Chapter 1
“Happy birthday to you!” My parents finish singing. I bounce in my seat and blow out the eight candles in front of me.
“Happy eighth birthday, Eva!” Mom exclaims, and I beam up at her. She slices a piece of cake for me and I gobble it down.
In the distance, I hear a scream. My parents look up, with a worried expression on their faces.
“Mommy, Daddy, what’s wrong?” I ask with a pout.
Dad looks to Mom. “I thought he meant it as a joke.” He whispers quietly to Mom.
“Eva—” Mom’s attention is immediately on me. “I need you to run, do not look back, you hear me?” I nod my head and start to run.
I keep running just like she said, but I stop when I hear cries of pain. I turn to see my Alpha, Daniel, tearing at Mom. I watch as my world falls apart.
“Mommy!” I scream, tears coming down my face.
He’s tackled by Dad. “Run Eva! I’ll find you!” He screams at me. I reluctantly turn and run, I then tumble to the ground, pain coursing through me.
Hello, Eva. A voice inside my head says.
Who are you? I ask.
Your wolf, I’m Midnight.
I look down at my feet, only to be met with small black paws. I’ve force shifted. I try linking to Dad.
That won’t work—I’ve cut the link from your pack. Daniel won’t find you now.
What do I do? I ask her.
Survive. She answers simply.
I’ll find you. Those were the words Dad told me before I ran. He has yet to do so, and it’s been eight years. I haven’t shifted back into my human body much either, I’ve refused to. Midnight will keep me safe.
I trot into a clearing, a herd of deer grazing on the grass. I lower myself into the grass, searching for the weak ones. To my left I see a smaller doe, her leg looks to be shot by a human hunter. I brace myself to pounce, and I tackle the doe with no problems. I quickly end her life so she doesn’t suffer, and start to feed. Behind me, I hear a snap of a twig, I look just in time to see the human hunter, gun pointing straight at me.
I growl towards him and pick up the doe by her back legs, and I sprint—the doe slowing me down—to the cover of the trees. I quickly start to fill my empty stomach when a jolt of pain comes from my back leg. I howl in pain, and see that the hunter had followed me. I leave the doe this time, running to my left, favoring the hurt leg.
I run straight into a camp of humans. They scream and run away from me as I search for a way out.
“Oh, she’s hurt!” Someone cries. I turn to see a female, trying to approach me. I let out a low growl in warning.
There—there’s your escape. Midnight says.
Where? I demand.
Her. I whine as she gets closer.
“Jessie! Get away!” A man hisses from behind her.
“Hand me the sedative.” She replies. I start to panic and back against a wall, realizing too late that I was trapped. I feel a sharp pain in my back before the world goes black, the female gently petting my fur.
I jolt awake, instantly searching my surroundings to find that I’m in a large cage, laying in a soft, cozy, dog bed. The room is loud, full of barking dogs and meowing cats. I look at my wounded leg, to see that it’s been wrapped. I stand up and limp over to a water bowl, lapping up the water.
“You did what?!” A male voice demands.
“I saved a wolf,” a familiar voice says, “and she’s in the big cage now.”
“What if she escapes and eats all the animals?!”
“She won’t.” I look up in time to see the female—Jessie I believe—and a male walk in. Jessie approaches me slowly, I limp backwards.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” A sudden movement to her left frightens me and my ears touch the back of my head in fear, and I curl up in the corner as close as I’m able to, which isn’t far considering my leg. She pulls out a plastic bag full of raw meat, and my stomach growls.
I told you this was your escape. Midnight says in a sing-song tone. I slowly limp over to her, keeping my head down, and she drops a piece of meat in front of me. I quickly eat it, and she replaces it with another.
“Wow—this is amazing.” The male says.
“She’s still a pup. Looks to be a year old.” I cower a little at that. Due to my force shifting, my wolf is still developing, therefore I look much younger than I actually am. I decide that I’m tired and get comfortable in the dog bed, closing my eyes and falling to sleep quickly.
Jessie’s POV
The young she-wolf is brilliant, and beautiful. She’s lucky I was camping that day, for her wound was from a gunshot. I quickly check on her, still sleeping in the dog bed, food is full, water is full, good. I pack up my things and drive to Emma’s house. I hop out excitedly.
“Emma! You’ll never guess what!” I exclaim when she opens the door, her boyfriend Will behind her.
“What?” She asks, cocking her head to the side and making her long, golden hair fall.
“So—yesterday I was camping, and it was completely normal until a wolf ran into the camp! She was injured—a gunshot wound—so I sedated her and now she’s at the shelter!” I exclaim.
She raises an eyebrow. “And why, exactly, did you have the sedative with you while camping?” She questions.
“For events like this, duh.” I respond. To her right, Will looks uncomfortable, and his eyes were a little foggy looking.
“What kind of wolf?” He asks.
“She’s all black—a beautiful wolf really.” I answer.
“Can I see her?”
“Tomorrow you can—I just closed up the shelter.” I scan over him, checking if he’s okay. He nods his head and I say goodbye to the couple, driving to my house two streets over.
I wonder why Will was acting like that. The next morning, I get up earlier than I usually do so I can check on the wolf. When I arrive, she is awake and eating the meat I left out for her. I quickly grab the sedative—just in case—and head to her cage.
“Hey, girl. Let’s check out your leg.” I offer her a few pieces of meat to distract her while I unwrap the wound. Surprisingly, her leg is almost completely healed. I frown a little and quickly clean it out before wrapping it again.
“Jessie?” I hear Will’s voice call.
“Just a second!” I gingerly pet her fur before closing the cage and calling in Will. He walks in, his brown shaggy hair flopping around. He crouches next to the wolf and inspects her.
“She’s really something, right?” I say. I then notice how anxious she is with Will there.
“Will she’s terrified of you, how about you back away.” I suggest, but he doesn’t make a move. I crouch next to him and shake his shoulder, but his eyes are fogged over again.
“Will?” I shake his shoulder again and his eyes go back to his normal brown.
“Sorry, I kinda went to my own world.” He explains.
“Kinda?” I scoff, pulling him away from the wolf.
“You be careful around her, okay? She might be dangerous.” He cautions me.
“Trust me, she won’t hurt me. I think she trusts me.” I say with a load of confidence.
“Key word, ‘thinks’.” Will retorts. I frown and kick him out of the shelter.
The shelter hasn’t been busy lately, which makes me sad. I want all these animals to get their forever homes, or should I say, fur-ever homes. I chuckle to myself.
“Excuse me, miss...Jessie.” A man with red hair and green eyes says.
“Hi there, how may I help you?” I ask.
“I was hoping to adopt.” He states.
I grin widely. “Follow me.” I take him to the back to let him browse the animals.
“I want this one.” He says, gesturing to the wolf.
“Oh! She’s not up for adoption, just a wolf I happened to save!”
“I don’t care, I want her.” He demands.
“I’m really sorry, sir, but she just isn’t fit to be in a home, you’ll have to find another animal to adopt.” I say sincerely. He nods his head with a frown plastering his face.
“Guess I won’t be adopting, then.” He says, walking out. Huh, how strange. I look at the time—7:30 pm— closing time. I quickly clean up, and check on all the animals before returning home.
