From The Ashes

Chapter One

  I awoke with a start. Ever since hearing that voice in the dead of night six months ago, I always seem to wake up alert and on edge. 

"Calm down," Sienna growled in my head, "you always wake me up way too early." Sienna was definitely not a morning wolf. 

I smirked to myself and took a deep breath. I held it in for 5 seconds, then exhaled and released the remaining tension. I popped out of bed, did a quick stretch, and jogged my way down the small stairs that separated my loft room from the rest of our tiny cabin. I came to a stop at the tiny fridge in our kitchen and began pulling out the ingredients for scrambled eggs and sausage links. We didn't usually have much, but I made an effort to make and eat breakfast every morning with my aunt. 

I began heating the skillet and mixing the eggs. Once it was heated, I threw the sausage links on one half to brown and poured the egg mixture onto the other. I was too lost in the process to hear my aunt Madeline approach. 

"Well you're up early again, "she announced and I spun around while almost whacking her in the head with the spatula that was in my hand.

 "Jeez Aunt Maddie, don't sneak up on me like that!" I exclaimed.

 "I would have thought you'd heard me coming, seeing as your supposed to graduate top of your class from the academy today," she replied back. I smirked and went over to give her a gentle hug. 

Aunt Maddie was a pale, aging woman with long silver hair and piercing hazel eyes. She had sharp features that had somehow become even sharper with age. She was able to scare even the mightiest of Alpha's with just one look, but I thought she was beautiful. Just like my mother was.

 She and my mother had been twins with the only thing separating them being their eye color. My mother had been blessed with stunning purple irises. I had only ever seen pictures of my her, but I knew I had at least inherited that feature from her. Aunt Maddie had taken me in when I was only a few days old. My mother had died in child birth, I had been told.

 I wish I could have met her. My father wasn't in the picture. Not because he was dead, too, but because he was busy being posh and cozy with his three other daughters and wife in the palace. I was just the product of a royal affair between the king and a commoner. A nobody. 

And that's how I liked it. I didn't want the other members of the pack knowing I was the King's first daughter by a few months. It may hurt seeing their family looking so happy together, but it would hurt worse to be apart of it and not be accepted.

Aunt Maddie returned my hug and stood to dish up our plates. Before I could utter any protest, she gave me the look that said "I am not too old or too sick to get our food, so sit your butt back down." 

I stopped in my tracks and sat at our small, scratched kitchen table. We ate in silence for a few minutes until Aunt Maddie cleared her throat. 

"Your father has requested to see you tonight after the graduation party. He wants to speak with you, along with his other daughters". I nearly choked on my eggs. 

"He hasn't directly spoken to me in years. Why would he want to do so now?" I asked. She looked deep in my eyes. 

"Sometimes things need to change. This change could be for the better, or for the worse, but I think its worth hearing him out," she said.

 I was in shock. She hated my father. She believed it was his fault my mother was dead. I swallowed the lump in my throat and ignored the chill that went down my spine. 

"I'll think about it and give you my answer before the ceremony."  I got up and threw my dishes in the sink, then ran back upstairs to change into some running shoes and athletic shorts. I opted to stay in my sports bra because, even though it was only about eight in the morning, it was getting hot outside in June. 

"I think you should listen to her," Sienna whispered to me. 

"I don't know Si, you know what could happen if someone sees all of us together."  

"It doesn't matter. She's right. Change is inevitable and it needs to be embraced regardless of the outcome."

I growled at her and jogged out of the front door, yelling a good bye to Aunt Maddie behind me.  I began a slight jog in preparation of my morning run. Once I reached the edge of our property, I sprinted down the dirt road that led to town with my mind buzzing and a feeling of dread like a knife in my stomach.