Fated Hearts (Echoes of Darkness Prequel)

18

Logan

A month. A fucking month since I last saw Ava, and I feel like an addict going through withdrawal. She’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing on my mind when I go to sleep at night. Guilt is a living, breathing entity inside of me. It festers, eats at me, and claws at my mind. She’s gotten under my skin and imprinted herself in my brain. Every single day this past month, I’ve gotten into my car and sped to the city, only to return with my tail between my legs once I realized I promised myself I couldn’t walk that path again. I’m afraid that the moment I lay my eyes on her, I won’t be able to stop myself, and then everything I worked for my entire life will go up in flames. The clock is ticking, taunting me with its cruelty. I only have one more month to find my fated mate, but all I can think about is Ava.

Not to mention that the dreams are back, and my mind is fucking with me. Last night, I dreamed of my fated mate for the first time in four months. The sense of complete and utter peace encompassed me, but then I woke up and realized the wolf I’d dreamed about wasn’t my mate. I dreamed of dark mocha fur with a tawny underbelly instead of golden. Pale topaz green eyes instead of sparkling azure. And now, I don’t know what’s real anymore and what’s not.

“Mornin’, sunshine.” My sister’s voice travels through the hallway before she saunters into my kitchen, stopping at the table where I’m sitting with a half-empty bottle of vodka in front of me since I woke up a few hours ago. Her perfectly arched eyebrows furrow when she takes in my disheveled state. “It’s a bit early for hard liquor, don’t you think?” Her tone is condescending, judging.

“Hey, sis,” I mutter. “Nice to see you too.” I take another swig from the tumbler, welcoming the burn that comes with it. The warmth pools in my stomach and muddles my brain a little bit more. The dream fucked me up so good I needed something to dull the guilt polluting my mind. Only it didn’t work; I still feel her beneath my skin, so I’ll drink until I forget. I eventually have to, right?

Emily pulls out the chair across from me and plops down on it. “You do realize today is Halloween, right? You know how important this day is for the kids who haven’t been touched by the weakness yet. You have to show your face for trick-or-treating. And it’s a full moon tonight. You’re the Alpha—”

“Do you think I don’t know I’m the Alpha?” I bellow as I push up from the table abruptly, causing the chair to almost topple over as the glass smashes on its side and spills on the table. I grab my hair in fistfuls and pull at it in frustration. “Do you think I can ever forget, Em? I’m reminded of it every fucking second of my life. It’s easy to judge me when the weight of the world is not pressing on your shoulders,” I snap. “You don’t know what it’s like to have so much responsibility you’re drowning in it.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry,” she murmurs, voice laced with regret. She stands and comes to me, throwing her arms around my big frame and pulling me into a hug.

I sink into her as needles stab the back of my eyes.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I would do in your place. Probably lose my fucking mind,” she admits. She pulls back, locks her eyes with mine, and grips my shoulders. “Something is eating at you. I can feel it. You’ve been acting strange for more than a month, and as much as you try to put up a front, I can see through it. C’mon, Lo, talk to me. You haven’t talked to me in so long. Not really. I’m still your person. You know that, right?”

I clear my throat and swallow, stepping back from her hold. The vodka finally hits me hard, so I sway slightly on my feet when I reply. “It’s just the same shit, Em. Everything that’s been going on with the weakness. The kids falling into the deep sleep. What’s going to happen a month from now on my birthday. The rogue—”

She cuts me off as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. “Bullshit. There’s something else. Something you’re not telling me.”

My nostrils flare, and I shake my head. “I’m going to sleep this off,” I grumble, my words more slurred than I would like. I push by her to get out of the kitchen.

“Is it Ava?”

Her words are like a blow to my solar plexus, stopping me in my tracks and turning me around. “What?”

“Something happened with Ava last month, right? I figured as much, but I was waiting for you to tell me.”

A muscle jumps in my taut jaw. “Nothing happened.”

