it closer to me. He reached out for the tray and sat down, placing the tray of food on his lap. "How are you feeling?"He said with his nice soothing voice.

"Where the hell am I?"I asked, ignoring his question.

"Hillary, you are somewhere safe."

I scoffed. "Somewhere safe? And my home is what, exactly?"

"Dangerous."He said.

"You kidnapped me and now you are telling me that my home is dangerous."

"I know that abducting you wasn't the best way to bring you here and for that I'm truly sorry...but you and I know that your home is bad for you, with those crazy people as your..."

"Don't you dare say such things about my parents...I mean my mum and Steve Harrows."

"You see, you can't even call them parents..."

"You know nothing about me, Dylan."I said.

"Yea, you're right, but what I do know about you is that you're very stubborn, which is both good and bad, and the bad side of your stubbornness is what's making you unable to accept that those people are deranged and unsuitable to live amongst normal people, especially not you"He said.

"Then I guess they better live with you, since you're as crazy as they are."I said angrily. I hated it when anyone talked about my family. Although I detested my mum and Steve, I never showed it outside. It was meant to be something I'd hide forever, because it was a highly disturbing matter for me, so I always kept it private. And now, I felt like Dylan was invading my privacy...I felt embarrassed.

"I'm sorry,"he said. "But when I found out about the abuse, I became annoyed and I just couldn't control my feelings."

"Why do you care if I get hurt or not? It's none of your business."

"You're my mate, Hillary...you mean everything to me!"

Those words slammed my heart and immediately flushed all my anger away. Did he really mean that? Or was he trying to get me to trust him? Either way, it still made my heart jump in excitement.

"I need you to trust me, Hillary."

I scoffed. "If you really need me to trust you then I guess you had better quit drugging and abducting me, and then maybe someday...you could 'earn' my trust."I said, laying emphasis on the word 'earn'.

"Once again, I'm sorry for drugging you, but I needed to bring you here to meet my father... the alpha of my pack."

"Why?"I asked curiously.

"He's sick and he really wants to see you."

"I still don't get it. Why me?"

"Because, you are my mate....and if my father doesn't make it....I'll be made the next alpha and you'd be my Luna."

I managed to laugh despite my nervousness. "You're nuts. You really need help, Dylan...and I can help you, just let me go and I could probably get you like four psychiatrists and six shrinks to help you."

"I'm not insane and you know that, Hillary."

"All I know is that you are abducting me, Dylan and if you don't let me go now, the police will hunt you down, arrest you, you'd be imprisoned and you'd spend a whole lot of years in prison."

"You aren't forced to stay here, Hillary."

"Okay, then I think it's best for me to.leave, right?"

"Hillary, you're not a prisoner here."He said.

"Then let me go!!!"

"I will, but first...you have to meet my father...the alpha."

I calmed myself down by taking in three deep breaths. "OK, but you'd have to promise me that immediately I see your father, you'd free me."

He shot me a sharp glance and said. "Sure thing, Hillary...I promise."

He stood up, dropped the tray, and began making his way out of the room. "Come along, Hillary, this house is very enormous and you could get lost."

It was when I began rising up that I noticed the fact that I had vomited on the floor and I felt really really filthy. "Hold on, Dylan."

"What's wrong?"He said turning around. "Oh...is it the...don't worry I'll have someone clean it up."

"Also, I'll have to clean up as I feel like a trash can right now."

"Okay... the bathroom is that way."he said pointing to another door in the room. "I would have someone drop you some new clothes before you're done."

"Okay."

"I'll be waiting downstairs."He said as he opened the door and closed it.

I exhaled and hurried into the bathroom. I rinsed my mouth thoroughly and after I took off my clothes and hopped into the bathtub.

I dipped my head into the water for a few seconds, it was my method of getting rid of unnecessary thoughts.

When I raised myself back up, I was startled by someone standing by the door. I swiftly used my palms to rub off the soapy water off my face to get a better look at the person.

I took a sigh of relief when I saw who it was. "Ava, you scared the hell out of me."

