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Prologue

Four Months Earlier

Luna

“Come on! Come on!” Bailey calls to me in a loud whisper as we sneak out of my room.

“This is so stupid,” I say back but she just throws me a mischievous smirk over her shoulder.

She had the brilliant idea of us sneaking out to see some band tonight and somehow I got roped into going along. I never even heard of this band before, but it was almost impossible to say no to her.

We sneak around the side of the main house until we reach the parking area where her car is waiting. She uses her key to unlock the door instead of the remote and climbs in before unlocking my door as well. I stumble inside and quickly buckle in.

“Told you we wouldn’t get caught.” She says proudly and I give her an exasperated look. “What?”

“That was the easy part. We still need to get past the guards.” I remind her.

She dismisses my worries with a shake of her hand. “We’ll be fine. I took a peek at dad’s schedule for tonight. We should be able to get by when they change shifts.”

I shake my head. What was she a criminal now?

“Come on Lu, it will be fine. We have four months before we go through the program. I want to have a little bit of fun before I'm tied down for the rest of my life.” She wines and throws me a pout.

I sigh. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you make it sound.”

“Well how else would you describe being picked by a group of strangers to live with and be claimed by but you know absolutely nothing about? Then expected to cater to their every whim?” She asks with a raised brow.

I knew she was just being her dramatic self but her words didn’t help with my own fears of coming of age in a few months. Being under community care all this time has made me feel safe but going off to live a new life sounded kind of exciting. Well unless Bailey talked about it, then it sounded like a fate worse than being completely alone.

Like, mom…

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dampen the mood. Let’s just go and have a night of fun.” Bailey says putting the car into drive and heading in the direction of the gated entrance to our community. She kept the headlights off and we drove slowly toward the gate. As we got closer, I saw she was right. There were no guards currently around but we still would need to scan our ID to get out.

Bailey holds up a card and smiles. “Got my dad's card.”

I just shake my head. This is going to be a mess when her dad finds out she took advantage of him being head of security.

We roll up to the gate and she scans the card. After what was a few tense seconds the light turns green and the gates start to open. Bailey speeds through before they are even fully open and doesn’t slow down until the gates are far behind us.

She makes an excited sound and rolls down all the windows. “Freedom baby!”

I roll my eyes and focus my attention on the lines of trees outside my window. My mind seems to want to focus on one thing, finding my new family. Mom and I have lived alone at Haven since I was little…when dad left us. He was an Alpha and he had found his pack, but my mom was a Beta and she wasn’t wanted in his new pack. Well, more like he didn’t want us to be part of his new life.

Or maybe it was because I was born an Omega. Being an Omega meant that things needed to be sacrificed for my safety. Omegas are rare these days, which was why communities called Haven was created. Places where Omegas could grow and thrive without threats from the outside world. Packs were desperate to feel the completeness an Omega can bring so much so that it was dangerous for us.

Omegas would be taken or forced to bond to alphas while incapacitated. Things had gotten so bad that some had been taken and never seen again. My mom was desperate to protect me and drove our clunker of a car across the state to a Haven location. We didn’t have much when dad left but thanks to Haven we were given a home and protection.

Families live along with their Omega children until they reach the age of eighteen. That’s when an Omega can be presented for suitors. Bailey and I would be eighteen in four months. Although Bailey is dreading the opportunity, I’m kind of looking forward to it. The idea of finding a pack that wants me is like a dream when my own father didn’t want me.

Bailey cheers suddenly and turns up the radio.

“This is them! The band we’re going to see.” She yells over the loud music.

She told me this was some kind of local band that was just starting to get noticed. So thankfully this concert would be a lot smaller than more popular band concerts. That was the only plus side to this night.

I also doubled up on suppressants this morning so hopefully, we didn’t draw any attention.

Bailey danced like crazy as we drove down the two-way highway leading us into town.

Determined to ignore her was a mistake that I will forever regret because I didn’t see the headlights until it was too late.

(Author note: In this world of shifters lost their ability to shift generations ago, but some of their most basic insticts and traits remain. The urge to form packs and to bond being among the few that are still engrained in them.)

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