Chp 1: The raven and friends

Sophie POV

Four years ago, my twin and I agreed to run away from the pack. Our goal was to escape the life of servitude that took our mother from us.

Mom was a low-rank she-wolf who was forced into the life of a pleasure servant. She endured it for years, believing that her situation would change. When she realized that her master would never love her, she grew sick of her existence and ended her own life.

Every member of the pack expected my twin and I to follow mom's line of work. Even omegas looked down on us and believed themselves better than us. Determined for freedom and a better life, Tessa and I decided to run away.

The day came for us to leave. I waited for hours by the valley near the aspen tree for my twin as agreed. She never showed up.

That day was our only chance. I planned everything so carefully. We wouldn't get another opportunity like that in a long time, so I could not let it slip away.

But I waited until twilight, when the bigger werewolves began to enter the woods to play. It grew risky to lurk about as my scent-blocker began to fade.

I had to set out on my own, leaving my only family behind. I ran far and gained my freedom that night. Since then, I had lived like a lone wolf, hiding in the human world and sneaking into the woods sometimes.

Once in a while, I would sneak into Jefferson, the city of the Night Storm. I would steal into the woods and venture as far as many yards from my former pack's borders.

I always thought that with a little luck, Tessa would sense me and come find me. Or that she would be nearby and trying to escape. Then I would help her, and we'd run away as planned.

I had a few guesses as to why she did not show up that night. But I refused to let myself think the worst. Like maybe she got caught and was now a prisoner. Or maybe she eventually escaped and was far from the pack and its city. The latter was scarier to think about because finding her would be a needle and haysack kind of chore.

I preferred to hold on to my other guess. Which was the fact that she fell in love! After all, she always spoke fondly of young Gamma Kevin Fox.

I often let myself fantasize that I was right because that meant that I knew exactly where she was. Also, Kevin was bound to break her heart soon enough. That was a fact. Then she would regret betraying me. She would then plan her escape and come find me.

In the last four years after my escape, I did the same thing at least once in two months. I would sneak into my former pack's territory and bravely go near the borders. Sometimes, I got tempted to let myself be seen and get taken back inside. But thank Fate, common sense always got in the way.

I was back here again. But today, I had come to a final decision: I would stop all this nonsense, leave Louisiana, and never come back. Tessa was on her own now. After all, she chose a boy over her own blood. Just like mom always chose her sëx master over us.

It was time to move on. The sneaking had become exhausting.

Apart from that. I was being stalked. Someone was tracking me the way the police did in human movies. They were not one, but two men and had been following me and asking people questions about me.

One of them was human. A bronze-skinned, super hot guy with neatly braided cornrows. The other one was my kind. A werewolf! He looked a little older than his dark-skinned friend, and he was built like a trained warrior wolf. His broad shoulders and imposing height seemed balanced by his face that looked like a harmless cartoon character. That nose was too long.

I could handle the human but was deeply wary of his werewolf friend despite the cartoon-like face. I had evaded them twice, but they found me again and again.

Even though they were nowhere near at the moment, they had proved that they could find me if they looked. The men were good at their jobs. I was now very worried and needed to lose them for good.

I couldn't think of what the two men could want from me. Although I had two theories.

A few months ago, Larry, the club manager at my old job, tried to force himself on me. I helped massage his dîck with my claws. He ended up in the hospital, and I had to quit that job and the entire city of Lake Charles. Before I left, Larry promised to make me pay for what I did to him.

Theory one, he found me and had come for revenge. The werewolf guy was probably his friend. After all, many humans in these parts were friends with different supernatural creatures without knowing it.

My second theory was that the werewolf amongst the two was a member of my former pack. They were using a human to try to catch me. I didn't believe this theory because it sounded silly. I was an unimportant, rankless wolf and had been gone from the pack for years.

My mother was a pack prostitùte, for Fate sake. The fact that she serviced the Alpha did not elevate my status at all. Not in a place like the Night Storm. By now, everyone had surely forgotten about my disappearance. Except Tessa, of course.

It could be that they were tracking me because of her. Did she truly run away by herself at last? I hated to consider the scary possibility, but those men had me thinking all sorts of things.

Like maybe Tessa stole something from Gamma Ryan and ran away. Then he sent people to get her. We were identical twins. Those two could be mistaking me for her.

Their reason did not matter. I would not be coming back into this city for a while. Maybe never.

I made this decision while racing away from my hiding place in the woods for the last time. The Night Storm borders were only a few yards from there. I ran quietly and furtively in the opposite direction until I came to where I hid my clothes.

Just like the last four years, I was safe. No one saw me. My clothes were exactly where I left them. I stood, panting as I looked all around me one last time.

How I loved these woods. Too bad, this was goodbye.

Everywhere was as peaceful and normal as always. And I was alone. As I should be. At least, so I thought, until I shifted into my human form.

As soon as I did, a very low, almost inaudible sound made me jerk around.