She looked at me with fury and extreme annoyance. Her face was red and puffy, like she had been crying for a very long time. The usual spark in her beautiful ocean blue eyes was gone and her eyes looked duller and she had a growing eye bag under her eyes, like she hadn't slept for some days and had spent her sleeping hours weeping. Her blonde curly hair was rough and uncombed. Her lips were quivering and she had a look of hate on her face.

I rested back a little bit. "What's wrong, Ava?"

"Everything. Every single thing, Hillary."She said as she moved into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

I became really scared. I hoped she hadn't found out that I mentioned her tattoo to Dylan. "Ava...I swear I didn't tell him..."

She drew closer to me and squatted beside me. She had a maniacal smile on her face. She gently touched and massaged my hair and scalp. "You know they weren't lying, Janette and Clarissa weren't lying at all...your hair is really really pretty, Hillary."

I began to tremble.

"But not only that, Hillary. They were right about everything...they saw the real you hidden beneath all that friendly and fake smile of yours."She sniffed as a tear rolled down her puffy cheek. She grabbed my hair gently and used her fingers to massage my scalp. "They warned me but I didn't listen. I thought they were lying, I thought you were just a victim of a bully and nothing else. I really liked you..., you know? I wanted to be your friend, Hillary. And I don't usually make friends. But you fooled me, Hillary."

My body trembled as her finger left cold shivers as they massaged my scalp. I felt like crying but I was too scared to do anything but plead. "What are you talking about? I don't understand. Whatever it is ...I'm sorry."

"No you are not sorry, Hillary."She said as her fingers gripped my hair with more force. "If you are sorry, then why are you here?"

"Here? I never meant to come here. Dylan abducted me and brought me here."I said with my voice quivering.

"Yea, I'm fully aware of that...if only you hadn't seduced and bewitched him into loving you, instead of me, who truly loves him."She gripped my hair with so much force, which made me yelp in pain. I tried to wriggle out of her grip, but it didn't work, instead it made it worse. It was almost like she wanted to pull my hair out of my head. The pain became more excruciating and when I yelled out for help, she quickly covered my mouth and tied my mouth with her muffler which she had around her neck. And again, continued with the torture.

I knew that in a few minutes, I would have begun to bleed from my scalp, so I used my teeth to reach out to her neck. She tried pushing me away, but I was lucky and fast enough to get to her wrist. I took a deep bite into her wrist until I felt hot blood ooze out of her skin and into my mouth. I quickly withdrew and spat out the blood.

Ava was whimpering and moaning as she held her wrist.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw the damage I had done to her. She was bleeding badly and her wrist looked like they were hanging and like they might fall off soon.

But how? My teeth couldn't have done so much damage.

I reached out to my teeth and was surprised when I touched my canines. They were long, sharp and pointed. I screamed in fear of my own self.

Despite her pain, Ava wasn't done with me yet, she abandoned her left hand which was useless at that moment and grabbed my hair with her right hand. She yanked my head downwards into the tub and held me down.

She was going to drown me. I was sure of it. I shook and used all my strength but she was way stronger than I was.

After a while, I gave up. I surrendered to her torturing hands and choked on the water.

But before I drew in my last breath, her grip on me was released and my head was pulled out from the tub.

I vomited the water out of my mouth and coughed continuously. My eyes were red and wide open.

Dylan was pulling Ava who was yelling and crying at the same time, away from me and out of the room. I heard other voices which I guess assisted in escorting her out.

I watched the whole drama unfold until Dylan came back. "Are you alright?"he asked.

"Yes. I'm fine now."I rested back into the tub to conceal my body from his flaring eyes.

He watched me for a while and then handed me a towel.

I grabbed it from him. I expected him to walk out but he didn't, his eyes were still all over me. "Would you excuse me, Dylan."

"No, I won't."he said bluntly.

"What!!"

"The last time I excused you, you were almost killed. I'm not taking my eyes off you."

I scoffed. "This is ridiculous. There's no way I'm getting out of here with you staring at me."

"What's the issue with me staring at you? You're my mate."He asked.

"The issue is that I love my privacy and lately it seems like you've been invading it. So pleeeaaase excuse me."

He turned around. "Well, this is all the privacy you're getting."

