Prologue

I can hear my sister outside of the cabin, deciding who will and won’t be going into battle today, some of my friends make the list- including Kita, who is only two weeks older than me. Was that really such a big difference? I couldn’t help but feel bitter, as I stood there cleaning the dishes left over from breakfast. I felt like things would be different, if Sila hadn’t become the chief.

It was weird, yet undeniable she had won the alpha tournament- she’d out maneuvered each of the pack’s favorites and pinned them on their backs. Not to mention everyone else who’d chosen to go for the title, she’d been savage in her ambition.

You’d think there’d be some bonus to my sister being in charge of the pack, like being allowed to fight with my brethren a mere week before my coming-of-age ceremony for example, but no. ‘Traditions are to be upheld, not broken’, was the excuse she’d given me, before she’d gone out to announce today's ‘hunters’. I felt frustrated, to say the least, but what was I supposed to do? Just charge off anyway?

Maybe I should. I ran my fingers through my thick white hair, craning my neck a bit when it tickled my collar bone, and asked myself if I was actually going to do this. Sila would be mad, to say the least, but I wasn’t a child anymore, I would be sixteen in less than a week. I had every right to fight with the others, formalities be damned. So there was my answer, I was going to disobey my sister, the chief, and prove myself to her and everyone else… hopefully.

I snuck out through the kitchen window, hoping that I was quiet enough not to be caught by my sister’s sensitive hearing, and ran off into the tree-line without looking back.

It wasn’t long before I could smell them- my brethren and those vile things. I was getting close and I shivered in excitement. There was nothing like the thrill of the hunt, the raw adrenaline was addicting, and the recognition that came with a job well done was more than enough to urge my desires on.

It wasn’t long until I joined my brethren, receiving a curious look from my teacher- Balt, who had been sent out with the first string of hunters.

I paid him little mind, as I found myself dodging an axe, before kicking the ugly green creature square in the throat. I allowed my instincts to take over at that point, shifting over into my wolf form with only a few grunts of pain, I was used to it by now. The transformation was never pleasant, our bones had to morph, our bodies to contort and change. For me, the teeth were the worst of it. The taste of blood, the intense burning along my gums. It was as though I had chomped down on a bonfire. I hoped that one day I would be as unfazed by it as my teacher was, I'd never once seen him let on to the pain.

The fight was well under way when tore I joined. Our teeth easily pierced their skin, causing brief screams to erupt from their throats- for as long as they had one. Slime-like blood washed over the ground, as the enemy numbers fell, each of us quickly moving from one target to the next. Like usual, it doesn’t take us long to clean up and soon we were all back in our human form.

I had always found it strange that despite it being our true appearance, the human’s still insisted on calling us wolves first, leading to our common name of ‘Wolf-Men’. Though we had no name for ourselves, there was no need for one. We were us, and that was enough.

I didn’t have time to enjoy the victory, before a familiar voice had a chill running down my spine. “Arken!” Sila called, her voice dripping with rage.

Gritting my teeth, I walked over to her with my chin raised in an attempt to appear unafraid, though I was sure that she could smell it on me. “Yes, Chief?”

“You disobeyed me.” She stated, then narrowed her eyes as she added. “Or did you forget that you weren’t allowed to come here?”

“Come on, it’s not like I got in the way!” I defended, feeling a swell of pride at my own performance. "I took care of at least a dozen goblins myself!"

“You know the tradition, you aren’t to participate in these hunts until after your ceremony!” Sila’s tone reminded me of when I was younger and she would flaunt her age at me. I hated when she treated me like I was a child, even back then, but to do it now? It infuriated me.

“I’m not a kid anymore, I’m a hunter!” I spit the words at her with as much venom as I could muster, but rather than getting angrier as I’d expected, she seemed to relax. 

She crossed her arms as she stared me down, and after a few moments she declared an alarming decision. “Your ceremony will be pushed back one month, if you disobey me again I will make it a season.”

I immediately cried out. “That’s not fair!” My hands balling into shaky fists at my side, I opened my mouth to protest more, but she raised a hand to silence me.

Her eyes were fierce, like silver swords pinning me where I stood, the masked anger I saw within them sent a shiver down my spine as she spoke. “Neither is me having to worry about my own brother going against my wishes.” With that she turned to walk away, only to stop after a few feet and look back at me from over her shoulder, her dark hair whipping her in the back. “This is not just for my own selfishness, you know that with my new status you are likely to be the elders’ choice.”

I growled to myself as she walked away, the last thing I wanted was some dumb arranged marriage.