Tess stared blankly at the field. Grey remorseless granite, swirling with red dust everywhere. She sighed, thinking of how life has been unfair to her. She wanted more from life, she didn’t want to just be seated in a corner without any help to render. Too bad, she had to settle for what she got, nothing less, nothing more.

Since the day she was born, she was bestowed with great responsibilities, she was the first and the only child of her father, Alpha Mount. Being the Alpha's daughter wasn't an easy job for her, to crown it all, she had no wolf. She had no special powers to cover up for it too, she was just a random wolf in the pack. There was no point for the goddess to be dramatic about her birth.

Although her father had come to accept this fact, Tess still found it as much as a hapill to swallow, she couldn’t believe it was happening to her. Her father is a good man, He didn’t deserve this at all. She had to train extra hard for abilities that came easily to wolves, the constant need to prove to her people that she was strong enough to rule them was choking too. She always heard their whispers about how eak she was, maybe one day after her parents die, they would overthrow her. That was why she needed to find a mate very soon, one that would protect her.

She had always thought that by her eighteenth she would either discover her mate, her wolf or her special power. One thing Tess did effortlessly was failing, because even at the end, she was unable to find any of them. She didn’t meet her mate, even if she wished it would be the strong beta’s son nor did she discover her wolf. She had tried multiple times to speak to herself, maybe a voice would answer from deep within but the truth was out there for her to see. She didn’t have a wolf nor any special abilities. She was just another random person mistakenly born on the morning of a solstice.

"Don't be bothered my child, you'll get your wolf soon, perhaps on your 18th birthday, some werewolves do not shift on time." Her father had assured her but she could see the fear in his eyes, the uncertainty lurking. Their pack had been one of the direct descent of the werewolves and now she knew it would leave her true blood line very soon, it was a truth they didn’t want to admit yet.

Unlike every other wolf, she's different. Or at least she had always thought she was different from the others. She was born on the morning of a solstice and to the wolves, she was tagged as the chosen one, the one who'd liberate their pack. That meant more than goodluck. It was rare luck that most of the alpha king's coveted, but her father got it instead. Supernaturals from all species came to witness her birth, was she an embarrassment to them? they had high expectations of her, but she'd failed them all, including her father the Alpha. His people’s respect for him grew because the refer to him as the goddess’ favorite. Tess refused to believe that anymore though, she was her father’s punishment for sins she had no idea about.

"You're here." Someone said behind her and she jolted back to reality. She was getting lost in the self blame party her mind always managed to trick her into again, she turned around to see who had saved her this time, who had liberated her from her dark thoughts.

"What are you doing here Wendy? you should be training by now." She asked. She already knew it was because of the voice, a voice she's already used to since childhood. She turned around, wondering what he wanted this time. She wasn’t in the mood for extra company and she definitely didn’t need one right now.

"I came to see you, but I was told you weren't at home, I guess I know you too well, so I found you myself." Wendy replied and she rolled her eyes. No matter what he wanted to say, it wasn’t enough for him to skip training but this was Wendy, almost impossible to be told what to do.

"That didn't answer my question Wendy, what are you doing here?." She repeated not sparing her a glance.

"Well, I actually came to ask for something." Wendy said before pausing and Tess turned her full attention on the girl, she looked like she was about to ask her for the impossible. She was always the one coming to Wendy’s rescue every time but Tess doubted if this would go on for long. She was tired already.

"Go on." Tess simply said and she found a spot to sit while waiting for Wendy to finally broker the fear and say whatever brought her here instead of the training ground. Wendy looked around before she moved closer to where Tess was sitting and she bent to whisper whatever brought her.

"Can you lend me your sword? mine broke last night while I was dueling with Jason." She explained with a whisper and Tess rolled her eyes. She should have known it was this and Wendy didn’t disappoint. Jason is Wendy's mate, at the age of 17 she was lucky to find her mate.

"You can't get as many swords as you want, it doesn't have to be mine." Tess replied, she had a feeling that Wendy isn't actually here just for her sword. She was probably here to be a pain in her ass and sadly, Tess didn’t have any time left to play meanie with her.

"Pretty please." Wendy pouted and Tess got more irritated, she wished Wendy had looked in the mirror, maybe she would have seen how she looked at her attempt to look cute.

