Prologue: Roman

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Roman

The war was clearing up. All I needed to do was claim his head.

One look at that Alpha's face and I hated him through and through. My body shivered in glee at the thought of ripping that bastard apart piece by piece, toe to toe, muscle to muscle.

My wolf was out of control and I do not know why. What's gotten into him? Why was this urge so deep and bloody when I was sure to have never faced this foe before.

When my canines sank into his neck I realized it too late.

A comfortable yet faint scent of intoxicating Iris flowers drilled through my senses startling me and my wolf.

F*cking son of a b*tch.

I pulled harshly onto the corpse's head and ripped it off with the strength of my jaw. I wasn't satiated and ripped off every single piece just like how imagined it. The scene turned quiet but I didn't give a damn sh*t and focused on the mutilated corpse underneath me, business unfinished.

I ripped and ripped and ripped, stripping the wolf's hide leaving only muscled meat and bone parts.

This bastard died to easily.

This F*cker even left this world with a shitty grin on his face.

I was mad, raging mad to a point that I desire to burn every single adult wolf who's scent didn't belong to my pack.

But my mate was here.

He is my priority.

I desperately looked every nook and cranny to seek for Iris. The flower I enjoyed so dearly.

But I couldn't find a trace.

Unwilling to give up, my rationality finally sinks and reminded me of one place that I haven't checked yet.

The Alpha's house was desolated. A sorry sight for an Alpha's home. A pack house was nothing to this pack and each had their own private property which made me growl in disdain as I think of it.

A pack was to work together. One that doesn't was no better than rogues, nothing but a slave to instincts.

Out of the empty halls, what caught my eye was the trace of color and the scent of iris accompanied by a tinge of mint.

The colorful basement room made me frown as it was clearly a place made out of love for a child. My mate conceived and fact was, it wasn't mine.

I felt bitter in the inside and my wolf was pacing in anger. I shifted into my human self to observe further and noticed how every single thing in the room was worn out. It made clear that my mate wasn't treated fairly and this realization injected fear into my whole body.

I rushed upstairs and stopped before a door where my mate's scent was the strongest.

This door. I shouldn't have opened it or I would have never, not once in my entire life understood the feeling of being TORN. Miserable, drowning in guilt and pity.

One look was enough and I slammed the door shut and bolted.

Why did I came here to late?

Why did I take my sweet time and not kill them off a long time ago and rather listened to my cowardly father to stand down to wait for the right opportunity he'd been aiming for?!

Roman. Michell. Pierce why the f*ck were you not by his side!!!

The image of that room will scar me for life and I agonized in self hate. There were chains of different kinds, the room unkempt and whatever else was inside was enough to give me the information that we needed.

Abused. Without consent.

I felt nauseous. My head was throbbing, about to burst and my feelings were in a whirlpool of distraught that i wish it could kill me already. My senses were driven into disarray that I blocked everyone else out of my mind as I wished for silence. I was breaking down in a speed unknown to me crashing all at once.

The impact was too huge. The reveal was to saddening.

But then the wind picked up and I smelled Iris again.

IRIS! IRIS! IRIS! IRIS!

My wolf was crazily chanting out it's name inside my head, filling it, hypnotizing me and my senses.

Acting crazy WASNT me. THIS wasn't me.

I was catching up, quickly as I ever could. The sound of bloodthirsty growls and whimpers at a distance alerted me more and as I reached the location of that sound, I ... I really was a step too late this time.

Kill them. Annihilate! That was what my mind told me when I tore out the last chunky wolf throat and spitted it out.

Left and right I searched till I finally gathered the courage to look beyond the cliff.

And there was he.

Mate.

Moon goddess ... why are you so cruel?! Why now?! why like this!

My claws dug through the ground to keep me standing as we witnessed him fall, terrorizing my entire being leaving me frozen.

'The Fall'. Remembering this day never failed to stop my beating heart.

I ran as close as I could to the waterfall's edge however there was no chance for me to see the bottom.

I howled calling for help for help and opened the pack link. Mate! Mate! Mate! was all that came out of my wolf however I focused more on the search, explained everything briefly and sprinted away.

I could search for hours and days, weeks if I could. Even at night I could travel through the woods just to find you. To touch you, to take you in my arms and comfort you that everything was fine now.

But then again, I, am the Alpha. And we were still in the aftermaths of war.

>Alpha. We need you back.< My Beta's tone was cold and this spiked my anger. I wanted to jump, my eyes intensely staring straight down despite knowing full well that this wouldn't help me find him. I'll be risking too much.

>Roman calm down. We'll find him. I'll send out our best men but we need you to lead us. Blindly searching won't do and the pack needs you. NOW.<

I whimpered and howled pacing at the edge for I didn't want to leave. I perked up my ears waiting for a sign, desperate and I know I was being stubborn and stupid but I just ... I couldn't believe that I couldn't save-

>Roman ... together. The family is here to help so for now just come back.< I know my emotions was transmitted through them and constant whimpers rang through the pack link to show sympathy.

