The moonlight shone brightly upon the lake, the stars glistening in the distance as the light danced across my skin. I sat there silently, watching the ripples from the fish in the lake. It wasn’t long until I heard a rustle in the trees behind me, it was my brothers. I was sixteen, my Father, the Alpha of our pack was meeting with other Alphas about a problem with one of the neighbors, a clan of vampires. Our eldest brother, Jackson, was there because, after this year, our dad is planning to retire as Alpha. My brothers sat around me, told me about what they had heard which was to go straight to the leader of the vampires.

It was dangerous for us to fight the vampires; so many good wolves have died due to them, including my Mother, our Luna. Dad hasn’t been the same since that tragic night... I, on the other hand, grew from it. That very night, I shifted for the first time. It should have been a happy night for me and the other sixteen-year-olds, it was our first full moon, but it also meant it was the best time to attack. New werewolves didn’t have the best control of their bodies yet and that night, a few of the warriors, my mother included, followed us into the woods to make sure we didn’t get into trouble.

I was attacked. The vampires wanted me, dead or alive; mom got in the way and for it, she was badly hurt. I held her hand when we both shifted back, I held her as she died in my arms. The vampire that killed her was torn to pieces, but I didn’t watch. I was too busy being held back by my brothers as my mother was taken from me. My eldest brother had wrapped me in a blanket to cover me while he and our brothers took me back to the house. I cried the whole way there. We didn’t see our father for days after that.

We all walked to the house when the other Alphas began leaving and went straight to our father. He was sitting at his desk in his office. All five of us piled into the office, me, sitting in a chair, Jackson was in the other chair, then the triplets; I was the youngest child which also meant I was the most overprotected, probably because I’m the only daughter.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Jeff, the oldest of the triplets asked; dad glanced at all five of us, sighed, then answered,

“I go to the King of the vampires tomorrow. See what we can arrange to stop everyone from getting killed.” he looked at Jackson, “Jackson will accompany me, I’ll arrange extra guards for the pack while I’m gone. Jeffery, Wesley, and Thomas, your job is to protect the pack and your sister.” I stood,

“Dad, I can protect myself, I don’t need the triplets to babysit me.”

“Aiday, it’s not that, it’s just, I don’t want to lose you like I lost…” I watched him, but my temper got the better of me and I stormed out of the office and into my room.

I was watching a movie on my laptop when there was a knock on the door. Pausing my movie, I went to the door to see it was Jackson, I groaned and walked back to my bed, “Are you here to tell me that I need to go apologies to dad for my outburst?” he chuckled,

“No, even though you should. Dad and I are leaving first thing in the morning so I just wanted to say bye.” I threw myself back on the bed, “You know, it’s not a bad thing to have the guys protecting you. We lost mom two months ago because she was protecting you. She knew that you are going to be important to our pack one day, and I believe it too.” I started playing with the silver lock of hair on my head,

“Yeah, but I doubt I’m that important. I’m just your typical daughter of an Alpha.” We chuckled a little.

“Baby sister, there is nothing typical about you.” I got up and went over to my desk and grabbed my notebook. “I’ll leave you alone; be safe. Dad and I will be back in a day or so. Love you.” I smiled and hugged him,

“Love you too. Be careful.” Jackson shut the door on his way out; opening my notebook, I saw the picture I drew of my mother, the spots where my tears had hit. I went over to the window and sighed, “I miss you, mom.” I flipped to a spare page and started writing; for about a month, I’ve been writing letters to my mother, just to help. I didn’t have any friends in the big house and I’ve been more of an outsider at school, just because I’m the daughter of the Alpha, everyone expects me to be this prissy princess when in reality, I’m a nerd that has a title. The only person I had was mom, but when she died, I stayed quiet for the first month after she died; the boys were worried about me so they got me notebooks to write in to help, which it has. I curl into a ball watching the moon before shutting my eyes and drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, around eight, I stood with my brothers as our father and Jackson got in the car. When they drove away, the triplets all looked at me, “What?” I asked,

“What do you want to do?” Thomas asked, I glared,

“How about, ditching you three and going for a run.” I bolted for the woods, but the Beta’s son tackled me,

“Nice try, princess.” I glared at him,

“Seriously, Blake! I almost made it!” he got off me and helped me up as my brothers ran over to us, “I don’t need babysitters, I’m sixteen, not six.”

