"She took my hand and led me out of the darkness and showed me that, whatever our souls are made of, hers and mine are the same."- Hardin Scott

It was pouring rain when my mama passed away. I remember seeing her mangled body, smeared with dirt being pelted by the rain. My father only stared at her. He didn't scream or cry, he simply stared into her cold eyes that once shined so bright as if he could not believe they would never blink again. Later that night, I watched him lose it completely.

I cried. It was the last time I cried. Anger engulfed me as I watched raindrops glide off my mother's corpse.

Sunsets! She loves sunsets.

Lucile De Luca loved the sun yet the sun wasn't present during her departure. There was no warm sunshine or beautiful pink and orange skies, simply dark, gloomy weather.

For that reason alone I knew it wasn't my mother's time to go. The day Lucile De Luca left this world should've been a day where the sun shined brightly and departed with a glorious burst of colors.

So for that reason, I believe my mother is still here. Her spirit roams around waiting for my father and me to get our lives together so she can achieve peace where she'll one day be reunited with her mate.

Perhaps we are too selfish to let her go.

I bring a glass of whiskey to my lips and swallow the bitter liquid. A chuckle escapes my lips as I look at the moon from my balcony.

What a trick Selene has played. The most ruthless alpha reincarnated into me in the hopes of being with his mate again. However, fate has not made it easy. My mom is dead, I dated my mate's fraternal twin, and I am certain the organ beating inside my chest can no longer be classified as a heart.

Yet somehow it beats a little faster when my nostrils sense a trace of that sweet vanilla smell.

I've lived my life feeling cold but somehow Alessandra makes it seems like there are a thousand suns shining down upon me.

A part of me hates it. I don't know how to be warm anymore, it's simply no longer a part of my DNA. But there's another part of me that wants to consume all the warmth she has to give and keep it all to myself. Selfish, I know.

The woman drives me mad. It's as if all the time and hard work I put into being a calm and powerful alpha disappears and instead morphs into this angry beast who can only see one thing.

"Son."

My dad pulls out the chair next to me and sits. These days he seems more tired than usual.

"She makes you happy," he states.

Happy? No. Infuriated? Yes.

"And why do you say that?"

He chuckles.

"What I mean to say is she makes you feel."

He sighs and then continues.

"Son I love you and I love your mother, but you have to move on with your life."

I growl.

"How do I move on dad? How am I just supposed to forget about my mother?" I shout.

"That's not what I said! Your mother lived a good life and she was happy! You aren't doing yourself any good by denying yourself your mate."

"Easy for you to say you didn't even care that she died!"

My dad snarls and rips me out of the chair with my collar.

"Your mother was my everything! Do you understand? I lived for her! I breathed for her! She was my love so don't you dare say I didn't care!"

"Lucile was my love and I know she's always with me. That's the beauty of the mate bond Zane. It's not until death do us part, it's from this life to the next."

He looks towards the moon, showing me his back.

"I still feel her with me and I know one day we will both be reunited again in the afterlife. I was alpha. I had no time to mourn her in the traditional sense, but I feel her absence every day," he says.

He looks down, contemplating his next words before he looks at me again with softer eyes.

"I never wanted you to be with Isabel because I saw it before you did," he says.

"What do you mean?"

"Alessandra's always been your soft spot, even when you were a child."

"That's not true, we didn't even get along."

"Sometimes the people we need are the ones who show us who we really are."

"And who am I, dad?"

"A passionate young man who hides behind a mask of indifference."

His words bounce around in my mind. I look at my father, my response sitting at the tip of my tongue but I stop when I see his hopeful face.

Maybe it began as a mask, but now it's who I am. There is no passion or warmth hiding beneath the surface, it's simply cold emptiness.

"Maybe," I say.

That seems to appease him because he walks to the glass door to leave. I look back at the moon and wonder.

Why would Selene give a warm creature like Alessandra to me? A sharp knock pulls me away from my thoughts. Enjoying a glass of whiskey alone is impossible in Italy it seems.

I don't have to turn around to see who's standing in the doorway of the balcony because I sensed her long before she even entered the room.

"And what did I do today to be graced by the presence of Alessandra Romano?" I ask with sarcasm dripping from my voice. My little wolf doesn't respond because she's sassy like that. Instead, she plops down into the chair beside me and pours herself some whiskey.

"You drink now," I say.

"I do," she responds.

I look to my right and see her face surrounded by her big, brown curls. She used to keep her hair that way when we were younger but started straightening it in middle school for some reason. The curls suit her better.

"I don't like how you handled the situation last night," she says.

I growl. The feeling of sensing Vincenzo's scent in Alessandra's bed drove me mad and it took all I had to not rip out his throat.

"How should I have handled it then? I'll be sure to give Vinnie a pat on the back next time!"

"He was just talking to me!"

"Yeah about what? Why did he have to be so close to you in your bedroom?"

"He was telling me about you and Isabel! I know you were too close to her yesterday!"

"I wouldn't touch your sister with a stick! The woman repulses me," I say with disdain.

"You were just about to mark her a couple of days ago!"

"It was a ruse, Alessandra! I didn't have any other choice."

Her fiery brown eyes that were pumping with rage just moments ago turn cold.

"Yeah, you had no other choice."

She turns to leave before I can stop her.

"Alessandra! That's not what I meant," I say, but she's already gone.

She's laying in my arms, her face a bloody mess. Her dress is drenched in blood and her eyes are empty.

I had no choice.