#zombies willa oneshot

[heliads]

Family Woes

Based on this request: "Willa has a younger sister y/n and her and the wolf pack are overprotective and y/n can't leave their sight. So y/n runs away and the pack finds her and they make up and live happily ever after"

masterlist

Willa Lykensen is at her wit’s end trying to get this pack in order. She was never supposed to take it this far. Willa was nominated temporary leader of the werewolves when their moonstones were at an all time power shortage and everyone was sick. Sure, she did a decent job of getting everyone back in order, but they came pretty close to not coming out on top. 

Willa always assumed that once things were better, responsibility would leave her shoulders. The problem is that such a time has come again and again, and passed by just as quickly. Willa still remains in this position, slightly separated from everyone else yet unaware of how to get back to whoever she had been before all this. Willa tries to relinquish power, but no one takes it, and so she keeps on going anyway.

Sometimes she feels like a train that’s lost control, a great mass of steel and destruction hurtling at a thousand miles per hour towards the rocky unknown. Willa keeps slamming the brakes but nothing ever happens to stop her. At some point, she’s going to make a bad call and the pack is going to suffer, but until that moment, all Willa can do is keep pulling one Hail Mary after another to make sure her people stay alive and relatively unharmed.

So far, all is mostly well. They managed to find the moonstone and the werewolves were able to recharge their necklaces. They could even all take up homes in Seabrook and finally stop living on the outskirts of a place that had once been theirs. Willa goes to school, she makes friends, she learns enough in her books to realize that a kid like her shouldn’t have the job that she does.

At the same time, Willa has to admit that she sort of likes feeling important. Belonging is important to any werewolf, and she is no exception. It is something wonderful to feel wanted, needed even, but the stress is starting to tear her asunder. Willa looks in the mirror and swears a thousand times that she can do this. The reflection, a girl who could probably be her, mouths the same words back, but it’s far less believable when she’s looking herself in the eyes.

Willa’s friends seem to have confidence in her, which is nice. Willa would never dare show a single sign of weakness, but having her friends and family desert her might be her last straw. Wyatt stays by Willa’s side, and even the zombies and humans are able to offer up willing shoulders to lean on if she needs it.

There is one person that’s not entirely on Willa’s side, though. Although Willa does her best to run both the pack and her family, one of her closer relatives seems to stifle under Willa’s leadership instead of growing by it. Y/N, Willa’s younger sister, becomes more and more troublesome by the hour.

That’s what it feels like, at least. Willa asks Zed time and time again if it seems like she’s being too harsh on her younger sister, seeing as Zed is used to having a supernatural younger sister, but he assures her otherwise every time. Willa treats Y/N the same way as the rest of the pack, he sees no concern there.

Still, Willa feels differently. Willa tries to talk to Y/N almost every day, maybe even every hour, but Y/N shuts her down every time. Sometimes the missed connections just result in a sort of awkwardness that isn’t supposed to happen between siblings, other times it leads to fights that lead in one or both of the girls storming out until they pretend nothing happened for a temporary truce.

Willa tries, she really does. It’s just hard when Willa remembers what it had been like when they were younger. Willa swears there was a time in which the sisters actually did get along. It was them against the world, playmates and schoolmates and friends who could tell each other anything. It seems the changing of the times has split them apart as surely as only a difference in years truly can.

Previously, Willa had not been aware of the fact that she was getting older. The knowledge came incrementally, of course; new shoes were outgrown, jeans rose above her ankles, but all those signs could be ignored if one tried hard enough. It took more solid proof for her to come to grips with the fact that she was no longer quite so young and naive as she once had been. 

Willa rereads old books that had been her favorites and scoffs at the juvenile attitudes of the characters. Her sister tells Willa that she no longer acts the same way, even though Willa has no idea what would have been different in her attitude nor how to fix it. 

The only thing Willa can do is try to watch out for her sister. Willa doubles her focus, hoping that maybe making her sister feel important will build more bridges than it burns. The opposite happens; every time Willa shows a clear indication of trying to watch out for Y/N, the other girl recoils from Willa’s every move.

It all comes to a head about six months after the werewolves find the moonstone and move into Seabrook for good. Y/N came home several hours later after school without telling anyone that she wouldn’t be on time. Willa was pacing around the house when Y/N finally showed up.

Although Y/N tried to act like nothing was the matter, the guilty duck of her head when she opened the door to find Willa waiting for her was as sure a sign as any that she knew something was wrong.

Willa doesn’t wait for pleasantries, she never has. “Where were you?”

