A Heart Filled With Thorns

Sweat dripping from his forehead, the only thing Ian can hear right now is his heart banging in his chest and his loud breathing. His whole body burns and he could feel his legs about to give out. He looks back to see more than half of the werewolves from his pack in the human form, running just a few meters away. He then looks to his front to see a few werewolves just a little ahead of him all of them being pack warriors. Ian was one of the fastest runners in his pack and it was something he was proud of. The fastest and strongest of the pack were his alpha and beta and then the pack warriors. Ian could run almost as fast as the pack warriors and was just as much strong since he was dedicated to his workout and training.

Currently, they have been running for almost an hour non stop in their human form to improve the strengths of the human side. Once Ian finished running back to where it started, his knees gave out and he landed on his ass on the ground trying to breath properly. Needless to say, Ian has not been able to come to training every day since high school started. He recognized a familiar smell and looked up to see his best friend almost faint right next to him. With one hand to his heart, he dramatically lands on his knees, coughing and hyperventilating.

Ian shook his head chuckling a little at the antics of his friend. "Thought you almost died there buddy". "Yeah well I guess, I will if this continues for another hour. I swear Alpha probably wants to kill us with such intense training" Nathan says as he wipes a non existent tear from his cheek. "Yeah he surely will kill you if he hears it" Ian says laughing at his friend.

Training finishes after 2 hours of vigorous hand to hand combat and other various training techniques. The sun was already setting when Ian reached home, the first thing he did was to take a much needed shower and go down to the kitchen. Nick was already making a fuss and complaining about how Ian was intentionally letting him starve. His mom had prepared dinner at the table. Ian kissed his mom's cheeks before sitting next to his dad and eating like there's no tomorrow. No words were said as everyone ate in silence.

The silence claws at Ian's heart as he remembers the soft laughter of his younger sister Adeline and how he could never be able to hear that beautiful sound again. Although the Marcus family looks happy on the outside, deep and painful scars lay inside and no one dares to unravel the memories.

Madeline Marcus and Isaac Marcus had a happy little family, their eldest son being Ian and daughter Adeline were almost inseparable until 3 years ago on an unfortunate night when their whole world crashed, burning everything inside. The loss of their 5 year old is still raw in their hearts. The family has never been the same since then, even though Ian would do anything to make things go back to how they were. If Nick wasn't around during such a hard time, Ian would still be in the depths of darkness and hate. It took almost 2 years for Ian to properly grieve for his sister but the scar is a deep, dark hole in his heart filled with emptiness.

Ian feels his eyes swell with unshed tears as he gets up and gets to the sink before getting to his room. His tears finally fall freely on his cheeks.

That night as he lay on his bed, he couldn't sleep as his mind was filled with thoughts of the next day being his birthday and how things will unfold. He was getting anxious thinking about his mate, all kinds of scenarios playing in his head. He takes deep breaths in and out to relax himself and to rid his mind from dark thoughts when he finally goes into a deep, dark abyss.