Vivian
I raced through the dense forest, wind cutting through my white fur as rocks and dirt were kicked up by my paws. I pumped my legs faster as the forest began to blur into shades of green and brown. My heart was beating so fast I thought it may burst from my chest before the wolves on my tail caught me. They were so close to me now that I could hear their breath straining, as they sprinted to keep up, nipping at my legs. There were at least three wolves behind me striving to capture me dead or alive, and win the favor of their alpha. I didn’t dare risk turning my head to look, for the fear of misstepping.
It felt so long ago as I recalled how I came to be at this moment, fighting to keep my freedom from the wolf packs whose boundaries I continue to trespass. It’s not like I had a choice in the matter. My pack was attacked and slaughtered years ago when I was fifteen years of age. Each time my brain slips into this dark memory, I feel helpless and ashamed. “Vivian! Vivian!” my mother would cry out my name frantically searching for me in our tiny, hovel of a house.
“Mother?” I set down my headphones and peered around the corner of the door frame into the living room. My eyes scanned the room for my mother, roaming over the peeling walls and old, puke green recliner my father loves. I spotted her about to climb the stairs leading to the bedrooms, no doubt to find me. She turned her head with her wide blue eyes and dashed towards me to snag my arm. “What are you doing? Mom your grip hurts, why are you in such a...?” An ear-piercing scream rose into the air from outside our house, cutting me off and keeping me silent.
“Vivian listen to me carefully. You need to hide and never come out until it is safe. I don’t care if it takes days or weeks you must promise me you will only come out when you know for certain you will not be in danger.” She stated in that stern voice only mothers would use when they demanded their child to listen and be obedient. I let her drag me to the study that was filled with boxes and boxes of junk my family never found a use for. Mother let go of my arm to desperately move the junk away from the oriental rug in the center. She flipped the rug over to reveal a hidden trap door as I started to get a sickening feeling that it had only room for one.
“I am not getting in there without you and dad. Where are you going to hide when I’m in here?” Dread started to fill me as more shouting came from outside, closer to the house than the scream from before. “Where is father? He is almost here isn’t he?” Father must be okay, he has to be. Rubbing my arms to comfort myself, mother replied with a small smile.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwluQZstzj
“Yes, father and I have our own hiding spot just in the other room. I want to ensure your safety first. You must hurry now before they scent us.” She patted the wooden floor with her dainty hand. Her tiny wedding ring father saved all his earnings for glimmered from the moonlight cast by the window. I hesitated, but banging and males shouting coming from the front door sprang me into action. I descended down the dirty, small wooden ladder into a tiny area that only gave a foot of space on either side when sitting with my legs crisscrossed. I sat looking up to mother who was whispering encouraging words and a short, “I love you” before closing the hatch. I was blanketed in darkness with my panicked breathing filling my ears as what I assumed was mother frantically pulling the rug back over me and moving the boxes all over the place to conceal the hiding spot. I heard a few noises that sounded a lot like a spray bottle being used before the creaky door to the study was shut.
“Goddess please protect my mother and father from harm” I whispered to myself rocking back and forth as the slamming of the front door increased in volume. Suddenly, the front door was forced open, hitting the back wall with a bang. I heard two males trudge unwelcomed into my home with my acute hearing. Mother growled in her wolf form snapping with her jaws at the intruders in warning. Goosebumps raised over my skin as I realized she was planning to fight them. Mother wasn’t supposed to be defending. She told me her and father would hide. She cannot take both of them at once! I shifted my weight and raised my hand to lift the hatch and run to mother’s side to help her defend our home.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkScU7nPGY
No Vivian. My mother scolded through the mind-link. Do not come out. You promised me you’d stay and hide until it is safe. Do not let my fighting go in vain. No matter what you hear, stay inside. I held in the tears threateningly close to the surface, willing them to go away and not give out my hiding spot. The men shifted now and began fighting my mother as biting and growling erupted from the room next door. I felt painfully aware of all the whimpering and sounds of teeth biting into flesh and bone. But nothing was worse than the silence that followed after the battle.
