Chapter 1

Book 1: The Hybrid Phoenix

CLEMENTINE

~“Clementine…,”~ a singing voice calls. ~“Clementine.”~

I jolt from my sleep and look around like a crazy woman. My bedroom is dark, lit only by moonlight. Sighing, I rise.

Every couple of days, I awaken because of this singing voice. It won’t leave me alone. It sounds like my own, but it’s very odd to think that I am calling myself. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that someone is with me—or within me.

Maybe someone is watching me.

Once the lights are on, I look around my room once more, but it’s empty. No one is here. Either I am going crazy, or this is a work of magic—and I do not think it is the latter.

I keep the lights on and walk to my bed. Every time this happens, I find it hard to fall back asleep, knowing that there is something wrong going on. Knowing the voice might tell me to wake up again.

~So why do I listen?~

I get under my covers but do not close my eyes. I am too afraid to do that.

~What if it’s a ghost?~

I try to get rid of this awful thought by reminding myself that ghosts do not exist. I don’t believe in them, and I don’t want to.

I close my eyes, hoping sleep will engulf me. Eventually, darkness does consume me, but before I drift off entirely, I hear it one last time.

~“Clementine…”~

***

“CLEMENTINE! WAKE UP!”

I open my eyes, still sleepy, and adjust to my surroundings. I hate when someone awakens me with their loud voice.

That was my mother, by the way. She always rouses me early in the morning to do the chores before I leave for my shift at the infirmary.

I am one of the pack doctors, and I love it there. Well…besides the bullying.

I’m human, but everyone here, including my family, is a werewolf. That’s why I am hated and bullied so much. As a human living among monsters, I’m an abomination, but I stopped caring a long time ago because I can’t do anything about it.

“Coming!” I call out so she will stop yelling.

I hate it when she yells.

I pull off the duvet wrapped around my body and attempt to stand. I’m a little dizzy because I didn’t sleep much, but I slowly make my way to the bathroom to freshen up. I usually take a quick shower in the mornings, but I don’t want to keep my mother waiting, so I just brush my teeth and wash my face.

There is something about brushing my teeth that makes me feel so clean. I love it, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a doctor.

When I walk out of my room, I bump into someone. I look up and see my mother’s angry eyes.

“I have been calling you for a hot minute!” she yells, yet again, with her annoying voice.

I want to roll my eyes so badly, but I control myself. I instead follow her downstairs to start my morning routine.

“Do the laundry, clean the kitchen and living room, and then go upstairs and clean the bedrooms,” she says. “And make sure the living room is spotless! We have guests coming in the evening.”

I nod and walk toward the kitchen. ~Thank God I will not be here this evening.~

Our house is just outside the main pack house. Since I’m human, the alpha thought it was best for my family to live in a separate home, away from all the dangerous werewolves. My mother did not like that, but she couldn’t defy the alpha’s orders.

I’m not mad about it. I’m grateful that the alpha wanted me to be safe. But I think where I live doesn’t really matter since I now work at the pack house.

“Hey there, human,” my older sister, Joana, spits as she comes into the kitchen. She intentionally bumps into me, making me drop a plate, and it shatters.

The sound makes me dread what is coming next.

“CLEMENTINE!” my mother yells as she runs into the kitchen. Upon seeing the shattered plate, she growls. “You are useless! I don’t know why I didn’t give you up the day you were born. You’re a disappointment!”

I glance at Joana to see her smirking my way. She is enjoying this, and I can’t do anything about it. If I told our mother that Joana was the reason I dropped the plate, she wouldn’t believe me. How could she believe her ~abnormal~ daughter over her ~normal~ one?

They leave the kitchen, giving me some peace. That’s when I notice my older brother, Alex, standing by the door.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

Alex is the best brother you could ever ask for. He never differentiates between me and anyone else in the pack, and he always stands by me against our mother and sister. He is the only reason I am here today; without him, my parents would have abandoned me a long time ago.

“I will be.” I give him a weak smile and turn around to continue doing my chores.

I love doing the dishes. It keeps my stress and anger at bay so I don’t lash out at anyone. I’m a quiet person, and I think it’s because I do the dishes.

Weird, I know.

When I finish the dishes, I clean the living room and all the bedrooms in the house. I also need to clean the bathrooms, but I don’t have time because my shift is starting soon.

“I’m leaving!” I say to no one in particular.

Just then, my mother emerges from the kitchen, holding a plate full of freshly baked cookies. They look delicious.

“Did you finish everything?” she asks, narrowing her eyes at me.

