Two Wolves, One Heart

Chapter One.

Carmen

The Blood Moon pack had gone to war and lost. Our future Alpha, Pablo, had died, and now his younger brother, Hannibal, was going to be the Alpha. Everyone was worried about the future. Instead, I remained preoccupied with the present, because no matter what happened, my life here wasn't going to get any better.

And when I saw them coming—the children of the pack's powerful leaders—to my little hut, I knew today was going to be a bad day, a very bad day.

"Get away, human! Aren't you ashamed of being useless?" they shouted at me.

"At least they let her live far away, in this pigsty, far from us. Coincidentally, the area that would be easiest to attack for our territory. Anyway, if something happens to her, nobody will care," a little boy remarked, and everyone cheered.

Of course, I wasn't an adversary for a rogue, or any other enemy. But for some time now I've been much less concerned about rogues, and more about my abusers.

"Are you sure she's useless? Look, she's a woman, and women are only good for one thing..." Augusto said. They were older boys who liked to hit me.

"L-just t-leave me alone," I stammered, terrified. Everyone burst out laughing until they were practically rolling on the floor.

Everyone laughed at me, but no one laughed as much as my brother. Gerardo was younger than me, and he hated me, just like the rest of my family. My parents were disappointed in me when I was born and they saw that I had a heart condition; my heart sounded slow and different, and I didn't have a wolf.

They were the Betas of the pack, and my birth had been a disgrace. They had cast me out of the family, and Gerardo mistreated and mocked me whenever he could. Gerardo approached me, pushing me so hard that I fell backward. Everyone laughed even louder.

"The fool without a wolf, she can't even speak properly"—was something I heard all the time. They hid me away… they left me to live in a cabin far away, and only my friend Paola took pity on me, bringing me food and teaching me a few things. She especially taught me about music.

"I'm sure that when Hannibal becomes the alpha, he's going to tear you to pieces," said one of the boys from the pack, approaching me and looking at me with disgust.

Before, it was all the children, but most of them grew up and forgot that I existed, all except them, and unfortunately sometimes Hannibal would join in, especially.

The Alpha's son… he had always been a cute boy, with brown hair, light brown eyes, and like all the girls in the pack… I dreamed about him. Of course, I didn't want to be his Luna, but I imagined what it would be like for a man like him to see me, to truly see me. Even though I came from a terrible family. The alpha family wasn't good, and even less so to me. Nobody was good to me.

"After all... she'd never have a mate. And if for some reason the Goddess gave her one... he'd reject her instantly... Who would want a weak, ugly, scarred human?" another said. Scars from wounds they themselves had inflicted on me.

There were times they had thrown me down a ravine, they had also damaged my garden, beaten me, mocked me… everyone hated me. Now they had me on the ground and were pushing me. I expected the worst.

"L-let me go…l-let me go…I haven't done n-anything to you," I said trembling, I looked like a fish out of water and I looked even worse.

Hannibal had returned… he had gone to university, but he was coming back to take up the position of Alpha. He should already be over 25 years old and he didn't have a mate.

"What's going on here?" I heard a loud voice and felt my blood run cold.

The future Alpha looked incredibly attractive, far more so than I had ever imagined. Time had been kind to him; he looked incredibly muscular, tall, and strong. He was a dream man.

His friends teased him and hugged him, but he remained static, staring at me as if something about me impressed him, and made a face of disgust when he smelled my scent, my stinky smell, a girl without a wolf.

"Carmen… the ugly one," he said suddenly.

The Alpha's son repeatedly helped burn down my cabin and everything inside. He would stand and watch while his friends beat me, and he would push me if I walked past him. Evil reigned in this pack.

"I think... we need to bathe her!" Carl said, and suddenly I felt myself being lifted off the ground and carried to the river while they laughed. I felt them tearing at my clothes as we approached the water, and they threw me in like I was a stone.

"Guys, she doesn't know how to swim..." said Hannibal.

I was afraid of this river; they used to throw my things in here. But they'd never done this before. "Take her to the bottom!" they shouted, pushing me into the depths.