“Good to see you too,” Y/N mumbles, clearly annoyed, “Thanks for asking about my day, it was wonderful. How was yours?”

“Don’t try and play around,” Willa fires back, “you’re late. What happened?”

Y/N shrugs. “I was talking to a friend and we stayed late to study. No big deal.”

Y/N tries to move past, but Willa blocks her way. “Not so fast. You have to tell me about these sorts of things, you know. I had no idea where you were. For all I knew, you could have been hurt somewhere and in need of help.”

“Or I could have been just fine,” Y/N counters, “which is what happened. Seriously, calm down. I’m what, a couple of hours late? It’s not even dark outside yet.”

“You should be happy it’s not dark,” Willa argues, “if it was, I would have sent out some of the pack to search for you. You have to realize that this isn’t okay.”

Y/N scoffs. “That’s crazy. I’m allowed to have some freedom, you know.”

Willa folds her arms across her chest. “That freedom doesn’t involve giving me a heart attack every other day because you decide to do stuff like this. Come on, how hard is it to just text me?”

Y/N groans. “It shouldn’t even matter. You’re so overprotective, same as the rest of the pack. Just let me have a little bit of breathing room.”

Willa arches a brow. “Overprotective? We’re trying to watch out for you. You’re still a kid, Y/N.”

“And you aren’t?” Y/N asks pointedly, “I’m just trying to live my life. I’m sure you did the same thing as me when you were my age.”

“You shouldn’t have to do the same things as me, because I’m trying to protect you from all that,” Willa counters, “I want you to have a normal life.”

“If you want me to be normal, you have to stop being such a helicopter parent,” Y/N replies, clearly frustrated. “Just leave me alone.”

Willa isn’t willing to let this go quite so easily. “Not a chance. You’re too young to be doing all this. We’re not done until we can agree on a solution to that.”

Y/N lets out an angry breath. “You really can’t let that go?”

“No, I can’t,” Willa says, “Not until you realize that your bad choices are going to get you killed.”

“At least then I wouldn’t be as ridiculously uptight as you,” Y/N spits out, “you’re a pain to be around. I’m sick of being in this house.”

This time, instead of trying to escape to a different room, Y/N turns around and leaves again. Willa moves to stop her, but it’s too late, her sister’s already hurrying back away into the street. In seconds, she’s turned a corner and is out of sight.

Wyatt appears down the hall. “I heard shouting, what was that about?”

Willa groans. “I’ve messed things up with Y/N. She says we’re too overprotective.”

Wyatt grimaces. “She might be right there. I know you’re just trying to keep her safe, but everyone needs a little bit of space to grow into their own person.”

“I wish you’d told me that a little earlier,” Willa sighs, “she looked mad.”

Willa holds out hope that Y/N will realize she overreacted and come home, but even after night falls, there’s no sign of her younger sister. To make herself feel better, Willa pretends that Y/N’s just spending the night with a friend, but after a few discreet texts to Addison and Bree, she finds out otherwise. Wherever she is, Y/N is with no friends of theirs.

That does it. Willa rallies a few sympathetic werewolves and sets out as a search party. The wolves have always been good hunters, and within the span of about an hour or so of stalking through the woods surrounding Seabrook, Wyatt tugs gently on Willa’s arm.

“Over there,” he whispers.

Willa nods gratefully at him and sets over. Out of the corner of her eyes, she can see Wyatt quietly alerting the other werewolves that it’s alright. The others start to leave, but Wyatt lingers in the background just in case.

Y/N is walking through the forest, either heedless of the surrounding darkness or just choosing to ignore it. She doesn’t flinch when Willa calls out her name, just squares her shoulders and keeps walking.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she says.

Willa sighs. “But I want to talk to you. I’m sorry, Y/N. Really, I am. I was wrong to try to be so overprotective. You deserve your space. I was just scared that you’d get hurt.”

Y/N laughs bitterly. “You’re just saying that to try and get me to go back to the house.”

“Partially,” Willa admits, “but also it’s true. If you want to go have a sleepover at a friend’s house to get away from me, fine. I just don’t want you to be mad at me the whole time.”

Y/N stops walking, which Willa takes as a small victory. “Really?” She asks doubtfully.

“Really,” Willa says. “Of course, I’m hoping you will just come home, but if you’re with a friend, that still means someone’s watching out for you. It doesn’t always have to be me.”

An irritated look flashes over Y/N’s face. “See, that’s the same thing. You’re still overprotective.”