“Almost. I only have the bathrooms left, but I have to leave.”

“Do them before you leave.”

“But what would the alpha say if I was late?” Manipulation is the only thing that works when it comes to Mother.

“Fine,” she says, glaring at me, then returns to the kitchen.

I quickly open the door and walk out.

Today, it’s sunny with a little bit of wind. I love this type of weather; it makes me feel cozy. I’d like it to be even warmer, but I can’t change the weather, can I?

As I walk inside the pack house, I hear insults thrown my way. All the pack members do this every day, as if they’re seeing me for the first time. ~Don’t they get bored?~

“Good morning,” I say once I reach the infirmary.

The people who work here are the only ones who don’t hate me at all. In fact, they love me. They treat me like I’m one of them, not caring that I’m human. Just like Alex.

“Good morning!” a nurse replies.

At 5’9”, I tower over Erika’s 5’3” frame, but like the rest of the pack, she holds her own. She is a lovely woman who is in love with her job, and she’s also the best friend I have.

Erika wiggles her eyebrows at me as she picks up a syringe. “Did you hear the news?” she asks excitedly.

I frown. “What news?”

“Tomorrow, the alpha is throwing a small event,” she whisper-yells. She’s almost as in love with balls, parties, and events as she is with her job.

“But what for?” I ask.

Erika puts her syringe aside. “I heard that someone important is visiting.”

~Is another pack visiting ours?~

“Who?” I find myself asking.

“Don’t say you heard this from me,” she whispers so quietly that even her fellow werewolves, with their inhuman hearing, can’t eavesdrop, “but I heard that a very powerful alpha is visiting the Black Pearl pack.”

I don’t see what the big deal is. Alphas always visit our pack, so that’s not new. But it ~is~ unusual for our alpha to throw an event for such a guest.

~Is he really that important?~

Cutting my thoughts off short, I start my shift. We have a lot of injured patients right now because yesterday, a group of werewolves went hunting rogues, wolves who used to be in a pack but aren’t anymore for one reason or another. Some of the patients are rogues who need medical assistance before they are put in a cell.

It’s weird because I know that the pack will kill the rogues, yet they want us to help them first. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t help them… Of course not. In fact, I feel bad for them because they could’ve just lost their pack or run away from a cruel alpha or something.

~Why do people hate rogues so much, anyway?~

Then again, they might have done something terrible, which led to them getting disowned by their pack.

I focus my attention on a young rogue who can’t be more than seventeen years old. ~He looks younger.~ I see him tear up, afraid.

“Hey, don’t be scared,” I say, smiling. “You are going to be fine.”

The boy looks shaken but confused, probably because he smelled me and realized that I’m not a werewolf. I decide to address his curiosity. “Yes, I am human,” I tell him.

He gives me a cute grin. “Do you read minds?”

“Maybe,” I tease.

He looks worried again. “Do you know what they are going to do to me?” he asks.

I don’t want to tell him what will happen because he is just a boy, so instead, I say, “Don’t think about that right now. We need you to recover.”

I begin to bandage his injured arm. Adult werewolves generally heal in a few hours, but since he is just a boy, it will take a few days.

“I’m scared,” he mumbles, making my heart clench.

~Could I do something for him?~

“Hey, don’t worry,” I hear myself say. “I will try to talk with the alpha about letting you go.”

“Really?” he whisper-yells, making me smile.

“Really—but don’t tell anyone about this,” I warn him.

He nods.

When I finish bandaging the boy’s arm, I go to the next patient. He is one of our pack members—and one of my bullies.

“I don’t want you to assist me,” he grumbles when he sees me. “Get me another doctor.”

I badly want to inject him with something that would set his insides on fire but decide against it. I don’t want to get in trouble because of an A-hole like him.

“Every other doctor is busy right now. Either you let me do this, or you go home and stay in pain for the rest of the night.”

He growls again but finally lets me help him. My fingers itch to hit him with something instead.

***

After I finish my first round, I walk out of the hospital wing and make my way toward Alpha Jake’s quarters.

Our alpha isn’t a bad one. He treats me all right, making me feel like part of the pack but not like everyone else. I’m not afraid of him, and most importantly, his alpha voice doesn’t work on me because I’m human.

When I reach the alpha’s office and knock on his door, he gives me the green light to enter. I carefully walk in and stand in front of his desk.

After asking me to sit down, Alpha Jake asks in an authoritative voice, “What do you need, Dr. Moore?”

