The Alpha And The Prey

Prologue

Tessa Pov

“Whatever you do, don’t go into that field, and if you see the wolves, run.” My grandmother said, rubbing the stub on her left shoulder absently, from where she lost her arm long ago. The crack of the thunder outside, the rain pounding on the roof as the wind howled made me quiver, but grandma’s words were worse, so much worse.

“Really, ma, she’s not old enough for this,” Mama said, pointing at my quivering form under the old ratty blanket. “She’s only five years old,” She muttered, sighing.

My grandma turned to my mom, glaring at her as she pointed to the stub, moving her hand back and forth underneath it, where her arm would have been, if she hadn't lost it. “And your aunt Frannie would still be here if we had been told this when we were five, now hush. You were five when I told you, and look at you? No lost limbs, not like me.” She muttered, glaring at her.

I could still hear it, the words she said earlier, the eerie feeling to them. The wolves, but was I not allowed to go near the wolves? Mother sighed, rubbing her swollen tummy. Twins, she was going to have my twin siblings any day now. “But…why?” I asked, trying to hide the whimper in my voice. I wanted to know, but the way she looked at me, her eyes cutting into mine, scared me.

Mama was muttering something under her breath, something about nightmares as she threw her hands up in the air and walked out of my room. I shrieked when a particularly loud boom echoed around the house, feeling a tear slowly slide down my cheek as I shivered. My grandmother sighed, taking a moment to look out the window, her thin frail hand on the curtain as she stared, before she looked at me again. She let go of the curtain and absently rubbed the tear from my cheek, wiping the moisture on the blanket as she found my leg, squeezing it probably harder than she really was expecting to. Though I couldn’t complain, I couldn’t move, I was trapped. Trapped in the horror in her eyes, the fear and the pain reflected in them from the past. She shuddered as if she was lost in a vision of before, making another tear fall from my eye as I realized she was probably watching her sister’s death all over again. It scared me, knowing my little siblings were coming soon, and would soon be big and hard to keep up with. I’ll be a big sibling soon, and they’ll be my responsibility. “Because, Tessa, the wolves are big and bad, and they’ll devour you. Especially the Alpha wolves. Alpha wolves are the biggest and strongest of all, the meanest and most cruel. If you see an Alpha wolf, run, Tessa. Run fast, far away, otherwise, they’ll catch you,” She said, shuddering. She looked at me, and the look in her eyes made my breath catch in my throat. The horror etched on her face would forever haunt me, the warning filling my mind, every part of me, until it was everything I’d ever worry about, even many years from now. “Otherwise,” She whispered, leaning closer to me. I could feel her frail hand shaking against my leg, the grip painfully tight. “Otherwise, they’ll kill you.”