Prologue 1 - Things to Come

I still remember the first moment I laid eyes on him... though there was painfully little to see.

Hobbled in a too-tiny cage, scrawny: the kind that came from years, not weeks or months, of near starvation. An obvious lack of sunlight had left his skin greyed and stretched over his emaciated form, with patches of fur where he should have been smooth and bare skin where there should have been hair.

That in itself was gruesome enough: an 'in-between' state, not quite wolf, but definitely not man. It was as unsettling as one can believe. Even I recoiled from the sight, and the painful sympathy it invoked.

It was one thing to recall such a transitive state from one's adolescent years, before the first full Shift, where nothing seemed to come out right. It was another thing entirely to see it on a young man, one that looked much too old for such maladapted features, and whose face and body held little of the innocence that might make it more bearable. His form more closely resembled that of a drowned rat than a person, feral and slumped. As to his actual age, it was impossible to be certain.

But those eyes.

There was something in them that grabbed hold of me and shook me. It wasn't anything noticeable; from pallid whites to his dull-bronze irises, his eyes looked every bit as muddied and starved as the rest of him. Nothing so showy as that.

It was a feeling, little more than a glint among rocks. Something so small there, so wrapped within instinct that the greater part of my consciousness overlooked it entirely. Rather, there was a part of me, some eensy-weensy longing behind my breast that awakened with recognition, with excitement, with awe.

I think it spoke to me, this tiny thunderstorm as if given a voice. It might have said "Mine". Or perhaps that was a more maternal part of me.

Looking back, it might also have whispered "Alpha".

~

Grey sunlight filled the modest worktent through gaps in the canvas roof. It was early midday, and the crispness of autumn floated beneath nostrils and billowed under shirts with the promise of a winter still to come, but not too far away. The past few days had been especially trying. I was already rather fed up with the extensive labor.

This tent was one that had actual thatched flooring rather than dirt, and so I felt a small glimmer of satisfaction in throwing down the load I carried upon it, letting out a snarl that might as well have been a sigh.

Three days of near constant labor and toil over what should have been an afternoon's work, were the Pack at full strength. A low growl rose in my throat as I wiped sweat from my brow. My dark-brown hair must've resembled molasses right now, in more ways than one.

Surry, my Beta, stood passively alongside me while I straightened, groaning. Three days since the bulk of the males had left our pack, including the Alpha, thank Luna. Three days of fixing up whatever they'd felt like breaking on their way out, of gathering up tools and clothing and personal items strewn about the camp. To call it a brawl would've been too civil; it had been too bloody, too angry, and felt like it lasted half the night. Not a few among the younger members in particular were traumatized by the experience.

No doubt reading my frustrated expression, Surry offered me an encouraging smile. Three days since those fools had threatened our entire way of life.

And two-and-a-half days since I became Alpha.

I returned Surry's smile. "I hear the Pack is nearly finished cleaning up the grounds. How goes it? How are the stores?"

"It goes quickly" my Beta replied. She shuffled some of her lists between her hands. "Most of the tools and hardware have been reassembled and the housing patched, but we'll have to spend more time repairing the smoker. That, or to scrap it and try building a new one from scratch. At least the grills are mostly intact."

Shifting her runner's legs uncomfortably, she added "and if we could catch a month's worth of meat in the span of a few days, that would be wonderful".

I thoroughly admired my friend. We hadn't really been very close, though, until a mutual need for kinship and support had driven up to depend on one another. I'd never once regretted it. Reliable and clever, Surry possessed a sleek and toned form that made her the swiftest runner in the Pack. Even our... The previous Alpha. Even he could never catch up to her, a fact that had left him raging more than once. Although no one could hope to match him in savagery.

No one, I corrected myself, except for me. Not where the safety of my Pack was concerned.

Sweet, astute Surry offered me a consoling smile. "If they come back, Rayla... you have to know by now that the support of the Pack is behind you. This time, we'll be ready."

I shrugged stiffly. "Not if. When. When they come back."

I glanced around the tent. "And regardless, we'll need more than we have now if we wish to survive winter, with or without a couple dozen rabid men on our tails."

Surry scrunched up her face. "Wouldn't be the first time". I laughed at that.

The tent flap rustled, and we both turned as an older male poked his head through. I smiled instinctively. "Come in, Rufias."

The man entered, giving both of us a respectful nod. "Alpha" he said to me. "Surry." His steely eyes twinkled, and the sunbeams that filtered in only served to divine and enhance his silvery hair.

Slender of frame like Surry (apart from the broader shoulders) Rufias was a silver fox by anyone's definition. Though he walked with a slight stoop, it was impossible to picture Rufias without the air of dignified confidence that many potential mates found appealing. Perhaps even more so was the fact that his mate had passed on quite a few years ago, and he had yet to take another. This loyalty combined with his fatherly looks made many a packmember, both young and old, stare after him longingly.

The thought saddened me, for to me it seemed that his loss was overlooked by many. I had been a young girl when Veera had passed due an injury too far gone. I remember the look in Rufias' eyes, even while he patted my hair and tried to smile. Such a loss couldn't have happened to a stronger or kinder man.

But I did notice, not for the first time, that his eyes lingered on Surry's a bit longer than they did my own. Beside me, I felt a blush rise in her cheeks that she did not try to hide.

"So. What news from across the river?" I asked. I was nervous to hear the answer -- but if something terrible had happened, one look at the male would've already told me.

Rufias snapped to attention at my words. Then he paused, as if considering them.

"Yes" he answered finally. "And it's strange. We found game, some large, mostly small, and brought back what we could. It isn't much, but it's honestly more than I expected. However..." He shifted his stance. "There's something more you should see."

I locked eyes with him. "Tell me now. And is it a threat to the Pack?"

"I truly do not know, Alpha. I think it best if I save that judgement for you to make. May I show you?" He gestured toward the opening. Surry had a worried look, and cast a glance in my direction.

I nodded. Bowing respectfully, he held the flap open for myself, then Surry, to pass through. "Follow me" he said, and took the lead.

The day was not rainy, thank Luna. But the growing cloud cover made me worry over the possibility. Our community sat in an open patch of valley bordered on every side; either by the sparse edge of a forest which became increasingly dense as one travelled beneath its evergreen leaves; or by the steep pale rocks which led the eye up to a towering mountain range, beneath the shadow of which we often sat.

A couple miles behind the forest's edge flowed the river Rufias spoke of, with even deeper woods beyond. The river itself was not dangerously strong and the territory was well known. However, the landscape had shifted recently, and greatly.

Not physically altered. Only, no longer did the Pack -- MY Pack -- venture across it without great caution.

And no longer did we allow the younglings to wander off and explore with only minimum supervision. Not after what we'd all witnessed spring up within our midst, and then depart, snarling with malice and the promise of vengeance, off into the trees. Towards the river.

Surry and I followed Rufias as he led us through the camp. Packmembers -- some humanoid, some fully furred -- were for the most part hard at work on various jobs. My Pack had stout hearts, and I smiled inwardly.

An elderly female, Saro, stood tall as she reached for clothes hung far up on a line. Too tall, in fact, I noted with amusement as I regarded her slightly elongated calves, bristling with muscle and a bit too hairy.

We hadn't walked ten yards before a small impact rocked me to my right, and an accompanying snarl cut the air.