“I would like to talk to you about a matter,” I begin. “I know it’s not my place to ask you this, but I would like to try.”

He raises his eyebrow in amusement, then nods for me to continue.

“There’s this…boy in the infirmary… He can’t be more than seventeen years old and is injured.” I swallow hard, a little afraid of his reaction because he tends to get angry quickly.

“Go on.”

“He is a rogue,” I finally say, earning a firm look. “He is just a boy, Alpha. I ask you to let him go, please.”

“I understand that you are a doctor and that you care about everyone’s wellbeing,” Alpha Jake says, clearly fuming but trying hard to calm himself down, “but this is a matter that you, especially ~you~, cannot talk about. You have no right to ask me that.”

If there’s one thing Alpha Jake hates, it’s rogues.

“I’m sorry,” I say, lowering my gaze to the floor so I don’t have to look into his dark-black orbs. A moment later, I stand up, mutter, “I apologize,” and head toward the door.

Before I make it out, the alpha calls, “And Clem, don’t do anything stupid.” It’s a reminder of the time I tried to help a girl escape. “Am I understood?”

I quickly nod and leave.

I’ve actually helped many rogues escape without the alpha finding out. In fact, he only found out about the girl because my sister, Joana, saw me helping her and told him. But I have to help this boy…no matter what the consequences are.

***

When I return to the infirmary, the boy is nowhere to be seen. I ask Erika about him, and she tells me that the guards took him and several others to the underground cells.

I’ve always helped rogues escape from the infirmary, never from the cells. I’ve never even been there, and I hear it’s hard to get in.

~Why did the guards take them there so fast?~

~Alpha Jake must have mind-linked them. He knew I was going to help the boy escape.~

But that won’t stop me from going to the cells, grabbing the boy, and helping him out. I will do it no matter what because everyone knows that no one survives in the cells.

Before I can check on my remaining patients, Erika points toward the door and says, “Hey, Clem, Alex is looking for you.”

I thank her and make my way over to him. “Are these for me?” I ask, glancing at the beautiful blue flowers in his hands.

Alex grins and hands me the bouquet. “Of course. Who else would they be for?”

“Thanks, brother. I love them.” I push my nose into the flowers. They smell divine.

“How is work?” he asks.

“It’s good, though busy,” I tell him, still smelling the flowers. “There are a few rogues injured, along with some other men and women from the pack.”

“Don’t do something stupid like last time, understood?” Alex warns. Everyone in the pack knows what I did—and that knowledge only makes them hate me more.

I give him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t do it again.” I hate lying to him, but I can’t tell him my plans. He would stop me.

“By the way,” Alex continues, “there’s a small event tomorrow at noon, here in the pack house. Make sure you go home and stay there. Don’t open the door to anyone.”

“Why?” I ask, confused.

“Dangerous people are coming, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.” He pats my head like I’m a child.

I roll my eyes playfully. “Okay, fine.”

Once Alex leaves, I return to my work, thinking about what he said. He’s never told me to stay home before, so whatever’s going on must be extremely serious. But why would I be safer in my home when anyone could break the door down and hurt me?

~Who is coming tomorrow? Everyone seems nervous, like it’s a god who is visiting.~

***

By the time I finish in the infirmary and make my way home, it’s nighttime, and I can no longer hear birds chirping. It’s as if the birds—and all the other animals around—know nighttime is dangerous. That that’s when wolves wander the forest.

As soon as I get home, I go straight to my room, grateful that my mother didn’t stop and ask me to do anything. I place my bag on the bed and head to the bathroom, then take off my makeup and take a quick shower, since I didn’t get to in the morning.

As I towel off, I hear a noise coming from my bedroom. I carefully walk out of the bathroom and see a shadow pass.

I’m sure the bedroom door was closed and locked before I showered—and I never heard it open.

I look around to see if there is anyone, but I don’t find a single soul. It’s as if a ghost passed and left once they saw me.

Scared, I’m hesitant to close my eyes. I don’t want to sleep alone, don’t want to hear my name being called during the night again.

What’s really scary is that the voice sounds like me. I’ve wondered if it could be my wolf; growing up, I always wanted one and never lost hope that I would someday get one, despite the alpha himself saying that I’m just a human. But now I’m convinced that somehow the voice is just…me.

Living among werewolves is not easy. I feel like an outcast, like I don’t belong. It’s so bad that I’ve thought about moving out and living among other humans, but I’ve heard terrible things about them. Plus, I don’t want to leave my brother or Erika; they are everything to me.

After some intense overthinking, sleep finally overtakes me.