Stoneheaven


I took one tentative step forward. I was now in pack territory. Releasing a shaky breath I continued on in search of Stoneheaven. I found a small town in a place called Bear Valley, when asked the locals said they didn't know much about Stoneheaven, or its residents. Managing to find a taxi service that would go that far I was soon stood in front of a beautiful stone house, artfully entwined with ivy.

I paid the driver and waved him off. Turning back to the house I could feel eyes upon me. I shivered. I was down wind of the house and the scents of multiple wolves filled my senses. A pang of excitement and fear battled and surged through me. This place is how I imagined when I was a pup, the open space giving way to what looked like a private forest at the back of the house. Snapping out of my daydreams I slowly walked to the door. This had to be done delicately, one false move and I was dead. That was how my Father described the pack, fierce, solid and one. They would not take kindly to a mutt appearing on their door step. Three steps up and I was at their front door. Should I knock? I raised my hand to the painted wood of the door and knocked gently. It was quiet but I knew they heard it. Footfalls behind the door, becoming louder and more rushed.

The door swung open as I was greeted by sharp blue eyes. They were bright and untrusting. I saw his nose twitch and his eyes widened momentarily. I opened my mouth to speak but felt a sudden jolt of pain and everything went black.

The first thing I noticed as the mass jolt of pain from the back of my head. As I came around my other senses began to work. I could smell three distinct wolf trails that were recent, then the sharp cold on my back and finally total silence. I opened on a eye a crack, my vision was blurred but I already knew I was alone so I opened them both and was greeted by a single dim light hanging from the ceiling. Sitting up I realised what the cold on my back was, thick metal bars. A cage? It made sense. The cage was bare apart from a toilet and a mattress that I was sat on. The rest of the room was shadowed; I could make out a chair and some steps that presumably went into the house. That was assuming that the cage was in their basement, I could be in a underground bunker miles away from the house.

After what felt like hours of sitting and waiting the door opened. Three figures entered. Two stayed back in the shadow out of sight while the third stepped into the light, the Alpha. Elena.

She was athletically built with long platinum blond hair that had almost unnoticeable white streaks showing that she was aging. Her face was fair with only hint of wrinkles at her eyes and lips. She looked as if she was just out of her thirties but looks can be deceiving. Her eyes were kind yet cautious. Defiantly not the blues that greeted me at the door. I brushed my dark hair way from my eyes as she began to circle the cage. Yes, it made me incredibly uncomfortable but I had to endure. Once she had returned to her previous position my shoulders relaxed, a bit.

"Why are you here?" I glanced up at her expectant face, the question was the first of many but I had to take this one step at a time.

"I- " My voice croaked, I stopped and swallowed trying to moisten my dry mouth. "I came to ask to join the Pack."

A snort came from the shadows, one of the previously silent figures. Elena glanced that way, her face impassive.

"Okay, next question; when were you bitten?" Her gaze was constant but not harsh, the kind of Alpha that was firm but fair. I closed my eyes attempting to think aback and calculate roughly how long ago it was.

"Erm, about fourteen years ago." Surprise flashed across her face so fast I wasn't sure it had been there in the first place. I suppose it made sense, the Pack had records and my father had been so careful in keeping me safe that I probably wasn't in them.

"How did you survive?" A small look of concern spread across her face.

"My Dad, he bit me, he looked after me and raised me and kept me safe." Elena looked at me sceptically, did she not believe me?

"What was your father's name?"

"James Greene." I answered; I noticed recognition in her eyes. So she knew him, or at least of him.

"Why are you here instead of being with him?" Drawled a voice from the shadows. Clayton. My father told me about him, the very thought of the stories told made me shudder.

"He… he died. He was protecting me from another wolf. This guy caught my scent and… he followed us wherever we went. My dad finally confronted him and he died. I mean he did damage to the other guy which is why I managed to get away with only a couple of scratches." I pulled up one of my sleeves revealing a set of long scars, then I lifted my top a little to show the similar scars on my abdomen. Once my shirt was back in place I returned my gaze to Elena.

"What's your name?"

"Sam, Samantha Greene." She nodded and swiftly left the room quickly followed by the other two figures.

After about an hour of waiting I relaxed onto the mattress and I realised how truly tired I really was. Soon I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

I was jolted awake by a swift yet controlled kick to my side. I looked up at the figure that loomed over me. There was not malice in her blue eye but what looked more like boredom. I sat up and she moved away giving me a better look at her. She was tall and had the same slender, toned build as her mother. Yet her tight messy curls were the same as what she had imagined to be Claytons. This must be Kate, the first hereditary female. I sat up slowly, she just watched me with more curiosity than anything.

I then noticed that the cage door was wide open but I made no move towards it, I wanted to be one of them, they had to trust me. Kate looked from me to the door and back again, she released a heavy sigh and motioned towards the door.

"If ya wanna stay in the cage feel free but the food is getting cold. Sat all alone in the kitchen, hoping that someone will-" At the mention of food I jolted to a standing position but then stopped. "Go on." She encouraged.

I nodded and slowly left the cage and followed the light coming from the door. I could hear Kate behind me, I didn't like it when people were behind me, it's a wolf thing, but I just continued forward. I had to.

Soon I found myself in a wall decorated hallway. I followed my nose to the kitchen where as promised there was a large stack of food. It took every ounce of self control to not run over and devour the whole spread. Kate walked a head of me and grabbed a highly stacked plate, after handing it to me she took one for herself and pointed in the direction of the dinning room.

Inside was a table stacked with food and there were four people sat at the table. Elena sat at the head, to her right was Clay, to her left was an older looking man with black hair tinged with grey, his eyes were almost slanted giving the impression he had some oriental blood in him, Jeremy the previous Alpha, beside him was another female with red hair that was mostly white and a kind yet aged face. She wasn't a wolf meaning that she was Jamie, Jeremy's mate. They continued eating as Kate sat down, she waved me over and I sat down next to her. I could feel their eyes upon me. I began to eat slowly but soon hunger took over and I wolfed it down, no pun intended. After I finished I looked up at Elena, she was watching me with a smile.

"So, Sam according to our records James Greene does have a child, a Sam Greene. A young man estimated at nineteen or twenty now." I couldn't help a snort and tried to stifle my laugh. "Sam?"

"Sorry, that what my father had hoped. When I was young he dressed me as a boy. No one new the difference, until I hit puberty, then I was biologically able to reproduce, that is when we went underground. I was about fourteen. By then I was becoming developed and my scent started to attract attention."

After the dishes were cleaned I was summoned to the study. Elena motioned for me to sit, so I planted myself down on the leather couch. She appeared to be looking through her records on the mutts. I noticed my dad's sheet on top of the rest.

"On the surface your story checks out, considering you are female it would be safer for you to be here. So, here's what I'm going to do; you can stay with us on a trial period. During which we will decide whether we can trust you enough to join the pack fully. Sound fair?" I nodded emphatically, this was perfect, I just needed to prove myself then I would be a full fledged pack wolf. What could go wrong?

Suddenly, the door flung open and someone burst into the study.

Logan.