The Beginning
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Skaila’s POV
“Hurry up, slowpoke!” I heard my best friend/future Gamma Xailier call out to me from somewhere ahead of me.
We were currently walking through the thick timbers that concealed our pack’s reserve, heading out to our training grounds.
It was quite a foggy day. A pleasant, gentle breeze blew so lightly that an ordinary human wouldn’t even feel it. However, I am no ordinary person.
The name’s Skaila Suroi. I am the eldest daughter of Mikhail Suroi and Nala Suroi. I am currently 13 years old and next in line to take charge of The Blood Coven Pack. One of the most feared and dangerous packs of Werewolves, you were lucky you’d never meet.
Our wicked method of punishing those who went against were-treaties and laws were unspeakable, hence the name.
My mother was a beautiful Ethiopian woman. I knew little about her, to be honest. She passed away giving birth to my triplet sisters when I was only 6. My father just can’t bring himself to talk about his lost mate. I think it just brings him too much pain.
Actually, virtually no one in my pack knew much information about my mother, only that she was one of the kindest Lunas that our pack ever had.
My father is a rather typical alpha. Tall, tan skin, angry expression, you know? The usual.
Since my mother “failed” to give him a male heir in her first pregnancy, I was the only descendant to take his position as pack alpha.
“The alpha is the most important member of the pack. Your duty is to do whatever it takes to make sure everyone is safe and taken care of.”
This was something he’d never let me forget. The pressure of being born to live up to his and my pack’s expectations was as exhausting as it was exciting. We were always close. Even though he annoyed the hell out of me.
I picked up my pace. Soon, I had caught up to Xailier and my father, and we were standing in the middle of the battlefield on our training grounds.
“OK, today we’ll work on weapon-wielding, defense, and offense.” My father instructed.
He then passed me a wooden staff. I caught it and spun it around, just showing off a little. We only used wooden weapons during practice and when in combat we’d use swords, axes, and sword staffs. They’re really cool.
I got into a combat stance and I noticed Xailier and my father did the same. Xailier held a wooden sword and my father had a knuckle brass wrapped tightly around his left knuckle that, might I add, scared the hell out of me. It looked like copper brass and would probably inflict serious damage.
Xailier, being the hot-headed kid he was, made the first move, deciding to try a full-frontal attack. I immediately realized that my father would dodge it easily, which he did but, he didn’t see my staff coming under his feet making him trip. He did a somersault and was up in no time.
The battle was back on.
We trained for about an hour until my dad suddenly stopped and ordered us to go back to our pack’s house immediately, which could only mean one thing.
My suspicions were authenticated when I saw my uncle Lyan appear from the bushes with a straight face and start mumbling something to my father.
The only word that I could pick up from the conversation nearly petrified me.
“Rogues...”
I’ve heard about them in my private classes. They were cruel wolves that were banned from their tribes. Shun out from an entire tribe.
One has had to do something terrible and unexplainable or go against their pack laws to become a rogue. It’s a terrible punishment indeed, but no way as bad as what my pack does to the rogues that have the audacity to return or attack fellow tribes.
Trust me, a little werewolf cold shoulder was nothing compared to what they suffered in our trials, which were basically being tortured while being interrogated for answers.
Not like it would change their fate at all. No one ever made it out alive.
My dad and Lyan started going further into the woods and soon were out of sight. I sighed and turned to Xailier to find he was already walking back to our pack’s house and so, I just followed him.
I didn’t know why, but I had a terrible feeling something big was about to go down.
When we arrived at the pack grounds, I noticed everyone was being rushed into the pack house.
Pack warriors with scary faces were patrolling the premises. It tinged the whole place with a dense atmosphere.
What is going on?
The rogue had to be pretty strong to make my dad freak out and put everything on lockdown.
I tried to mind-link my father. Fear welled up inside me when I realized I couldn’t get through.
I would never doubt my father’s ability to defend himself however, my father always responded to my mind-links whether he was working, in a meeting, traveling, training, amid a battle, I think if it were possible he would respond during sleep.
I shook off my nerves temporarily and went to look for my sisters.
As I arrived at the pack house, I scanned my house for my sister Jayde’s scent and found she was on the second floor in her bedroom.
I ran at inhuman speed and slowly opened her door to find her curled up in her bed next to my triplet 7-year-old sisters, Adrianne, Nara, and Skylar. She had them in a tight embrace and was trying to keep herself calm.
My sister and I were only one year apart. I was 13, and she was 12. She’s quite special.
I didn’t really know how it was possible but, she could read people’s intentions.
