Emberholde Academy

1 - Exiled

Eden's POV

"My sweet sister. We're going to get you out of here. Mom, dad, and me. We haven't stopped fighting for your freedom." I look at Adelaide across the table from me, her eyes watering, tears threatening to fall. I keep my emotions in check, my face blank, void of all feeling. I don't want her to hurt more than she already is, only being able to see me once a month in my solitary residence away from the pack.

She's definitely older and looking more like our mother every single time she visits me. Her short blonde hair that is identical to mine in colour, almost white, round brown eyes with full lashes, and a regal, almost elegant facial structure.

We look similar, but my hair is longer than hers and I have a softer facial structure like our father. The biggest difference? I have heterochromia. Two different coloured eyes. My left is blue and my right green. My family had always said that it makes me more beautiful, but it took me a long time to accept it as so.

As I look at Adelaide, I'm saddened that I've missed so much time of her life being away from her, and it pains me to think that her, mom, and dad are still trying so hard to free me from the confines of this prison. I bite my lip nervously, trying to hold my composure as she reaches out to hold my hands. I panic and pull away, not trusting myself and she reaches further to grab them again.

"You won't hurt me."

"You could have said I wouldn't have hurt the people I did a year ago either, but we know how that went, don't we?" I question and she sighs.

"You didn't intentionally hurt them."

"That's not what the pack thinks."

"Screw the pack." She says sternly and I shake my head. "Don't speak like that Adelaide. You're still in it."

"I don't feel like I will be again until you are."

"You know that won't happen anytime soon. More like never if Lachlan has his way."

"I don't want to think that it's true."

"Adelaide..." I trail off, my throat tightening with emotion.

Suddenly the door opens behind Adelaide, and I raise my eyes to see one of the pack guards enter.

"Visiting time is over Adelaide." She looks up at me and squeezes my hands tightly. "I love you dear sister."

"I love you too, sister. See you next month."

"Always." She hesitates, but stands and turns, walking to the door. She leaves but gives me one last glance and a small smile before the door is closed and I'm alone again.

I stand and head over to the window that overlooks the entrance to the exiled residences and see Adelaide walk to the gates with two guards. I let the tears fall freely now as her figure walks out of sight. I sniffle and wipe my eyes as I turn and walk away from the window and go into my living room and sit on my couch.

I never thought that this would be my life.

Not in a million years.

It's still hard for me to process. It's only been a year since I was rejected and caused chaos in the pack at our annual ball. I've run the entire thing through my head over and over, trying to remember what happened after the chaos, but it's blank. My mother and father have told me what happened from their perspective, but it's still hard for me to believe, and I wish that I had some recollection as to what happened for myself.

But the thing is, I hurt a lot of people. Severely injured and killed people, friends within the pack.

Which is why I'm currently being held away from the pack in a place called the exile residences. They're similar to regular houses in the pack, except they're under 24 hour guard as all who reside here are awaiting judgment and trial for their committed crimes.

Normally, decisions are made mere months after an incident, but me? I've been here for just over a year now. I know exactly why, and it's because the Alpha of this pack – the man who rejected me as his mate – wants me to suffer. Wants my family to suffer.

It's sick and twisted, but he's the decision maker and no one dares go against him.

He played me, and I fell right into his trap, not knowing that I had access to magic at the time. The morning of the ball – which also ironically was my 20th birthday which is the age to find a mate – I had stumbled into Lachlan during my morning run.

The moment we touched, I knew he was my mate and the shock on his face was apparent when he looked at me. We were silent for a long time, just starting at each other and processing. We'd never really gotten along as younger kids, but I had come to tolerate him once he became Alpha after his father was seriously injured. My wolf Rieka was jumping around in my mind in excitement.

I remember it clearly as day; he'd spoken so softly towards me, telling me he was excited that we were mated as he knew I came from a strong Beta family. We had talked it through and somehow he had convinced me that I should accept our bond first, and he would follow this evening once he announced to the pack that we were mated.

I was foolish, blinded by the fact that I had found my mate in my own pack no less, strung on the whole idea of a mate that is told by our elders as small pups.

I had agreed and accepted my bond with him, happily.

Only for it to end in tragedy.

The time of the ball had come, and I remember I was giddy and nervous to attend. I didn't think much of it at the time, but Lachlan had avoided me the entire evening just before the final gathering in which he called me up in front of the entire pack. I remember walking up in my grey dress, smiling at him widely, and anxiously waited for him to announce our mating.

He did, but only to announce he was rejecting me and taking another as a chosen mate.

"I Lachlan Sterling, reject you, Eden Cross as my fated mate. I don't want a freak as a Luna for this pack."

The statement shocked me, and before I had a chance to say a word, the pain set in. It was more intense because I had already accepted him and in order for it to subside I would have to reject him as well.

I couldn't get it out right away. The pain slammed into me, and I had collapsed to my knees in front of him and the entire pack. It came in waves, strong and fast and I remember screaming out my rejection of him. I remember that the pain had subsided only a fraction – as a rejection usually takes at least a week for the bonds to completely separate, and the pain doesn't stop until the bond is broken completely – before I had felt an intense rage and anger inside me, coming to the surface.

Lachlan wouldn't feel as much pain as I since he had never accepted me in the first place. Which I now know he did intentionally.

Since I was in so much pain, I couldn't control myself and after it broke free is where I only have fragments and darkness.

Apparently, I became another person completely overtaken with rage and wielded magic, which is completely unknown for wolves.

I had set fire to the entire room and had wielded it at members of the pack in my rage.

That's the part I don't remember.

My parents and sister mean well, but to a degree regardless of the circumstances behind my actions, I still killed people. I've tried to use magic since the incident, but I've only managed small flickers here and there, nothing as substantial as that night.

I don't know what is in store for me now, but I guess I'll have to take it in stride.

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 - See you in the next one! - vv