>Iris.<

>Roman.<

>Iris ...<

One last heartbreaking howl to the afternoon heat in my only memory of him and I ran back.

I don't even know when I reached but on the beautiful flower fields, Logan and my family stood gazing painfully at me.

I never felt so weak. I nuzzled my snout into the side of his cheek before shifting back and burying myself in his embrace. My Beta was my older cousin who was an older brother to me. He was my pillar, the hero I always wanted to be and my support since the day I took the leadership of the pack at 18. It's only been 2 years since.

"Shh ... we're here for you. We'll find your mate. Iris, was it? We won't stop looking, I promise you." He was feeling the pain and his eyes reddened, strongly patting me in the back to calm me down.

>Logan. About the intruder.<

"Right, come here. There's something I need you to see."

I wiped the tears in my eyes and took a deep breath. Right now, it was the Alpha that was needed not Roman Michel Pierce who was still wet behind the ears. I did my best to sport the piercing sharp gaze of an Alpha and with powerful steps I entered the pack house ignoring the heavy pangs of misery in my heart.

I did all of this only to stand in front of a boy, no a pup who's at the age of 3.

The scent of Mint.

"This pup intruded pack borders and we are sure he belongs to that pack. He couldn't probably have arrived here alone so we suspected that-"

I raised my hand to stop him from saying more and slowly, I approached the small pup who kept shuffling his feet at the corner of the room out of fear. I crouched down to sit, patiently waiting for him to understand that I was harmless. That I wouldn't do anything.

"What's your name ..." I asked in a gentle tone that I have never used before. My wolf was groaning lowly. He understood best who this child was, iris and mint, he know too well.

"Where's Papa ..." he sniffled and huge teardrops cascaded down like pearls. I wanted to comfort him so I opened my arms but this only scared him.

"Was it Papa who took you here? Why did your Papa bring you here?"

"Where's Papa ... he said he'll follow me. W-where's Papa. Why is he not here?!"

"Hey ... pup, shh ...it's okay-"

"You are all mean! Bad! Bad! Papa won't come anymore! I said not to take it off but you took it off now Papa won't come since Asher's a bad boy!" He waved a dark blue cloth in front of my face leaving me confused.

"We found him running blindfolded." Logan explained and this made me frown. I pulled the pup into my arms and he struggled fiercely, hitting my face to tore himself from my grip. The nails dug lightly into skin but I didn't mind and focused on patting his back, gently to calm the little one down.

After a while he stopped and bawled his fears out, soaking my shoulders. My nose felt sour and I embraced him protectively. It was this scent, Iris and Mint. This was his pup. His precious child and he bought it to me, to MY pack to protect.

>Roman, what's going on?<

>Iris. His pup.<

>He has a partner?!< My wolf came out and growled at him, seething in anger forgetting that there was still a pup in our arms and I felt the little body shudder.

>IT. WAS. NOT. HIS. CHOICE.< Five words, and it explained everything.

I gently pulled the boy away and wiped the tears from his eyes. He wasn't stopping but I wanted to know more. I NEEDED to know.

"We're not the bad guys. I'm here to help you. I miss your Papa too. Papa lost his way and all of us will look for him soon so try to trust me, okay?" I was not a man who knew how to comfort anyone. It was always Logan who comforted me and this was the best I could give.

"Not a b-bad guy? You won't hit Papa? You know Papa? I-I'm sorry. Don't tell Papa t-that I peeked. I promise i-it was only once! I only saw Papa getting dragged once so p-please don't hate me! Papa please come back- Asher's a good boy!"

It all came at once and at heart I know there was more. I took a deep breath and rose up from the ground with my head high without shying away from the pack members' gaze. I took the pup with me to my room letting him wrap his arms tight around my neck and weep.

From this day on, this boy was mine. My Son, my pup.

>The pup knows nothing. From what a pack is, that he's a werewolf or anything significant. He was sheltered from all that crazy sh*t that pack has been instilling into all their members and just from this I can see that your mate is a tough one. All the more that we need to find him.<

>Roman. Your mate maybe even more solid than you. You're a blessed man.<

My brows knit and the desire to find him made my stomach churn.

I want to find him, embrace and compliment him that he'd endured well. That he raised his son well and I was proud of him and more.

The pup in my arms grew tired of crying and fell asleep. Ever since my eyes landed on him I already came to love him. All the power I felt as his punches landed on me helped me see that as tough as his Papa was, the pup was all the same. Like father like son.

I inhaled his mint scent and I whimpered as traces of Iris was fading away.

I will find you.

I know you're still alive. I can feel it.

So stay safe.

Continue to live.

When our pup wakes up i'll ask for your name.

So hold on for us.

Iris, i'll come find you.

But fate was really such a b*tch and five years was gone like the wind.