Chapter 1

I am Jaden West, Alpha the of Denari pack. I work along with other powerful packs who have their own respective Alphas. We live in a vast area of wilderness called The Werewolf Territory, and there are three towns.

The war between my people and the humans has finally ended, and we have had peace for five years now. But with war, comes casualties.

My parents are dead, they died as heroes. They were killed by the leader of the Human Territory during the war, and my older brother who was supposed to be Alpha of my pack disappeared. 

I have searched everywhere for him, but have had no luck in finding him. I was next in line to be Alpha, and I had no choice but to ascend to power. 

The leader of the Human Territory is called General Ross, and it is said that he single-handedly killed two Alpha werewolves when he was in his prime. He is evil and full of hatred for my kind. 

How did the war end between us and the humans, and who won?

Well, no one did. 

No one won the war. General Ross and I decided to make a truce. So many of our people were dying and there was so much bloodshed and carnage after my parents were killed that we decided it was time for it all to stop.

I am not the only one who has lost loved ones to the war, the General has too. He lost his wife in childbirth and the baby died also, leaving him with his only daughter.   

The truce is quite simple, no one is to step into the other’s territory. If anyone does, the punishment is death. And not just death, but death by skinning.

No one wants to have their skin peeled off in agony, so everyone respects the truce.

The Werewolf Territory is in a drought right now and food is incredibly scarce. Almost all the animals that we hunt have migrated in search of water.

This has caused my hunting team and me to work harder. We stay longer in the forests, we spend more time training, and we travel farther than we usually do now.

“Jaden, are you sure we should go out today? The rest of the hunting team is already exhausted from the hunt yesterday.” Isaac says to me as he stares at me with pleading eyes.

Isaac is my best friend, and he is part of the hunting team that I lead. In his human form, he seems harmless, but when he shifts, he becomes a beast that can not be tamed.

This is one of the reasons why I chose him to be part of the team.

“And did we bring anything good from yesterday’s hunt?” I ask him as I walk through the village. He is walking right by my side as we talk.

Children are running up and down, and their playful shouts are loud and cheerful, causing me to smile.

“That’s the point. Our food reserves are getting low and we are just wasting our energy and time,” He replies to me, and then I suddenly stop my movements.

“Issac, I have told you, we do not discuss these matters in the public. Just give the families what they need, I don’t want anyone knowing that we are running out of food, it could cause panic,” I remind him and he nods.

I resume my walk through the village and he follows me closely. “They would have to know eventually.” He says and I sigh.

He’s right though, we are dangerously low on food. There is only a week's worth of food in our reserves and our past hunts have not been successful. Something has to be done, but that does not mean that I am going to stop trying.

“Rally the others, we go out to hunt in thirty minutes,” I tell Issac, and I can see the look of disappointment on his face. 

“Yes, sir,” He replies to me in a formal tone and I scoff. 

I wag my head slowly with a small smile. “I told you not to call me that.”

“Jaden, you are the Alpha, you deserve respect.” He says as a playful smile danced on his lips.

“And you are my best friend, call me by my name,” I tap his shoulders lightly, and he chuckles.

“I will gather the others for the hunt, we will be ready in a few minutes.” He informs me and then I watch him walk in the opposite direction as me.

I continue my purposeful walk towards my large house. On my way, several women walking in a group wave flirtatiously my way, causing me to smile.

“How are you, ladies?” I ask as I pass them. 

They giggle and one of them replies, “We are doing well Jaden.” Her voice is incredibly soft, almost like a whisper.

“Great to know,” I say confidently. I give them a small wink, and they start to argue among themselves.

“He winked at me!” I hear one of them say loudly as I walk away while laughing lowly.

When I reach my house, I enter it. It is the largest house built here. It is really nice and luxurious. This used to be the house my parents and brother lived in. It has tons of memories, both good and bad. 

I walk into one of the fancy bathrooms and walk up to the mirror. I instinctively touch the small stubble that seems to be growing on my face, though I shaved yesterday.

My hair is also getting longer, and my skin looks pale.

The sudden opening of the door of the bathroom startles me, and my hands land on the blade tucked by my side.

