The Safe House

Chapter 1 - Prologue

I stood on the side of the stage as my father announced that he would be stepping down from his position as Alpha. He would be passing his title down to my 26 year old brother Adrian. My heart soared as he announced the ritual would be held at the rise of this months full moon.

I was happy for Adrian. He was an amazing leader. He showed top notch skills in every problem that jumped his way and he cares deeply for the pack. He is the most dedicated person I know.

Adrian has been standing dutifully by our fathers side for 4 years waiting for him to feel confident in him completely as a leader and he's proven himself more than capable to lead our pack.

My problem with the whole situation is I feel useless. Don't get me wrong I have many duties in the pack and I take them very seriously. I just feel as though I'm not utilizing my full potential. Something inside of me is telling me I need more.

As I'm in thought, my father dismisses the pack to enjoy our lovely day of celebration. He turns to me with a look that says he needs to speak to me. Fearing the worst I follow him as he motions me to a quiet corner.

"I could practically see the wheels rolling in your mind Avalon", my father chuckles. " What's going on in that pretty little head of yours Sugar?"

I shrug softly and whisper that we can talk about it later. He smiles and hugs me. Then dismisses me to join the party.

The first face I search for is my best friend Taylor. We have been attached at the hip since birth. Both of us being born second children. Him the beta's second born and I the Alpha's second born. He won't receive his title either. That will go to his brother Will.

Taylor spends his days doing everything I do. We train together, eat together, and do pretty much everything else together. It's been that way for the majority of our lives. For a while we thought we may have been mates, but when he hit his 18th birthday and no sparks. We knew it wasn't meant to be. At 25 neither of us have found mates.

I find him under my favorite tree with a sandwich stuffed in his mouth.

"You know that it's not gonna disappear right?" I say as I giggle at him. His mouth is stuffed so full it look like he has a baseball in his mouth. He almost chokes on his bite as he tries to swallow and I laugh harder.

"You know I could have died and you would have just been laughing." He sneers at me, then pokes his tongue out and pouts at me.

"Oh come on you big baby. You know I'd never let that happen. You and me are taking over hell together. Can't have you down there too soon. Thinking you can run the place alone." I retort.

He chuckles and points a finger at me.
"You've got a very good point!"

His face turns serious as he catches a glimpse of my father through the crowd.

" Did you tell him?"

" I couldn't bring myself to say anything. Besides I still have to figure out where I'm going to get the rest of the money for this!" I defend my weakness.

" You have to tell him Ava! He will help you and you know it." He practically shouts at me.

I look at him in shock. "I-I-I didn't want to ruin Adrian's day!"

"Please promise me you are going to talk to him tomorrow morning. He needs to know." He tells me with an apologetic look. "I'm gonna go see what Will and Lisa are doing. Think about what I said."

The thing he doesn't know is that I have thought about it. I have thought about it every day for 3 years. I just don't know how my father is going to act when I do finally tell him what I want in life.

I rested against the tree for another 15 minutes or so before I couldn't stand it anymore. I stood up and went into the house up to my room.

I would spend the evening preparing an amazing presentation for my father. In the morning he would finally know the path I wanted to take.