Chapter 1
We’re hiding behind a dresser. Someone has their hand over my mouth and is holding me close to their body.
“Sshh Rore, we have to stay quiet. Dad won’t let anything happen to us.”
There’s a small hole behind the dresser, just large enough for me and brother to fit into.It’s deep enough we can see into the room but still not be seen by anyone in the room.
About 30 minutes ago the alarm started sounding and momma took me and brother and hid us behind here. Telling us to stay quiet and to wait for her return.
Tears are running down my cheeks and onto the hand holding my mouth shut. I’m shaking and brother just holds me tighter.
Yells and growls are coming from inside the house, just outside the door making us jump a little. Suddenly the door is pushed open, and daddy is thrown into the middle of the room.Brother scoots us back farther into the little hole until we hit the back wall. He turns us so that I’m facing it and can’t see anything.
“Where is the child Kane?”
His voice is harsh and irritates my little ears.
“I trusted you Harvey and this is how you repay me? By trying to steal my daughter and destroy my pack? You’ll never have her, I sent her away as soon as the alarms sounded. She’s long gone.”
“We both know that’s not true; I have warriors stationed every 25 ft surrounding your borders and they haven’t seen her so try again.”
There is a loud and hard smack and daddy grunts. I can smell his blood, but brother won’t let me turn around. I want to go protect him like he’s protecting me.
“Alpha.”
“What? Have you found her yet?”
“Yes Alpha, we have captured the Luna with a small girl who fits the description you gave us. She was trying to escape the southern border. The Luna is protecting the child fiercely.”
“Excellent, see Kane that wasn’t so hard. If you had just given her to me last month when I asked for her all of this could have been avoided. Your packs blood and deaths are on your hands now. If your Luna cooperates then she will be spared, if not...”
“NOOO leave her alone she’s just a child Harvey.”
“She may be but under my tutelage she’ll be the strongest of our species and mated to my son. It’ll be a match none other can compare to. You should feel blessed I’m taking her.”
There was another loud smacking sound and then I couldn’t hear daddy anymore. I can feel tears on my neck as brother cried.
“Lead the way Beta. I want to get this done and go home.”
“Yes, Alpha this way.”
We waited for several minutes after the door slammed shut. Brother turned us back towards the room and we could see daddy. He was lying in the middle of the room face down with blood all around him.
“Stay here Rore, I’m going to go check on dad. Stay quiet okay.”
“Bas I’m scared.”
“Sshh, I’ll be right back.”
He slowly crawls out of our hiding place and towards daddy. The house has become quiet and eerie.
“Dad? Dad are you ok? Dad”
“Sebastian, you have to take Rory and run. Take her to your uncles and stay there until we come for you. Your mother distracted Kane to go in the wrong direction but you remember the way, right? Go north until you get to the river then head towards the west, follow the setting sun.”
“I can’t dad, I can’t leave you. I’m not strong enough yet.”
“I know you can do it Bastian, you’re strong enough to do anything. Go hurry now before they realize that the child your mom has with her is not your sister.”
I crawl out of the hole and towards them.
“Daddy, I’m scared.”
“I know lil bug, but you’re just as strong as Bastian. You both will make it your uncle. Remember Rory, you have to do everything that Bastian says. Don’t argue with him, okay?”
Sniff, “Ok daddy. I’ll be good for Bas, I promise.”
“I know bug. Remember that we love you guys so much. You’re everything to me and your mother and we will see you again. Bastian, protect her with everything you have in you.”
“Just like you showed me dad.”
“Yes, just like I showed you. Now go, remember go north then west at the river. I love you both so much.”
With a small kiss on our heads, he leads us to the balcony and to a ladder. It’s a long way down and Bastian goes first.
“Here lil bug, take this and don’t forget you’re ours and you’re loved very much. I’ll come get you as soon as I can.”
“I love you daddy.”
I placed the necklace on and put it under my shirt. Daddy helps me onto the ladder and tells me not to look down, just take every ring of the ladder one at a time. Its windy tonight and my hair is flying everywhere.
“Come on Rory, you’re almost there. Just a few more steps. I’m right here and will catch you at the bottom.”
I don’t look down like daddy said and eventually make it to Bastian. We look up to where daddy is and wave one last time.He takes my hand and we run towards the woods, once there Bastian looks back one last time before telling me to come along.
It feels like we’ve ran for hours when we get to the river.
“Which was is west Bas? It's already dark.”
“Um, I think it’s this way. Come on let’s keep going.”
We cross the river and head right. We can see some smoke off in the distance where the packhouse is. I hope momma and daddy are ok. I ran after Bastian as we headed into another set of woods.
