Prologue

       I laid there.  Watching as my life slowly ran away.  Staining the once lunar white snow a crimson red.  I was too cold- too tired to try and stop it. I only watched as it flowed down my muzzle and felt it all over my body.  I eventually broke my gaze of the sight and brought it up to the swaying evergreens.  It seemed so cruel that they should live so long without fading even in winter while I laid there dying. Yet there they were, bright against the shaded sky foretelling of a coming storm.  I couldn't help but think that maybe it would hide me- bury me until summer when I'd be nothing but a nameless skeleton.  No one would bother remembering me anyways. 
       I was a traitor, or so they believed.  They sent me away as an outcast- a lone wolf.  They probably thought I was dead and soon they would be right.  It seemed fate did not want me to return for when I tried I was attacked by wolves I did not recognize.  Their smell was odd and unlike any pack I had come across recently.  And they were savage.  They attacked with such ruthlessness I almost couldn't get away, but even so the wounds they caused would finish me in the end.  I ran and ran until I collapsed upon the snow and laid there. 
       I was shivering uncontrollably now.  My body trying to retain some heat despite the situation.  I cursed my body for attempting to prolong my suffering.  Despite my wish for it to end though I did not want to die.  I wanted to live.  I realized I wanted to make amends with my pack and my family.  I wanted to go back and tell them how I felt, especially her.  I wanted to tell her I-.
      A rustle from behind me broke my thoughts.  I sighed as I accepted that I would get to be able to do nothing that I wanted to.  They had finally caught up with me and were there to finish me off I was sure.  I closed my eyes so I could dream of my family and not feel the finishing blow.  My mind fell into unconsciousness, but before I became unreachable I heard one word filled with shock and surprise.
       "Valen!"