The shivers

CHAPTER ONE

DEMIN

The first thing that Demin notices about Ravenclaw every morning is the silence.

It doesn't last for long though, as beyond the tall windows of the Alpha Palace, the village of Ravenwood stretches out beneath the pale morning mist, ancient trees posting sentry around the pack territory. By sunrise, it would be bustling with life, shops would open their doors, warriors would head for the Iron Grounds, and kids would scamper up and down the streets while their parents chased after them. For those few minutes however, the village belonged to the silence.

Demin preferred it that way.

"Standing there won't make the forest disappear."

Demin turned as Truz leaned against the doorway, already dressed for the day's training and with his dark hair still slightly tousled.

"I wasn't trying to make it disappear"

"Then maybe you were wishing for it to swallow Kanem whole?" Truz said.

"I heard that." Kanem said as he walked into the room, adjusting the sleeve of his training shirt. "You two have been awake for five minutes and you've already started without me."

Truz finally looked up at him. "You weren't invited."

Kanem placed a hand over his chest. "And yet, here I am."

Drake appeared behind him with four bottles of water. "Waseber wants us at the Iron Grounds."

Kanem took a bottle from him. "See? I was needed."

"No," Drake said as he shook his head. "you were simply in the way."

Truz laughed.

Demin shook his head as they walked out together.

That was how it had always been with the four of them.

Outside the palace, they are men that people respect and fear, but together they are merely four friends that somehow managed to stay inseparable for sixteen long years.

The Council Hall was already crowded when they walked in, and at the head of the long table sat Alpha Waseber, listening to one of the council members tell him about a change in the southern boundary, the kinds of things that the Council deals with; matters concerning Ravenclaw standing territory, disputes, alliances, and the law no wolf dares to cross.

Demin listened intently.

Across the table, Kuafa was watching him.

The old man had been doing that ever since Demin could remember.

Kuafa was the oldest member of the Council and he was the one responsible for keeping the ancient records of Ravenclaw. He had known Demin since he was a child, long before the rest of Ravenclaw could even begin to imagine what he would become.

Especially after his first shift.

Most wolves don't shift until their adolescence, but Demin was much younger when his wolf first appeared.

Large, nearly black with eyes that burned Silver-gold.

Demin had never forgotten the look in Kuafa's eyes that day.

Fear and recognition, then silence.

Waseber had called it a gift, and no one had said anything else.

"That's all for today," Waseber said as he came to an end.

As Demin stood to leave, their eyes briefly met.

Whatever passed between them remained unreadable on his uncles face.

Demin said nothing.

Neither did Kuafa, as the others were already walking out the door.

"Come on," Truz said from the doorway, "unless you're planning on holding another council meeting by yourself."

Demin walked out with them, and by the time they reached the Iron Grounds it was already crowded. Warriors were engaged in sparring matches all over the large training arena, and their talk ceased as soon as Demin walked in. He barely noticed them, as a young warrior stepped forward.

"I want a challenge."

Demin looked the young man over. "You sure?"

The warrior nodded.

Demin took him up on the offer. The fight was brief, the other warrior powerful but not as quick as Demin, and barely able to recover from the sudden shift of weight as he went down.

There was a murmur that spread through the arena.

The young man stood, shifting into his brown wolf form and lunging at Demin, but the younger Alpha didn't shift. As the warrior's teeth came down towards his throat, Demin grabbed him by the neck and pushed him down onto the arena floor.

Silence rippled through the arena.

Demin stepped back.

"Tomorrow," he said, and the other warrior nodded, breathing heavily.

"Hey, that's some challenge you got there!" Kanem said from behind him.

"You don't need my help with that," Truz said, laughing loudly enough for several warriors to turn and look at them.

Kanem looked back at Demin. "That was unnecessary."

"It was accurate," Demin replied, while Drake shook his head.

"Please can we go before you turn this into another contest?"

Kanem smiled. "Too late."

They walked away, leaving the murmurs and the tension of the arena behind them.

That evening they went beneath the palace to the Wolf's Den, the place that had been theirs for as long as they could remember.

They'd claimed it years ago, when their biggest worry was getting healed up properly after a fight, getting in trouble, and sneaking food from the palace kitchen. The room hadn't changed much, four chairs surrounding a wooden table, and along the walls were scattered pieces of their childhood, photographs, broken weapons, medals, and things that would mean nothing to anyone else.

Truz dropped into his chair, looking at the table. "We really ought to replace this."

"Not a chance," Kanem said immediately.

"Why not?" Truz asked. "Because we made those scratches."

Drake looked at the table. "He's right."

"You two are sentimental about a damaged table?" Truz asked, looking between them.

"It's history," Kanem said.

"It's ugly,"

"History can be ugly."

Demin sat back, listening as they bickered. This room had seen nearly everything,

their first real fight, their arguments, their victory, their punishments, their promises. It was here that they made the rules that set them apart from every other brotherhood in Ravenclaw, never betray, never abandon, never allow an outsider to destroy what they had. And the fourth rule, which they all agreed on, was never to be broken, their most sacred rule.

At the time. It seemed perfectly simple,

a rule is a rule.

Truz leaned back in his chair. "Same time tomorrow?"

"I'll be there," Drake said.

Kanem looked at Demin.

"And you?"

Demin looked around the room, at the photos, at the table, at the walls that still held pieces of their past. Sixteen years had passed, and somehow the room seemed the same to him.

He looked around at the three men who had been so much more than brothers for so much longer than anyone should have ever had to go without family.

"Always"

Kanem smiled,

"Good."

Nobody said anything else because they didn't need to. Sixteen years had passed, but none of them had any idea how much they would be tested to keep those promises.