Nevermore

Chapter One

                                                                                                Storm

I knelt down by one of the trees, the clouds rolling in and obscuring the sun as I tried to catch the scent of a deer that passed by a short time ago. The wind picked up and I tucked my hair back behind my ear. It was a whitish/silver color and reached down to my waist, my bangs covering my left eye. The scent of another wolf approaching caught my attention and I whirled around, my canines extending as I snarled. I didn't realize it was one of my pack mates until we were face to face. Standing in front of me was a wolf with dirty blonde fur and dark green eyes. He let out a sound that almost sounded like a sigh as he shifted to his human form. "I figured I'd find you here," he said, shaking his head. He grabbed my arm and helped pull me to my feet.

"Did something happen?" I asked, my canines retracting. Travis knew if anything was wrong, I would be there immediately.

Travis lowered his head as he let go of my arm. Those whose ranks were below that of an alpha had to keep their head down in submission unless ordered to look directly at them. No, Alpha, he said. I was asked by your father to escort you back. He said theres something he needs to talk you about.

I groaned under my breath. Running a hand through my hair, I sighed as I looked at him. "How many times do I have to tell you that you dont have to address me as Alpha when its just the two of us?"

"My apologies, Storm", he said, chuckling. Travis may be one of the Omegas of the pack, but he was still someone I relied on and trusted.

Gritting my teeth, I crouched down onto all fours as my bones began to break and rearrange themselves. It wasnt as painful when we Shift for the first time but its still highly uncomfortable if were in our human forms for long periods of time. Shaking out my fur, I looked up to see that Travis had Shifted at the same time I did. Hearing him chuckle, I knew our mind link had been established. the mind link allows all members of the packs to hear each others thoughts and for us to communicate while in our wolf forms while on hunts. Even after seeing your wolf form after all these years is still a bit scary, Travis said, shaking his paw out. I knew what he was referring to. The females of the pack were usually smaller in size compared to the males but the Alpha's were around the same size as them, a few of us being a few inches taller than the males.

We better go, I said, growling as I dug my nails into the ground. If we make the Alpha wait, he won't be thrilled.

I felt more than saw Travis shudder at the memory of what happened to the last wolf who made the Alpha wait longer than he should have and it wasn't a pretty sight to see that day. Both of us took off running toward the pack house, the leaves rustling under our feet as we hurried down the path. As we passed through the gate, the wind shifted directions and I was alerted to an unfamiliar scent coming from the main pack house. It reminded me of cedar wood and sea salt, but it seemed familiar at the same time. As we got closer to the main house, both of us Shifted back and that was when I noticed all the packs making their way to the main house. Travis followed me in, and he went over to where the Omega's were gathered. The Omega's were the lowest ranking of the packs since they were born to the packs, but their first Shift usually occurred years after the rest of us due to their bodies being slightly weaker in the beginning. The Gamma's were seated with their respective packs along with the Alpha's and Beta's. I made my way to the front of the hall where my pack mates were seated and knelt down next to my Gamma.

The Gamma's were considered the packs trainers when it came to teaching the pups how to hunt and fight as they were in charge of training our soldiers. My Gamma, Zero, looked at me from the corner of his eye before lowering his head. All the Alpha's of the neighboring packs had Beta's, or their Second-In-Command, to make decisions or to give orders if the Alpha is unable to. I was the only Alpha out of all the packs to not have a Beta. Only my pack knew that I had one before, but he lost his life just little over ten years ago when he was killed by a rogue alpha. Rogues are wolves who abandoned their packs and severed all ties with them and often form their own packs to attack those of us in higher standing. If an Alpha was to go rogue, all the packs would be sent out to hunt them down and execute them. Barely moving my head, I looked over to my right and looked directly at the Alpha of the Snow Moon pack. There was a rumor that spread around a few years ago that he was originally the Beta of the Snow Moon pack, but he had challenged his alpha and killed her in battle. The other packs along with mine had avoided conflict with them since we heard about it but there was something about him that threw me off. It was almost as if there was a sense of bloodlust lurking beneath the surface.