I rose from the tub and quickly wrapped the towel around me. My heart skipped a beat as my eyes met his curious blue eyes staring at me.

I held the towel closer to me, as a flush of embarrassment traveled all over me. "Did you...?"

"Yes, Hillary..."He said as he walked slowly to me. "And I'd say that you're indeed the most adorable lady I've ever set my eyes on."

With every step he took towards me I made a step backward, until I was resting on the walls of the bathroom.

I felt intoxicated and high by his closeness to me, like I was under the influence of hard drugs. I felt really high that I didn't know when I uttered. "And how many ladies have you set your eyes on?"

He chuckled. "More than you think? But none of them have ever made me feel this way."He reached for my hand which was holding the towel, and gently released my grip from it. "None of them have ever been so beautiful."He said as he let loose the towel.

I bowed my head as I watched the towel fall to the floor. I could feel his ravaging eyes wander all over my naked body and I didn't have the courage to look up at him.

Like he felt my fears, he slowly raised my head with his finger and said softly, "You don't need to be scared, Hillary, just...feel, okay?"

I nodded my head.

His fingertips began to trail my bare shoulder and ran down slowly to my chest. His hands drew closer to my bare breasts...and I pushed him away.

"I can't..."I muttered silently, catching my breath. "I'm sorry..I just can't."I bent and picked the towel and wrapped myself with it.

"It's fine, Hillary "he held my face gently. "We have all the time in the world to get fond of each other."

He patted my chin and walked out of the room. It took me two to three minutes to get control of myself. I couldn't believe my emotions, I had really wanted him to touch me however he wanted but I was just too scared and paranoid.

At last, I moved out of the bathroom and changed into a dress I saw on the bed. It was a short wrapping flared gown with beautiful sunflower patches on it. It wasn't my type of gown, as it was way higher than my knee. I looked at the mirror for a while, admiring the beautiful gown which showed my curves–curves which I've always hidden in my baggy pants, floor-touching skirts and Cinderella-like gowns.

I sat down on the bed and exhaled loudly through my mouth. I couldn't believe that so much could happen in less than thirty minutes; I had been tortured, accused and almost drowned by Ava Saints, a girl who I thought was my friend, and also what transpired between Dylan and I.

From the window I saw a small yellow tweeter hitting the window. I stood up and walked over to the large glass and mahogany framed window and opened it.

The beautiful bird had somehow gotten stuck in the wet clay of one of the vases which had beautiful flowers in them. It was young and beautiful and it suited the beautiful weather. I helped it out, and I let go of it...but it didn't fly away, instead it climbed onto my outstretched palms and chittered beautifully.

While I was still focused on the amazing tweeter, I didn't notice Dylan walk into the room. He walked to my side and said softly. "It likes you, doesn't it?"

I shook a little bit and the beautiful bird flew from my hand. "Oh, no."I exclaimed, but then it perched on my palms again.

He laughed. "Like I said, it does like you."

"Maybe."I giggled.

"Just accept it, Hillary, why is it always so difficult for you to accept love?"

My smile faded. "Because it's not real, Dylan. It's something formulated and it's never true...at least even if it was, it never comes to people like me." I said as I lifted my hand and urged the bird to fly away. It flew away and I shut the large windows.

"That's not true, Hillary. Everyone has a shot at true love and unlike humans we werewolves are lucky to always know our mates. So all you have to do is to accept it."

I looked into his deep golden brown eyes and tried to see if he meant it, and from the way he looked at me I was almost sure he did.

I looked away. "So, where's your dad? The alpha."

"Follow me."

*****

We were in a massive superbly decorated and furnished bedroom which had several pictures around, most of which were of Dylan and another girl who looked like Dylan, but was obviously younger.

On the bed, was an elderly man with long gray hairs, full gray beards and black shining eyes. Although he was old and his face was wrinkled and folded, he still looked strong and bold. He had the look of a leader, now I knew why he was the Alpha. His old eyes were focused on the ceiling, when Dylan and I walked in.

We went beside the bed and Dylan interrupted the old man from his daydream. "Dad."

The old man shook from his daydream. "Is she here?"