“I probably always will be,” Willa confesses, “that’s the problem. Do you remember when everyone was so sick because we couldn’t find the moonstone? I was so terrified of losing you that it never really left me. I know I can be annoying, but it’s all I really know. You keep running off and it freaks me out for the same reason.”

Y/N’s expression softens. “Willa, I had no idea,” she begins.

Willa nods mechanically. “You weren’t supposed to know. Guess I wanted you to keep seeing me as a totally cool older sister. Problem is, that can get pretty frustrating. I know that now.”

Y/N stays silent for what could be just a few minutes, but feels more like an eternity or two. “Alright,” she says at last, “I’ll go back. Just promise that you’ll back off more.”

“I’ll try,” Willa promises. She thinks she might stick by it, too.

Only on securing that compromise does Y/N turn around and begin heading back towards home. Willa falls in behind her, but not before flashing Wyatt a thumbs up so he can go too. It might be crazy hard trying to run this pack, but at least Willa can count on her family. That is everything.

requested by @nev20, hope you enjoy!

disney tag list: @rogueanschel, @lovesanimals0000, @thatfangirl42, @amortensie

[kangaracha]

LIKE STARS IN THE SKY full prompt collection

AO3 | FF.NET

—

THE RIVER NEAR THE VALLEY zeddison/wyaddison royalty au; 70k AO3

TWO LONELY HEARTS MEET IN THE DARK zeddison; addison searches for the perfect ending; 20k AO3

IF ONLY WE KNEW (THE THINGS WE KNOW) pre-z2; the moonstones are dying, and the wolves left are young and naive, left alone to grapple with the fate of their species; 20k AO3 | FF.NET

AND THE CHASM GROWS the moonstone is destroyed in the powerplant explosion. The wolves are left to pick up the pieces; 17k AO3

I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y after four days stuck in containment, eliza makes a discovery about zombies; 12k AO3 | FF.NET

RIVER COLD, MOUNTAIN WILD wyaddison; after three years living as a werewolf in a human world, Addison returns to Seabrook and the wolf pack; 16k AO3 | FF.NET

NEW DAWN, NEW DAY AO3 | FF.NET

THE GONE AND THE GATHERED trapped within the walls of zombietown all her life, wanda discovers what's waiting outside; 13k AO3

PRETTY zeddison; addison falls for a boy that is all the things she isn't; 8k AO3

MY HAND IN YOURS wyliza; after school, trapped in the same home town with nowhere to go and nothing to do, two high school friends reconnect; 3k AO3

THE KING WALKS THE TOWER wyaddison, medieval au; 7k AO3

ALL THE THINGS LEFT UNSAID willa and wyatt are abducted from the side of the road. what happens next is the breaking, and the healing; 35k AO3

BURY YOU BACK UNDERGROUND zeddison; three years after the program to allow zombies into human schools goes wrong, zed sits in a containment centre and laughs; 3k AO3

(WHEN THE SUN COMES UP) wyaddison; by next week, there will be no more monsters that call Seabrook home; 7k AO3

TO WHAT YOUR HEART ONCE WAS willa & wyatt; the twins are born wrong, according to prophecy, two halves of the same whole. willa takes fate into her own hands; 8k AO3

BLOOD//STONE zeddison; the power plant explodes, fifty years later; 7k AO3

—

ZOMBIES ONESHOTS

aftermath we’ve come too far (zeddison)

WEREWOLVES ONESHOTS

patience i raised a stone, to end its pain it cuts like a knife (to take back your life) (wyaddison)i can feel your heart (hanging in the air) (wyaddison) going too far (wyaddison/zeddison) truth or dare (wyaddison) break a leg

It’s Do Or Die (series) Part 1: Hunters

[mxlti-fand0m-imaginess]

New Student // Willa Lykensen

request: could you do Willa from Zombies x female reader (if you’re not comfortable then gn reader), a really cute fic where Willa has a crush for the first time and she’s quite nervous around the reader which is out of character for her, but Addison and Wynter assure her that it’s okay and Willa flirts with reader?

prompts: none!

summary: you’ve just moved to seabrook, and everything has been going great! except for the fact that one of your new “friends” is pretty much ignoring you. what happens when the two of you are tricked into spending time together?

warnings: god used as a curse word?, also a kinda abrupt ending :/

word count: 2k

a/n: gn!reader

Your hands clenched tightly against the straps of your backpack as you looked up at the building in front of you. Seabrook High. It was yet another first day of school for you. After having spent the majority of your life moving from city to city, your parents decided they wanted to move back to their hometown. And while you were excited at first due to the chance of finally having a somewhat normal highschool experience, Seabrook wasn’t anything like you thought it would be.

