The Void - Book I

X - Heartbreak

I was sitting in the car out front of my childhood home, tears steadily streaming down my face. Rafael had gone to the door with Collin, and they looked very convincing in their police uniforms.

Apparently, Alpha Samuel had a "hook up" in the human world and got two older uniforms from the North Carolina Sheriff's Department.

They just so happened to fit Raf and Collin perfectly, and then we were on our way. We were even in a blacked-out SUV, we literally had the whole thing down to a T.

The whole trip to Thomasville had been spent going over the story and memorizing what they were going to say to my parents. They had a small cardboard box with the death certificate, my hair, and the only things of mine that had been left untouched in my hotel room in Charlotte.

So now here we were, I was sitting in the car, watching them break the news to my parents. Over the last couple of days, my hearing and eyesight had sharpened beyond words could explain. It felt like I could hear and see everything, which made me feel like a perpetual eavesdropper.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart, I am Sheriff Mason and this is my Deputy, Rafael. I'm not sure exactly how to word this, but we have some bad news to give you."

It was upon hearing that, that my heart started hammering in my chest, this was it. I was beyond nervous, I was scared for my parents, and I had no idea how they were going to cope with the "loss" of their only child.

"W-what?" My mother stuttered, she looked like she was starting to cry, so my father wrapped her up in his arms as he motioned for them to continue.

"A few nights ago, your daughter was in an accident. It looks as though they may have hit an animal, but we can't say so for certain considering there was nothing at the scene to give us concrete evidence. It was a single car collision, and your daughter was a passenger, the driver still has not been located."

I heard my mother wail, she knew what was coming next.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart, I am sorry to tell you, but the accident was fatal for your daughter. All we had of hers was a few items of clothing in this back found in the back seat and her hair. No one had been in to claim her, so the state decided to take her off of life support. It was only a few days after that we saw you two on the news asking for any information on your daughter's whereabouts. The doctors held on to the hair they had to cut to assess the damage to her skull, so we have included that in this box as well. In there are her bag of belongings, her hair, and her death certificate. I am once again so sorry for your loss."

Rafael had stayed quiet through the entire ordeal, and now all I could hear were my parents violent sobbing.

I could feel my heart-shattering in my chest, the pain seemed all consuming.

I knew it would be hard, but I guess I expected less than this.

My father thanked them for having the courtesy to bring them my things and politely asked them to leave so they could grieve in peace.

By now, the full weight of the situation I was now in had hit me head on, like a freight train hitting a deer at top speed, I had been obliterated by my emotions.

I had a little over two weeks to get my mind and body ready for the full moon. My body was going to change, and I was going to become a wolf.

There were stories of humans surviving the shift, but not being able to shift back to their human form and succumbing to their wolf, going rogue.

I was terrified. I wasn't sure I could handle this the way I originally thought I could.

For the first time in my life, I felt completely and utterly hopeless. I wished someone would just put a bullet in me, so I would be dead for real, and not living a secret life hidden from my family.

I didn't want this. I never asked for this.

I never asked for this heartbreak.

The ride back to the pack was silent, save for the occasional sob that made its way out of Deridra's mouth.

I didn't know what to do or say, so I said nothing.

I pulled her onto my lap and let her cry it out until she was fast asleep in my arms.

What she didn't know, though, was that I knew the pain of losing a loved one all too well. Having to break this news with Beta Collin to her parents was extremely hard for me, which was why I kept my mouth shut the entire time Beta Collin was speaking.

As soon as we got home, I was going to have her put all of her anger, sadness, fear and any other emotion she was feeling into her training.

I needed her to train hard, every waking moment of every single day until the night of the full moon. I needed her to survive this, I needed her to live, to want to live, to want to fight for herself; no matter how hard that may be.

A/N: this is a short chapter, I know! But it was really meant to be more of a filler chapter before we got into the real nitty-gritty of the book! I promise it's going to start to pick up from here. I have tons planned for this book, and I hope you all are enjoying reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it!

Until next time...