My mother was a slender woman, short compared to my brother and I, but you didn't wanted to mess with her. Behind her hazel brown eyes was the soul of a lioness that would do anything for her young. From my earliest memories, her long brown hair ha always been braided neatly into a bun at top of her head with a rose or iris tucked behind her ear. I never understood how it stayed so neatly in her hair no matter what she was doing, but she always looked stunning.

I can't say much about my father. His name was Arthur Kirkland, that much I know. From what I remember he had had messy blonde hair and powerful jade eyes. He had been much shorter than my mother but had demanded respect from other Alphas despite always letting my mother have her way. Sadly, when I was only five, he had been out drinking with a few friends and the next morning he had been found bruised, bloody and ice cold in a nearby creek. They never found his killer, not that anyone had ever really looked.

Even at a young age, my brother and I both knew that our mother was heartbroken, but she tried so hard to never let it show. Late at night, however, we'd hear a muffled sob or whispered prayer for the Alpha she'd lost.

After his death, my mother went back to using her maiden name but she chose different last names for both of us. For years I had wondered why but I didn't have the nerve to ask until I was seventeen. I had found her in her usual spot in the garden and only after a long pause did she answer. "I want you two to grow up with names you can be proud of."

I looked down at her, confused, "But why those names, I mean what's so bad about being named Kirkland or Bonnefoy?" I didn't understand why she seemed so sad as she shook her head, "No, I've chosen your names and that's what they will stay." She then stood up and dusted herself off. "I want you two to grow up and find love," she said as she kissed the middle of my forehead. "Do you hear me, mon ange?"

"Yeah, Mom, I understand." She tapped my cheek lovingly before taking a few of her flowers inside, leaving me alone with my twin brother outside in the waning light.

"You don't understand at all do you?" Matthew said with a sigh that I knew all too well.

"No, I do understand," I replied as I picked up a daisy Mom had forgotten in the grass. "She wants us to be happy. She wants you to find an Omega and me an Alpha, but honestly I don't think I want one."

He chuckled warmly as he crossed his arms over his chest, "That might change after…" He stopped as he looked up at the sky above us. "If we survive what's-"

I stopped him instantly, "We will, man. It's like all those other times before when those assholes in charge decided to pick fights with each other." I put on what I hoped was my heroic smile as I tried to ease any doubts he had, not realizing at the time that all his fears were sound.

Matthew simply chuckled at me. Or, I should say, at the pose I then decided to strike, with the daisy tucked behind my earHe took it from me and played with it in his fingers as if lost in thought for a moment. and our birthday was just a few months away, but I could already tell what he was thinking. If war really was just around the corner, it would have meant Matthew might be called to fight. As the only Alpha in our household after my father's death, it would have been his duty if a draft was ordered.

At the time it was almost unheard of, but my Mother had refused to mate with anyone else. So if Matthew was to leave, what would have stopped any Alpha from swooping in and stealing either our mother or I away? Hell, we had been lucky so far, but that may have been because our mother was so fiery and headstrong. "It'll be over in a few months, if that, and besides, you know how much those Alphas like to puff out their chests." I laughed as I wrapped my arm around his broad shoulders. "They won't start too much shit."

He gave me a warm smile as he placed the daisy back behind my ear, "You know if Mama hears you swear like that she's going give you an earful."

I laughed as he lead me into the house, "Yeah, but it's true."

"Yeah…" He said quietly as if already lost in thought again. I flicked his ear lightly before I made a mad dash from my room on the second floor, it was a mix of brotherly and omega instants, I guess. Either way, I wanted to draw him out of any thoughts or worries he had at the moment. So, as he grabbed at my sweatshirt with a wicked glare in his eyes, I was happy. We were happy but that would change quickly.

One week later, a bomb hit the west coast.

There were few survivors.