Broken Bonds

Chapter 1

Moon light flickered through the maple leaves above me as I ran through the damp forest. Smells of moss, decomposing leaves,and the earth laid heavy in the air. Somehow it all cleared my mind.

I needed the long run home after a day like today. It made me almost grateful we lived so far removed from the rest of the pack.

I slowed down to a jog as I approached my home. I could hear my mother inside shifting dishes around in the sink.

We hadn't always lived so far away from the pack.

My lungs were burning as I forcefully tried to get control over my breathing.

Dread seeped into my body and my eyes squeezed shut as I the memories of the past few weeks forced their way into my mind. Alpha Cain, being the extremely cautious and overprotective type in general, spelled out the consequences and terms me mother and I would now live with.

To be completely fair, none of us could've predicted my father's actions. He really was to blame for all of this. It wasn't just a betrayal of my mother and I, he betrayed the entire pack. In their eyes, blood was blood. If my father was capable of betrayal, so were we.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and I slowly mustered the energy to go inside. I walked towards our little house and ducked my head subconsciously as I entered through the doorway.

Our little house was really only one room. It was an old abandoned hunting cabin that sat on the very border of the pack boundary. Alpha kept us exiled at a safe distance.

"Oh Kathryn" my mother cooed as she walked towards me with both pity and guilt in her eyes. Whenever she looked at me like that I knew she saw what no one else did. What I fought with every last shred of dignity I had left to hide from the world.

And yet anger and self-loathing still burned through my veins as I felt my tears cloud my vision and the sob escape my throat. I wasn't as strong as I used to be and that was the biggest disappointment of all.

Her arms surrounded me pulling me to her chest as I let it out.

"My baby" she soothed running her hand over my long hair. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything" I could hear her voice begin to break as she struggled to hold back her own emotions.

"It's not your fault" I cried even harder

I stepped back from my mother and furiously wiped the moisture from my face. How much longer will this go on? Can we live like this forever?

"What happened?" My mother asked studying me. The look in her eyes already has me thinking that she doesn't really want to know. We've both been through hell and back now. How much of our own burdens could we handle without taking on any more?

I had set out to visit the pack house to deliver the one useful thing my mother and I could provide to the pack. The sole reason we were probably still allowed to occupy the lands: medicinal herbs.

My grandmother was a renowned healer who was rather famous for her concoctions to remedy anything from a wolfsbane poisoning and even healing wounds from silver bullets. My mother had inherited the skill set learning everything from my grandmother her entire life and now I was next.

"I dropped off the supplies at the pack house and they cornered me outside. They think we helped him escape" I said twisted my face in disgust

"I would spit on him if I ever saw him again. " My mother cut me off cooly her face as hard as stone. "He shamed our family. Sentenced us to exile"

Pure venom dripped from her words as she coolly moved away from me towards the stove. The tea kettle was crying out for relief from the heart of the burner.