Before even walking into the building, you looked around in shock at everyone walking beside you. And just when you thought you were finally going to have a normal high school experience. But no, you just had to go to a school that had monsters attending.

Now you were never one to judge. You knew how it felt to be hated for reasons you couldn’t control. But just the thought of having to spend the rest of the year sharing classrooms with zombies, werewolves, and aliens made you a bit uneasy.

Your parents assured you they were all very nice and that you had nothing to be afraid of. And while you believed that none of the other students would ever actually harm you, you still couldn’t shake your anxiety.

But nonetheless, you had to walk inside. It wasn’t like you could just turn around and hide in your room for the rest of the year. People would notice. And it was your senior year, so not graduating didn’t seem like a very pleasant idea.

Taking a deep breath, you started walking into the building. The perfect white walls accented with pink and green filled your view as you took in your new surroundings. A group of cheerleaders walked by, looking as peppy as ever. You could easily tell apart the cliques based on the outfits alone. And looking down at yourself, you realized you didn’t really fit into any of them.

The humans wore pink and blue, looking perfectly well put together. Cheerleaders were all wearing their bright pink and green uniforms. The zombies wore clothes that looked like they were handmade, patches of fabric and uneven stitching catching your eye. The aliens stood out too, all shiny and futuristic looking. And even the werewolves had their own look, purple and brown, with faux fur accenting their looks.

Meanwhile you wore an old band tee and ripped jeans. You stuck out like a sore thumb. A few people looked at you weirdly. None of the stares were mean, rather just curious or confused. You didn’t have a clique, or a group of people like you. No one even looked remotely similar. You felt your anxiety beginning to build up again. Maybe you really weren’t going to find any friends. Maybe there was no common ground between you and anyone else in this town.

You carefully squeezed your way through the crowd of teenagers, occasionally glancing down at the paper in your hand that held both your schedule and your locker number. After wandering through the halls aimlessly, you found the locker that would be yours for the rest of the year. You walked up towards it, and entered the combination on your paper, but the lock wouldn’t budge. You tried again and again, but it still wouldn’t open.

You let out a frustrated huff, punching the locker as you did so.

“Need some help with that?”

You turned around to find a girl, with bright blue hair standing behind you. Her hair was a stark contrast to the green and pink dress she wore. She held both her pom poms in one hand, the other was pointing towards the locked behind you.

“Uhm yeah. I’ve been trying the combination but it just won’t open.”

“Mind hold these?” She extended her pom poms out towards you, her smile never fading

You nodded and grabbed them, moving aside so she could try her luck at opening your locker. Somehow she managed to bust it open on the second try.

“One of the numbers in your combo was wrong. It was a 10, not a 1.” She smiled yet again, grabbing her pom poms back from your hands.

“Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver.”

“Oh, it was nothing. You’re new here, right? I’m Addison!”

“Y/n. Nice to meet you!”

“You too! I guess I’ll see you around.”

And with that she headed off down the hallway, practically bouncing with each step.

~

“Y/n! Over here!”

Your head turned at the call of your name, and you saw Addison waving you over to the table she was sitting out. You instantly felt relief wash over you knowing that you wouldn’t have to deal with finding a place to eat lunch.

You walked over to her table, and took a seat next to her, not wanting to sit next to someone you didn’t know.

“Hi,” you said as you waved nervously at everyone else sitting at the table.

“Everyone, meet y/n! They’re new here! Y/n this is Zed, Bree, Eliza, Bonzo, Willa, Wyatt, and Wynter,” she said as she pointed towards everyone sitting around you.

They all greeted you, and talked excitedly, happy to have met someone new. All of them except for Willa that is. She kept glancing at you and then looking away, not saying anything and instead focusing on the lunch tray in front of her. No one else seemed to notice her silence, or if they did they didn’t say anything about it. Maybe she was just like this. You didn’t want to say anything or draw attention to it, especially since you had just met. But a small part of you felt a bit sad that she had ignored you.

~

“What was all that about Willa?” Wynter asked, walking up beside her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Will replied, attempting to brush off Wynter's comments.

“Don’t think you don’t know what you were doing. You barely said anything at lunch! And you’re always chatty!”

“You know I’m not that friendly around new people.”

“Well yeah, but I mean you didn’t say anything at all! You could barely even look at y/n.”

Willa’s eyes widened and she felt her face grow hot at the mention of you. Wynter almost immediately noticed the change in Willa’s demeanor, and managed to put two and two together.