Mother? Are the wolves dead? Are you injured? I searched my mind-link, reaching out to my mother for her comforting voice to tell me everything will be okay.
I heard claws clack on the wooden flooring as the surviving wolf started searching the house. It didn’t feel real. My mother was dead and my father must be as well if he didn’t mind-link me since this nightmare started.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7T7SdgxuQw
I was still coming into my powers since I was a newly transformed werewolf. Certain abilities were still being developed for my human form, like enhanced eyesight and mind-linking with others. I am able to mind-link to family close by, but far away wasn’t an ability I possessed yet. My father could reach out to me while at work, but I could never respond.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzKpuLbOcqZ
Father has always put family first. When this nightmare started, he wouldn’t hesitate to reach out to me and mother to reassure that he was on his way.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0LZdFhasE7
My chest hurts from just thinking about what could’ve happened to him. Was he scouting our territory while a beast lunged to sink claws deep in my father’s throat? Did he have an honorable death fighting for his family and pack?314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2ALm6DJLC
I felt a lump form in my throat as the need to cry was starting to come to the surface. I had to hold back. My emotions are a danger that could get me killed.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGiSkgckgo
I felt a few wet tears escape from the prison that was my eyes as I closed them. I strained to even my breathing. I couldn’t have my moment of despair and mourning here.
The clacking of the beast’s massive paws hitting the wood flooring ceased as he shifted into human form. The steps started to creep closer until he reached the door and flung it wide open.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdqopQaSD5
It was dead silent in the room besides my heart beating as fast as it could in my chest. I silently prayed it wouldn’t give my hiding spot away. But if it wasn’t my heart, the lingering scent of a nearby wolf would give him an indication of where to search. Anxiety and fear were at the forefront of my mind again as the man got closer and closer to me.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUUfyEUoSr
Straining my ears, I heard the beast sniff the air around him and walk around the room to rummage around our junk piles.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4UTvX9cScx
How has he not scented me?
Glass and heavy objects were heard flying around the room slamming into the hard floor as the beast rummaged around the study. A creak from the floorboard gave away his location as the wood from the trap door strained, directly above me.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzEjGVb8GS
It took all my effort not to open the hatch and run as fast as I could away from the man who killed my mother.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0y1l9OmfaU
Then it hit me.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwpvIm5UgW
Mother was spraying something before she left the study and it must have masked my scent. Tears threatened to spill once again at the thought of my mother dead in the other room. I must stay strong and keep my mouth shut. Her death cannot be for nothing.
It felt like forever staying completely frozen in the same spot, afraid to move or make the slightest noise and give myself away. Eventually, he must have given up searching or found what he was looking for, because he left my home and never came back. It took a lot of listening and sitting immobile for a few hours before I felt around the tiny space and found cans of food and water on one of the walls that also serves as a shelf.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYy2wxT9QR9
A week went by until I felt it was safe enough to crawl out of the hatch and brave the wilderness. Staying in an empty land surrounded by other packs was certainly going to be claimed soon. I did not want to be here when it did.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWbghq9ezYT
I still recall the stench of decaying bodies that must’ve been my mother and the other wolf rotting in the kitchen. I couldn’t bare to see her lifeless body so I made the decision to make my way to the back door of our home.
Pain in my back leg jolted me from my disturbing memories. The black wolf closest to me must have caught up enough to successfully bite at my back leg, just above my paw.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3g1WZLLnRT
My nimble steps faltered, but his grip on my heel slipped and I was released.
Fuck, I scolded myself, I shouldn’t have been daydreaming about those awful memories.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VDBhzV22B
I need to focus and get to banned territory before these bastards get to me. It’s so close now I can scent it in the air. Burning sage and lavender became more prominent the more I pumped my legs towards it.