“How much longer, I’m hungry and tired Bas.”
“Not much farther Rore, I hope. We can stop in a little bit ok.”
“Mkay.”
I promised daddy I would listen, so I kept going. My feet hurt bad, and my stomach is making growling noises.
After another little while Bastian heads to a hill. There’s a hole in it and he says we can stay here for the night.
“This cave will be a good place to hid till morning. Let’s try to get some sleep Rore.”
“What about food Bas, I’m really hungry.”
“I know. Um, I’ll try to find something, but you have to stay here. Please stay here Rory.”
I nod and go to sit against the cave wall as Bastian takes his shirt and shorts off and shifts into his brown and red wolf. He’s not a big wolf like daddy but he is bigger than me. He looks back one last time and heads out into the dark.I can’t see his body after a few feet.its dark in the cave and there’s weird noises in here. Some animals are skittering around and there’s a dripping sound. I fight with the urge to run out after Bastian, but I said I would stay here, so I do.
“Please come back Bastian.”
I say to myself, the noises are getting closer, and I can’t see what it is. Just as I think I’m going to run out Bastian comes back with a little rabbit he caught. He drops it in front of me and shifts back putting on his clothes before he comes back to me.
“We’ll have to make a small fire to cook it for you. I saw some sticks out front.”
He grabs them and walks farther back into the cave and sets up the sticks in a little circle. He then takes a different stick and a flat one and starts rubbing them together.
“Do you know how to start a fire, Bas?”
“I’ve watched dad and Beta Cole do it a couple times. It looked easier when they did it though.”
Eventually he gets a fire going and we start to skin and chop up the rabbit. There isn’t much but it’ll help till morning. After eating we curl around each other and go to sleep. It’s cold and the noises are still there so we don’t get a lot of sleep when daylight starts to creep into the small cave.
“Come on Rory, let’s get up and keep going.”
“Ugh, Okay Bas. I’m getting up. Can we go potty first?”
“ha-ha, yea we can go potty first.”
“Good cuz I’ve been holding it for a long time.”
“Come on, I saw some berries over this way last night while I hunted. We can grab some, go potty and then continue to uncles pack.”
“Mkay.”
Bas lets me go potty behind a small bush as he keeps watch. We then go and grab the berries he saw and keep going. We pass by a little creek to get some water and its then that my tummy starts to hurt.
“I don’t feel good Bas, I think I need to...”
I threw up everything I had in my tubby right into the creek. Bas was trying to wash up and almost got puked on.
“Woah, Rore are you ok? You look kind of pale.”
“No, my tummy hurts bad, how much longer Bas?”
“Shouldn’t be too much longer, I thought we’d be there by now. Try to drink a little water. Slowly Rory.”
Bas doesn’t look good either. Was the rabbit bad? I want to cry, everything is wrong. We shouldn’t have left daddy and momma and we shouldn’t be running in the woods trying to find uncles pack. We shouldn’t be scared that someone is going to hurt us, and we shouldn’t be eating wild animals and weird berries we find.
Tears are starting to build up in my eyes and run down my cheeks. I can hear Bastian come out of the water and head towards me.
“Hey, don’t cry. It’ll be ok. We’ll find uncles pack and he will go help momma and dad. You’ll see... ’belch’ we’ll be back home in a couple of days.oh man...”
He turns around and pukes in the creek too. What’s going on?
“Bastian? Are we poisoned?”
“I don’t think so, the rabbit was cooked through. Maybe those weren’t people berries... I don’t know Rory, Let’s just keep going. We need to make it as far as we can before nightfall.”
“Kay, drink some water, Bas. Slowly like you told me”
“I will Rory, ha-ha.”
We keep going but soon hear barks in the distance. We look at each other with big eyes and start to run. “Run Rory, don’t stop.”
We ran for several minutes, and the barking got louder. We can start to hear growling too.
“Keep going. I’ll try to distract them. Just keep going that way through the trees. I’ll catch up, I promise. Go!”
“Bastian don’t leave me. I’m too scared.”
I run and hide in some thick bushes by a big tree and try to get as small as I can. The first wolf comes through the trees and Bastian is just standing there.
Bastian move, they’re going to kill you.
I mind link him, but he doesn’t respond or move. What’s he doing? He looks like he’s going to fall down.
Bas? Bas please move.
Just...stay...there...Aurora.
The wolves start to circle him when he falls onto his knees. The closest one to him pounces on his back and bites at his neck.
“NO, stop it. Leave him alone.”
I ran out from my hiding space as all 8 wolves turned to look at me. The big russet one shifts back to human and orders the others to back off some. They leave Bastian alone and start to come towards me. I should have stayed in the bushes like Bas told me to.
