Trinity Being in a werewolf pack isn’t everything that it’s cracked up to be. I mean, if you’re born into a good family and the Alpha approves of you, then things are pretty good. But there’s a lot that goes on that even the Alpha doesn’t know about. Especially the people close to him. They know how to get around him and do what they want without him being aware of it. Some people have become quite skilled at it. When I graduated from high school, I was offered a full scholarship to the nearest college to our pack, which accommodates both humans and werewolves. However, my parents forbade me from leaving the pack. I was told that I still had to live with them, which I didn’t understand, but I was never allowed to question it. I just had to do as I was told. I turned 18 a couple of months ago, which means I am now an adult and can do as I please. But I knew my parents would ask the Alpha to reject my application about leaving the pack. So I knew I didn’t have a choice. But I was given a job at the high school as a tutor to help struggling kids which I actually enjoy doing. And it’s a paying job. The high school pays me for it themselves because it helps them out to get these kids getting better grades. As soon as I walked out of the high school one day while everyone else was still in class I saw twin guys standing outside. The same twins that I grew up with and were by my side through everything. The ones that I could rely on for anything, my best friends. “Hey. It’s about damn time.” Gage said. “Sorry to keep you waiting because I had to work. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.” I said. “Ouch. That hurts.” Arlo said, feigning hurt. “Ooh. I’m sure you’ll survive.” I laughed, poking at his chest, but he started laughing, so I kept going because I knew how ticklish he was. “Alright. Where are we going?” Gage asked. “Anywhere. I don’t care.” I said. “Are you hungry?” He asked. “Sure.” I said. So we walked over to their 1960’s Mustang and we drove down town to the diner. As soon as we went inside, everyone looked at us, but that was nothing unusual and we walked over to a booth before a waitress walked over. She took our order and she was paying more attention to the twins than me, but she went back to the counter eventually and I was sitting against the glass of the diner that looked outside to the street while I was facing back in at the twins. “So, how were the little brats today?” Arlo asked. “Not too bad. You know werewolf kids. They can’t concentrate.” I said. “I know. If it wasn’t for you, I never would have graduated.” Gage said. “I know. You totally owe me for that too.” I said and he started laughing. “I heard that a few people are at the swimming hole today.” Arlo said. “Then go to the damn swimming hole. You don’t need us two to hold your hand.” Gage said, sounding frustrated. “What are you two talking about?” I asked. “His ex is going to be at the swimming hole. She invited him and he’s thinking about getting back together with her.” Gage explained. “Which one?” I asked, making Gage laugh again. “I’m serious. You’ve got a lot of ex girlfriends. Which one do you want to get back with?” I asked. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going. I think I might make her work for it a bit.” Arlo said. “She deserves it.” Gage said. “They all do. After the way they treated you.” I said. “I told you. Trinity would be on my side, no matter what you think.” Gage said. “You two are always ganging up on me.” Arlo said. “Arlo. I’m not ganging up on you. I’m being serious. All of the girls that you’ve been with were just power hungry assholes. They like your status in the pack and they wanted to use that to their advantage. I’m really not trying to be mean here. You are so much better than all of them put together.” I explained. “Thanks Trinity. At least you explain it better than Gage. All he said was “you have the worst taste in women.” Arlo said and I started laughing. “Like he can talk.” I said and Arlo agreed with me. We ate lunch together and then we got back in their car and drove around for a while before we ended up at a park. We got out of the car and I walked over and got on the swing while Arlo started pushing me and Gage sat on the swing next to me. “So, when do you have classes next?” Gage asked. “Tomorrow. It’s an all dayer.” I said. “That sucks. We wanted you around town tomorrow.” He said. “Why’s that?” I asked. “Because we’re not sure if we want to stay home all day. We need a distraction.” Arlo said. “No. You two need a f*****g job.” I said. “Well, not everyone can work their asses off like you.” Gage said. And I poked my tongue at him. I noticed that we were getting a few looks from people that were walking past, but that wasn’t anything unusual. We always got strange looks because it seemed to be inconceivable to everyone that I was friends with these twins. Especially since these twins are the younger sons of the Alpha and Luna. They were pack royalty and they weren’t interested in settling down and starting a family or passing on the family name. They were interested in being 18, just like me and having a bit of fun before responsibility took over our lives. “Alright. So, what’s going on tomorrow? Why don’t you want to be at home?” I asked. “Because Asher is going to be the center of attention and we really don’t want to be there to see it. It’s like we don’t exist whenever he’s around.” Gage said. “Asher. Your older brother?” I asked, stopping the swing that I was on. Their older brother who was the heir to the pack. He was going to take over as Alpha when their father retired as Alpha. He was coming back to town and this was the first I was hearing about it? I could feel myself starting to panic but I couldn’t. I had to control my breathing and my heart rate otherwise the guys would hear it and they would know that something was wrong with me. I couldn’t let them hear it. I didn’t want them to know that I was panicking that their brother was coming back to town. I didn’t want him here either, but obviously he had been called back by his father. He had to start Alpha training at some point. Learning to take over the pack. And he was already 24 years old. He should have started a lot sooner than this. But I still didn’t care about that. I started swinging again while Arlo was still pushing me, but not very hard. I had to try and push it out of my head and do absolutely everything I could to stay away from Asher. I just had to stay right the hell away from him and out of his sight. I knew that he wouldn’t want to see me either. But that was a whole other story. Us three were hanging out for the rest of the afternoon and then they dropped me off at my pretty nice house that wasn’t too far from the packhouse. It was in the nicer part of town with the larger houses and I guess we were part of the influential residence of the pack. We were higher than the working class. As soon as I walked inside I put my bag on the table next to the door and I went into the living room to see my father, Hank, my mother Sabine and my older brother Spencer standing there waiting for me. All of them with their arms crossed and pursed lips. Instantly, my stomach leapt into my chest, knowing what was in store for me just by coming home to these people. So I turned around and started walking down the hallway. I opened the door to the basement and when I got to the bottom of the stairs I saw the chains hanging from the ceiling that caused my breath to hitch in my throat and butterflies to rise in my stomach.