Awake | Book 1 of the AWAKE Series | (BWWM)

Prologue

The weather has been so murky for the past few days. Raining on and off, sometimes even with the sun still shining, just barging in not giving a fuck. That's Texas weather for you, I can't say I've missed it.

My pack and I have been here for almost a week training alongside Derek's to get used to one another's fighting styles and faces. D's most trusted warriors have been keeping an eye on things to make sure we don't undergo an attack while we train and so far everything has been going smooth. For the most part our packs are getting along and although my pack doesn't relish in the idea of fighting a battle that isn't ours, they trust my judgment as their Alpha. It's only been a short time that I've been running things and yet they all have every bit of faith in me that they had in my father before me, their Alpha of over ten years.

"You think they're ready?" Derek asks, his tone serious, a far cry from his usual playful mood.

I nod my head but don't take my eyes off of the training wolves, "No worries D. The Dark Wood Tribe won't know what hit 'em."

Derek grunts a reply and then orders the wolves to run through the drills again.

I can tell this is very important to him. As his first real test as Alpha of The North Wood Tribe he can't fuck this up and so far he feels he's made a mess of things. No matter how much I try and tell him that the casualties so far are not on his head he doesn't listen. Who could have known that the same night he was honored in as Alpha, the Dark Wood Tribe, their enemy for years, would attack? They had the element of surprise on their side, finding North Wood unprepared and in a celebratory mood rather than a fighting one. That night six men, including Derek's Beta, died and two women were nearly kidnapped before the attackers were caught, interrogated, and killed.

Derek declared war the second everything settled down and led an attack of his own at sunrise. And so the guerilla warfare continued between the two packs until Derek called me for backup, wanting to finish things once and for all.

It's no secret that my pack is the largest in Louisiana and we have some of the fiercest fighters in the country. Having been years since we last had to defend ourselves against anything more than mosquitoes my main fighters were at the ready. By tomorrow's end we'll be able to settle in for a while before heading home, Derek and his pack will have some peace, and the Dark Wood Tribe will be no more.

The sky today is a sad gray, like a dirty cement sidewalk covered in even murkier looking clouds. Derek and I have spent all day hanging out, talking about old times when we used to get into trouble as kids. Not much has changed, we're still those rowdy boys at the back of the classroom, we're just older now.

"Do you remember the day when Melanie Danvers came to class with toilet paper stuffed into her bra-" I start to say but can't get it out for laughing at the memory.

Derek picks up where I left off with a laugh, "Oh God! And then she was a bitch to Michelle with the glasses and made her cry so you snatched the tissue out of Melanie's bra and handed it to her!"

Our bellowing at the looks on both Melanie and Michelle's faces is loud enough to shake the entire room. I'm laughing so hard my eyes are closed and the second I go to compose myself, I see their reactions in my mind and start laughing again.

"Man that was a crazy day! I got into so much trouble with Mrs. Fakus for that!" I finally get out through my laughter.

Derek shakes his head, a smile still on his face, "Dude you were the worst to Melanie!"

I shake my head. "I was only a douche to her because she picked on everyone else. And she was a huge phony! I mean we were ten for Christ's sake everyone knew those weren't her tits! Oh! I know you haven't forgotten-" I'm cut off mid-sentence by a blood curdling scream and the sounds of snarling and howls.