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Chapter 1 - The Darkness that Looms

Hope

"I won't let anyone get you Faye, I promise." I whispered to my sister, whose eyes were filled slightly with tears. I knew I couldn't let her be taken. The males in our pack were too possessive. I wasn't going to allow my 14 year old sister be marked by a male of our pack. Not over my dead body.

"But Hope, It was easier for you over the last three years to protect yourself. It's going to be ten times harder to keep us both safe." I knew she had a point, but I had to be brave. I was 17, and I had been going on these mating runs for four years now. I sighed in frustration...It was going to be harder to keep us both away from those testosterone filled males.

"It's fine Faye. I have a hiding spot for us in the woods, in a small hollow. We should be safe for the night. I also heard from Zed that it probably won't rain tonight. Our scent won't be as strong."

We sat in our cabin for a few minutes more, planning our escape from the mating run. Almost all of the females were outside, flirting their way through the afternoon. The run started at 6pm sharp and ended at 12pm. The run always occurred a month before all of the females went into heat. You could practically smell the hormones in the air, the females were anxious to get a mate, and the males were anxious to have someone to hold and protect.

You see...We werewolves have a very protective streak within us. We find a mate, we protect and love them, we have pups with them, and we live happily ever after.

Some of us were different though. I didn't want a mate to tie me down, I wanted to travel, and I couldn't do that if I had one. That was the main reason why I hid for those past four years. That, and the fact that I'm scared to be tied down to someone. I don't think I could handle the responsibility to protect my sister and myself, and have a mate on the side.

I knew that Faye didn't want a mate yet also, she was too young. Werewolves started going on the mating run at the age of fourteen. That was when the females started to go on heat cycles, and the males were ready to love and protect.

It was a rule though, that if the female was younger than 18, a pre-mating mark had to be made, and they couldn't be fully mated until they have turned 18.

I turned to my sister once again, her eyes looking outside towards the huge bonfire they were building. I could see her golden brown eyes look towards the sky, which was coal black, threatening to rain. That wasn't good.

Her light brown curls had been delicately placed in a messy pony tail at the top of her head. Ringlets framed the front of her face, hanging loosely over her beautiful cheekbones and soft pink lips.

"You really are beautiful, you know Faye..." I trailed off lovingly. She turned to me and smiled, dimples forming in her cheeks. I giggled a little and covered my mouth with my hand, trying to hold my laughter.

"You can't talk Hope; you're just an older version of me. We're exactly like Mum..." She trailed off with a sad smile. "I'm sorry to bring her up. But you really are beautiful like mum." I walked over to her and put my arms around her. "Thanks Faye."

You see, the reason Faye and I are so close, is because I've been looking after her since she was eight.

Our parents had died in a battle. They were the Alpha and Alpha female. We are the direct descendents of the Alpha's, but when they died, the Beta's took over. They did a wonderful job, and directed the pack into a great direction. The pack was peaceful and leisurely. But it still didn't mean we accepted them. Faye and I loved our parents. They were loving and kind, just what parents should be. And I had always wanted a relationship as great as theirs whn inwas younger. They were so close; it made me to aspire as a young girl to achieve the same. We were a great family, until they died, that is.

Tears welled in my eyes, remembering them still hurt. But at least Faye and I had each other still. I wasn't going to let anyone take her away from me, not even a horny, arrogant bastard. Who went by the name of Scott. Yes, I had already worked out who I would have to be hiding my sister from tonight. Scott and two others. But they weren't going to be within a mile of her. I wasn't going to allow it.

And apparently, there were a few unlucky bastards trying to find me tonight as well. I was going to be a hard catch though. And if they knew me well enough -which they wouldn't, Faye and I were most socially outcast in the pack- they would know I would put up a fight, even until the death.

*Edited*