Chapter 1
Standing in the living room, staring out the large bay window, the old healer watched the group of youth who worked in the garden tending to the herbs, vegetables, and medicinal plants. She lifted the cup of tea to her lips and sipped the mildly hot liquid, then frowned. Too much damn honey…I can barely taste the hibiscus. She sighed getting a good cup of tea wasn’t easy when traveling.
After a month on the road, she finally arrived at the Silver Star Pack early that morning at the request of the pack’s alpha. He needed her to look over the newest stray he collected. Yet when she arrived, there were no signs of the alpha or the mysterious child he refused to mention in detail over the phone. Then again, most people were asleep when she arrived.
Walking around the warm rustic ranch house, she shuffled her old bones to the couch to sit, when the door burst open. Several males walked in, each carrying a teen over their shoulder.
Clover sunk down into the cushion of the sofa. Watching as the alpha strode in, angry faced, she sipped her non-hibiscus tea leisurely.
“I told you last time, no more fighting.” The alpha spoke hard words that was just loud enough to make his point.
“Alpha Mack, it wasn’t us. His fault.” One of the young males dumped on the floor pointed to the scrawny teen with cuts and bruises on his face walking behind the alpha. Even his narrow arms weren’t spared. Those clothes looked like they’d been clawed by cats instead of wolves.
The boy was human, unlike the group seated on the floor. The werewolf cubs sulked as they tried to defend why the five of them jumped on one lone human.
“He crossed our paths first.” The bully ringleader continued pushing off the blame. “We warned him not to come around us again if he wasn’t going to submit, but he refused...”
She chuckled. So the cubs were trying to use pack rules to make the boy pack. Unfortunately, the young one didn’t seem to understand. Didn’t the alpha explain to the human boy the werewolves’ need for hierarchy?
She continued sipping the too sweet liquid watching the live drama. The alpha stood with his hands behind his back, watching and listening to the cubs defend themselves. Though young, Mack possessed all the right characteristics of a damn good alpha. One of the best. He listened more than more alphas. Any other alpha would have already issued punishment.
“I told you to stay away from him.” The alpha’s voice was a low warning when he finally got tired of the excuses.
“He followed us!”
“And you couldn’t ignore him?” When they quieted, unable to answer, the alpha asked only one more question, “Who threw the first punch?”
Silence.
The old woman licked her lips. Slowly she sat her cup on the side table and focused her gaze on the all too thin one hiding behind the alpha.
“Youngling…” She waved a hand motioning the young teen to come to her.
He hesitated looking up at the alpha with weary wide golden-brown eyes. A cautious one. Good. Very good. She liked smart beings.
The alpha nodded once.
All eyes followed the young one as he slowly shuffled across the length of the room pass the towering muscular werewolf guards, and the scrappy teen cubs brooding on the hardwood floor.
When the sickly boy was in reach of her out stretched hand, abnormally hot skin met her palm as she took hold of his arm. “Why were you following them?” She asked.
“I couldn’t remember my way...” He murmured a reply with a voice soft but deeper than she expected from someone who looked so young.
“When I was your age, I was fighting wolf cubs for fun. They never knew why they couldn’t beat me.” Laughter bubbled up when memories of her younger self surfaced. “A puny female human, kicking the asses of werewolf cubs.” Energy flowed like a thick milky mist from her hands into the young man’s body, penetrating the skin, healing the cuts, the bruises fading.
“No way…” Cubs’ jaws dropped in shock as they looked on. Except for the thin one’s torn clothes, the child was as good as healed.
“How did you do that?” One cub shouted.
“What did you use?” Another scrambled-on hands and knees.
“Too cool!” Another leaned forward to get a closer look.
They began questioning her in astonishment.