The banned territory became my only hope of living a peaceful existence. No pack resides there and none ever will because it is said to be a cursed land. Legend states that any man who sets foot in banned territory never comes back out. But I honestly don’t pay this curse any mind. I didn’t plan on leaving once I set my paws inside. It’s not like I didn’t think of other options before settling for a cursed land. To me, joining another pack was worse than becoming a lone wolf in a territory by myself. Wolves with fallen packs always had a difficult time adjusting or getting accepted by another alpha to join their pack. Alphas wanted unwavering loyalty that was only brought on by being born into the pack or if a member owes the alpha something and he demands loyalty in return.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbin4zSivUi
My breath was coming out in shallow pants as my wolf was starting to tire out. You’re so close Vivian, just hang on for a little while longer.
Suddenly, the wolves decided to push themselves harder. They must’ve spotted where I was headed, realizing my intentions, and aimed to stop me from crossing over. Two of them attempted to cage me in on both sides bodies slamming me into each other and aiming me where they want. They were headed directly towards a large tree, seeking to knock me unconscious or dead. The leader of the group lagged directly behind me to halt me from slowing down.
Hard breathing was heard all around me as I was sandwiched between the larger wolves. Running with the two beasts shoulder to shoulder left a forceful feeling on my muscles that felt constricting.
As the tree grew closer, it became clear that the wolves were planning to break away at the last second to narrowly avoid the tree. Despite my wolf’s protests, I twisted my body just enough to bite the shoulder of the wolf on my right. He yelped as I bit harder, his blood invading my mouth and tasting metallic. The taste of fresh blood coated my tongue and made my inner beast feel joy at reciprocating the favor of my bloody heel. As he started to pull away, I let my jaw open for the wolf to give me room and maneuver around the tree.
Dozens of signs were spotted just ahead as the sage and lavender scent was becoming overwhelming. All of them included a large, red heading reading, ”Warning,” as smaller, hard to read print was below it. With danger behind me, it didn’t give me time to read, nor did I want to with my decision already made. As I reached it, my wolf wanted to howl in relief when I passed the border to banned territory but I was too petrified to stop running.
It was only when I heard the pack of wolves howling far away in defeat did I collapse to the forest floor to catch my breath and check my injuries.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkH9DvgNnai
Jeez, Viv, you’re going to kill yourself before the wolves can get to you, I snickered to myself. The bite to my heel was bloody, dirty, and needed cleaning. Scratches covered my wolf with blood staining my white fur, and my muscles felt like they were on fire. I was lucky my wounds were minimal, it could’ve been much worse if those wolves stopped me. Sadly, this was just the beginning of my journey to create a life for myself in this territory. I needed to clean my injuries and the sun was already starting to set. Tomorrow I may feel worse, but food and shelter will need to be done if I want to survive. I just need a moment to relax, I told myself.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGAOEBcYQeY
I peered up to the open sky, closed my eyes, and breathed in the fresh air of freedom. I smiled to myself, no more pesky wolves and no more constant running. From now on, life was going to be glorious.
Lifting myself off the ground as my legs felt wobbly, I aimed to find a river to wash myself in for my heel. With all the adrenaline wearing off, my heel was beginning to hurt and blood was pouring out with all the pressure put on it as I was walking. I sighed, it would be best to rest my ankle for the wound to close but I didn’t have the time or resources. It was definitely going to be harder before it got easier.
I started down a path that eventually led to an open meadow with lush, green grass swaying in the breeze. It felt so freeing to trot around without having to peer over my shoulder for wolves after so many years of constant running. I lifted my head to sniff the air and found that it smelt strongly of burning sage, and incense.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLz3KQsnvX
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something felt off. Limping out into the open only caused the feeling to intensify as chanting started. My head became drowsy and my vision blurry when the voices grew louder and louder. Panicking, I whipped my head side to side looking for anyone.314Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMyV7R11rr
There was nothing around me besides the open field and the sun high overhead.
Suddenly, the ground began to rapidly get closer to my head as my body leaned to the right. Black spots clouded my vision and panic started to set in as everything faded to black.
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