Spirit Wolves Book 1 -completed-

First in a Century

Word soon spread through the pack of Crimson's victory as there hadn't been a female Alpha in about a century and everyone was even more surprised that she'd beaten Orion. Crimson was very proud of herself but Orion was pretty vengeful of his recent loss. He'd woken up in the healer's den and started screaming and yelling asking how Crimson had beaten him easily when he'd been training for years and she hadn't.

It was kinda overwhelming to be the first female Alpha for a hundred years and having all the kids come around her asking her questions, never being alone and she always had to be nice to the younger ones. She found herself wishing that Tristen, Trace, and Aiden, were rogues too. But then she scolded herself for wishing such a hard life upon them. Being a rogue meant always scraping for any kind of food, not being able to do many of the things you could as a human, such as doing puzzles, playing sports like soccer and volleyball, it was more painful to play tag as a rogue too. Pretty much the only things to do for fun, were hunting, wrestling, racing, and swimming. Granted the Darknight pack had it pretty good. 

Her pack always got good meals and no one went hungry, they were set up in a valley and had protection on either side of them. The hunters were strong and trained in fighting, and they had a good source of medicine due to a rogue that had been a doctor and knew all the best remedies and how to stitch up wounds. As good as she had it as a rogue, she'd spent three years hungry, three years cold, and three years with no protection other than her mother. Crimson had been wandering one day and realized that they weren't too far from her old pack and if she wanted she could visit. She never did though. 

Weather it was from a fear of being seen by someone that wasn't her friends or weather she was scared of her friends themselves she couldn't really tell. No matter what it was of she was terrified. 

As she fell asleep that night, she thought of Tristen, Trace, and Aiden. The way Aiden's curly brown hair always looked gold in the morning sun, how Trace gave her good competition and teased her relentlessly but showed he cared in small things he did and could take a joke, and Tristen. Everything about him she missed from his doubting shyness, to his smile that could light up the darkest room, even how he always brushed her off and never really showed her he cared. Even if he didn't show it she knew he did care from how he reacted to her turning. She missed him so much it hurt to think about how he'd stormed out of her house that afternoon. She didn't like to remember that cursed day and she didn't like how she went without saying goodbye to one of her best friends properly.

~One month later~

She'd gotten used to being alpha of her age. It wasn't all that hard. Orion was still bitter about his defeat and she often saw him slinking off into the woods. It unsettled her to say the least but she couldn't really judge him since she'd been doing the same to avoid the other wolves her age. She really was just in charge of the younger side of their group, making sure that they didn't wander off too far, they didn't get themselves into trouble with real wolves, bears, or any other thing with claws. At breakfast she had to watch the younger ones to make sure they didn't fall in and drown. Stormflare helped some mornings but Orion was hardly ever around unless he had to be.

"Crimson!" Someone shouted dragging her out of her thoughts.

"What is it Stormflare?" She asked the hurricane rogue. In the past month she'd been with the Darknight pack, she and Stormflare had gotten close and he'd been helping her get used to being a rogue and offered a great distraction when she needed it.

"Alpha Rockwood wants to speak with you."

"Could you take me there Hurricane-fur? I forgot where it is."

"Sure thing Ghost-eye." They made a game of teasing each other and while it reminded Crimson of Trace and their relationship and she didn't normally like being called Ghost-eye she didn't mind when it was Stormflare. It helped her forget and things had finally started feeling normal again. 

As they walked to the Alpha's den Crimson wondered what he'd looked like before he turned rogue. He had a defined jaw and a slim but muscular body. She could imagine that as a human he was decently attractive.

"Hey Stormy," she said, "What was it like for you before you turned?"

Stormflare jerked to a stop and Crimson had to do a little funky dance in order to avoid stepping on him.

"Stormflare?" She tentatively asked.

"It was rough in my pack, we didn't really have much food, and we were constantly attacked by rogues." He started after a minute. Crimson looked at him and saw he was staring ahead, "In my pack, rank was everything. I belonged to the Whitelight Pack, and was the most sought after guy in my section as the Alpha's son. My old name was Austin, my rank was Alpha and I was tall, had a good build, my hair was exactly like my fur, except longer and shaggier. I got to get my food first of the kids, and I was going to be betrothed with a girl named Jennifer. I guess I had it good. She was perfect except she was selfish and a bully. There was a girl in our pack who'd been found by the alpha one day, and she was Jennifer's favorite target." He paused to look at Crimson to make sure she was listening. Crimson's ears were pricked forward and she was looking at him as if she wanted to absorb every word he was saying.

"The target's name was Bella, she had dirty blonde hair, she had dark brown eyes, and when she transformed she looked kinda like a calico cat. I never joined in on bullying her cause I thought she was just fine. She also helped me escape when I first turned rogue. I thought she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen but she was taken from me when I turned rogue." After he stopped talking Crimson wanted to ask more but decided not to so as not to provoke any painful memories. When they finally got to the Alpha's den Crimson thanked him and asked him to wait for her outside as she ducked her head and walked in.