"I said no!." She said firmly and Wendy looked like she couldn’t believe what Tess was saying, not like Tess cared anyway. She just wanted the other girl out of her sight and enable her continue her self-blaming journey.

She's been friends with Wendy since diapers, but she still doesn't like how disturbing Wendy can be, she always loved a peaceful and quiet environment, that's why she enjoys coming to the field. She enjoys coming here whenever she wants to avoid everyone and everything including wendy.

"Phew!, suit yourself, continue being a loner." Wendy scoffed before turning around leaving Tess who heaved a sigh of relief that the girl was gone. At least for now before she comes back with a bag full of tricks.

"Tess!." She heard her name again and that annoyed her, can't she have her own peace and quiet?. She rolled her eyes before turning around to check the source of the calling, this time she hissed slowly. It was Jason, a grumpy idiot.

"What do you want?." She asked and he scoffed. She should have known he would throw a few hurtful words before saying what brought him here. That was Jason for you and Tess tries hard to make Jason words not hurt as much as it did but she was getting around it, evry soon it wouldn’t.

"Don't be grumpy, okay? I'm not the cause of your predicament." Jason replied with a scoff and Tess decided he wasn’t worth her reply. If he wouldn’t say whatever brought him here, he can as well shove it up his own ass. She doesn’t care for him that much and if it was important, her father would find her himself.

"I was asked to call you." He said after a while, when he saw that she wasn’t going to ask him. She paused what she was twirling in her hand and she turned to look at him. He took that as a cue to continue whatever brought him here.

"Alpha Mount said you should come to the pack house as soon as possible, something just happened." He said and her eyes widened. Her father sending Jason meant whatever had happened was very important, so important that he couldn’t leave there and he needed her now.

"What happened?." She hurriedly asked as she put on her shoes and she dusted the dirt off her clothes and she started to make her way towards the pack house where her father was waiting for her.

"Go see for yourself." He replied after a while and Tess just pretended not to hear him, he wasn’t worth a retort. When she felt like she was being too slow, she burst into a run and she made her way towards where her father was and where the answers to her question would be.

Suddenly someone ran past her in full force, she looked forward and she saw Jason in his wolf form. She should have known he would always rub the fact that she didn’t have a wolf yet in her face, she was expecting it. She was quite sure he wasn’t going to be her mate nor was he going to take over the alpha throne, he could shove whatever showoff he was doing up his stupid ass.

******

Few minutes later, Tess arrived at the pack house and the crowd that gathered only made her scared more. She was expecting something else but she wasn’t expecting almost everyone in the pack gathered at the pack house, she could hear their murmurings and she could feel the energy in the air, ANGER!

"What's going on here?" She asked no one in particular and she only got murmurings, angry rants that were obviously not directed at her, she tried to get to the front of the crowd but the more she tried, the worse it got. This was part of the times she wished she had a super strength to shove them away or something. Who was she kidding, she couldn’t even take down a calm werewolf talkless of an angry one.

Alpha Mount immediately picked up the scent of his daughter, he turned and he saw her standing at the back, it seems haven't seen him, perhaps the crowd blocked her path.

"Silence!." He roared and everywhere immediately became quiet.

"Come over here Tess."

"Make way." Alpha Mount said with authority and slowly, they parted ways for her. She got to the front of the crowd, she was about to ask what was going on before her eyes went down to what everyone was looking at.

"Oh my goodness!." She flinched and she immediately covered her mouth. These people were mutilated in a way that was inhumane, whoever did this to them was a bastard without common feelings. He wondered what their offense had been. Some had been burnt beyond recognition and some had been cut up alive and the whole sight made Tess want to throw up. Whoever did this was a beast.

One of the warriors returned with a fresh body and everyone made way for him and when he dropped the body he was carrying, it was a young girl from the pack. Tess looked again and she recognized it was her friend Kayla. She let out a scream. Her father gripped her hand tight as he saw how much she was struggling to hold the dead girl. She had been mutilated and her organs were on full display. Whoever did this to her used a knife or a dagger.

Kayla was the sweetest and strongest wolf anyone could ever meet, Kayla knew how to use the sword so well that the younger wolves were always scared to spar with her during training. She was part of the people who made Tess accept herself faster. Even when Tess wasn’t learning as fast as others, Kayla was patient with her.