She arches an eyebrow at me. “C’mon, Lo. Don’t insult me. I’m not that stupid. You didn’t come home after she was attacked, and then when you did, your knuckles were so swollen you looked like you’d been fighting a brick wall for hours. And you smelled like you’d bathed in blood.”

“Let it go. Nothing happened,” I grit out.

She huffs and sucks on her teeth. “Do you think I haven’t felt you outside the bar? At first, I didn’t understand why you would leave in such a haste every night, and then I smelled you outside the Shabby Shotglass after my shifts. The fact that you wouldn’t even come inside puzzled me. Then Ava got attacked, and you started acting all weird. Not to mention, you were conveniently there that night. What the fuck is happening?”

“That’s a fun little story you just made up. Maybe you should write a book,” I deadpan. “I’m going to sleep. I’ll see you later.” I turn on my heel, and with hurried steps, I try to put as much distance as I can between us.

“Oh, fuck you. I know I’m right,” she screams at my disappearing back as the front door slams behind her.

The full moon beckons me like a siren, perched high in the indigo sky on a backdrop of glittering stars, singing an ancient tune as the animalistic part of my brain takes over completely. Everything is simpler in wolf form. The crisp, pine-scented air fills my snout and ruffles my fur. My paws sink rhythmically into the forest floor while I lead the pack toward the herd of deer we caught wind of one hour ago.

We work together in perfect synchrony, like a well-oiled machine, as we take into consideration the speed of the wind and its direction so we don’t scare off the prey before the perfect moment for an ambush arises. The herd leads us past the border of our lands, near Shadow Lake, when I feel it. The jolt of electricity down the center of my chest as if lightning struck me. And I know it without a doubt. It’s her. It’s my mate. She’s near.

“Take the lead,” I order Emily with urgency, using the mental link that allows us to speak to each other when we’re in wolf form.

“What?” she asks, confused. “Why? Did something happen?”

I turn my head toward her slightly. Being my Beta, she is closest to me in formation. “Take the lead, Emily. I need to check something.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“No, you won’t. You’re taking the lead. It’s an order,” I growl in warning.

She immediately complies and comes to my side, ears drawn back in submission as her tail tucks between her legs. She doesn’t have a choice. An order given by the Alpha of the pack is irrefutable. Even if she wants to, she can’t disobey me. “Don’t come after me when you finish with the hunt. If I don’t return, you’ll lead the pack home. Understood?”

“Yes, Alpha,” she responds, but her tone is tense, and I can feel her frustration pouring across our mental link.

I lower my head toward my Beta, give her a very human-like nod, and then turn around and run like my life depends on it. I scent her: vanilla and caramel, violets, and something musky, earthy, and animalistic. Shock ripples through me.

I know that smell; it’s imprinted in my mind and the very fabric of my soul.

My wolf knows it, too. “ Mine!”

My paws pound the forest floor, and I’m almost flying through the air in my desperation to reach her. I’m so close. So close. Only a few more seconds, and then I’ll finally have her. “ Mine!” Coming out of the cluster of pine trees, my eyes settle on the wolf in front of me. Dark mocha fur with a tawny underbelly.

No, it can’t be.

I almost trip on my own legs when I finally look past my mate, to the two horribly mangled bodies lying on the forest floor, seeping blood, the ground a gruesome crimson.

Dominic’s words invade my mind. “Assuming the rogue is male could be a mistake. What if it’s a female behind all of the attacks?”

Then Malik’s. “Are you sure she’s human?”

They ring in my head over and over as realization dawns like a knife impaling me in my gut. It’s Ava. She’s the rogue. She tricked us, played the innocent human all along, and caught me in her web of lies. A mournful whimper leaves me at the sting of betrayal, the pain so intense I almost keel over.

It’s a struggle to keep the fury at the forefront while warring with my wolf and the mating bond singing in my chest, wanting nothing more than to claim her at this moment.

“Mine!”

No!

I win the battle in the end, and fury comes blazing in, flowing in my veins and steeling my resolve as I advance toward her in a run, growling with all my menace.