“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Dakota’s mischievous eyes locked with Mara’s. As if she even had to ask.

“The roof! ” they both squealed in unison. They rushed to the door but stopped to listen for footsteps and voices. Since Dakota’s dad had sentenced them to stay in their room, they would have to sneak about. This wasn’t a problem since they’d had much experience eluding the supervisory members of the pack while conducting their various forms of shenanigans since practically birth. Although not by blood, they were sisters. 

Mara had been given safe haven in the Onai Sector and adopted into the Bardulf family as they had a baby daughter that seemed to be around the same age. The mysterious circumstances under which she had appeared led to many questions growing up and no answers. Only one thing was for sure. Mara was not a wolf. To say she was an outsider was an understatement. 

The Lycans lived in seclusion. The only thing Mara knew of the outside world was what she had learned through books. They were ancient but abundant. She read about the humans, the weakest but most dangerous threat due to their sheer numbers. The ever warring vampires and their mystical witch allies. Fairies, demons, sirens, dragons, pixies, and more. All with their unique powers and weaknesses. But none that fit her description.  

Mara’s appearance resembled that of a normal human so that ruled out dragon and siren. No pointed ears so not a member of the Fae. As far as she knew she had no control over the elements so Wiccan was off the table. Every other species that had been documented had something that crossed it off of the list of possibilities. The only thing that made her for sure not human was her rapid healing and even regeneration. The latter was discovered after an unfortunate incident in the welding shop when she was seven. 

Mara was smaller in stature, the opposite of her tall and lean sister. Although they both matched each other in strength and speed, Mara didn’t possess half of the exceedingly acute senses her sister did. Kota could see in the dark, hear and smell things from a mile away and as she aged, they would only grow stronger. The most obvious difference being that Kota, a Lycan, had a wolf anchor. Asher was as much a part of her as her soul. 

The Lycan believed their wolves were born of the same spirit as themselves and one did not live without the other. It was their anchors that gave them their abilities and guided them through life and to their mates.  

Just another thing that reminded Mara she was not like the others around her and fueled her desperation to discover the truth about where she came from. She searched for any clue that could lead her in the right direction. 

No matter how many times she asked her father, the one most likely to know something as he was the one who brought her home, he would simply say ‘she’d know more when the time was right’ and then leave it at that. Only Mara was definitely not going to leave it at that. 

If only there was anyone here who knew anything about anything other than the way things were now in this "no contact with others" society. The younger ones had never known anything but this life and the older ones either didn’t remember or would give some cryptic answer about how someday the strongest Alpha to ever live would return and deliver us from that which we are hidden. Whatever that meant. 

The only clue to who this Alpha was? Well according to some obscure prophecy, it would be an Alpha who had sacrificed his life. The only problem with that-every Alpha in history had died in battle against the demons, thereby technically sacrificing himself for his people. Ergo, that did not quite narrow things down much.  

All the past Alphas were buried in a large mausoleum that was actually in the care of her village. Every time they went to tend to it, Mara would tag along. Just in case anyone felt like coming back to life. They never did. All the stone tombs had their Alphas in it. Except for one. The current Alpha’s older brother who had most likely died in the last demon battle and whose body was never found. Some believed he was alive but caught outside the shield. Some said he was the one they waited for. Werewolves and their tales. 

All she derived from this prophecy was that the likelihood of her getting out of this place was practically nil, until the dead began walking the earth that is. And since their current Alpha, who was the only means in or out of this place, was rumored to be MIA that pretty much lower the possibility to zero 

To make matters worse there was hardly any travel between the towns. Mara and Kota had certainly never been allowed outside of their small village. But she had taken every chance to meet the people who came from other villages or even the Tabbe itself. Mostly traders or officials from other villages that would come to speak with her father and plan things that she wasn’t privy to. 

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After persistent begging, she’d worn some of the merchants down and they’d eventually given in and told her stories they heard or experienced of wars past, great romances, and epic adventures so aggrandized she doubted the validity of them. Perhaps they were making them up just to satisfy her. Still, she would imagine the scenes in her mind as the heroes and heroines fought and lived through one exciting adventure after the other.

And then there was Ryker. The hot news hawker who would deliver announcements and whatever passed as news around here. Sometimes he would bring her things from the outside world that had been brought back with the warriors whenever they used to come and go. 

