Chapter 1
Islana was a young wolf empress. The heir to the green hill wolf pack. Her father was the highest powered alpha to ever exist. Many believed that he had help from the shakien witch clan but there was never any substantial proof. The shakien witch clan was very private but it was said that Islanas father, Alkien was in a power war for the throne against his three older brothers, sulkien, asana, and agennon and sought the clans help to procure the throne. Islana was now in line for the throne. She was uncertain if she was truly destined to rule. Her father was primarily the leader of the green hill wolf pack, but since he had acquired more power than any other alpha. He had power over all of the packs. They came to him for everything. He truly was the leader of all packs, unofficially, Islana was scared to take on such a big task so young. She was only nineteen and she was fated to life long oath of serving her pack and all of the others. Islana was rumored to be the most beautiful wolf empress to ever be. There were rumors of her looks throughout all of the packs but only few had ever seen her. Young wolf royalty, especially empresses, were not allowed to be seen until the full moon on their twenty birthday.
`Hers was soon approaching and she was scared she would not live up to the rumors about her. She was quit small for her age. She was short in stature and skinny enough to be considered frail. She had long red hair, almost pure crimson. She had light golden eyes that showed her rank as royalty. Her sisters hera and klarene were gorgeous no one could ever deny that. They were twins with light golden heir and golden eyes to match. They were both very womanly shaped as her mother, serisha called it. She always told Islana “one day you’ll grow into your body like your sisters have.” Islana was extremely self conscious and a very private person. Since the wolf empress heir was required to only be unveiled on her twentieth birthday she never really made friends or talked to anybody. Her younger sisters were able to branch out into the pack communities and make many alliances. It was almost as if the empress had to start on a complete blank slate when she stepped into the thrown. Islana would have no friends or connections when she became ruler.
She still hadn’t decided if that made her naive or gave her an advantage. No connections would mean no help or intel but it would also mean no loyalty owed to anyone. It was scary to Islana though, to think of all the people that would try to get on her good side who were seeking some of her status and power. She didn’t know who could be trusted, she didn’t know anyone. Her father would of course advise her in as she stepped into the throne, but he wouldn’t be able to forever. She had been training her whole life to become the heir to the throne, but with no one by her side she felt lonely and unsure of her new role. In only one months time she would be the ruler of the green hill wolf pack. Not many women had come before her. Islana would be only the tenth woman wolf heiress in her families century long ruling of the green hill wolf pack. This meant she not only had to reach expectations but beyond succeed them.
As Islana pondered about her future her father entered her room in what appears to be a great hurry, which was never good for Islana.
“Good morning Islana”
“Good morning father”
“ You know that today marks exactly one month until your unveiling ceremony?”
“Oh, really it must have slipped my mind” It hadn’t.
“Well Islana, I think now would be a good time for you to start getting better acquainted with the other wolf packs”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Ive set up for you to journey through the hillside and meet some of the other leader”
“But I thought I couldn’t be seen until my unveiling ceremony”
“Your sisters will accompany you and of course you will wear your outside attire, veil and all”
Islana felt jolted in the moment. She felt a mixture of excitement and fear. She had never left the castle. Everything would be new to her. It was exillerating and frightening all in one.
“Why cannot you or someone else accompany me”
“Well Islana, your sisters need to find suitors and I have to be here to keep things in order. Don’t worry plenty of guards and betas will be with you for your protection. You leave tomorrow at midday”
And with that her father left the room. Islana couldn’t deny she had a bad feeling about this. Islana had not fully come into her powers and wouldn’t until her birthday. She was scared to be away from home without being able to protect herself. Part of her thought it could be fun and it could help her build connections with other packs, but she couldn’t deny the other part of her screaming to not go.
She knew her sisters would be solely worried about finding husbands and even if they weren’t they were no friends to her. Her and her sisters had a very complicated relationship. They know she would inherit the throne and that brought jealousy. They both had been trained to replace her if anything were to happen to her. Whenever they were around Islana always felt unease. Like they wanted to replace her. It was somewhat funny, they both wanted her gone, but they both couldn’t get the the throne. Islana believed that was the only reason they hadn’t tried to hurt her. They wouldn’t mind doing away with her but could never hurt one another. Twin connection Islana supposed.
Islana began to pack her things for her journey. Her father hadn’t even mentioned how long she would be gone, so she assumed it would be a longer rather that shorter journey. Islana had a complicated relationship with her father. He did seem to love Islana but he never had truly said it. She felt he held anger towards her as he knew she was his replacement. He had trained her very thouroughly since she was young, in combat, battle tactics, and pack strategy so they had spent countless hours together, but they had never really bonded. He was more of a royal consultant to Islana then a father. He could talk to her for hours about how to be a ruler but her very seldomly showed her any affection.