When I surfaced, they were beside me again, pushing me down as I thrashed and struggled. I was desperately trying to breathe. "That's enough," Hannibal said. But they were still very enthusiastic about their game of torturing me, and suddenly they pushed me down so deep that, completely exhausted, I stopped kicking. I felt... at peace; finally, I was going to stop suffering.

I briefly lost consciousness and only felt them pulling me out. "I think she's dead," Gerardo said. When I took a breath I saw that Hannibal was practically on top of me, resuscitating me and sighing with relief when I opened my eyes.

"You should have died... that way you'd be one less problem," my brother whispered to me. He left me there shivering from the cold and went back to my cabin. I wrapped myself in everything I had and lit the fire. I didn't even cry anymore. What was the point?

The next morning, while I was trying to fix up my garden, I bumped into Hannibal.

"A-Alpha..." I said, bowing my head.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay," he tells me, and I'm very surprised. When he burned my crops and stole my firewood in winter, he didn't apologize. When he made up a story about me stealing food from the pack house and I was punished, and when he threw my little stuffed bunny into the river, he didn't apologize either. He knew I wouldn't go in the river. It was the only gift I'd ever received... and I'd lost it.

"I-I'm fine..." I say, and he places his hand on my chin, lifting my face to look at me. His touch... makes me feel things. I hear him gasp for air.

"Carmen... Do you feel that I have any smell?" he asks. "Yes, alpha." "What do I smell like to you?" "It smells like… wood…" I confess. "And do you like that smell?" "It's the material of my violin..." I say—the instrument that Paola, my friend, taught me to play.

"Carmen... I hadn't seen you in years, and since you weren't going to the pack's house... I hadn't realized. You're my mate," he says.

I can't hide my surprise. This has to be a joke, a cruel joke—maybe he wants to make me fall into a game, use me, kill me.

"But you can't be Luna, never, ever. I already have a chosen mate... who is beautiful and strong. Unlike you... your heart is weak, you won't last long," he says, and my heart leaps.

"I understand, Alpha... it's your duty..." I say, and he's surprised. "Don't you care if I reject you? Wouldn't you rather be with me?" he asks, annoyed. "The pack is... more important," I say.

"I, Hannibal, future Alpha of the Red Moon pack, reject you, Carmen... as my mate and future Moon of this pack," he says, and I see him clutch his chest in a grimace of pain. He screams in despair as he falls to his knees.

I felt pain in my chest, but I'm so used to so much pain that I endured it. "Being human, you don't have to say anything, nor do you have to accept rejection. I hope this stays a secret; I don't want anyone to know what happened." "That's how it'll be, Alpha," I tell him and watch him leave.

I close the door and cry uncontrollably.

The next day, I felt a void in my chest. Perhaps I wasn't as human as everyone thought. I couldn't shake the idea that the alpha was my mate and had rejected me. It couldn't be any other way, but it still hurts. He didn't love me, not even if the Moon Goddess had created us to be together. It was a disgrace, I was a disgrace.

I was coming back from getting water from the river when I heard a noise near my cabin and I hid. "That stupid human! Did you see how she talked back to us? Who does she think she is!" I heard Gerardo shout while he was with some of the other guys. They arrived with bats and it seemed like they were looking for me; I felt a chill of fear run through my entire body. They wanted to kill me; it was an idea that obsessed my brother for years.

When they had left, I ran inside to check what was left. I frantically moved the destroyed furniture, searching under what was left of my bed, and that's where I saw them. "Little ones... c-come here," I said to my terrified bunnies. "You did well to hide... w-well done," I told them, petting them and checking that they were okay. Then I sighed with relief when I saw that my violin was almost undamaged; the protective case had done its job.

In a bag I had woven, I packed the last of the things that had survived the attack, slung my violin over my shoulder, and left. I looked at my destroyed plants and cried. So much effort, and now I had almost nothing left. So much love given to my animals and my garden… gone in a few simple seconds.

Blood Moon had always been a terrible pack, but I thought maybe I'd find a mate here. I was fooling myself; time had passed, and I had found one, but it was all for nothing. He had rejected me. I had to leave.

I wrapped myself in a blanket and left the bunnies near some bushes. "You'll be better off without me... take care, little ones." They looked at me sadly, but then I saw them disappear among the branches. I set off through the lonely forest, afraid, but what else could happen?