“Wait a minute. Were you ignoring y/n because they make you nervous?” Wynter asked, a teasing smile growing on her face.

“What? No! I don’t get nervous.”

“You are so lying right now!”

“I am not!”

“Mhm, yeah sure. Whatever you say.”

~

“Addison!” Wynter yelled, speed walking down the hallway to catch up with the cheerleader.

“What?” Addison asked, laughing slightly at the excitement on Wynter’s face.

“I think Willa has a crush on y/n!”

“Wait seriously?” Addison said, a smile beginning to grow on her face.

“Yeah! I mean think about it, why else would Willa just completely ignore them? And whenever I mention their name, Willa gets all squirmy.”

“Oh my gosh! Ok we have to do something!”

“Like what?”

“We have to figure out a way to get them to talk!”

“Ok! But how?”

“I have an idea!” Addison said, smiling even wider.

~

You tapped your fingers on the table in front of you, attempting to find something to keep you stimulated while you sat in wait. Earlier that day Addison had asked you to meet up with her and some of her friends at the library to study for the biology test coming up at the end of the week. Of course you had accepted, both wanting to spend time with your new friends and desperately wanting to not fail your first test at a new school.

She said she was going to meet you at 3:30, but it was now 3:45 and Addison wasn’t anywhere in sight. None of them were. You were beginning to think maybe you had gotten the time wrong, or maybe everyone else was at some other library even though you were pretty sure this was the only library in Seabrook.

Another ten minutes passed, and you were about to leave when your phone buzzed. You picked it up to see a text from Addison.

Cheer practice is running really late today, I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to make it :(

Hope the study group goes well!

Well that explains where Addison was. But what about everyone else? You waited another five minutes, deciding to stick it out a little longer, just in case they were all running late. When no one else showed up, you decided to head home. Maybe you really were at the wrong place.

Just as you began putting your books back into your bag, someone walked over to the table you were sitting at, placing their bag down beside them. You looked up to see Willa standing in front of you, her signature scowl present on her face. You felt your cheeks heat up at the sight of her. Even if she always seemed grumpy, you still found her absolutely breathtaking.

“Hey Willa. You here for the study group?” you asked, not quite brave enough to meet her eyes.

“Yeah. Where’s everyone else?” Her voice was so monotone that you couldn’t tell if she was angry or not.

“I don’t think they’re coming. I’ve been here for over half an hour, and you’re the first person to show up.”

Willa paused, something that looked like confusion flashing across her face, before returning to her normal, expressionless self.

“Addison told me to get here at four.”

“That’s weird, she told me 3:30.”

Willa’s eyes widened, a look of realization followed by annoyance. She groaned, burying her face into her hands.

“Uhm, you ok?” you asked, confused by her reaction.

“Addison did this on purpose. She wanted us to be alone together. Wynter must’ve told her.”

“Told her what?”

As soon as the words left your mouth, Willa froze. An unreadable expression crossed her face, and you felt nerves building up inside of you, panicking that you had said something wrong.

After almost a minute passed, you tried to ease the ever building tension.

“Did I say something wrong?” you said softly, not wanting to anger Willa any more.

But to your surprise, when she looked up at you her expression softened.

“No. No, you didn’t say anything wrong. Sorry about that. It’s kinda my fault that this happened. You see- god this is so awkward,” she trailed off, bringing her hands up to her face again.

You reached over and gently pulled them away, smiling when your eyes met once more.

“You can tell me if you want. I won’t judge if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just- I like you. Like really like you. And Wynter figured that out. So she probably told Addison who set up this whole fake study group plan to get me to actually talk to you instead of just ignoring you.”

You felt a million butterflies beginning to flow through you as your face lit up at Willa’s confession. Even though you had only known her a few days, you felt this pull towards her. It was unlike anything you’ve ever felt before. And to know that she felt the same way! It was indescribable. You felt like you were floating.

“I really like you too Willa.”

For the first time ever, you saw Willa smile. You could feel your heart racing as you interlocked her hands with yours. Her touch was electric. Everything felt magical. So what if she was a werewolf and you were a human. None of that mattered. Especially not in Seabrook. This was the most freeing town you’ve ever lived in. And you had a really strong feeling that you were going to love it here.

taglist: @rottenstyx

[harvlekinkey]

Masterlist!!!

As I'm writing more and more fan fictions imma just link the stories here.

