My name is Kiran and I have sinned. I have sinned against both the wolf in me and the human in me. My biggest sin and failure was that I lied. I lied mostly to protect those I cared about, but I also lied to myself.
I had many sins and as the future Alpha of our pack, my sins were worse than anyone else doing the same thing. My father, Malachi, was grooming me to take over from him and I’d always taken the responsibility seriously.
What was my sin? We weren’t allowed to mate with humans. That means no dating, no relationships, no human life partners, and definitely no sex. In my defense though, I couldn’t help myself and maybe that was where my rebellious streak started.
She was such an amazing person. Yes, she was. As in, no longer alive, and that is my second sin. Sarah was your typical high school cheerleader type of girl, except that she was smart and beautiful, but she was also compassionate and caring. She was the best person I knew.
Sarah was petite with shoulder length blonde hair and dancing brown eyes. She was witty and funny. In short, simply the most amazing human I had ever met. At that point in my life, I blamed the raging hormones – both human and wolf.
Karani would always encourage me on the bad days with her super mother-hug and say that the best was yet to come. I just had to be patient. She would say that in answer to almost every problem I ever had.
Karani was a beautiful woman. She had long, pitch-black hair and striking blue eyes. She went through life with a song in her step and according to her, every problem had a solution. She knew about Sarah, of course, she was my mother.
Karani was the typical Alpha wife, she entertained, she soothed the pack, she was after all the Mother of the pack and she raised me. She was that type of mom, the one at every basketball game, every soccer game, every wrestling match, well she would have been, if I had participated in any of those sports.
Malachi was a lawyer and he spent much of his time behind closed doors, either in the courtroom or in his study, but keeping his pack safe and intact was high on his list of priorities. His hobbies included training me and keeping me out of trouble. We spent many afternoons at the back of the den, training. Malachi believed in being able to defend yourself, both as a human and as a wolf.
Fighting as a wolf comes naturally but fighting as a human takes training. Malachi was an expert in Krav Maga. He had been to Israel many times, where he joined the IDF’s training camps.
Karani had an immensely magnetic personality. She could get people to tell her almost anything at will, or so it seemed. She had a beautiful smile, she was warm and safe. She was my mother and I’m not afraid to say that I loved her as fiercely as she loved me.
Our family has lived in Seward for generations. It’s small, remote and mountainous. We lived at the back of the woods and you followed a dirt road to get to our house. The woods were literally between our house and the town, which was best for protecting howling wolves from prying eyes.
In ancient times Herodotus wrote of the Neuri, a nomadic tribe from Scythia which later became part of Russia. If folklore were to be believed, they were a tribe of magical men who could change into wolves. If you asked Malachi, he would laugh and say that those men probably wore wolf skins because of the harsh climate of Russia and were mistaken for wolf men.
Nobody can be certain when wolf people first originated, but the wolf god, Fenrir, is universally accepted by all wolf packs as the first creator of our kind. Although Fenrir had no magic of his own, Freyja represented the Seiðr or magic that existed in our realm.
On my sixteenth birthday I had my resurrection ceremony. Boys shifted earlier than girls as males are meant to act as the protectors. This is known as the dark period. You suffered mood swings, terrible headaches and blackouts.
Your personality changed as you settled into your wolf personality. You had to find the balance between wolf and human and figure out how to co-exist within those boundaries. It’s during this time that we were at our most dangerous to the outside world.
Your lack of self-control, for one thing, was dangerous. It’s something you had to acquire as you settled the wolf inside of you. I avoided school for three months and Karani just told people that I was ill. After your first resurrection in the clearing, you’re able to shift at will.
Uncontrollably transforming into a wolf with every full moon was nothing more than a myth. Although the moon does affect our moods, we are wolves, not werewolves. There really is no such thing as a werewolf.
I’d wake up in a cold sweat on the forest floor, not knowing how I got there. Each time Malachi was by my side, guiding me through the process, teaching me control. For an Alpha, the change is harder, because you’re bigger than the average pack member. Your emotions are more tumultuous because of the added responsibilities you inherit with your Alpha status.
