Reawaken | ongoing

Prologue

Prologue

• 1994 • 

"Goodbye," she said softly, fighting back the tears, as she cradled her son's cheek lovingly. "If things were different, I would make sure you never left my side," she murmured heartbrokenly.

A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek as she brushed the little blond curls away from his forehead.

"Anne, we have no more time. We have to go now!"

Tearfully, she glanced up and nodded shakily. Her hands were trembling as she cuddled her son close to her chest one last final time. "I love you so much," she said brokenly before pressing one more kiss to his forehead.

"Anne!"

She looked up and nodded and her heart ached as her brother gently took her son away from her before nodding curtly at her. "You're saving him, Anne and delaying Trent from his goals."

"I know," she said softly, her eyes never moving away from the small bundle in her brother's arms. "Goodbye, Charlie, keep him safe for me. Make sure he knows that I love him with all my heart."

Her brother nodded, eyes wet with tears and within a blink of an eye, he leapt out of the window and was gone.

She closed her eyes and slid down to the ground, the pain of sacrificing herself for her son hurt. It felt like a knife was being twisted into her heart.

If only they had listened to the rumours. If only they hadn't been so damned arrogant. If only they had been more open-minded and more prepared!

The What Ifs were killing her.

She knew she was going to die today. All of her family, her pack were going to die.

The rumours were true.

A pack of wolves with an Alpha that didn't come from the Lupus Linae. A pack full of Weres. Never had it happened before and they should have seen this coming.

What was worse was that somehow, they had found out about the Five Sacred Antiquities.

She should have listened! They should have all listened!

At least, they had managed to warn the other four packs. Just not in time to save themselves.

She settled herself on the ornate chair, waiting.

Waiting for death.

Waiting for them.

Regret crushed through her. If only they had listened, her son would still be with her. No, she couldn't cry. There wasn't time. As Alpha, she could sense that they were nearing the borders of her territory.

No, they were already here. A grim feeling settled in her gut.

Desperately, she prayed that Charlie and her son were far away from their home.

She hadn't sacrificed so much just to have them caught.

The door creaked open and she stiffened.

"Anne Montague. It's nice to see that you're not exactly putting up a fight. Rather a waste of time and effort and lives if you ask me."

A pair of expensive leather shoes entered her line of vision and she looked up defiantly.

Trent Jackson smiled but she noted that it didn't reach his eyes. The notorious Alpha of the Weres was standing confidently in front of her, a cruel smirk on his face.

She wouldn't cower. She was the Alpha of the Montague Line. One of the five most important of the Lupus Linae. She would be damned if she did.

"Where is it?"

She shook her head. "Where is what?"

"The Necklace of Harmonia. One of the Five Sacred Antiquities."

Anne shrugged. "Those are just a myth. There is no such thing."

"DON'T LIE!"

She barely refrained from jumping from the sudden tone the man adopted.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied calmly.

"That's not what my sources say. The Necklace of Harmonia grants immortality to its wearer," Trent said, brown eyes flashing that soon turned bright yellow.

"Like I said, those are just myths. We don't have it," she said forcefully as she got to her feet gracefully. "It's just a pack of lies spread by us to seem better than anyone else."

Trent shook his head. "Don't make things difficult for yourself Anne. Tell me where it is," he gritted through his teeth.

He began pacing around her. "I intend to possess all five of them and the Montague Line has the Necklace of Harmonia. I want it. WHERE IS IT?"

She straightened, allowing her eyes to turn a gleaming blue. "There. Is. No. Such. Thing."

Trent snarled. "Fine. We'll see if some persuasion will help in loosening your tongue."

She stopped to see about five Weres slinking into the room and she allowed her claws to come out.

She wouldn't win, she knew that.

Even if she had the advantage of being an Alpha, she would still die.

It didn't matter if she was a Wolf Alpha. She had lost too much to fight; her husband was dead, her son and her brother were on the run, most of her family, her pack were dead.

The Wolves were part of the Lupus Linae. It was Latin for Wolf Lines and there were only fifty Wolf Lines that dated back all the way to Ancient Greece. Wolves were gifted with the ability to turn into all states.

While Weres, on the other hand, were those who were bitten and turned by Wolves and didn't have the ability to shift into a full wolf. In short, they were a lot less deadly.

However, with the majority of her family dead, she and her remaining family were greatly outnumbered. But it didn't matter, she would at least put up a hell of a fight if she was to die.

"We'll see," she said calmly, claws fully drawn out as her eyes became a brilliant blue.

What happened next was a blur of howls, growls, fur and fangs.

The last thing that Anne saw was the five Weres spread around her, dead. Trent Jackson was seething as he shouted and bellowed, but in her near-death state, she couldn't hear a thing.

She didn't even feel a thing.

Faintly, she smiled and with one last thought of her son, she closed her eyes and embraced death.