Magazines with pictures of all the intricately woven clothes with their bold colors that the women on the outside wore. She would envy the machines they used to style their hair however, she found most of their makeup to be lacking. Not at all comparable to the extravagant designs the wolves painted on their face and bodies.  

She and Kota would read stories about the “celebrities” that the people out there followed. They were usually stars in movies and television shows like “Friends” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” which she found particularly interesting. She wondered if there really were young girls out there killing off the vampires, but Ryker said the humans don’t believe it to be real, only made up fairy tales or something like that. 

The magazines and things called “Newspapers” always had advertisements for devices that could do amazing things. They had some of the ones that performed essential functions like refrigerators and air conditioning systems, but no tv or radios since they didn’t work here. Out there you needed something called money to trade for things, which was apparently hard to come by, so nothing extra or unnecessary was ever brought out to their village. 

Ryker told them in the Taabe things were different. Men and women had all sorts of things from the human world. What she wouldn’t give to just go one time! However, they were all from twenty years ago. The last time anyone had come back from the outside. 

But mostly he was good for gossiping and flirting. Whenever he’d come he’d stay a few nights in the main house with them. He’d shamelessly show attention to all the girls but besides Kota, he was Mara’s only genuine friend. The only other one who seemed as interested in escaping this place as she was. 

He was older than the girls and had more experiences to share. He’d once convinced her to sneak out with him one night and they went swimming in the far lake under the moon. Nothing would happen of course since he was more like a brother to her. They would talk and dream of a life outside in the unknown.  They promised each other if either of them ever found a way out of the shields that kept them in, they would leave together no matter what. Plus, his anchor Willa was the closest thing Mara would ever have to her own wolf.

She was always happy to see her and would often sleep in Mara’s room whenever they were in town instead of the den where everyone else’s wolves would rest when not with their counterparts.  Willa’s mother wolf had died shortly after she was born when her guide life had ended. In a way that connected the two on some level. Anyway, Mara enjoyed any connection with another she could get.  

 It was mainly men who were able to travel and as Dakota hadn’t been claimed yet the men were eager to get in her good graces in case her wolf called to them. It hadn’t so far and if any of the male wolves recognized her as their mate, they would have made it known almost instantly. 

Mara was sometimes jealous of the simplicity of the life of a werewolf. Everyone knew how things worked and there was no if’s or maybe’s. You were either mates or not. Matehood was taken very seriously by the Lycan. Once a male wolf found his mate he would never have another. If her wolf responded to his then he would claim her and that would be that. The term “my one and only” probably extended from this. 

It was the aforementioned trading that led to the commotion occurring now. Earlier in the day,  like clockwork, trucks from the Taabe, a sort of capital city for the Lycan, had come for the routine pickup of goods. They’d always come at the same time in the same interval with no one else scheduled to pick up that same day as them. 

For the Tabbe to diverge from their normal schedule was unheard of. And yet only a few hours later the patrol had come to inform them that they'd received word of a prompt return. Because of this everyone was on edge. Unsure what to do or what was to happen, everyone restlessly attended to whatever matters they thought would be important. Cleaning, cooking ...hiding. When the black vehicles had been spotted in the distance approaching that’s when the girls had been sent away. 

They were put out, to say the least.

Whatever was about to happen would probably be the single most exciting thing to ever happen in their monotonous town, which admittedly was pretty sad, and they’d been excluded from it. Or at least that’s what they’d pretended. Acquiescence just didn't seem to be a trait either of the girls inherited. In Dakota's case, it was because she had some Alpha blood in her lineage. No wolf was particular docile in nature but those that were part Alpha definitely weren’t. And as for Mara who knows, maybe Kota just rubbed off on her. The reasons didn't matter. There was no way they were missing this.

Their careful sneaking had successfully gotten them to the hatch that opened onto the roof. Easily scaling the ladder and closing the hatch behind them they stealthily crept and scooted along until they reached the part of the roof where they would be hidden by the sharp rising angles. 

The Tabbe had arrived and parked in front of the main house where they lived. Mara noticed that these were not the usual trucks but dark black SUVs with tinted windows. Several men got out with their wolves and her dad went to greet them. She watched their interactions which seemed to be according to normal Lycan procedure. She strained to hear their words but was too far away. 

All of the sudden the man who looked to be in charge suddenly snapped his head to look at the exact location Mara was peeking out from. Before she had any time to panic over how royally screwed they were, in an instant he’d lept from where he was onto the roof standing a mere few feet in front of her.

Fuck me. That was...unexpected.