Olivia POV

As I watched the man sleeping beside me, a wave of quiet fulfillment washed over me.

We've endured heartbreak, betrayal, and wounds inflicted by those we once trusted, yet through every storm, we stood together.

I couldn't have asked for a better mate.

He's mine. My devil.

My Alpha.

FLASHBACK *****

My bones were breaking.

I let out another throat-itching scream as my right ankle twisted painfully into itself, the pull bringing me down to my knees. My hands were chained to the ground with a padlock at either corner of the dark room, the only light coming in being the bright glow of the full moon.

The fucking full moon; yet another one.

I hated it and I was using 'hate' very mildly. I dreaded the changes that came with it, one of which being how I chained myself to the ground in the underground basement Penny had built a couple of years ago to avoid going on a rampage and killing some innocent human.

My fangs pulled out painfully and I yelled out in pain, knowing it was coming. The resilient urge to free myself picked at me and my vision blurred with a red image. Sweat dripped down my naked skin as heat engulfed me and my throat was dry from all the screaming I was doing.

My chest ached. Hell, everywhere ached. Before I knew it, I began to cry. Every single time a bone broke or twisted painfully, I let out a loud cry.

Being only half-werewolf, I wasn't like the rest of the werewolf world. I didn't belong to a pack. One would say I was a lone ranger and not of lack of want. Nobody wanted me. I was as good as useless. Tainted with human blood, I was what werewolves referred to as impure.

In a way, I wasn't exactly unhappy about it. I didn't even want to be a werewolf. It was a curse, otherwise I wouldn't be chained underground with every single bone in my body breaking every full moon. It was a fucked up way to live and I wanted no part of it.

Once a werewolf turned eighteen, they gained the power to transform. As time went on, depending on one's lineage and capabilities, one begins to develop unique powers.

I was twenty- three and I had no powers. I didn't even have a mate and most found theirs before they're twenty.

I had given up. Maybe I wasn't meant to be a werewolf, which was why for the past three years, I'd devoted my life to finding a cure.

Why would I want to live this way if there was a way out there to cure myself? Why did I have to have painful transformations? Why must I feel so incomplete without a mate?

Unfortunately, I was having no luck getting anywhere, but I wasn't going to stop; three years of my life was not going to be a waste.

My atlas twisted. The pain knocked the breath out of me and I almost passed out. When it seemed like I was really going to pass out, the crunchy sound of my tailbone breaking jerked me awake as I bellowed.

"Not a very nice way to spend your night, huh?"

A voice asked from the darkness. I didn't have to look up; it was Jennifer, my adopted mother. Since the full moon heightened my senses, I'd heard her footsteps the second she left the house.

"No." I scoffed, out of breath as saliva dripped from my parted lips to the ground. "Not really."

This was how it always was. Because I was half- human and half-wolf, it was hard for me to transform. Pure wolves could transform at will but I couldn't. Because I was impure. Fucking stupid shit. If I didn't want so much out of life, I'd have bitten myself to death. It certainly would've been less painful than transforming.

"You know how this goes. You just have to wait it out." Her soft voice carried and I hated that she was right. There was nothing I could do.

"I hate this so much." My jaw trembled in frustration. I needed to find a cure and I needed to find it fast. Anna, my winch mentor, kept telling me it was a fool's errand but I refused to listen.

There had to be something. "Why can't I just live a normal life?"

"Normal is boring. I know you prefer-"

The last of my bones broke and then I changed.

My wolf wasn't huge but with white fur and bright yellow eyes, she was a beauty.

Thank fuck, because she put me through so much hell. I loved her and hoped for the day she'd finally be whole. The loneliness she felt seeped into me, especially now that she was in full form.

Jennifer's face spotted the look of awe she always had whenever she saw my wolf and a part of me felt proud.

"You're so beautiful." She murmured.

My vision was sharper than that of my human form as well as my senses. I could smell the cold airy wind of the night and hear the crickets chirping somewhere in the distance.

It might have been too much to wish for but as a tear ran down her cheek, I hoped to find completion someday and who knows? Maybe a mate. He didn't have to be handsome or large. I wasn't desperate but at this point, I'd settle for anything.