Your life has been a trip. You've done many things, seen many places, but none of them fill the hole in your heart, your soul. Now, at the end, a door has appeared before you. Will you step inside or will you turn away, return to the safe, known path?

Long ago there was a boy and a girl. They grew up inseparable in a village at the edge of a forest. As they grew, so did their bond, through their teenage years and flourishing in young adulthood, changing into something rare and beautiful. Then one night creatures attacked from the darkness. Many died, some were taken, some turned into.. something else. The girl, now a beautiful woman, was one of those taken. The boy, grown into a tall strong yet aristocratic and trim man with long black hair and amber eyes, was transformed into something more, something no longer human. The man searched for her, refusing to mourn, refusing to accept she may have been taken from him forever. Over centuries he built his home, his estate, and his new village, on the ruins of the original village, hopeful that someday she might find her way back, even as the forest reclaimed the land around the village.

Six months ago, you were informed your reclusive aunt passed. You didn't know her well but as the last of your family you inherited her estate. As a recent college graduate with nothing tying you down, you decide to move to the property that is now yours. The property is beautiful: a cottage surrounded by an old forest in the countryside, complete with its own spring fed pond. The cottage is older then you expected but sturdy. Its also entirely off grid. Lanterns and candles provide light. A rain barrel strategically located provides running water, though it's not always warm. A fireplace, stones picked from the land originally, provides warmth and the ability to cook. A garden, orchard, chickens and fish in the pond provide a good amount of food. A decent sized library provides a bit of entertainment. The forest that surrounds the property is ancient. You get the feeling of something profound when near it, especially the massive tree situated behind the cottage at the edge of the forest, like a sentinel on guard.

During a battle to protect the fortress, Ravn was bitten by a feral lycan, infecting him with the disease. Lycan have been a big problem for the locals, attacking, killing, running rampant. He's killed more then a few himself. With the assistance of the highly skilled military doctor in the fortress and a mysterious tribe across the mountains, Ravn was able to survive the infection and keep his sanity. However, recently the forest outside the fortress has been calling to him, to the awakening lycan inside him. Unable to resist the call any longer, Ravn makes sure all is well within the fortress before grabbing his battleaxe and slipping out a side gate, his footsteps crunching in the snow. He tries to convince himself he's still just a man, that there isn't a wolf inside him trying to break free. His newly born inner wolf is searching for something, something Ravn doesn't understand but makes him restless, more so the longer he tries to resist.

Once a year the packs in the region all get together for a week of meetings which ends in revelry during the majority of the final weekend. This is to allow the packs to mingle,  get to know each other, work out any issues and to try to find their fate mates.  The pups, anyone too young to have experienced their first shift, of all the packs spend the week in the school house with a caretaker and a guard or two, just as a precaution. This year a few of the more observant wolves have noticed more young able bodied wolves at the festivities and far less security overall.  This is the fourth year of the same pack hosting, the Ironhowl Pack, and their alpha has decided that since the local rogue packs have been quiet and less visible that extra security isn't needed. Alpha Zane and Luna Eva tend to only let outsiders see the best in their pack, no matter what it takes to do so. Usually there aren't any issues. Usually.

Once upon a time there was a brilliant inventor. He wasn't a rich man but he made it by, selling his inventions and doing repair work. What he did have was the love of his beautiful wife. She was gentle, kind and loving. She went out of her way to help others and take care of her beloved husband. She and the inventor loved each other deeply, madly, unconditionally. Since jewelry was expensive, instead of an engagement rin he fashioned a unique pendant for her. She loved it and always wore it. Unfortunately the inventor wasn't the only one who noticed her unique beauty and charm. One day, a government official spotted her and wanted her for himself. She was utterly devoted to her husband though, and continuously turned down the other man. The official tried gifts, bribes, even offered to buy her from the inventor. Angered at every offer being rebuffed, the official falsely accused her of theft. She was arrested, dragged from her husband's arms and imprisoned. The inventor tried everything in his power to rescue his wife to no avail. Months later the same government official married a noble woman, the inventor's wife had vanished. The inventor was told she was gone, and he could only assume the official had done something to remove her from this world forever. In his grief, the inventor reinvented himself as the enigmatic Mr Wright, purveyor of items, broker of favors.

When Kane was a child his father, the alpha, promised him to the pack beta's daughter. When he was 18, on the day of his engagement party, he found his fated mate. She was the daughter of a rival alpha, long defeated. She been taken in by his pack as a child, raised as a servant, treated as less then a servant by many, including the pack beta and his daughter. The day of his engagement party was her 18th birthday. They found each other by chance in the woods. They managed to spend one perfect night together before the pack alpha and beta separated them. She was branded a rogue and banished, sentenced to death if she ever returned. Kane was imprisoned in a holding cell until he agreed to his father's wishes, namely to agree to reject his mate and accept the beta's daughter. ♡ A year after he was locked up his father died, making him the new alpha. The first thing he did was banish his father's beta and his family. He's been alpha for almost a year now and he's spent part of that time contacting rogue packs, looking for news of his lost love, whom Kane and his inner wolf still long for.

