Regrets are for the Weak

Chapter 1

"Tell it again, Mom," he pleaded. I smiled at my son, sitting backwards in the chair. Kaleb was sitting next to him. His eyes seeming to nod in agreement. Samantha was sitting on his lap, curious as to what story they were speaking of. Astrid came in with Tessa, sitting with their mates. Astrid was Beau's mate. Tessa was my daughter, mated with Gabriel. The children were all out with Griffin, Derek, Benji and Luke, camping. We had the house to ourselves, away from all of my grandchildren and I smiled as everyone else gathered around with curiosity.

"What's going on?" Collin asked confused.

"Sh,"his mate, Shelby, scolded, "Auntie Amber tells this story the best."

"Well,"I said with a smile, "It is my own." I paused a moment in thought. "Are you sure you want to hear this one?"

"Yes,"Astrid grinned, "I love this story."

"And now we're all curious," Sam laughed.

"Alright, well, then I suppose we should start from the beginning."

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I was the first one to see it. The yellow eyes, holding me captive like a long summer rain. They seemed to pierce me. They watched from the woods, the same place every day, at the exact same time. There were no tracks from animals, or humans aside from mine. Was it a ghost? Ha, not likely. You would expect a five year old to be scared, but I wasn't. I was curious as to what the eyes belonged to.

You could call it my obsession with them that held me back from branching out to other kids my age. I was a loner in kindergarten. It was just me and the eyes; no one else. I just considered myself lucky. I was the only one that this being was watching. I was the only one special in their eyes.

When I turned six there was second pair of eyes watching my birthday unfold. My parents didn't seem to notice. They were watching the Sunday night football game while I ate my pie and watched the eyes.

I remember the slight creak of the rusty swing as I barely rocked it on my feet while eating my pie. My parents didn't even know how to cook. They had bought a pie and cut a piece off for me when I reminded them it was my birthday.

My mom growled, "Great! When will you be old enough to get a job?" I was six years old! She wanted me to have a job so I could pay rent.

Dad just said, "Oh shut it, Ruth. It was one of my pieces anyways."He smacked me on the way past and my head hit the corner of a table, splitting it open. He said, "Don't let this happen again." I couldn't remember if he had done this for all my birthdays or not, but then again, I didn't care.

Because after I had set my plate on the ground next to the swing I was yanked off of it. I looked up and found myself nose to nose with a yellow eyed wolf, another one right next to him. Each of them grabbed one of my shirt sleeves and yanked me into the dense forest, changing my life forever.

It was for the better though. I recall the first night I was with them. It was in a house that belonged to a couple. I stared at the picture of the couple for a few seconds before turning around to the wolves again. But they weren't there. The couple was there.

The woman smiled, "Hello, baby girl. My name is Evelyn." I would have run, and I almost did, but her eyes were the same yellow as the second wolf. The man standing beside her had the same eyes that had entranced me since the beginning.

He said, "I am Cedric Price."

I waved, "Hi."

The woman bent down so she was my size and touched my cheeks, "You're freezing. That was quite a long walk though."