Chapter one

Damned, doomed, lost. Those three words describe me as Alpha. I never wanted to become a werewolf, let alone the leader. My father Chetan was never an Alpha, but he was always respected. He is strong-minded and I adore all of his morals. He's always trying to do what's right. This is why everybody else loves him as well. My relationship with my mother is not very stable. Of course, I love her because she is my mom, but I feel like she thinks I'm going to make her mistakes. She was always very strict with me. 

Alpha Ajya never had children Nora wasn't capable of having children sadly, so I was voted Alpha. myself, Nico, Tala, and Ray are in this little pack. My cousin Ray and I are often mistaken for twins since our moms are identical twins. Believe it or not, Ray and I were even born on the same day. She is more of a sister to me than a cousin. Kiara and Cricket have an older daughter; Atsila, and a son, Atohi. They are an older two-person pack that briefly took over the forest, but without a clear alpha, they decided it would be better in our hands. Both of them are away at college now.

In my hands, I trace the leather book as I close my eyes, letting the spell soak into my soul. Healing spells have been my saving grace lately, and are the keys to banishing my anxiety.

"Rori." I feel Nico's hand on my mine. His face shows concern, his eyebrows crossed. For having Dev as his father, he is the complete opposite. He takes everything so seriously. 

"I don't need you on my back either. I can't help but feel more of a witch than a werewolf."

"Rori, you are Alpha. We don't need to question where your loyalties lie."

I roll my eyes. "You think I would let any witch harm a wolf?"

He shakes his head. "Magic is dangerous. We both know magical abilities can provide anything desired, but such powers can also taint the heart and foster unquenchable greed."

Nico does inherit his father's wisdom. He always has great advice. He is so very easy to speak to, and that's why I love him so much. 

"I feel my soul needs the spells. It would become nothing more than a hobby."

He nods. 

I have a theory as to why I feel connected to Magic. My mother Zare had many magical potions passing through her veins. Zero's potion was magical; she drank magic. I believe it made me become part witch. I feel the magic in me. I feel so alive reading spells and holding this book. I don't know why everyone's making it be something black, evil, or bad. I think it's something beautiful. The forest has a bad reputation for witches, but not all witches are evil. 

I watch as Tala and Ray hold hands. I feel very irritated this relationship is happening in front of my face. The rules have been broken, and since Ray is my best friend, I find myself in a very difficult position. They are not mark mates, and if we aren't going to repeat any of our parent's mistakes that means not getting into relationships in this pack that is not werewolf permitted. I know I did, and it's very hard. But after my mistake, I was lucky and found my mark mate early in life. Nico is my mate. His father and my father were best friends, so as children, there was hardly ever a day when he wasn't there in my life, and on that particular day, our love sparked when our wolve's eyes met for the first time, and all of those feelings rushed to me; they weren't any different from the feelings I already had for him, to be honest. Before I realized he was my mate, I was in love with him.