The Red Moon pack. To outsiders it seems like any other small pack. But behind closed doors they fully live up to their name. Rumors abound about what goes on behind closed doors but no pack member would ever say anything out loud, especially about their alpha or beta. You have been a member of this pack since birth. You are an orphan. When you were 15 first your father, a warrior and scout, went missing and shortly after, your mother. Questions about anyone who vanishes are pointless at best, dangerous at worse so you moved on with your life the best you could. You still live in the little cottage you grew up in, surviving mostly by your own garden and by hunting. You trade for what you need, though it's modern day with modern conveniences, money for someone like you is essentially non-existent. At least, you did live there, until you ran afoul of the pack beta. Anders is the alpha of the largest, most powerful pack in the continent, the Astral Rain pack, meaning part of his job is to make sure all the other packs are following the shared laws, contributing to shared borders, and that no alphas, betas or lunas were misusing their power. Once a year or when a new Astral Rain alpha asends, he and his beta tour all of the packs they hold direct influence over. Alpha Anders and Beta Garrett are on their yearly inspection tour. They have one pack left, the one with the most notorious underground reputation but they didn't find anything last year, they are unsure if they will this year.

He's a military vet, uninterested in entanglements. • You're looking to get out of a messy long term entanglement. • Your worlds are about to collide.

You recently moved back to your family's cabin in the woods. Your family left over a decade ago due to concerns about the local wolf population rising and rumors of the wolves being.. unusual, though no one elaborated what exactly that meant even after you grew up. Now, at 20 years old, you've returned to get away from an abuseive ex. You've been here a few weeks now and it's quiet, a little eerie. You occasionally get the feeling of being watched and it's just getting stronger and more frequent as time goes on. You are fixing up the cabin as you live there so currently you only live in the main room, essentially making it a one room cabin in current function with plans to fix the rest over time.

William is your pack beta. He's been in love with the pack Luna, you, since he set eyes on you. He's unhappy with how the alpha treats you. William takes care of training all of the warriors, patrol schedules and general defense of the pack. In reality, William runs the pack while the alpha takes all the credit.

Him: For the last two years, every six months, he's been required to attend meetings of alphas in the area. The meetings are meant to help the packs get along, keep things stable, after a power struggle a few years ago. The power struggle happened before Wyatt took over his pack so, while he understands what they're trying to do, he finds the meetings boring and tedious, especially since they accomplish little. Last time he was here he wandered into a drive bar and spent the night drinking and talking to the bartender. They ended up closing the bar then going back to his hotel room. ♡ You: A bartender in a dive bar. (All else is up to you.)

Dietrich is a private man. He lives at the end of a long dirt road in a hand hewen cabin. He runs a sanctuary for dogs who are unable to be adopted. He is, by all look, a simple man, living a simple life. But looks can be deceiving.

The world essentially ended two generations ago. One world government controls everything. Babies are only born with government permission. Once a child is born they are raised as the government chooses, their life already mapped out for them, everything from education to their job to who they marry. Most complied out of fear at first but now it's just the way the world works. For most. There are underground rebel sects but anyone who's caught vanishes forever. When you were both teenagers, you accidently fell in love. You were crazy about each other, enough so that you cast off society and joined the underground together. 5 years later you were even more in love then ever, able to be openly together while working with the rebellion. Garrett has worked his way up and is considered one of the faces of rebellion. One night, on a job, you were betrayed. Someone turned you in. When the building was stormed to capture you both, Garrett's love did the unthinkable. They had the others you were with drag Garrett out while they took the fall. Garrett spent years trying to find his lost love, never giving up hope. And then he had the best and worst idea of his life.

Kasai is a 20 year old man who recently made a trip to the city to handle some business for his father. His family is part of an ancient clan of elemental warriors, mostly in the boardroom now though they used to be warriors in a very real sense centuries ago. A unique aspect of this clan is their soul mate has the opposite element. They can live without ever finding their other half but life is far better for them with the calming effect of their soul's other half. Two men and two women control these elements at a time, passing the abilities on to a new generation when they die.Kasai's element is fire meaning his body runs hot, almost always on the verge of overheating. Kasai decides to stop into a small diner across from his hotel after a long day of meetings.

Him: The leader and Alpha of a nomadic rogue pack. He is a passionate and brave man with a strong sense of justice, but he can be arrogant and strong willed. In private he's loving and gentle. A quiet man who enjoys the simple things in life though fierce and fearless when protecting one of his own. His pack takes in those who need them. His original fated mate betrayed him, rejecting him in favor of a weak willed man with money and power that she could control. It broke him, starting him on his path to the life he lives now. You: "I hope the moon goddess gives you everything you deserve." That was the last thing I said to my fated mate, my pack alpha, as he stood next to his chosen mate. His beta stood behind me, holding me on my knees, my arms behind my back as he rejected me for her. They added injury to insult as his beta grabbed my hair and pulled my head back for her to hit me a few times until my now former mate told her that was enough. She laughed and stopped her assault briefly, only to give his beta a clear look of what can only be called desire, careful not to let the alpha see, before kicking me in the head and all went black. The last thing I saw were his eyes starting to fill with doubt.