Chucky

my fatal flaw is guilt What if... Junior Wheeler survived

Descendants

Call Me Carlos, What If... Carlos became the next Cruella

HSMTMTS

I Knew You Were Trouble (when you walked in), Ricky x EJ, smut

Just for one night, Ricky x EJ oneshot

Stranger Things

What a weird place Hawkins is, POV mainly Robin Buckley

The Quarry

What Doesn't Kill You Will Make You Stronger, Nick Furcillo x Dylan Lenivy

Zombies

From Infinity and Beyond, Wyatt x A-Lan, background: Zed x Addison, Bonzo x Bree, Willa x Eliza

[mxlti-fand0m-imaginess]

Willa Lykensen Masterlist

New Student

[kangaracha]

When werewolves meet their soulmates

Time passes him by first in dribs and drabs, and then in wild leaps that leave him wondering where it has all gone so suddenly.

It doesn’t seem this way for others. Willa takes every moment in both hands and charges towards her destiny. Wynter lives, and lives, and lives, and her smile never fades. The pack lives and dies and loves, day after day.

Wyatt hangs in the balance, always second-best, always alone.

“But what do you dream of?” the others ask, hand in hand, pair by pair. “What does the future whisper to you in the dark?”

Only old prophecies unfulfilled. Only a girl too far away to reach, a place too dark to see, a glint of silver in the moonlight as she walks away.

“Nothing important,” he tells them, and watches their faces twist in disappointment.

A few years on, it doesn’t seem so important when the moonstones start to flicker and die, when they reach out in search of other packs and find only empty space; when they realise that end might come. Even when the bus crashes on the edge of the forest, he doesn’t think of it, even though he’d dreamed vividly last night of a girl with silver hair. He thinks instead of how big and foreign it is, how the stench of diesel burns at his nose; of all the humans inside, soft and pink and scared and other, a people he has never seen up close before.

“This way,” Willa says, tugging him along. “There’s a trail. One of them has wandered off.”

Down into the gully they slip, like rabbits hiding in the undergrowth. And then he sees her – and his heart skips, and stutters, and bounds to life, setting his hands to shaking. His moonstone pierces his chest like a knife, screaming at him to stop and live in this moment.

He blinks, and she is gone, the forest returned to its usual peace (the bus abandoned to the trees, an eyesore that will tempt pups for the next several decades with dreams of the outside).

“That was your silver girl,” Willa says over dinner, wild hare and fresh-picked tomato on her plate. “It was, wasn’t it?”

He glances furtively at the wolves around them – Willa is the only one he’s told about those dreams – but there is music playing around the fire, and voices singing, and dancing feet to draw the eyes away. “That was the Great Alpha,” he replies evenly and takes a bite of his dinner. The hare is greasy, not as soft as he’d hoped it might be, the garden greens bursting with the flavour of a good growing year. He savours it like a final meal, his eyes fixed on the dancing.

Willa scoffs, loud enough to turn several nearby heads. “They’re one and the same,” she insists. “Or the Great Alpha never existed at all. That girl was human, after all.”

“It was the Great Alpha,” Wyatt repeats, and looks up at her with a quiet intensity not often seen on his face. “The prophecies don’t lie, Willa.”

His sister leans forward, a wild grin eating at her face. “So you admit then, after all these years, that the Great Alpha is your soulmate.”

“Soulmates don’t exist.”

“Mhm. Sure.”

She sits back, watching him as she eats her dinner, as if she’s evaluating her next move. He turns away and tries to pretend he doesn’t feel her eyes on him; he hates when she does this, staring him down like she can see right down into his heart whenever she wants to. He hates even more that the moment she falls silent, his thoughts wander away to the girl in the forest, and the bright lights on the horizon of the town she’d returned to (the town she’d been hiding in all her life, too far away for him to see but still right there).

“So,” Willa says when she’s finished, pushing her plate away from her. “If you’re so sure she’s the Great Alpha, someone will have to go into the human’s town and find her. And find out what she knows.”

Something lifts within him, a tug from his chest, a breathless urge that presses him to say, “I’ll do it,” before he’s even had the chance to think it through. His moonstone, pulling him towards Seabrook – towards his future, the way he’s waited for guidance all his life.

Willa grins again, that wicked smile that says she’s played a game and gotten exactly what she wants out of her winnings. “I thought you would,” she says and stands, plate in hand. “See you in the morning.”

He should curse her for that, or argue the point, because that’s what brothers do. For once though, he can only glance out at the stars and the cliffside that looks towards the lights of Seabrook, and think of tomorrow, and all the hours in between them.