The beginning

THIRD PERSON POV

18 YEARS AGO

The forest had always known her, even before she knew herself. In the pouring night, occasionally brightened with flashes of lightning.

A sound was heard from the woods.

"Did you hear that?" One of the guards said to his partner.

"Hear what?" His partner replied.

"That. Listen carefully, it sounds like....a baby" the first guard said.

The second guard strained his ear and listened carefully, and truly, piercing through the storm and the thunder, a loud shrill cry could be heard, far into the woods. His eyes widened.

"Who could have left a baby in the woods?" He said to his partner.

"I don't know, should we check it out?" The first guard replied.

The second guard nodded and they started walking towards the sound.

They tried sniffing their way, but they couldn't get a scent of a wolf, and the rain only threw off whatever scent they tried to pick up. The rain quenched the fire from their torches but they moved on anyway.

After some minutes in the pouring rain, the crying sound became clearer and nearer, and then a few feet ahead...a baby, wrapped in a robe, at the foot of a tree.

Their eyes widened in shock, there really was a child here, and a new born at that.

"We have to report this to the Alpha immediately" the first guard said while kneeling to pick up the baby soaked from the rain, the minute he cradled the baby in his arms, the crying ceased.

Both guards didn't hesitate and ran towards the pack house as fast as they could.

He watched from the trees as they picked her up and ran off towards the pack.

"That should do for now" he said, and disappeared with the rain.

.......

"Alpha, there are two patrol guards outside, they say they have something important to report" the beta said to the Alpha.

Alpha Tyran. That was his name. Alpha Kane's father.

"Let them in" he grunted. The beta nodded and walked away.

A few seconds later, both guards walked in, drenched from the rain, with the baby in hand.

The Alpha looked them up and down. "Who owns the child?" The alpha asked, his face stern and emotionless.

"Alpha, we don't know, we found the baby crying near the pack border" the first guard said.

"Hmm... and no one was with the child?" He asked.

"No one sir" they responded.

He stood up and walked towards the child.

"She has no scent" he said.

"Take her to the pack healer, have her examined and given to the maids"

"Yes sir" they said and walked away.

A few moments later, the beta came to the Alpha with the results.

"Sir, the healer has had the child examined, it seems the child has no wolf, nor is she human, because she doesn't smell like a human" the beta said.

The Alpha's face wrinkled, this was a strange occurrence, but it didn't matter to him.

"Keep her with the maids, she is of no use to us, but there is no need to dispose of her".

The beta nodded and walked away.

The years passed and Elara grew in the pack, she had no initiation ceremony because she was regarded as an outcast, less than a wolf.

She tried to live away from the eyes of others, but they always found a way to taunt her. That has been her life in the pack, from one cruelty to another.

Nobody cared she was alone, no one cared she had no family. The ones that didn't torture her or taunt her simply...ignored her.

They wouldn't lift a finger to help when she was being abused, and she had grown accustomed to that, for a while, she decided it was peace, and had decided to live that way, up until now.

PRESENT DAY.

ELARA'S POV

"I survived", the words left my lips the second I regained consciousness, but I didn't think I would be able to survive much longer.

My hands reached to touch my back and I felt something wrapped around my torso. My wounds had been tended to.

Was this an act of mercy? Or just a way to prepare me for whatever was next? These thoughts ran through my mind.

I let out a loud cough, my whole body ached. I didn't know how long I had been unconscious for, I needed to find out and I needed water too.

I tried to reach for the cup of water but my body ached so badly and I could feel my wounds opening up again.

Fresh tears flowed freely down my cheek. I might have cried these past few weeks more than I had cried in my whole life altogether.

I had always tried to be strong, tried to survive being in the pack, hoping that it would make me feel less of an outcast, hoping it would make me more accepted.

I had hoped that being in this was a test of my strength and I was ready to go through it all and be strong to live.

But I couldn't anymore, more tears rolled down my eyes as I stared in the dark.

They had always regarded me as an outcast and I would forever be one in their eyes.

There was nothing I could do to change their minds at this point, it was clear as day, no matter what I did, no matter the effort I put in. I would always be an outcast, because I didn't have a wolf.

The cold breeze blew in and I felt my body shiver and goosebumps all over my arms, I tried to shelter myself from the cold but my wounds just opened further. I bit back a cry.

"I am an outcast in this world" I said loudly, I could no longer hold back the tears and I sobbed bitterly.

And then, in the silence, in the midst of my cries.

I heard it.

"No, you are not an outcast", the faintest of voices said.

There it was again, the voice that had spoken to me earlier, only now, I could recognize it, the voice was female.