Chapter 2

 

The morning air felt heavy against her lungs, frost hung from each leaf and stem of grass as the first signs of winter began to show. She was once again at her lookout spot, high in the hills with the perfect view of each part of the territory. She could see everything.

One of the advantages of being a daughter of an Alpha brought particular gifts to her genome. She could read thermal signatures with her eyes by summoning her beast forward. Through rust coloured eyes she could see her pack mates in and around the pack clearing, the wolves on patrol, she could even see lesser animals, prey, as they wandered through the woods.

It was a valuable gift that proved useful in many different situations, the protection of the pack being one of them. Hunting the other. It was mid-morning and the pack had only just begun to rise for the day. The air was cool, and the sun was low, casting golden patterns onto the horizon and the accompanying mountains.

 

Their territory was rocky and protective. Harsh and uneasy to access to threats but also easy for the pack to hide within. They’d spent the best part of their lives scaling the mountains where safe dens were hidden at the mountain tops and learning to walk within the forests embrace without making a sound. They were the ultimate predators within their domain.

The normal silence that surrounded her was soon shattered, her morning peace disturbed, as a howl rang out in the south. A pack mate on patrol. She looked towards the direction of the howl and a growl rumbled from her throat.

Three wolves sprinted through the forest, white hot with heat, as the patrol wolves chased them. The difference was easy to distinguish, they were not pack, the pack wolves’ blood was colder because of their life in the mountains.

She stood from her perch and cast her gaze over to the pack clearing, her blood pumping quickly through her veins as her breathing quickened – her beast eager for blood. The intruders weren’t far from the pack, too close for her liking. The patrols would never catch them.

Despite the howl of imminent danger sounded by the patrol, the pack continued its usual routine. Mis-communicating the call as a call for the Alpha, she watched as the group of running wolves begun to get closer and closer. A patrol wolf being thrown to the side as he tried to slow them down.

She reached up her left hand to touch the pack mark nestled between her shoulder blades, a crescent moon, a sign that they were the Moon’s servants. It gave her a direct link to her father in times of need, her only binding to the pack, and therefore allowed her to alert them to the danger that was coming for them.

She howled as she did this, her vocal cords grinding and changing into that of a beast. Releasing a large roar that shook the trees around her and echoed off the mountain sides around her.

Her eyes changed back to crystal clear vision as she dropped down from her perch, the forest floor around her exploding on impact. It had barely dropped back to the ground before she was sprinting off towards the pack.

She needed to get to her father.

The muscles in her legs screamed as she leapt through the forest, her feet barely touching the icy floor as she pushed her body to the limit. Her hands turned to claws and her canines lengthened as she partially released her beast, giving her body the power to sweep through the forest and break through the treeline just as the intruding wolves leapt out.

She interceded the leader as he leapt over an empty den, towards her father. He had stood from his chair, face thundering with anger at an intruder that entered without permission. She made contact with the leader mid-leap, crashing into his side, arms wrapping around his mid-section as she threw him to the side.

Standing before her father, claws at the ready she let out a ferocious roar, sending pack members into submission. The three wolves snarled at her through sharp teeth, she returned the snarl as she assessed them.

Her blood pumped fast through her veins and her chest heaved with the intense desire to protect. The wolves before her held no attributes of a feral or lone wolf, they were pack. Making them even more of a threat.

They made no move to attack as she stood as a shield between them and her father, the pack beginning to surround them in a circle. The leader, the one she had removed from her father’s vicinity, had stood and came to stand in the middle of the other two wolves. He took slow, cautious steps as he did so. He didn’t want to be perceived as a threat.

A hand landed on her shoulder, belonging to her father, and she fought the urge to snap at his hand as he did so.

 

“Stand down, Adelaide. They are no threat,” Her father commanded softly into her ear.

She straightened from the slight crouch she had dipped into, straightening her shoulders and breathing deep through her nose as she processed her father’s words. Fangs and claws retracting to hide the beast within as her eyes still looked at them through rustic irises. Her father may have sensed no threat, but she had been burned before by false pretences.

“I believe that if you continue to stare at them in such a way, we will never gain the answer as to why they are here,” Her father spoke, slight amusement in his tone.

She blinked and turned her back to them, they were no threat she could not eradicate, turning her back to them told them just that. She took her place to her father’s right, shouldering his Beta out of the way as she did so, ignoring the disapproving growl from him.

She unclenched one of her hands, spreading her palm wide while it faced the floor, as she took sense of her surroundings. Her father’s dominance flowed through all that stood within the clearing and all watched as the three wolves twisted and turned back into their human forms. The cracking of bones filled the air and pleased her beast, internally licking her lips.

They were nothing of significance, longs limbs and lean muscles, signs of messengers rather than contenders for her father’s position. They stood bare as the day they were born, not a single eye blinking at their nudity as they stood with blushes of red on their cheeks. Nudity to wolves should have been second nature.

It was strange to her to see wolves from a different pack. It had been many years since she had, the packs isolation was a paradise after the horrors of the world they had witnessed. It was easy to tell that they were from a metropolitan pack, still stuck in the modern ways, with their hair cut short and bare cheeks. They held no allegiance to the Moon, followed no religion.

“You may speak,” Her father’s command broke her from her appraisal of the non-impressive wolves. The leader stepped forward, head slightly bowed, as he sensed the power before him. Fingers rubbing against palms as he tried to gain sense of his situation, finally sensing the danger he was indeed in. He cleared his throat with his Adams Apple bobbing in nervousness, his jugular pounding against the side of his neck.

“It has taken us some time to find you, Alpha Jonah. My deepest apologies for our entrance to your territory. In the south, messengers are allowed to cross through borders without permission,” He spoke diplomatically.

“And yet here you stand, without invitation,” Her father state through gritted teeth.

Alphas were easy to anger, their testosterone levels were higher than any other male, the need to protect the pack deep within their bones. Alphas were usually calmed by the presence of their life-mate, in her father’s case there was no one to protect the young messenger from such anger.

“I am sent on a matter of great urgency,” The messenger told him, sensing the anger rising from the wolf before him.

Her body stiffened at his words, the thought of potential threats filling her mind. The threat must have been large for the messengers to have sought them out, their warriors were strong. They were legendary on the battlefield; the packs would only want to use them for their strength.

“You are required at the national pack meeting. The Alphas command your presence.”

Her hand flew to her father’s shoulder before he could reach forward for the boy’s throat. Her grip firm as she held him in place with her strength. Her father did not like to be commanded, no Alpha did, they took it as a challenge to their Alpha seat.

“What is this matter of great urgency?” She questioned him.

The boy’s eyes snapped to her own, pupils dilating in fear as he met her wild gaze, he was right to be afraid. He faced a true predator, wolves like himself were only lesser versions of a true wolfs form.

“A war, my lady,”