12. The Promise “You can’t go with them,” my mom cried. Her face crumpled as if she was in pain, and she probably was. She had raised me for a choosing ceremony I didn’t get chosen for. I held her against me, patting her hair down, my bag open on my bed, half-packed. I had been given fifteen minutes before I was leaving with the alphas. My stomach stirred in excitement; I was looking forward to seeing something other than the scorn of the village. My mother didn’t understand though, she thought I was normal, she had always treated me the same, but it was her own denial. I wasn’t. I pulled her back and smiled at her. “I’ll be fine, Mom. They won’t hurt me.” “They already did!” she cried, then pointed to the bruises on my arms. I went to defend them when she pulled me in again.

