Chapter 0ne

Wolf Moon

The world seemed quiet and empty as Sakarri walked between the trees "too quiet"she thought sweeping her long brown hair back behind her shoulders; there was only the rustling trees and crunch of the leaves beneath her bare feet, "Where is Tasha when I need her?" she though bitterly "She's always running with Suka now days" it seemed as though her best friend had abandoned her for a male, she never noticed until now how far apart they had grown, they had always been the best of friends since birth and so had their mothers before them. "but the past is the past, and this is now" Sakarri sighed "I guess I just haven't let go, ever since mother's death everything seemed to go by impossibly fast" she stared off into the stars "mother… what's happening to me?..." she snapped out of her thoughts as she heard moving in the underbrush, her golden eyes narrowed as she prepared to spring, then at the last moment she recognized a familiar face "Tahluu!" she cried out in surprise, Tahluu's big crystal blue eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the voice that had called to her "Sakarri!" she answered with the same note of hysteria making her soft voice sound like wind chimes , the old friends rejoiced and embraced each other, "Oh Tahluu I've missed you so much!, it's been hell ever since you left" Sakarri whispered "Nahh! The Sakarri I remember could handle herself in the worst of times, she'd kick anyone's tail if they messed with her" Tahluu answered jokingly, "You haven't changed one bit Lu-Lu" Sakarri commented using her friend's childhood name, in fact she really hadn't changed, she looked the same as she always had with bright shimmering auburn hair, pale skin and a pretty heart shaped face surrounding beautiful Sapphire eyes "neither have you Ree-Ree" Tahluu answered looking Sakarri over as well, they walked together through the trees never leaving each other's sight making comments on the weather and talking about the past "if only she knew how much I missed her" Sakarri thought sadly her eyes never leaving Tahluu for a second "I wish things where as they used to be", they continued on walking slowly enjoying every second with each other "so" Tahluu asked "how is Aubrey?" her voice shook and Sakarri noticed the pain in it as she mentioned her old lover "he's doing great" she lied; she didn't have the heart or the courage to tell her friend that Aubrey was into doing dangerous stunts now days, and that just two days before he almost got himself seriously hurt, "did…he miss me?" Tahluu asked sadly, "I don't know Tahluu" Sakarri answered honestly, they walked in silence now lost in their own thoughts "they're close" Sakarri thought catching a familiar scent; as if to emphasize her thoughts a howl broke through the trees and the chorus of night song began.

They had found the pack now; all familiar faces, one of the biggest loups-garoux packs in their region of Washington State of about fifty members most new pups and lifetime members, the odd thing about werewolves is they don't seem to age as fast as humans; Sakarri had known one elder in the pack, her name was Arula, she was one hundred and fifty at the time though she only looked to be in her eighties; she had died last spring, but now the pack seemed mostly young pups and adolescents, like Sakarri herself who was now eighteen years of age, a young adult now.

