Raised By Wolves

Raised by Wolves | Epilogue

Long before there was a May or a Caleb, in a time that was before Miranda boarded her life changing flight or Braydon had ran away to the wild and Bianca hadn't even shifted into a wolf, let alone chose to run with them - there was a gypsy. She knew things no one else could; cursed with a gift to foresee the future, and what a future she had seen. Some she did not understand, the world ahead foreign and changed, but there were parts that had never been clearer. Fate, the gods, whatever those powers that be truly were had a plan, yet not everything was set in stone and that was where she came in. Shifters were a smart, and complicated species. Powerful. They were also incredibly simple to control and as she found herself the arrogant alpha with a god complex that excelled any man she had ever met, using her gift to win his loyalty and so the ultimate demise of his family began.

Yet as time went by and her visions ceased to give her the answers she needed, events witnessed all those years ago started to fall into place, events that would lead to the one thing she had fought against and avoided for as long as she could remember; her death. That was the problem when going against the visions, no matter how time could be changed, or how in control you think you are of your own destiny, what will be will always be and strapped to the cold, metal table she watched Bianca circle her and the gypsy knew this was her end. She tried to bargain with the shifter, Esmerelda had seen it all the second the walked into the room. There was so much, so much more than being the one to not only kill her, but her mate as she was always fated to do. For a moment the gypsy almost pitied the lost girl as she knew their deaths would not be the last. In fact from this point on, her journey would truly begin.

Esmerelda closed her eyes, seeing the face of a man that would become Bianca's greatest ally and friend; a true kindred spirit who had a complicated journey of his own. These two shifters were not like others, their spirits as wild as the wolf within. Once together, they would heal in each other what no else could, their paths forever entwined. There would be good times, and bad - worse than they had ever known and the faces that played through her mind extended past Bianca and her new friend. There were so many others involved, a change for the shifters was coming and before she could open her mouth to make one more deal, tempt Bianca with the fate of her pups and pack, of her species - the blade of the knife sliced through her throat and the tales and warning of the future died with her.

Bianca often thought about Esmeralda, sometimes more than she would ever admit. She told Braydon of course, those kind of thoughts never earning her the judgment that Cody failed to hide, or the fear Jay, Connor and even Taylor felt at the mention of their early days together. In the aftermath of killing her mate and returning to what would become her home, with those that were now family, she took each day as it came. Knowing the future, when essentially what would be would always be, was a risky and addictive game with no rules and a high price. It wasn't something you wanted to play and Damon learnt his lesson too late. Esmerelda with all her infinite knowledge had still failed. Bianca was the one still alive to face another day, and as each one passed, bringing the good and the bad, there was still a part of her unable to stop wondering, what if, what next...

Despite never meeting the gypsy, Braydon also found himself thinking of her from time to time. Sometimes he would tell Bianca, and they would talk out their worries and problems, their dreams and hopes for the future. Sometimes he didn't. Those were the times he thought about Carolina, about when they first met and the time they were together. Perhaps she knew who he was supposed to be, that if his mother never died, and his father lived, the pack had never chased him out - perhaps he would have been the man she had wanted him to be. What if he had, and one day in the city, he came across Miranda as she rushed around after Jason. What did fate or those infamous powers that be have in store for him? Had he gone against their wishes and that was why their daughter had to suffer? Perhaps it had always supposed to be this way, Miranda often thought so, as what were the odds of her plane crashing, her surviving, and him finding her. There was no changing what had happened, just as there was no stopping what was coming, but if they learnt anything it was that they were all stronger for it.