She couldn’t actually read the future, since that could change at any given time. One’s future morphed based on their choices and circumstances in the immediate present.
However, she only needed to look someone in the eye and she could read them like a book. She could tell who was bad news and what their heart truly desired. This would prove to be more useful than I had thought.
The triplets were remarkably smart. Way smarter than your average kids. As for myself, being born with alpha blood, I was strong and fast. As of now, that’s the only special thing about me, but my dad always told me he could feel a special power within me.
“You’re destined for greatness,” He would always tell me.
Alphas were naturally ill-tempered and had the power to somewhat control other wolves using our alpha tone, and I was no exception. Being so young, I had never shifted before. That usually happened at around 18.
I definitely wasn’t able to control all my powers yet. My sisters’ and I’s appearances were weird, too. We all had purple eyes and were all different shades of brown. I was the darkest, something that I truly loved about myself.
I think we got the dark skin from my mother, but my dad didn’t even keep any photos of her around.
I could understand why, though...
There were three things that hurt a wolf the most. Being rejected by your mate, losing a mate, or losing your wolf.
Your inner wolf was an essential part of you. They are a part of your personality and being.
They rarely made their presence known until you are older and my father always told me it was like having a best friend and soulmate inside of you. Something that inherited half of your soul and being. Without your wolf you were incomplete and how I longed to meet mine...
I walked over to my sisters and hugged them. Adrianne looked at me with puffy eyes.
“I had a bad dream, sis,” she said.“There were thousands of men around daddy and he got hurt because he didn’t know they had a secret weapon. I woke up with a bad feeling and, and....” she choked out between sobs.
“Calm down sis, you can tell me,” I assured her and she continued, “they, they killed him.” She finally finished with a fresh round of tears forming in her eyes.
“Oh, Adri! Don’t worry, daddy is the strongest! Plus, no matter what happens, the five of us will stick together. As long as I live, you will always have someone to protect you, I promise you that.” She sniffled and her crying seemed to slowly calm down.
I looked at Jayde and asked her to watch the girls while I went to figure out what was happening.
My little sister’s vision truly scared the hell out of me, but I ignored it and kept a straight face for the little girl’s sake.
Jayde nodded, and I got up and headed downstairs.
The first floor of the pack was in complete turmoil.
Scared kids, babies crying everywhere, and desperate mothers trying to calm them down. The sounds of their cries only fortified my anxiety.
What. The. Heck?
I walked my way through the crowd and opened the front door to see four guards standing in front of me.
I calmly asked what was going on. They seemed nervous and unsure of what to tell me. One of them that was pretty young spoke up. I imagined he was about 17.
“Um miss Suroi, I heard that there was a sudden uprising and rogues invaded our land, but your father went off to fight them off, I’m sure there is nothing to worry about,” he added at the end to send me some reassurance but it didn’t really make me feel any better.
I didn’t respond. Instead, I walked past the guards, who frantically started yelling at me to come back, muttering some stupid comments about it being dangerous and whatnot. I couldn’t stop walking. It was like the forest was pulling me in. Every step closer I took towards it, the less control of my feet I had.
I was about to cross the border when I heard someone scream my name and a hand pulling me back. I turned around to see Xailier looking at me like I was crazy.
“What the heck’s wrong with you? You shouldn’t be out here, much less heading into the forest. There is a battle going on. It’s too risky,” he said/shouted.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just have to find out if my father is OK! Please X! I’ve got a terrible feeling something big is going down but, I need to help him,” The red-haired wolf boy snapped.
“You honestly think that a middle-rank, 13-year-old, were-baby is going to be of any help? The only thing you would do is screw everything up by forcing your father to babysit while he’s in a battle,” He spat.
My eyes widened.
That was mad harsh...
But hell, I was the future alpha. There was no way in hell I’d allow anyone to disrespect me, even my best friend.
His words cut me like a knife. Deep down, I knew he was right.
I looked at him, narrowing my eyes and glaring daggers at him.
“Stand down! You’re not stopping me!” I ordered.
An incredulous look on his face as he opened his mouth to speak but, no words were to be found.
I had used my alpha tone for the first time in my life. It was crazy how effective it was. His expression held various mixed emotions. The most apparent being confusion, anger, worry, and I think hurt. I couldn’t bear it. I muttered a slow, honest apology and ran past him and into the dimly lit forest.
As soon as I reached the training grounds, I picked up the faint scent of sandalwood and mint, a smell that had always reminded me of home.