“Aiday, if you didn’t need babysitters then Dad wouldn’t have told us to stop you from going into the woods until he got back,” Wesley stated, I growled and went to the house. All four of them followed me. I went into the gym and went straight to the punching bag and started letting out all of my frustration. The boys watched for a few minutes before leaving just as quickly as they came.

Once I had calmed down, I went to the kitchen to get some food. I saw the guys playing cards as I went over to get my classic peanut butter and apple combo and a glass of water, taking it to the living room and turning on a movie. The boys continued their card game while I watched TV; it was around midnight when I finally decided to go to bed. After a shower and I was dressed I crawled into my bed. Laying there for a while, I kept thinking what was going to happen: would we go back to war with the vampires? Would there be a compromise? Would more lives have to be lost to save others? I continue to ponder these thoughts as I feel sleep weighing on me...

The moon shone brightly overhead, the sound of growls and shrieks of pain echoed across the woods. A feeling in the pit of my stomach told me not to go towards the noise, but my body started running. The noise became louder as I got closer, I saw hundreds of wolves and vampires fighting; there were many bodies of both laying limp on the ground, I fell to my knees, seeing my brothers and even my father’s bodies... I felt a piercing in my heart and it shattered; I couldn’t breathe, tears started pouring from my eyes, and without a second thought, I screamed. The fighting stopped; when I opened my eyes, everyone was gone, even the bodies. I heard something, a whisper, but I couldn’t make it out, “Hello?” I called out, “Who’s there?” No one answered me. I was looking around frantically, but I didn’t see anything. I began running, I didn’t know what I was running to or running from, I just ran. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw hundreds of red eyes in front of me, I turned to see hundreds of glowing eyes behind me. I stood in the middle of both; my heart was pounding in my chest, without a second warning, I felt my body go limp as I fell to the ground...

I woke up in a cold sweat, I heard my brothers arguing downstairs, I growled under my breath and got up to yell at them. I went towards the yelling, but the strangest part was the argument was taking place in our dad’s office. I was curious, why were they there? Were Dad and Jackson back already? I tried to listen in, but I couldn’t make out everything they were saying, until, “We have to unite the wolves and the vampires.” I froze...what did they mean ‘unite’? I couldn’t hear much else, I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning around, I saw Blake, he wore a grim expression on his face,

“What’s going on?” I whispered, he looked at the door and knocked, the door swung open quickly; Jackson stood there, I ran in to hug him and Dad, but they didn’t hug me back,

“How much did she hear?” Jackson asked Blake, I raised my eyebrow, why not ask me directly?

“Um, I’m right here.” I stated, they all turned to me, “What did you mean by uniting the wolves and the vampires?” They all froze, looked at each other, then back at me. Dad looked back to Jackson,

“You should tell her, you will be Alpha next week.”

“Next week? What happened to taking the rest of the year? What’s going on?” I shouted, Jackson, came over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders,

“Sit down, Aiday.”

“No.” He heaved a heavy sigh,

“Dad let me speak with the King since I’ll be the Alpha that the King will be having the treaty with if it goes through. At the meeting, he and I spoke for a while and he told me about his people and his family. We both want the killing to stop, but,” he froze for a moment, “To stop this, we need to unite us.” It finally clicked, a werewolf would have to marry a vampire. I stepped back from him, shaking my head,

“Aiday,” Dad muttered, I looked at him,

“It has to be a daughter of an Alpha and the Prince of the Vampires.” Jackson finished. I felt like I had just been punched in the gut. I was racking my brain, thinking about all of the packs, and not one of the Alpha’s had daughters, not one except...me…

The whole day, I was pacing the house like a crazy person, thinking about the conversation. I’d have to marry a vampire just to keep us from going to war. I’m only sixteen, but Jackson said that they’ve agreed to wait until I turned eighteen. I had to decide soon what I wanted to do, but I kept thinking about the nightmare I had; what was going to happen if I didn't marry him? Were those eyes the vampires and werewolves waiting for my decision? Who was whispering in the shadows? I felt my body grow weaker as I paced; I had to make a choice. It would be two years before I’d have to marry him, maybe I could come up with a plan to get out of it and save my pack and the other wolves. And what about my mate? I’d find him when I turned nineteen, what would he say?

I went to my Dad’s office where he and Jackson were making plans for next week. They looked at me, trying to think of what I was going to say, but I made my decision, I took a breath and gave my answer, “I’ll do it.” I stated, I turned and walked away before they could say anything. I couldn’t believe what I had just done. But I needed to protect my family. This decision will weigh on me for the next two years, maybe longer...