Islana also had a complicated relationship with her mother. Islana really had no one to trust not even her family. Islana could come to her father for empress advice but she couldn’t talk to anyone about her true feelings and thoughts. Her mother was one of many wives her father had. Alphas were known to be fruitful as many would call it. Having as many heirs as possible was important, but Islanas father took it to a different level. Many alphas before him had secret affairs and half legitimate children, but Islanas father had more that his fair share of fun. Because he was more powerful than any other alpha he got what ever he wanted, so four wives it was. He also had many affairs throughout the years. And even at his older age of 87 he was still on the hunt for another woman to add to his personal harem. Her father still had the gusto and strength as he did at twenty years old. Wolves aged very differently than any other species. Almost immortal. As long as they phased into their wolf form every month on the full moon they would stay young. Almost every wolf died in battle or chose to die none had died naturally. Once islana came into her power on her twentieth birthday, all she had to do was phase every month and she would remain in her twenty year old body. If she didn’t phase she would instant age five years. That’s how many older wolves had passed. They stopped phasing. Islanas grandfather lived until one hundred and seventy nine years old before her stopped phasing. Some wolves have been alive for thousands of years those are the ones that have the most knowledge and power.
Islana hoped on her journey that she would be able to meet an older wolf. To be able to gain insight on the packs and be able to rule them better.
Hera and Klarene sat in their room and began packing for their trip. They were both excited to find possible husbands. Hera was packing her finest clothes and Klarene sat fantasizing about marrying an alpha. Both stopped what they were doing when there was a knock on the door.
“Hello its Islana, can I come in?”
Hera whispered to Klarene “Why is she here, I hate speaking with her”
Both had agreed earlier how terrible it was that she would be on the trip with them
Klarene finally said “yes come in”
“Hello sisters I heard we will be leaving for our journey tomorrow”
Both of them looked at her in silence with an utter look of hatred on their faces.
“I just wanted to tell youthis is important for me to make connections with other packs, so do not embarrass me with your childish antics. And by the way Hera I hate speaking with you as well”
And in one fell swoop Islana left the room, her black veil covered her grin and glowing eyes.
After she left Hera and Klarene began speaking about their true intentions for the journey.
“Hera we have to stop in Shakien Grove”
“I know but its almost a two week journey and father didn’t tell us how far we would be traveling”
“Hera listen to me, I know the Shakien witch coven is real, and I know they helped father. If we don’t find them, Islana will become ruler and neither of us want that. I will assume the title of ruler when she is gone and you will be right by my side.
“Klarene i want her gone just as much as you do. I know you have done tireless years of research on the witch coven, Im just worried that we will have to do the job ourselves. We can never let people know or even suspect that we were involved when Islana dies”
“Hera I know! Like you said I have done all the research. Father got the power from the coven to be the most powerful alpha. But he paid the price and had to kill his own brothers and deliver them to the coven.”
“Yes I understand but why”
“ The witches harvested the wolf essence from them, it can only be done when a wolf has died. That’s what keeps the witches young and powerful.”
“ Okay Klarene I understand, Im serious if you are, lets do it”
Islana walked the corridors after speaking with her sisters. She decided she had been a bit smug with them but she had no reason to be nice. They had taunted her for all of her life. They were always hateful towards her and positioned themselves to be enemies rather than sisters to Islana. They always demeaned her when she asked questions and laughed at anything she suggested. When they were kids and Islana first found out she would be heir they began a hate campaign against her.
When Islana was twelve and her sisters were ten they had to perform a sacred ritual to determine who would be heiress. They had to take a drop of their blood and drop it into an ancient magical siphon. If gold smoke came out they were powerful enough to be heir, if purple came out they had royal blood but not enough power. Islanas sisters had purple smoke, both were very disappointed and hated Islana ever since.
Islanas smoke came out black, that scared her. She performed to ritual alone with only the pack priestess. The priestess told her black smoke was rare and far between. It meant she held more power than anyone else in he pack. Since her father was the most powerful alpha out of all the packs, it meant she was more powerful than him. She had more wolf essence than any other wolf alive. The priestess told her to keep it a secret and tell everyone it was gold. She had to repeat the ritual ten times as the priestess was in pure disbelief. The priestess told Islana only one other person ever had shown black smoke at the ritual, her father brother, Helian. This scared Islana as she knew all of her uncles were dead, would she be fated the same if anyone knew. The priestess told her that if anyone found out before her unveiling ceremony bad things can happen.
“Before you are unveiled, being more powerful than any other wolf is a target on your back, after you are unveiled no one will dare cross you.”
Islana made it back to her room and resumed packing. She knew that if anyone were to target her now to take her place, it would be now. She was very suspicious of her sisters, of everyone. She knew she had to smart, she had trained her whole life in strategy and combat. She also had secret magic training with the priestess. Since she had more power than anyone, her power had manifested very early, around her thirteenth birthday. The priestess had taught her everything. How to use her power in combat and how to control it. Islana had the power to do almost anything. She could phase in five seconds, most wolves needed at least 30 seconds. She could move things without touching them, she could see through objects and doors, shatter things with a glance. Her most important power was her intuition. Her intuition was usually spot on. Islana enjoyed this power most of all as it would help her to navigate her place as a ruler. It scared her now though as she could feel this trip was no good. She was scared about her unveiling ceremony too. She knew she would gain complete power then and she was weary that she wouldn’t be able to control more power than she already had. She also knew what would come with that much power. People would either fear her or resent her.
