Chapter One

Iris’ POV

Clang!

The sound of my sword hitting against Sharon's rang across the open ground.

I knew she was no match for me but for some reason today, I wasn't in the mood to take things easy.

“Faster,” I yelled at my partner, and she gave me a frustrated look before engaging again, swerving her own sword to try to deceive me but I could already see her fifth move ahead.

I retaliated, parrying, slashing and hitting with brutal force until her sword fell off.

She was the fifth opponent today, and she was already looking frustrated.

“Seems your mind is elsewhere today, Shar,” I joked, trying to lighten up the mood. I didn't need her picking up on the sour one I was experiencing.

I hated questions.

“I should be asking you,” she replied, picking up her sword, “you seem to have taken some type of enhancement drug this morning. Care to share?”

I laughed dryly.

“You're such a sore loser,” I replied, going in again, even though my arms complained and demanded rest.

But there was no rest for me, not now, not tomorrow.

Not until I avenge them.

I needed to feel every hurt, every pain so as to never forget the words my lips whisper every night.

“Blue Moon Pack.”

They are the reason I am doing this.

The reason I kept coming to the training facility for exceptionally strong humans every single day of the past eight years.

FLASHBACK

I'd gone to sleep early the night before it, the night my world crumbled to pieces.

"Iris!" I was shaken awake vigorously by a familiar voice, "Wake up! We have to run!"

"Aunt Lisa?" I groggily called, my voice louder than her whispers, "What's wrong? Why are you whispering?"

"Because if they hear of you, they'll not stop until they kill you. We have to leave now!"

That was when I heard it; the screams of the pack, both out loud and in the link.

I sprang up from the bed, the panic in my aunt's eyes finally making sense.

We were under attack.

"Where's Mom and Dad? Where's Lionel?"

"They're fighting baby, but you're too young, we need to leave!" She insisted as she grabbed some things from my room, throwing them in a bag before coming back to my shock-stricken self. "Now, Iris!"

I moved with her, unable to formulate questions.

We went through the back door of the pack house, running as far as my little legs could carry me.

I didn't even know I'd started crying, but she held my hand, dragging me towards the other side of the pack territory, instead of the main entrance where the attackers were coming from.

I heard a scream from a voice that sounded very familiar, and I couldn't help but turn.

Up there on the balcony of our once beautiful pack house was my father, with two white wolves digging into his body as he fell.

I was frozen as I watched them tear his flesh viciously.

Then my brother burst through the door, pouncing on the wolves, and he was having the upper hand, but another one joined them, with a sword, and without a beat, he plunged it into his back.

But he wasn't dead and the wolf who I could tell was an alpha dragged him over the edge of the balcony and yelled words I couldn't hear because my eyes met Lionel's and he was mouthing words to me.

Words I didn't understand until the sword was used to slit his throat.

"He said he loves me," I whimpered with tears pouring down my face as Aunt Lisa finally succeeded in dragging me away.

"Yes, but we must run now baby, we must run to safety now."

Before I followed her, I looked up at the face of the Alpha who took everything away from me.

And I knew I'll never forget it.

END OF FLASHBACK

“Iris,” Sharon called, snapping me back to reality, “You good? She questioned.

But I couldn't really focus on her, I needed to shove my demons right back where they belonged, under my skin where they served as fuel. Not on my face where someone might see.

"Iris!" She yelled again and I jabbed her elbows jokingly, wearing back my fake face. She fell to the ground, the evident human weakness showing and I stood above her, offering her my hands.

She took it, and I pulled her up.

“Again.”

She shook her head.

“I need a few minutes break.”

I nodded and let her go. People like her could afford to take breaks as much as they wanted; they were here because they had nowhere else to go. They weren't supernaturals but didn't fit into the human world either, so they found solace and a community here.

But not me. I was here to learn a lot of things, most importantly, how to pretend, hide my true nature and infiltrate anywhere I wanted to.

Another important thing I needed to do was train. I wasn't at my max strength here, that's what my weekend training with Aunt Lisa was for, to drag me to my full potential. And when I wasn’t training, I was mapping out a plan for revenge in my head.

A revenge that felt closer every passing day.

I turned around, looking for someone else to train with but everyone was in different states of relaxation. It was that time of the afternoon.

Until I noticed my former sparring partner rushing over to me with a familiar excitement on her face.

“Sharon….” I groaned, wondering who'd caught her attention this time.

“Isn’t he handsome?” she gushed upon reaching me.

Usually, her human self blushed at the sight of every moderately handsome man, something I couldn't relate to as the mate bond determined who I found attractive, but there was something more compelling about the way she stared at whoever it was that had everyone suddenly alert, whispering.

Not to be left behind, I turned around too, and I inhaled sharply.

I'd be damned.