Elizabeth's Pov
My name is Elizabeth Nerida Surry and today is my 10th Birthday. Mom, Aunty Vanessa and Aunty Luncinda are going to take me, my cousins, who happen to be my best friends, Josie and Helen shopping before my big birthday party they are holding for me. The whole pack is invited. Aunty Vanessa is my mom's best friend and mate to my father's beta, Uncle Steven. Uncle Steven is also dad's younger brother.
Our pack is the Silver Falls Pack. It's the best pack anyone could ever want to be in. We don't care what sort of person you are as long as you are accepting of others. My father, Derek Surry, made that a rule when he found my mother Julie. She was a witch at the Lilivan Conven. It borders our pack, and it's not often a werewolf is mated to witch, but mom and dad trust Goddess Selene's judgment.
"Lizzy, are you ready?" My mother calls from the bottom of the stairs of our packhouse. Our packhouse is huge; three stories huge. We live here with my older brother Lucas, Uncle Steven, Aunty Vanessa and our cousin Josie. And Dad's Gamma; Robert, his mate Lucinda, who is also mom's sister, and their daughter, my other cousin Helen. Helen is a hybrid like me and Lucas because Lucinda is also a witch. The story goes: when Uncle Robert saw Lucinda, he laughed and said, imagine that, two witch sisters mated to a werewolf.
Lucas thinks it is unfair there is three girls in the packhouse. He has his friends who come over all the time. Personally, that makes us even.
"Lizzy..." "Coming mom" I yelled, cutting her off before she could tell me to come downstairs again. I looked at my outfit one last time in the mirror. A purple sundress with yellow flowers on it. I love my sundress. I prefer wearing them to wearing pants. I place my black shoes on my feet and head to the bottom of the stairs.
"We need to do you hair" Mom tell me as I moan before sitting down in front of her. I don't like it when she does my hair. I have thick dark brown hair that it's gorgeous, but it hurts every time mom brushes it. I know she doesn't mean to pull it because she is just getting the knots out. But it hurts, no matter how softly she brushes." Uncle Steven left to go to a meeting, so your father could be there for your party. He wishes he could be here too, but sometimes it's unavoidable."
"I know mom" I answered, rolling my eyes as she finished braiding my hair. Aunty Vanessa had already told me he was heading to the Kingdom Pack. I got off the chair and ran out the door with Helen and Josie to the car and sat in the backseat. Mom, Aunty Lucinda and Aunty Vanessa follow behind us when a strange man with red hair comes towards them. He smells of pomegranates. I don't like that smell. "Girls, get down and don't move" Mom shouts through our mind link. She and aunty Lucinda are the only two witches I know who can mind link. They said it is because they are mated to a werewolf.
We quickly lay down in the back seat of the car. "Where are they?" the man yelled to my mom.
"I don't know who you are referring to? "My mother says calmly, walking back towards the packhouse, not looking back at us.
The man followed her, "They are an abomination to our kind" he screamed, before there was a loud bang and my father ran out of the packhouse with Uncle Robert. There are men coming in from all sides of the packhouse. People are shifting and fighting everywhere; Dad and Uncle Robert included. "Lizzy, you need to run to our safehouse' my father's voice boomed through my head. "Lucas, gram and gramps will meet you there." Of course, they will. Lucas went to see his friend Peter and was going to meet us here for the party.
Helen, Josie and I climb through the car and open the door on the other side. We ran as fast as our little legs would carry us when I was pushed forward to the ground from behind. I tried to scream but nothing came out of my mouth. I turned to see the packhouse light up in flames as mom and Joseph; dad's wolf, were lying on the ground with Uncle Robert's wolf, Aunty Vanessa and Aunty Lucinda.' Where are Helen and Josie?' I asked myself.
I looked around to see if I could find them. They aren't here, they must have gotten to the safehouse. All I know is I need to hide. I saw a dead tree on the ground and crawled into a hole on the side of it. "Lucas. Josie. Helen" I mind linked but no one is responding." Gram, Gramps, anyone?" I yelled again through the mind link.
I lay curled in the tree. I can see everything that is happening. I watch my dad fighting against three wolves, a leopard and two bear shifters jump on him, and he falls to the ground. It took six of them to kill him. I watch as someone cuts my mom's throat. I stayed rooted in the spot I was in; too scared to move. It feels like hours and the sun is beginning to fade. Dad and Uncle Robert had already shifted back, not moving; lying next to mom, Aunty Vanessa and Aunty Lucinda. I know they're all dead because I can't feel them anymore. The tears start to stream down my face as the packhouse continues to burn and the people who attacked us run away.