“Whoa there...it’s just me,” Jackson says as he laughs. 

He is also part of the hunting team. We are five that hunt together, including me.

He is blonde and if not for the birthmark that all werewolves are born within Werewolf Territory, no one would not be able to tell whether he is human or werewolf.

In our human forms, we still have some indicators that we are werewolves. The birthmark, the tendency to heal faster, the exotic color of our eyes, and so much more.

Jackson has all of these traits, but one. His eyes.

His eyes are brown, which makes him pass as an actual human sometimes. That sure comes in handy when we are in sticky situations with humans. 

“What is it, Jackson?” I ask as I return back to my reflection in the mirror.

“The rest of the team are outside the hut, and we are ready for the hunt.” He says boldly as he runs his hand through his hair. 

“You’re not tired?” I ask as I look at his reflection through the mirror.

“Well...” He begins, but when he locks eyes with me, he quickly changes what he was about to say.

“No, of course not.” He says in a chirpy tone, and I smile.

“That’s more like it,” I smirk. “Let’s go,” I say as we exit the bathroom and walk towards the exit of the house.

When we are out of the house, I see that the team is all ready for action.

I look up to the sky to tell the time, and it looks like it would be night in a few hours. We have to leave now, or we would bring nothing home once again.

We normally hunt in our human forms, only occasionally shifting when our prey seems to show more strength than our human forms can handle.

We all begin to walk through the village, and as we do, everyone stares at us. Everyone is looking at us with admiration and pride.

“Alpha Jaden!” A small boy shouts my name and waves enthusiastically.

I smile at him and wave back.

We also get nods from the other males in the village as we walk by their houses. Soon, we reach a giant fallen cotton tree that marks the border between our village and the forest.

We all climb over the fallen log and we enter the forest.

“You do know that all the animals are far away from here, right?” Jackson asks something that I already know.

“Yeah, we learned that from the previous days,” I reply smoothly as I lead the way.

“Then we obviously have to go deeper,” Isaac says, and Daniel scoffs.

Daniel is also part of our hunting team, he is very tall and muscular, and his vision is to be envied. He can see from miles away. Werewolves have an impressive vision but he cannot be compared. His vision is more amplified than the normal werewolf.

He has black hair like me, but he is darker in color.

“We went deeper yesterday, and still nothing.” Issac continues.

 And he’s right. All the animals in our territory are fleeing, they’re seeking water where it can be found; and right now, that’s not around here.

The animals keep moving towards the human territory, and yesterday, we had to go dangerously close to there in order to try to get food.

“We are going to have to think outside the box,” I say loudly and they all look at me.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Daniel says, and then yarns, showing his tiredness.

“Outside the box...what do you mean by outside the box?” Jackson asks me as he runs his hand through his blonde hair. He loves to do this.

“We are going to be hunting in Human Territory, gentlemen,” I say and Issac laughs in disbelief.

As we continue our walk deeper into the forest, the trees and bushes begin to get thicker and more green. Sounds of birds and insects can be heard.

“Oh, you’re not joking?” Isaac's tone gets serious when he sees that no one is laughing with him. “We can not do that, and you know, Jaden,” 

I know the others are thinking the same thing, but they dare not question my decision or authority. The only person brave enough to do that is Isaac. We grew up together, we played in the creeks when we were kids, so he is more comfortable with me.

“Yeah..the truce, I know. But we need food.” I argue. “We just don’t have to get caught, which we won’t.”

“Sure, we trust you,” Daniel says loudly as he scans the faces of his companions.

They all look tentative towards my decision, but they trust and respect me; which means they would do exactly what I tell them, no matter what that is.

I know this is very risky, but it’s very unlikely that we would find food anywhere in our territory; yesterday proved that.

We all walk in silence as we begin to near the Human Territory. They have a metal fence that stands as a border between our territories. No one guards this fence and there is no point of entrance or opening, to clarify that neither side is to cross.

“Well...we’re here,” Jackson says and I hear the rapid beating of his heart without even trying.  

Is this the right thing to do, or am I leading my team and me right into our own deaths? Either way, there is no turning back now.