Twigs cracked under my feet as I sprinted towards the scent. I soon started picking up other scents blended in with my father’s. Sweat, metal, wood, and copper.
I came to a halt when I was about ten yards away. Sharp growls and metal clashing filled my ears. I spotted a dark sequoia tree nearby. Its thick branches would be a perfect place to see the battle and stay somewhat hidden.
I climbed up it hastily, not even noticing that my shirt had gotten caught and torn by a small branch as I made my way to the top.
I looked down and saw my father and the high-ranked warriors fighting off what an enormous pack of rogues. There were corpses everywhere. Most of them were rogues. I recognized some of my dad’s warriors laying limp on the floor too.
After about 15 more minutes of fighting, the pack warriors started slowing down. Some of them had shifted back to their mortal forms. Their moves became sluggish, and many of them were panting.
My father, being the amazing alpha he was, didn’t even break a sweat as he killed the rogues one by one.
He was truly the most amazing fighter I had ever seen. His calm face, as he swung his sword and sliced through the rogues that attacked him in their full were-forms, made him look as ruthless as he was cool.
The entrancing battle had so much of my attention that I didn’t even notice I was no longer alone. I felt a large hand cover my mouth and two powerful arms pulled me down the tree.
I landed on the ground with a tremendous thump and winced.
What seemed like a large man grabbed me in a chokehold before I could catch a glimpse of him. I tried to struggle against his grasp but, he just started dragging me away. Soon, I could no longer see my “hideout”.
Crap!
I know, I should have listened to Xailier but, the battle was so hypnotizing it mesmerized me. Now, I’m in this mess.
Great job, Skai! Basic training 101: Always check your surroundings.
I had always feared helplessness.
It left me wanting to grow up as fast as possible. That way, I could protect my loved ones, and myself, just like my dad.
Convincing myself if I trained hard enough, I would one day be able to surpass him, was the only thing that motivated me to push through my dad’s rigorous training.
But I would never get the chance to, apparently.
The man reached an opening in the middle of the forest. It looked like a scene straight out of “Twilight”.
Tallgrass and the coherent sound of the water trickling from nearby. The sun had set, leaving an eerie thin cloud of fog over the forest’s floor.
This perfectly oval-shaped field that had no reason to be in this forest would be the place of my death, or worse. The man suddenly dropped me on the ground, hard.
I pushed back the tears that were forming in my eyes and stood up to my attacker. I looked him in the face and, let me say, I may only be 13 but, I can tell when someone is hot, boy let me tell you, this man was boiling! Hot with a capital “H”.
He was tall, muscular, had curly platinum blonde hair, piercing grey eyes, had an eyebrow piercing on his left eyebrow and his lips weren’t really big but still plump. He looked about 24 or something. I glared at him. Hot or not, this man was bad news. I could sense it.
“What do you want from me? If you were going to kill me, you should have just done it when I was in a chokehold. I don’t know what it is with you rogues but, do you have to make everything so dramatic!” I yelled.
I watched as his lips slowly folded up into a very creepy wide smile that sent chills up my spine.
Ew... This guy is definitely showing way too many teeth.
He started chuckling darkly.
“You know, you are quite a funny little girl, Skai,” he said, and believe me, his voice was just as creepy if not creepier than his smile.
I remained quiet, calculating his moves, as he started walking towards me, stopping when I was at arm’s length. He grabbed a piece of my hair that was carelessly dangling in front of my face and twirled it around with his fingers. He was way too close for comfort, and he kept that smile plastered on his face as he continued.
“Who would have thought that vicious beast could breed something so beautiful?” he told me, making me scrunch up my face in disgust.
‘This guy is way too old for me. What was he, some sort of cradle snatching pedophile?’
I really didn’t want to find out so, I was planning on bolting out of there.
He looked me straight in the eye and suddenly; I felt frozen...
Absolutely frozen...
I looked down at my hands. Sheer panic and dismay filled up inside me.
I tried to move them but I couldn’t. My legs weren’t responding, and I tried to open my mouth to speak, but that wasn’t possible either at that moment.
‘What did this guy do to me? It was like he paralyzed me! How?’
My heartbeat sped up and I could feel my breath shortening. He laughed, enjoying my apparent desperation.
“There is no escape little one, and soon you will fulfill your purpose” I fought against the pull, but it felt like I had been roped up and gagged.
At that second, I knew he was right...
Tears started rolling down my cheeks.
‘Would I ever see my family again?’
Suddenly, I felt a harsh blow straight to the back of my neck. Everything went blurry. Blackness soon enclosed me.
The last thing I heard was someone shouting my name from afar...
