Chasing Bella's shadow

" Can I keep you?” She whispered, her lips trembling slightly, and her bright violet eyes filled with the fire of the young.

“Only if I can keep you, Izzy." He grinned, his gangly arms wrapped tightly around his best friend.

“Do you think we’ll be best friends forever, Shadow?”

“Of course, we will, silly! I will be the Alpha, and you are my Beta. One day we will rule this pack together, side by side forever."

“Pinky promise?”

“Alpha promise!” Shadow replied proudly.

For ten-year-old Isabella Romano, an Alpha promise made by her twelve-year-old friend Shadow was like a blood oath. Once he made it, nothing but death could break it, and she smiled up at him, the Alpha's oldest son, safe in their hillside hideaway staring out on the pack village below, and she knew he would keep her safe forever.

The savage sounds of growling shattered their peace, and Isabella clung to Shadow in fright as chaos erupted below. Wolves poured out from the surrounding trees and down through the gullies bordering their homes until all they could see was a mass of invading wolves swamping their village from all directions.

As the two youngsters watched on in horror, the invaders coated their village in red, the sounds of gut-wrenching screams and growls shattered the air, and it wasn’t long before the heavy coppery stench of blood clogged their noses. Bella had never heard such haunting sounds before, babies screams filled the air amidst the brutal barbarity of the surprise attack, and the wails that came with each death from the mouths of mates and family members made the gentle girl cry.

“Bella, you need to stay hidden, stay here, and don’t come out until I call for you,” Shadow commanded her, and Isabella was powerless to defy an Alpha command.

“Don’t leave me, Shadow!” Isabella begged, her young voice breaking, as she watched her friend shift effortlessly, his mind already linking to the pack warriors, and she knew she had lost him. He was an Alpha blooded male. It was deeply ingrained in him to protect the pack.

As an alpha pup, Shadow first shifted at ten and was accustomed to his wolf Malik whereas Isabella had yet to meet her wolf, so she was helpless to aid in defending their village, and deep down, she knew that he had to leave her, but she had a bad feeling where her heart was.

Screwing up her face, she lunged at him and gave him the biggest hug her tiny frame could, whispering, “Come back to me, safe Shadow.”

And with troubled eyes, she watched as her friend took off down the hill towards their village, both completely unprepared for the mayhem soon to follow. Soon his wolf was lost in the melee and Isabella prayed to the Moon Goddess to protect her best friend.

Isabella waited for an eternity of heartbeats for her friend to come back for her.

The screams were so horrible she felt tears soak the earth around her as she witnessed the pack deaths in her soul. When she thought she could bear it no more and had to go back to the village to see for herself, a single howl pierced the air followed by dead silence. And her little heart shattered.

Isabella tipped her own head back, uncaring that her fiery curls flew in disarray around her face as she screamed her pain and fury out, the howl was from the Alpha letting their pack know that his family had experienced death which could only mean one thing, either the Luna Abigail or her son Shadow no longer walked this earth.

Isabella sunk to her knees, the gaping hole in her heart too much for her to handle. It’s Shadow she thought, it has to be, otherwise, he would have come back for me, he promised me his Alpha promise, and only death would break it.

Her broken-hearted sobs wracked her small frame, consuming the ten-year-old so completely, they masked the sound of footsteps behind her and she was unprepared for a hand to touch her shoulder “Mija...Isabella, we must leave now, quickly!” But Bella didn't have the will to stand anymore, something was crushed and hurting inside.

It was Santos her father, the packs Beta, covered in blood, and behind him stood her younger brother Mikhail, baby sister Raeann and their mother Maria, bloodied and bruised but okay. Her family had made it, and they had come for her, knowing that this would be the place she and Shadow would be playing.

“Why Papa? Why are we leaving, there has been a death, I need to know who it was?” Bella's violet eyes glared stubbornly, tears taking up permanent residence it seemed.

Santos looked at his eldest daughter and something unreadable passed through his eyes as he knelt before her, “Oh Bella, you already know who it was Mija, you can feel it in your heart, now we must go, trust Papa, we must leave now, it’s not safe for us here.”

"No!" She screamed in denial, hitting out at her Papa and trying to flee back down the mountain, back to her friend to see for herself.Shadow's command had lost its strength long ago and Isabella felt sure that if she could just find him, he would be alright, but she never got the chance. Santos tackled his daughter to the ground, causing her to graze her knee and hit her face on a rock as his heavy body landed on her.

They lay there for a minute, breathing harshly as spots of blood trickled down Bella's face and onto the dirt. Papa had torn her shirt in his haste to restrain her and Mama pulled a spare out of the backpack she carried to help her little girl into another shirt, leaving the torn one on the ground where it dropped.

Isabella allowed herself to be dragged up and watched numbly as her father shifted, his dark grey wolf bending down so she and her siblings could scramble onto his broad back. He looked to his mate with a nod and she shifted as well, shouldering the burden of the family's hastily packed bags.

Amidst the chaos and confusion of the brutal ambush, the Beta wolf and his family faded into the night and left behind the remains of the Howling Warrior pack venturing out into the unknown. And young Isabella left her heart in the spot where she had last held her best friend, knowing things would never feel the same for her again.