"Yes."Dylan said.

The old man groaned as he shifted his body to face me. His black eyes were fixed on me for a short moment, which felt like a whole year to me. I stood there confused and had an awkward feeling. I was tense until his wrinkled face gave in to a wide smile which exposed his old crooked teeth. He patted the bed beside me and told me with his old and shaky but bold voice. Come over here, sweetheart, don't let this old man make you frightened."

I hesitantly sat beside him.

He reached out to my face and rubbed it with his wrinkled but strong hands. "You're so pretty. What's your name, Angel?"

"I'm Hillary...Hillary Hunter."I said nervously. I wasn't used to being around nice old people, I never had grandparents, the only family I had were Maribel, My mum and Steve Harrows.

"Hunter....."He looked at me, and pity was written across his face. "I knew your father, Anthony Hunter."

What! He knew my father. He was the first person who had ever talked about my father. I wondered how he knew my father, and I really wanted to ask him multiple questions but I held myself. I had always thought of my father as a nice, generous, superhero-like person and now I was scared to hear about who he truly was. It hurt me so much that I knew nothing about my Dad and I didn't even know his name. I wanted to know badly if he looked like me or Maribel, if he liked soccer like I did, if he enjoyed cooking or if he admired nature like me, but I didn't ask any of those because I was scared to hear the answers to them.

The old man held my hand and wrapped it with his large hands. "You have a lovely name, Hillary."

"Thank you, sir."I said sheepishly.

"C'mon, don't sir me. Those days of me being over-respected are gone and over, right now, I'm just an old man who wishes the best for his son and his pack, and an old man who impatiently awaits his newly made friend named Death."

I looked at him pitifully. From the strongness and hardness of his palm and his hands which must have been really muscular some years ago as they weren't sagging like most old people's hands did, I was certain that he must have been a man of many amazing virtues and now he was chained down by age and illness.

He must have noticed my sympathetic face as he laughed happily and continuously until he began to cough. "Dearest Hillary, don't even think of pitying me. Today is a day which i have waited to witness for years, the day that my beloved young boy will find a mate who will be with him forever, and now I was blessed by the angels to witness my only son find His mate with not only a beautiful and intelligent child like you, but also the beloved daughter of my late friend, Anthony."

"You knew him well, didn't you?"I asked as I resisted the burning urge to request for the old man to tell me everything he knew about my father, every time they laughed and played together, everything they had witnessed, how he was so unfortunate to meet my mother, how he had felt when Maribel and I were born. I wanted to ask him to possibly say how my father felt every moment of his life, but I didn't.

"Your father was my friend and was the Alpha of this pack, Hillary."

He cleared his throat. "Yes, he was the Alpha of the pack... before he died."

"Really?"

"Yes, Hillary. He was also my friend. Now, let's do away with the history and welcome the future."He held my hand tighter. "Hillary, I have dreamt of this day for many years and I can't believe that it's right in front of my eyes."

Dylan glanced at me and smiled and I reciprocated.

The old man clapped and smiled happily. "You guys truly love each other...don't mind me I'm.old fashioned, most of you modern youths hate using the word love and prefer 'really like', right?"

I replied with a smile although I felt like screaming.

"Yea, I thought as much. I can't wait...let the Alpha ritual be done by midnight. Dylan, alert everyone about it, it's going to be amazing."

I tried my best to remain cool, as I was really frightened and perplexed. What did he mean by that? Was he talking about marriage? I barely even know Dylan, how can I marry someone I just met a few weeks ago? Impossible. My mum and Steve didn't even know about him, I had met him only twice, and now I was expected to get married in a few hours. Crazy! Impossible! The only reason why I was still calm and I didn't object to the old man's speech was because he was nice and he said he knew my father very much and I didn't want to ruin my relationship with the only person except my mum, who had known my Dad.

"OK, dad."He said. it was obvious from his countenance that he felt uncomfortable.

The old Alpha rose up and gave me a Peck in the cheek. "Margaretta!!"He yelled with his old crooked voice. "Margaretta! M-A-R-G-A-R-E-T-T-A!!"