The howls where their greeting calls most of the pack were in their fur, a great display of colors black, brown,silver,white,auburn, and even a few odd colors like purple and green that some of the young, idiotic and immature males decided to dye themselves using some of the hair dye that is sold in most punk stores "they probably stole it, those stupid mutts" Sakarri thought to herself, the green wolf was staring at her now she narrowed her eyes at him and he looked away "biohazard wolf" she murmured knowing he could hear her, he glanced up at her a snarl on his lips, she showed her teeth at him which had now grown to sharp deadly points "look at me like that again wolf boy and I will add some more colors to that fungus fur of yours" she thought sending him a cold glare and turning away from him and his buddies it looked as if his little group were laughing at him, their furry bodies shaking with humor, she rolled her eyes and looked around until she spotted Tasha in the crowd also in her wolf form standing proudly next to Suka, who was licking her ear in a wolf kiss she looked at him and licked his nose, her small grey body seemed out of place next to his muscular brown fur, Tasha looked up at Sakarri obviously feeling someone's eyes on her, she looked taken aback when she met her former friends eyes "traitor" Sakarri thought purposely making what she was thinking show on her face, directing it at Tasha full blow, Tasha's tail drooped unsure of how to react to Sakarri's hostility, Suka was looking back and forth between them humor on his furry features, he stared at Sakarri as the green wolf had desire in his eyes and she sent a snarl in his direction, Tahluu saw him staring and gave him a sharp nip and walked away angry he gave a high pitched yelp at her attack gave up on a fight and walked away, Sakarri looked away, she had almost forgotten about Tahluu, who she saw sitting next to Aga her mother, who was almost like an adopted mother to Sakarri she was always there to help her with her problems, Tahluu was now in her fur as well; Sakarri stared at her in awe, she had always envied her friend's beauty, but it seemed hard to get over the fact that something so beautiful could exist; it seemed Tahluu's caramel fur was always sparkling and shined as if to say: "look at me!", her eyes where even more beautiful than her fur a crystal blue, even more beautiful than her eyes in her girl-skin; they felt as if they were piercing your very soul, she now being licked, kissed, hugged and nuzzled by the other wolves but Sakarri knew exactly who those crystal eyes were searching for in the mass of waging tails and lolling tongues, then Sakarri spotted him "Aubrey!" there was no mistaking the black fur and muscular body for anyone else, Tahluu had recognized him at the same time as Sakarri had and she raced across the grass as fast as her paws could take her, Sakarri decided to give her friend a moment alone and convinced some of the others to do the same as well by giving them a reproachful look , well most of them anyway; the pups where a different matter entirely they could never stay in human form for more than five second, once one got mad at the other all hell breaks loose, it's all their mothers can do to keep them from popping out of their clothes for more than five minutes, one pup Kea; Suka's little sister was trying her best to attack Tahluu's ears, being the smallest pup of the litter and the only female is hard on Kea so to make up for it she was trying to show her dominance "too bad your victim is four times bigger than you Kea" Sakarri thought as the small pup gave up on going for Tahluu's ears and went after her tail instead, which was now wagging like a windshield wiper, Sakarri continued to watch the little auburn pup laughing quietly as Tahluu's tail waked her in the face by accident, Sakarri quit laughing as she heard footsteps approach her from behind in the trees, she spun around and came face to face with Azuir, "why is he here?" she thought giving him a cold glare and showing her teeth, he smiled "Hello Ree-Ree", she growled softly, he looked at her with amusement "What is it?, you don't seem very glad to see me", "why should I be?" she spat "you broke my heart and betrayed the pack, though the others don't know it was you, but I know what you did Azuir!" he looked at her, his eyes no longer mocking "you didn't tell them?" he whispered talking to himself more than to her "no" she growled "but I should have", "why didn't you?" he asked looking shocked "I don't know….." she said looking at a stick on the ground, he touched her face softly she growled at him but he pulled her face up so that she was looking into his eyes "yes you do" he said in a soft voice, his eyes where as soft as his voice "oh sweet moon he's giving me the stupid puppy eyes" she thought; she was getting annoyed "let go of me!" she yelled but he still held on to her "he's got some nerve" she though angrily then she had an idea; while he was distracted she kicked her left leg underneath him and before he knew it he was on the ground, she took off running, she could already feel the change; the prickling of her skin that screamed to turn into fur, once she was sure she had lost him she pulled off her dress she was wearing and her underclothes, the night seemed cold to her skin but she ignored it and felt a shiver ripple through her body, her arms where prickling and she felt her fur sprout she moaned as the change continued her body arched she felt and heard the crack of her bones as the lengthened and shortened, her teeth sharpened to deadly canines, her nails turned to claws, she felt her backbone lengthen to a tail then she felt the sweet release of it all, she was something new bigger than any normal wolf with longer legs and thicker fur she was even more beautiful, her fur was snow white, her eyes as gold as the moon, she was the second biggest female of the pack, Tahluu outweighed her by five pounds and an inch in height Sakarri sniffed the air "he's close" she thought;sure enough a huge dark brown wolf emerged from the trees at a trot tongue lolling, a huge doglike grin on his face; making him look like an oversized puppy, he stopped short when he saw her defensive posture and sat down on the ground, she growled and walked away from him, he of course followed "great" she thought "my personal stalker" she spun around and realized how close he was to her, his nose was even touching her own, her brain told her to back away but her body wouldn't listen, he licked her muzzle, all she could do was look into those soft brown eyes she'd missed for so long, "what am I doing?!" she thought regaining control of her body "I don't love him anymore, he hurt me last time, do I really want to be hurt again?"She asked herself silently, he was staring at her now, what she was thinking must be showing on her face but she didn't care "he doesn't deserve another chance with me or the pack" she argued with herself, deep inside a part of her wanted him to stay and the otherfor him to leave, she couldn't decide which one was winning at the moment "oh sweet moon, what do I do?!" she thought, without realizing it, during all the chaos in her head Azuir had moved even closer to her and was now brushing against her side in the way he used to do in order comfort her in the past "when everything seemed so perfect" she thought before she could stop herself, she was opening old wounds now, wounds that she had thought she'd healed, "wounds he caused" she tried to block the thought out but the words stuck in her head, hurting her more like a knife in her side driving in deeper and deeper with each heartbreaking thought, "what's that sound?" she thought listening now until she realized it was coming from her own throat a tiny whimper that transformed into a howl starting off mournful at first then rising up octave by octave until it ended in one angry note that would make even the bravest heart cower in fear, he stared at her in amazement for a moment then joined in, it was a beautiful duet her voice loud and magical his deep and dreamy no musical instrument on earth could compare, it seemed to last an eternity until their symphony ended leaving a magical ringing in the trees, and an echo in the rocks, they listened until there was only deaf silence, she could hear his heart beating a gentle rhythm and could feel her own ragged breath forming a light ghostly fog in front of her face, she leaned against him, and for the first time since everything went wrong, everything seemed right.

Sakarri woke at the first light of dawn, it was a Monday, She had always hated Mondays but today seemed worse because Aga and Sakarri's father Cillian "convinced" her to go back to school in the nearby city that the pack worked at and went to, to get food and supplies and get jobs to help the pack if ever needed, as for school Sakarri was a good student usually keeping an A or B average in each class, last time she had went to school it had been a few months after her mother had died; she had wanted to get away from the mourning pack to be alone and mourn on her own