Second Chance For A Warrior

-Chapter One-

Katrina

They say that a mate is the person you're destined to be with for the rest of your existence...that the bond created by being with them is the most beautiful thing a wolf can experience...

I wouldn't know.

My mate rejected me the second they laid eyes on me, severing the bond barely after it came to life and leaving pain in its place, making me question everything I believe in...

So, instead of subjecting myself to the torment of continuing to see my mate every day, which would only cause me more pain, I left the pack along with my sister, becoming rogues which left us without a home or pack, and constantly on the move through other packs territory.

Some packs don't tolerate rogues well, even ones that are packless by no fault of their own. So we can't stay in other territory long, and stay on neutral land as much as possible.

"You wanna stay here Adrienne?" I ask, and she looks at me, curious and uncertain.

"You sure this is a good place? The last pack wasn't so friendly."

I sigh at the memory of that particular pack, we about got into a blood bath over the fact that our former pack has a beef with them.

"Red Fang has a much better reputation among rogues. If you haven't done anything terrible they'll be willing to let you join." I explain as we walk, with everything I own in a large duffel bag and a backpack. Four years of my life I've lived out of these bags, so I honestly hope that Red Fang is as open as the rumors claimed it to be, I'm tired of living on the run.

Wolves have a pack mentality after all.

"I hope you're right Kat." She murmurs, her red hair swinging softly as she walks.

"So do I."

We both stop for a moment, Adri dropping her bags to the ground and stretching. I take the opportunity to pull my map out, the marks on it signifying pack land and neutral land. I made a copy of this to make sure we don't cross any unfriendly territory by mistake. Noting that we have at least another twenty feet to the Red Fang line, I sigh.

"I think we should tread carefully from now on, we're getting close to..."

I trail off as I look up, seeing Adrienne is no where in sight. I'll never grasp how she manages to disappear so fast, take your eyes off of her for five seconds and she's gone.

"Adrienne?" I call out quietly, no response.

~Adrienne?~ I call through our mind link, how it managed to survive leaving the pack is a mystery, but I'm not gonna question something that helps us stay together.

Silence.

~Adrienne?!~

The sound of growls rip through the air.

~Katrina! We got company! And lots of it!!~

I drop everything to the ground at hearing her panicked voice, tossing my jacket off as I start hauling ass towards the sound of the growling and shouting. I waste no time shifting, shredding the rest of my clothes in the process, a loud growl ripping through my throat.

Then it goes silent again, only the sound of my paws pounding on the dirt.

~They better not have laid a paw on her, or we'll rip them all to shreds!!~

My wolf Ziva growls in my head, her fury doubling mine as we share control.

~Damn right we will!"

Dirt and grass fly up behind me as I quicken my pace, the scents of multiple wolves filling my nose as I get closer. There's gotta be at least five of them excluding Adri.

After clearing the distance in less than a minute, I reach my sister. Her strong form looking petite next to the wolves surrounding her, her leg bleeding heavily. The largest one, a hulking brown wolf stands over her growling, making a vicious snarl escape my throat.

"Someone's coming in hot!!" A male voice cries out, and it's all the warning they get before I slam into the brown wolf at full speed, knocking him to the ground and sending us rolling. We snap and growl at each other as we roll through the dirt.

I aim for his throat, no longer caring that the objective was to join this pack, he hurt my sister. He barely dodges out of the way of my jaws as I snap at him again, not moving would've crushed his windpipe and killed him.

He jumps backwards, and I block Adri from view with my body. The other wolves begin edging closer, and I angle my head low and growl.

Screw diplomacy, they're going down!

The brown one makes his move first, and I launch myself forward and tackle him back to the ground, our snarls and growls drowning out every other noise around. The only thing I can still hear is Adri yelling in my head to be careful of the other wolves.

Getting a clear shot, I sink my teeth into the top of one of his front legs. He whines and growls in pain, and I take advantage of his distraction. Tossing him to the side as a pair of gray wolves begin to advance on me.

I'm ready to give them an ass beating as well, only to be interrupted by a loud, powerful growl. It's authority ringing through the trees and making the other wolves bow their heads in respect.

"That's enough!!"

Alpha tone, crap.

I go back to Adrienne's side, scanning through the trees and keeping an eye on the others. Adri places a hand on my shoulder, running her fingers through my fur in an attempt to calm me down. My hackles are still raised and Ziva has most of the control right now.

My gaze shifts towards the sound of footsteps, and it falls on the Alpha himself. As our eyes lock, an intoxicating aroma hits my muzzle, about making me drool.

No, no this can't be...not again, it's not possible.

I think to myself, Ziva has only one word in response, which sends me quietly reeling.

~Mate?~