An elderly woman in an apron around her came in. She brought with her a tray which had a cup of chinese tea and some unleavened bread on it. She dropped it aside on a bedside table, took off her glove and dusted her apron. She had a nice and welcoming smile on her face and she graced me with it. "Old Jodan, what else do you need?"

He grumbled. "You're calling me old, like you're not old yourself."

She laughed. "Jodan, you and I know that I was still in the 5th grade when you were done with college, so let's not argue about age now, shall we?"

"Fine, but you look just as old as I do."He said.

"Hmmm, yet I'm not the one on the bed who can't do anything else but eat and sleep."She said jokingly.

"Whatever, you won."He said, surrendering to her. "Anyways, 'young' Margaretta, I would like you to prepare this angel of a lady..."He said addressing me. "For her ritual to become a Luna, can you do that? Or are your bones too weak to move around?"He said taunting her.

"Joke's over, Jordan, insult me one more time and you'd have anchovies on pizza as food for the next five days."

"OK, I'm done. But seriously, I'd like you to prepare her and dress her like the angel she is."

He looked away from Margaretta and stared at me. "Honey, I'm really grateful and I wish you all the best. Now, I think it's best if you get ready and prepared for the ceremony."

Dylan placed his hands on my shoulder and aided me in getting up to my feet. "Thanks, Dad. We better leave you to enjoy your meal and your chat with Aunt Margaretta."

"Sure thing, Kids. Margaretta's is feeling too good of herself and I need to change that, by the way."He waved happily and continued his chat with the old lady.

Immediately we left the room and Dylan shut the door, I asked him. "Nothing like that is happening, and I don't know how you're going to tell your dad that, but you'd have to deal with that. Right now, all I want to do is to leave here."

He stared at me in disappointment and said. "Of course, he walked down the long and wide stairs. The house was indeed enormous and was almost like a five-star hotel. There were several people moving around, some of them kids, some youths, some were couples , many were in their teens and many were as old as Margaretta.

There were so many eyes on me and some of them even smiled and greeted me.

Everyone looked so happy and it looked like they were all one big family.

Dylan escorted me out of the villa which was situated in the woods, but not the one close to my house.

We finally arrived at the road which led out of town.

"Goodluck, Hillary."

"Yea, I'd really need that."I said as I managed to smile.

"So, you're leaving town, aren't you?"It was obvious that he was sad.

"Yeah."

"Whereto, Hillary?"

"As far as possible."I said.

"OK.."He said reluctantly. "If you ever need help, feel free to contact me", he handed me a slip of paper which had his number on it.

I collected it and squeezed it in my hand. "I better leave, now before My Mum and Steve get back, i t would be better if I had some hours advantage over them."

He sighed and he hugged me. "Hillary, I hope the next time we meet, you'd be less stubborn and more...submissive."

I laughed. "Dylan, I can bet that we'd never meet again, but it was nice knowing you. You taught me something very relevant, at least I now know what I truly am, and also I know some things about my father."

"Hillary, fate is stronger than you think. Fate brought us together, so no matter where you go, how far you travel or even if you go to the other end of the world, Fate would still bring us back together. It may take years, decades or it may even be sooner than you can ever imagine, but I'm sure that you and I will be together someday and I hope it's soon."

I smiled. "I don't believe in Fate, Dylan, so goodbye."

I turned around and walked hurriedly back to the school compound where my car was. I thought about Dylan Woodluck on the way and somehow I knew that in better circumstances, being with him would have been better than wonderful. I wished that he'd find a better person someday, a person who would love him and aid him in leading his pack. I also thought about Jodan Woodluck. I wished that he had a nice and proper life and that death would meet him well and that when he died, he'd join my Father in heaven and probably keep him company.

When I arrived at the car, I cleaned a teardrop which had escaped my eyes. I took in three deep breaths, each having significant meanings, the first breath was for me saying farewell to my past, the second was saying farewell to My sister, Dylan, Jodan and to the old me and the third one was for welcoming a new life and future for myself.

After my usual deep breathing ritual, I opened the car door and i... froze.

In the front seat was Ava Saints and in the back seat was my mum and Steve Harrows, both of whom were pointing guns at me.