Hard to Say I Do, When I Don't
Chapter 1
The cave was the quietest Ember could ever remember. Usually it was full of noises: shouts of kids playing, the cries of small babies, the muffled conversations of the adults, all mixed together with the sounds of the forest.
But not today, today even the birds didn’t sing. Any child was shushed and the usually boisterous teenagers were silent. Everyone knew what today was; probably the most important date in their history.
It was Ember’s twentieth birthday. Normally, it would have been a day for celebrations. She was, after all, one of the daughters of the Alphas, but that’s what caused her problems in the first place.
Nearly twenty-one years ago, there was a great war between her kind and the vampires. The vampires had launched an unprovoked attack on the Pack in an attempt to wipe out lycans from the face of the earth. They were caught off guard and the Pack was forced into hiding, but the vampires pursued them. Finally, when nearly half the Pack was dead or dying, the Fallen stepped in.
The fallen were elusive, only choosing to be seen when the balance of the world was threatened, and were also more powerful than both vampires and lycans. When one of the Fallen spoke, their word was law.
One of the Fallen, named Holden, stepped in to end the fighting, but the vampires were not easily subdued. Their leader, Hannibal, demanded that the lycans be destroyed and would not obey the will of the werewolf. Holden quickly dispatched Hannibal from the throne and crowned his twin brother king instead. The new king, Draegan, had disagreed with the war from the beginning and reached a favorable agreement with both Holden and the lycans. The agreement would be sealed with a marriage between Draegan's son, Mason, and the first born daughter of the Alphas, who were expecting soon. When Ember was born, it was decided she would be the one to be wed to Mason.
In the interest of keeping Ember safe, she was to be raised among her people until she was twenty, when she would join the vampires forever as Mason’s wife.
But not today, today even the birds didn’t sing. Any child was shushed and the usually boisterous teenagers were silent. Everyone knew what today was; probably the most important date in their history.
It was Ember’s twentieth birthday. Normally, it would have been a day for celebrations. She was, after all, one of the daughters of the Alphas, but that’s what caused her problems in the first place.
Nearly twenty-one years ago, there was a great war between her kind and the vampires. The vampires had launched an unprovoked attack on the Pack in an attempt to wipe out lycans from the face of the earth. They were caught off guard and the Pack was forced into hiding, but the vampires pursued them. Finally, when nearly half the Pack was dead or dying, the Fallen stepped in.
The fallen were elusive, only choosing to be seen when the balance of the world was threatened, and were also more powerful than both vampires and lycans. When one of the Fallen spoke, their word was law.
One of the Fallen, named Holden, stepped in to end the fighting, but the vampires were not easily subdued. Their leader, Hannibal, demanded that the lycans be destroyed and would not obey the will of the werewolf. Holden quickly dispatched Hannibal from the throne and crowned his twin brother king instead. The new king, Draegan, had disagreed with the war from the beginning and reached a favorable agreement with both Holden and the lycans. The agreement would be sealed with a marriage between Draegan's son, Mason, and the first born daughter of the Alphas, who were expecting soon. When Ember was born, it was decided she would be the one to be wed to Mason.
In the interest of keeping Ember safe, she was to be raised among her people until she was twenty, when she would join the vampires forever as Mason’s wife.
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The actual story will pick up soon, just need to get all the history out of the way