Way of the Wolf: Redemption

Prologue

(Old cover above!)

This is the new improved version of the prologue - I'll be updating with edited chapters slowly with more content. Well worth a reread!

There are a few themes (abuse, talk of suicide, eating disorders, and more) that might be triggering, and there are scenes of a sexual nature, so please be aware of that.

This can be read as a stand-alone but reading book 4 will help tie in the prologue and some other characters backstories a bit more.

Thank to everyone who's been with this series from book one, and every new reader too!

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Prologue

The others didn't so much as look my way as I screamed into the air. Clawing at my leg as I shifted back into my skin, hot white pain blinded me, shooting up like scalding fire. I writhed and gasped for breath, a shudder wracking through my body until all I could do was lie on the rocky ground and pant, tensing in time with the throbbing pain.

My leg was broken. I knew it was. The deer had kicked it so hard that I'd heard the bone snap before I felt anything. Adrenaline had helped me run to safety, but there was only exhaustion now. Exhaustion, hunger, and pain. And for what?

I'd warned them this had been a bad idea. We'd been foolish to go up against a pack when we were weak and tired, but starvation had made desperate wolves of us all. I'd gone along with their plan until our leader had decided to do more than steal food, but attack the hunting pack members in the hopes we’d be able to get away with our theft. We'd been beaten easily. Most of us hadn't come back and their bodies would belong to the earth soon.

If only I was of a mind to be thankful there would be less of us to feed now.

The wolves, rogue Wanderers like myself whom I'd been travelling with, talked in hushed whispers close to the waterfall; perhaps so I wouldn’t hear. But I didn’t need to hear their words. I felt their fear. Smelt it. It hung sour and rotten in the air around us. We knew what was going to happen now. That we would soon be the hunted.

The pack would come after us to finish us off, to make us pay for a lost hunt and any injuries we’d caused their kin. I'd seen one of their wolves fall to the ground with so much blood spilling from the old male, there was a chance he was dead now. It had been the antlers of a startled stag trying to flee with his herd who'd injured him, however. His death wouldn’t be on us, and I was sure we’d not taken the lives of any other. Not that it would matter to them.

The startled stag was our fault. Our untimely interruption had caused panic throughout the herd of deer, and the chaos that had ensued threw even us off. Yes. The pack would seek revenge; even for as little as a balm to wounded pride.

"We have to run," Valdis, our leader, spoke strong and hurried.

The others all nodded their agreement.

I whimpered when they began to shift back to fur. Clawing my way towards them, even the slightest twitch of my leg sent more fingers of fire stroking up to my thigh.

Valdis growled, making me still as he shook his head down at me, tangled Auburn hair falling into eyes of steel. Harsh and cold, his gaze trailed the length of me as he leaned over and sniffed the air before declaring, "You cannot travel. We can't have you slowing us down."