The battle within myself was intense. The struggle with my physical changes over those three months took its toll. You become taller, bigger, and more muscular. Your body aches all the time for those first three months after your initial resurrection as your body changes.
The dark period also only happened to male wolves. The females’ first resurrection was just as painful as ours, but they didn’t go through that three-month darkness like we did. Female wolves were just as ferocious but when mated, they were more docile towards their partners, more submissive to allow the males to take the lead.
My Alpha lessons took up more of my time and increased my wolf guilt. Three months later the passion between myself and Sarah had only escalated. I would meet Sarah and my wolf guilt would be non-existent.
Wolf guilt washes over you in waves when you break the laws that were instilled in you from a young age. Human guilt and wolf guilt can be switched off at will but it can also burden you as the human part of your soul fights the wolf part.
I knew Karani didn’t approve, and yet, she never told Malachi. She knew how that one would end. She did warn me that she wouldn’t be able to protect me from Malachi if he ever found out. She meant physically. I didn’t understand it then, because Malachi had never before been physical with me, unless we were training.
It was a chance I was willing to take. The stupidity of being young and carefree. If I had known what would eventually happen, I would have switched off my emotions and steered well clear of Sarah. Unfortunately, like most things in life, regret came too late.
The moment Sarah had walked into the school, I was in love. At first, I was a bit dumbfounded. How could I be in love with a human? I knew she wasn’t a wolf. You could smell humans from miles away. She had this intriguing air about her.We were fifteen when we met and life seemed uncomplicated and adventurous. That first week, I followed her home every day. I wasn’t stalking her, maybe a little, but not the dangerous kind of stalking.I was fascinated by her and try as I might, I couldn’t get her out of my head. She came up to me one day during lunch and simply asked, “When are you going to ask me out?” That was how Sarah and I had started dating.Sarah wasn’t a one-time thing for me, it wasn’t cheap. What we shared was special. When I first met Sarah, I wasn’t a wolf, meaning, I hadn’t yet shifted into a wolf. I was purely human, a special human, but nonetheless still human and so was she.Before we turned sixteen, we would make out and hold hands. After my initial resurrection thoug
I sent Sarah a text and asked her to meet me at our spot. Our spot wasn’t really a spot, it was just a clearing in the forest furthest away from our house where the roots of an old tree were visible in the earth and it made a natural buttress.“Hey, you,” she said, and smiled sweetly as I arrived, and found her waiting near the tree.I had switched off my feelings for her before I even entered the woods, because I knew that this was going to be hell. She put her arms around my waist and I knew her next move would be to kiss me. We’d been dating for almost two years now, and our familiarity with each other was intimate.Our relationship was more than just making out in odd places. We could talk for hours about our future, our dreams, and what we wanted out of life. Sarah wanted to be a teacher. She loved the idea of being there at the crucial time when young minds were shaped.“What’s wrong?” she asked me when my arms didn’t encircle her like they always did.“We can’t keep seeing each
We had a few other wolf children that went to the same school as us and I made a point of it to look out for them. There were two other families that lived in Seward that weren’t part of our pack, they were lone wolves and preferred the lifestyle.In an attempt to appear as if I was doing fine, I had started dating one of the girls from our pack but it was just for show. We didn’t hang out after school or even hold hands. James disapproved and he made it known almost every day.“Dating Michelle won’t change anything.” We were driving to school and I looked out of the passenger side window and thought about what I was going to say.“I know, but have you seen the way Sarah still looks at me?”It took all my strength to ignore Sarah at school. We had the same friends and the same classes, and it took all my resolve not to break my promise to Malachi. I should have known better because Malachi expected me to be better.“Do you want her to hate you?” James’ question was valid and I thought