It was night time before I saw someone come into the pack grounds. All I could smell was smoldering wood all around me. They get to Mom, Dad, Uncle Robert, Aunty Vanessa and Aunty Lucinda when a loud howl rings through the air. 'Uncle Steven?' I try to scream; but my voice isn't working.
He shifts into his brown wolf and starts sniffing the ground. He slowly comes over to my hiding place before shifting back. Eww, his naked. I know being naked is part of being a wolf; I don't want to see my uncle naked." Lizzy?" Uncle Steven calls out to me. I leave my hiding place and run into his outstretched arms, not caring about him being naked anymore. 'Uncle Steven' I cry, still nothing comes out of my mouth. Why can't I speak?
"Where's Josie, Helen and Lucas?" Uncle Steven asked me, trying to sniff the surrounding air. I started trying to explain they were running to the safehouse but nothing was coming out of my mouth. My lips are moving, but my voice isn't working. "Lizzy?" he says, kneeling down beside me. I have tears falling down my face. I don't know why my voice isn't working. Uncle Steven wraps his arms around me; "Shh. It's ok" he whispers to me placing my head on his chest.
Once I calmed down a bit, he moved my face to look at him. "I'm not sure what's going on. I'm going to ask you some questions, just nod yes or no, OK?"
I nod my head. "Were you trying to get to the safehouse?" he questions. I nod my head at him. "Were Josie, Lucas and Helen going to the safehouse?" he asks another one. I nod my head at him again. "Do you know if they made it to the safehouse?" he questions some more. I shrug my shoulders and move my hands to my shoulder, saying, "I don't know."
"Can you mind link?" he asks me. I know I tried to mind link Lucas, Helen and Josie but no one responded. I shrug my shoulders again and shake my head at the same time. "Lizzy, can you respond to my mind link?" he says in my mind.
"Uncle Steven", I said back, and relief came over his face. His brown eyes glistened with tears.
"Can you tell me what happened?" he asks me. I nodded my head at him, my dark brown braids bobbing up and down.
"We were about to go to the mall when a man with red hair came up behind us. He smelt disgusting. Not rouge disgusting; pomegranate disgusting. Josie, Helen and I were already in the car. Mom mind linked us and told us to stay down and keep quiet. She started to walk away from us and the man followed her. He asked where are they and they were abomination to our kind. Dad told us to run to the safehouse and Lucas, Gram and Gramps would meet us there. We started running from the car, and I was pushed over by something, so I hid in the tree. Now my voice doesn't work. I move my lips but nothing comes out" , I explain to him as he puts his arms around me again, wiping my tears away with his thumbs.
"I'm going to check the safehouse and surrounding area. Can you do me a favor and hide in the tree again? Don't come out for anyone until I come back for you" he says, and I nod my head at him again before crawling into my hiding place.
I watched as Uncle Steven moved towards where the safehouse was. I must have fallen asleep by the time he got back because next thing I remember, I woke up in his arms. He was carrying me to a cave in the territory. "Uncle Steven, where are we going?" I asked him through a mind link.
"The safehouse was brunt to the ground. I found some of the pack members that escaped. They are in Bluff's cave" he tells me, placing me down at the entrance of the cave and kneeling in front to look me in the eye. This can't be good. Dad would always do this to me or Lucas when he had to tell us bad news.
I braced myself for the bad news that was about to come. I started to play with my braids us Uncle Steven took in a deep breath. "When I said the safehouse was brunt to the ground, there weren't many survivors. There were dead people everywhere" he began, as tears started to form in my eyes. My friends? My family? Does that mean Lucas, Josie and Helen died too? Gram and Gramps? I know mom and dad are dead. I can't feel my connection with them anymore.
"When I said the pack members that escaped; there were five of them and none of them were older than 13," he tells me and I nod my head, hoping my tears were shaking free.
"Lucas, Josie and Helen were three of them. Apparently, as Helen and Josie were approaching the safehouse; Lucas was almost there with Peter. Helen and Lucas said they were also pushed to the ground. Josie helped Helen up and saw Lucas fall to the ground. When she got to him and Peter, who was helping him, they saw men approaching the safehouse, and they decided to run to the cave. They had to help Helen get there. They were almost in the cave when they saw Eden and took her with them", he explains as my eyes dart around the entrance of the cave.
"There's more" he tells me quietly." Helen can't see and Lucas can't hear" he says, and my eyes go wide.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"it means, whatever it was that pushed all three of you to the ground has done something to you" he stated out loud, and I let the tears escape. I want to scream but I can't.