When her magic finished repairing the teen, it returned to her and whispered into her mind, telling her things about the young boy that no one else could tell her. He was sixteen of age though shorter than most human males his age. Improper nourishment from an early age created his current stature. Otherwise, physically, he was well. The alpha was definitely taking good care of the boy, his health had been improved over the last month. Is she wanted, she could bring his body and mind to its fullest potential… And what is this? Deep…much deeper under the surface where the soul lay so did a power…
She looked up at the alpha with a tilt of her head as if to confirm that this was the child he wanted to introduce. He nodded in confirmation.
“Youngling, where are you from?” She asked patting the couch beside her.
“They say I was rescued from Yu…Yucatan?” His hesitant voice was low, barely carrying one the air. He looked up at the alpha who nodded.
Rescued… She looked over that brown skin. Those wide brown eyes that were slightly hooked upward in the outer corners, seemed as if they were seeing the world for the first time. Nose and mouth perfectly aligned. Long thick lashes, plump lips… The sixteen-year-old was unusually alluring, nearly androgynous in his beauty. But most of the farm raised humans were. Genetically selected and bred by combining all the best traits of the human race in order to create the highest quality of blood for the vampires.
And this boy was born on one of those farms, ignorant of the world since the day he was born. Until now. Those wide eyes held an intelligence that woke, hungry to devour all knowledge.
She remembered seeing the children outside working in the gardens and knew they were also freed from the farms. However, none of those humans were like this young man. Not even close. It seems magic has a purpose for him. She’d have to ask it when she had time…magic that is.
“There is so much you need to learn… Reminds me of another youngster…” She chuckled then sighed. Her hand pressed downward motioning for the big werewolves standing guard to have a seat.
They all looked toward their alpha.
The male nodded knowing he didn’t have much choice. They all took seats around the room. Some sat on the floor with the children, while others sat in an empty chair in the alpha’s living room.
When the alpha was about to turn and leave, Clover called out. “You too, alpha.” He couldn’t possibly think he was going to get away without punishment for having such undisciplined wolves…laughable.
He stiffened, opened his mouth to object.
But she said, “Don’t shit with me. I have aches and pains older than you. So respect this elder and have a damn seat.”
His eyes narrowed, staring at her as if to challenge, but she made sure her face showed how much she didn’t give a shit. Normally, she wouldn’t get involved with werewolf politics. But when it involved the innocent -- children and the mentally handicapped -- she’d make an exception.
Understanding the bitter situation, he grunted, accepted his punishment, and took the arm chair that looked more like a throne when he sat in it.
“Young ones…” She looked them all over, from big to small, they were all babies compared to her. “That includes you older wolves. Remember. The farm raised humans are ignorant of your customs and their own for that matter. Essentially, they are a melting pot of genes that were never educated and only kept as food to be fed upon on a whim. Or tested on like lab rats. Never to be more. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The boys replied like soldiers.
“Good. In the future, educate without violence, or you could traumatize them.”
“Yes ma’am.” They agreed uniformly.
“Ma’am…you healed him? Is that what you did?” One of the teens asked curiously. “How?”
“Magic?” Another asked breathlessly.
“But you’re human.” Another spoke.
“Humans can’t do magic,” said another.
She chuckled. There is so much about this world you don’t know. So much… “Alpha, can I take him now?” She asked the young leader while patting the boy’s hand.
“Please,” he said with a sigh of relief. So there had been an incident with his powers. Then again, there usually was during rebirth.
“Young man, what is your name?” She asked turning to the teen.
He shrugged.
“We told him to pick a name for himself but he hasn’t yet.” The alpha answered.
“Why not?” She asked the young man.
“I…” He fiddled with his torn shirt. “Too much to decide from.”
She chuckled. “Makes since. Very well, I’m sure the alpha gave you somethings, go pack them. You’ll be in my care from now on.”
Those eyes widened before he turned his head toward the alpha.
“She’s the one I told you about.”
She saw him swallow before standing up rubbing his arms. “It won’t hurt will it? What you’ll teach me?” He murmured.