I was startled awake, drenched in sweat. Death had been visiting me again. He was stalking through my house, walking from room to room. I didn’t know if it had only been a dream or if it was a sign. I had no inkling that my life would soon change forever.I sat down at the breakfast table and looked at my mother. Her aura was clear, by that I mean it didn’t have death lurking about. I exhaled not realizing that I had been holding it in.“How are things at school?” Karani asked. I hadn’t been home all that much, and it wasn’t due to training or Alpha lessons.“It’s okay, you know, same stuff every day.” I smiled at her.“I’m sorry you miss Sarah so much.” She had a way of just knowing everything. I nodded my head but said nothing. She knew I wasn’t seeing her anymore; I didn’t have to tell her.“Where’s Dad?” I asked and looked toward his study.“He already left for work, but he said he’d see you at the den later.”The den was where I met my father every afternoon to fight. No gloves a
“What’s up with you?” James asked me. He was connected to me in a way that only wolves could understand. We would probably die together one day, that’s how close we were.“Sarah’s pregnant,” I said flatly, and told him the whole story. He was probably the only person that would understand everything. He nodded at all the right places and eventually agreed with me, getting rid of that baby was the only thing to do. I knew it wasn’t right but nothing about that situation was right.“Come on, I know what’ll take your mind off everything. Sam’s having a party tomorrow night,” he said with that wicked smile of his.Another shiver ran down my spine, ‘I should stay home,’ said that little wolf voice inside my head. On the other hand, getting out and having a drink or two might not be the worst thing. Tomorrow was the last day of school and we had some vacation time to look forward to.I arrived home an hour before the party started and I took a quick shower and dressed. I was picking James
We were all in the living room, standing to one side. Marilyn was in the crowd dancing as she kept looking at me and James had just rolled his eyes. Her moves were suggestive but for some reason I wasn’t keen on hooking up with her again.Jasmine walked towards us and I could see that she had been drinking too much. I didn’t want a confrontation over Sarah but she stumbled into my arms and giggled non-stop as I steadied her. She chose that moment to kiss me in front of everybody, she was also Sarah’s best friend and I pushed her away. I could feel Sarah’s eyes on me and when I looked up at her she had tears in her eyes.Sarah walked up the stairs and I just stood there, watching her go. Her aura slowly turned black, and I froze. Death. Confusion took a hold of me because Sarah had never been to my house, yet Death had been lurking there.I chalked it up to being emotional and angry and I convinced myself that my imagination was playing tricks on me. I walked back to where James and Sa
Malachi tried to keep my routine as normal as he could. That meant, training at the den, every day. I wallowed in self-pity, and the prospect of training didn’t lighten my mood.“You have to focus,” he said as his bare fist landed on my nose, and a trickle of blood appeared.“I’m trying to,” I replied, and brought my hands up to protect my face. His punch caught me in the ribs, and I grunted, and felt it break. Malachi had no mercy on me. Another punch came for me and I managed to block it, but missed the punch that caught me on the side of my head.Malachi stopped and looked at me. “It’s no use trying to train you when you fight like a three-year-old girl.” He grinned at me and I returned his grin. He loved his insults especially if they added to my humiliation.We got into Malachi’s Navigator and drove home to shower. Karani just gave us a look as she saw the blood from my nose and told Malachi to take it easy on me. Tomorrow would be a rough day for me.It was the day of Sarah’s fu
Her name was Adara, and she was broken. That’s the thought she woke up with every morning. She didn’t need to tell herself that, it had been beaten into her ever since she could remember. Her mother, Juniper, was a weak woman. Nobody knew what had happened in her life to make her that way, she didn’t talk about the past at all.The only family Adara had in this cold world was her mother and her stepfather, Ramos. She didn’t remember hugs or kisses or even birthday parties. Soon she would be seventeen, and then it was just one more year until she could leave – if they let her leave.She didn’t have many memories from her childhood, almost like something or someone had made her forget, and sometimes she felt that someone inside her was missing. It was something that always felt just outside her reach and at times she wondered if she was going crazy.At first, it was just Adara and Juniper, alone in a small apartment. If she didn’t do the laundry or clean the apartment, it simply wouldn’