His Tough Little Runt

Chapter 1: Attacked - The fall of The New Moon Pack

"What is a 'Lycanthrope'?"quizzed my Mother. "A werewolf!" "That's right Harlie, very good."my Father commented as he left the kitchen with a can of Coke.

"You shouldn't drink so many of those Shane. They'll rot your teeth."reprimanded Mother.

"Sure thing sweetie!"he called from the living room. Mum and I giggled at his blatant disregard for her concern and continued with the quiz. "Anyway, what is the difference between wolfsbane and monks-hood?" I shook my head. "I don't know." "It's the same thing darling."Mother explained.

"Oh..." I said sheepishly.

About half an hour later Mum decides that she'd quizzed me enough for that afternoon (I was only 5 at the time), and we went to the front garden to play in the flowers. I shifted into my tiny wolf form and began frolicking amongst plants and chasing pretty red butterflies. I have a medium brown coat with dark and pale brown markings.

Now you're probably thinking, 'But Harlie, Werewolves don't shift for the first time until they're around 14 years old'. And you'd be right. That is, if I were a normal werewolf. But you see, runts are able to change into their wolf form from the age of 4. The moon goddess made it that way to keep us safe. A lot of werewolves hate runts because they see us as weak and useless. It's true that I'm not as strong as other pups my age. But I'm smaller than the others as well, so it's easier to hide and I'm faster then they are.

Did I forget to say that I'm a runt before I explained all that? Oops...

After a while of playing, the sun started dipping beneath the the west horizon and fireflies appeared out of the grass.

"Harliquin!"Mother called to me as I tried to swat a firefly. She was sitting with her legs crossed on the deck and waving me over. I ran across the garden and jumped into her lap. "Hey there sweetheart, would you and Alexis like me to sing to you before bed tonight?" I nodded excitedly in reply. If you were wondering, Alexis is my wolf. Mum held me to her chest with one arm and pet me behind the ears and down my back with the opposite hand. Then she began singing:

"Lips ripe as the berries in June,
Red the rose, red the rose,
Skin pale as the light of the moon,
Gently as she goes,
Eyes blue as the sea and the sky,
Water flows, water flows,
Heart burning like fire in the night,
Gently as she goes."

Just as she finished, a howl was heard from the northeast. And everyone knew what it meant.

Intruders.

Rogue intruders.

"Monique!" I heard my Father call out to my mother. He ran over to us holding two bags. One was a large backpack filled with two pairs of warm clothes each, a switchblade, more than $10,000 on a debit card and $8000 in cash, as well as thick blankets and toiletries. The second bag was a satchel containing high quality medical supplies, 3 bottles of water, and a weeks worth of food.

"Take Harliquin and run. I have to defend the pack but I'll find you as soon as we drive out the rogues."

She didn't argue and took the bags. I shifted into my human form and put on sweatpants, a long sleeved t-shirt, sneakers, and a coat. Once Mum had shouldered the bags she picked me up and ran out the back door into the forest. I cried for what must have been hours. I wanted my Dad. But he was the Beta, the Alpha's second in command. He needed to help Alpha protect our teritory. He would come find mum and I when he was done.

Soon enough I fell into a restless sleep.

Though we didn't know it at the time, we would never see my Father again. By the hands of the rogues, our pack, The New Moon pack, had fallen.

~Chapter Quote~
I never truly learned what the words 'I miss you' were untill I reached for my Dad's hand and it wasn't there...
- by Unknown

A.N. - Hi fellow Wattpadians. I just wanted to say that the song Monique sings to Harliquin is originally from the movie 'beowulf', and all rights go to their  respective owners. That's all and I hope you enjoy the story.