Pack's Runt

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My hands moved harder over the mud as droplets of water began to fall from the dark, cloudy skies. A mist soon spread all around me before I even had the chance to dig entirely. I glanced back, over my shoulder and watched the storm brewing in the sky. My heart raced and I dug my fingernails into the wet mud, hoping to find my bracelet before it was gone forever.

Something sparkled in the mud. My bracelet. I dug quicker and my fingers clasped onto the silver bracelet my mother had gifted me before passing away.

It was the only memory I had left of her. Nothing else. Not even a picture. A smile spread over my face as droplets of rain fell over my hair and my clothes. I quickly tightened the bracelet and stood up before scurrying away from the woods and back to where the pack house was.

"Found it?" Evan came out of the doorway, his face gleaming. "God, you smell like filth, Runt."

My mouth slammed shut. I didn't say anything while getting past it. My shoulder connected with his and he gave me a light push. I covered my hand over the bracelet and rushed quickly into my bedroom across the hall.

Just as I entered my room, someone came behind and I didn't sense her until I heard her breathing in the silence.

Turning around, I jumped a little back at her presence and placed my hand over my chest, "You scared me!" I mumbled, still catching my breath.

"It's going to get stormy outside. Don't linger in the woods," Kira warned me, her eyes wide and upon me. "And what were you doing there in the first place?"

"I was trying to find the bracelet Evan and his friends had hidden. It took me a while. I'm sorry." I scratched the back of my neck and responded. If I would've gotten inside the pack house any later, it was going to be a disaster, especially with the storm hurling outside in the town.

In our world, a storm meant there was a battle coming. The pack had been receiving signals of the storm over the past week. The Alpha did everything to prepare for whatever was coming our way, but until it wasn't here we didn't know for sure.

It could be anything.

A sickness.

A disease.

A threat.

A traitor.

No one was sure.

"Don't go outside. Stay in your room till morning. It's better for you. You can't defend yourself anyway if something were to happen tonight." Kira, the caretaker of the pack house, said while wrapping her hand around the door knob.

She stepped out and I nodded before she slammed the door shut.

Lowering my gaze, I assessed the bracelet. It seemed fine. Evan was bluffing when he mentioned he had scratched it and ripped it apart. It was in perfect state without any scratches.

I grabbed a towel and dried my partly wet hair before catching a cold. It was better to be safe than to be sorry. The rain grew heavier and the sky turned ten shades darker than it was. I looked outside the small window in my bedroom, glaring at the night sky and the heavy clouds forming above the town.

It was going to be a terrible storm.

But why?

Nobody knew.

Before leaving the room, I slipped on a jacket and buttoned it up to myself warm. The smell of water and winter trailed up to my nose as I stepped out. The pack house was big, bigger than any of the houses I had ever lived in, but my room was miniature-sized compared to the house. Still, it was something livable.

I had only gotten a room after spending months putting in a request to the Alpha while sleeping on one of the benches in the park.

The floor I stood above was empty from either side. My brows furrowed. It was the middle of the evening yet I couldn't find anyone.

"I told you to stay inside your room," A hand quickly wrapped around my elbow. I turned to Kira, her face brimming with fear. "The men have left the pack house and gathered outside. Something's surely happening tonight."

"What? Tell me." I pleaded, a hint of worry in my own tone.

"I'm not sure, April. Go inside your room and stay there. Whatever happens, may the Moon God have mercy upon us." Her head rose toward the ceiling as she prayed under her breath.

While Kira was an elderly woman, I had never seen her this tensed and worried before. She was rather calm always, even when a small kitchen fire had consumed half of the pack house.

"But what's happening? Please, tell me."

"Nothing. Go to your room!" She repeated whilst her finger dug into my flesh.

I hissed at the pain in my arm and scurried back into my room without another question. If Kira was worried—everyone needed to be as well. I rushed toward the window and stared outside. With the night spreading, I couldn't see anything except for the dark woods ahead.

A bolt of lightning struck in the sky. I flinched away from the window as my heart dropped low. When the sound echoed through the town, it was loud and vicious, splitting my ears even when I stood behind four walls.

From a distance, I could hear all the men of the pack house gathered outside in the large open field which was often used for training werewolves and pack warriors. They were in large groups, some of them growling in their wolf forms while some of them were chattering.

The pack house was filled with trainees, one of them including Evan. There were barely any females here except for those that needed quick shelter or didn't have any.

When my Dad kicked me out of the house, I had to come here after spending months in the chilling cold outside. I had only been staying in the pack house for the past two months and while it hadn't been a good experience overall, at least I had a roof above my head and protection from whatever came through the night.

My chest filled with unease. I threw my hair over my shoulder and began knotting it down to my back. If there was a battle brewing somewhere in this town, it wasn't going to be pretty. My pack had barely ever won any battles from another.

The chatters and the growls outside silenced as everyone began returning to the pack house. I heard several footsteps above me and outside my room as the warriors scattered into their rooms and lounges.

Maybe it was nothing—just a storm.

But it was never just a storm.

It had to be something more.

The door to my bedroom knocked open and Evan walked inside with his best friend Todd. They both were warriors in training and they both had made my life miserable.

"Do you know what's happening, April?" Evan asked while placing his stinky ass down on my bed, where I meant to sleep.

Guess not anymore.

"If I knew, I suppose you wouldn't be here," I replied while knotting the ends of my hair and tying a rubber band around it, hoping my hair would remain secure throughout the night.

"There's a group of two-hundred werewolves racing toward us," he continued while flashing a careless smile. "And while they might not be able to kill all of us, they'll still be able to injure a couple of us and before one of them bites my leg or wounds me, I just need to make sure I make some good use of my limbs."

His friend, Todd, circled behind me while the door closed itself. They both trapped me inside my own bedroom. Evan's intentions became clear. He didn't need to explain anymore.

My throat closed as I stepped back.

"It will be quick since we are ordered to return to the fields in ten minutes," he stood up from the bed and neared me.

Todd's hand raced over my neck, "Five minutes for Evan and five for me, Runt."

"No!" I shook my head, my chest burning.

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