She laughed out loud. “Child, life hurts. But if you’re asking me whether or not I’ll hurt you like the vampires did. No. I’m just a teacher. Nothing more.” She sighed thinking of the hundreds she taught before. Unfortunately some of them suffered, but not because of her… “Now go pack, I need to speak to Alpha Mack.”
He nodded and quickly ran away.
The moment the kid was out of earshot, her whole being changed as she unleashed her rage. “You damned younglings. You are never to hurt another weaker than you without cause. Or didn’t your alpha teach you that?”
“Yes, ma’am.” They all flinched as if she had physically flicked them.
“Good. Don’t let this shit happen again. Make their punishment memorable.” She ordered.
“I will.” The alpha agreed.
“If this happens again…” She let the unspoken promise linger in the air.
The alpha closed his eyes knowing she was the least of his worries. Although all the packs mostly govern themselves, in the werewolf hierarchy, there were three that ruled at the top over them all - the Tribunal. The Law, the Trickster, and the Stalker were nearly immortal wolves with substantial powers who governed werewolf society as judge, jury, and executioner when a pack got out of hand.
While she didn’t have any official position in werewolf society, her words held weight among the Tribunal.
“Oh, one more thing. I was told to give you a message from the Trickster.” She chuckled inwardly before saying, “When the broken collar seeks to turn lead into gold, send it east, towards the mistake. Make sure it packs a lockpick.”
With a frown and a tilt of his head, confusion clearly displayed on that handsome face.
“Hey, I’m just the messenger. I can’t begin to understand the shit that comes out of that asshole’s mouth.”
“We call him the Trickster for a reason.” The alpha nodded standing to his feet at the same time the young teen came back with an ugly green military grade canvas duffel. “You got everything?” Mack asked the kid, patting his shoulder.
The teen nodded.
“You listen to Clover. She may be a cranky old woman-”
“Hey!”
“But she knows her stuff. She’s your alpha now. She can teach you everything you need to know. Okay?”
“Yes…yes sir.” The skinny one took in a deep breath before turning to her lowering his head to look at his feet.
“It won’t be too bad,” she said. “I’ll protect you until you can protect yourself. Come.” Her hand waved for him to follow as they made their way to the door. She slowly creaked down the wooden steps of the front porch, careful that her old bones didn’t hurt too much.
“They always say with age comes wisdom, but who the fuck wants wisdom when it comes with aches and pains.” She grumbled lifting her skirt slightly so she didn’t step on the hem. “I’ll tell you boy, when you get my age…if you get my age, life doesn’t get easier. No matter what anyone tells you…” She continued to walk, talk, and complain about old age, the bugs, the dirt road, and having to go on such a long journey. “They should’ve brought you to me, not the other way around. Oh, right, they don’t know where I live.” She chuckled.
“Mrs… Ma’am… Um…”
“Clover. Just Clover is fine.” She answered smiling back at the young man following her. He was taller than her, but not as tall as he should be. Need to remedy that.
“Clover… Where are we going?”
“Home.” She answered.
“Home? I thought…they said humans don’t have a home… Do they?” He stepped up beside her keeping pace, clearly letting his curiosity take over.
She blew out a long breath. “It’s a little complicated. Every human can make a home, but humans no longer have a homeland or country that belongs to them.”
He got quiet, twisting his hands on the strap of his duffel. “So… We really have no homeland…”
Scratching the side of her nose in thought, she didn’t want to go into details of the fact he nor she was no longer human. But to understand what they were she would explain what they used to be. “There was a time humans did have a homeland. There was a time that this United States, like most countries was run by humans…” Then she chuckled. “Or so it seemed. You see, as long as vampires have the ability to control human minds, there will be few places that humans can truly rule. Of course, like how humans rebelled against the vampires hundreds of years ago, they rebelled again seventy years ago... It happens in cycles. They rise up eventually, then fall again… But that’s history that we’ll get to later. Let’s talk about the here and now, and what you need to know to survive…”
