Disclaimer: I do not own any of the World of Darkness terminology. I do however own most the characters. The only ones I don't own are owned by my rp buddies.

Text meaning: BOLD = First Tongue/ Italics = thoughts / Underlined = emphasis

Chapter 1: The Sacred Place

A wolf set off silently amongst the trees and snow. He moved with a silence that was downright spooky, even in the snow he left only the faintest of tracks, he neither howled nor growled, his breathing quite relaxed, not a sound was made as he made his way through the woods. Not a single beast or creature heard him as he made his way silently up the hill to a place few people knew of.

The wolf was black, straight black. Not dark brown or dark grey, but black. His body seems rather thin for a wolf but all it did was conceal the powerful muscles he really had. His eye were odd for a wolf as they seemed to be almost human in color, a slight grey-blue and they seem to look as if he held the weight of the world in them.

He continued his silent trek up the hill. As he crest the hill and made to turn towards a valley that was almost impossible to see from his vantage point, he stopped and turned his head back, straining his senses to their fullest to check out the surrounding area. He paused and felt a silent growl rise up as he heard something stalking towards him.

He stopped his growl and glared at the creature that appeared before him. Another wolf stalked up behind him, trying but failing to keep herself silent. Most would find this wolf to be downright beautiful and even the he-wolf found himself thinking that she had a striking look about her. She was completely white and had the illusion of shimmering silver pass across her fur. Her eyes were also odd for a wolf, as they appeared to be pale grey human eyes. She was thin as though she was underfed, although, she had come a long way since the incident. She stalked silently up next to him and looked deeply into his eyes.

The he-wolf stiffened and looked poised to strike. His growl returned, as he felt his anger rise in his throat. He paused to calm himself, than the he-wolf glared at the she-wolf. "Why do you stalk me?" the black wolf growled in an ancient tongue. His anger was almost palpable, he really wasn't mad at her, but he was going to his place damnit. He shook his head to get rid of the anger and looked back her.

She looked at him downcast "I'm sorry. I don't want to be lone wolf." He caught her meaning, the ancient language is hard to get across sometimes. He didn't want to be followed and she didn't want to be alone, but sometimes the words weren't in the language. It was impossible to speak English in the "Urhan" (wolf) form. He thought it over; she never wanted to be far from him, ever. With what happened to her he didn't really blame her, but damn could he get more than 5 minutes to himself.

He expelled his breath in the wolf equivalent of a sighed and let his anger pass. No, she couldn't be alone, after the incident he had only barely saved her from herself and those THINGS. He thought it over, he could really wait, but the snow was new and he really wanted to enjoy it. He came to a decision, "If you can stalk me further, I'll allow you to stalk. Howl to no other of this place. It is important to me."

She nodded and looked downcast, she didn't want to disturb what he was going to do, but she doesn't want to be alone. She didn't know if she could ever be alone, after the things she was put through. She still had the scars. Not the physical ones, those disappear with her inhuman healing. No the ones only she can be with, the thoughts that invaded her in every moment she was alone. She nodded her head to him and followed her savior as he rounded down the valley.

After 10 or so minutes of hiking something hit her. It was small at first, but she felt a probing in the back of her head telling her she wasn't allowed there. She continued to follow the he-wolf; he seemed completely unfazed as he silently stalked ahead. It wasn't bad; than a second wave of the feeling hit her pretty strong, she nearly staggered as a small headache from the feeling erupted inside her. The he-wolf still was unfazed as he moved ahead. She slowly fell behind him until finally a third wave, more powerful than the other two combined, slammed into her. The feeling felt almost like a burning fire inside her; she felt the want, no, the need to leave. She was about to turn and bolt when she saw the he-wolf staring at her.

"Not much further," the he-wolf growled in the old tongue, "The feeling will leave shortly."

She plowed through, if he could take whatever this was, so could she, but every time she looked he seemed like he didn't even know of the feeling. In fact, she thought he might not know at all, except he told her it would be relieved soon. 'Maybe he is just use to it,' she thought to herself. She nearly crawled another 20 yards, than, in an instant it was gone, as though it wasn't even there at all. Another 10 yards put the two wolves in a clearing.

There, the he-wolf changed and stood up on two legs, his human form was not much different from his wolf form; he wore a black button up dress shirt with black slacks, black socks and black steel-toed boots. He had a knee-length black jacket and some matching black gloves, his eyes the same blue-grey as his wolf form, while his hair was black. He had a thin, but well toned body, he was a tan that might have been some vague Indian blood, or he spent too much time in the sun. He looked at her and smiled a weary smile. He picked up some snow and threw it at her.

She shook off the white dusting, and changed herself to her own Hishu (human) form. Her silver blond hair flowed down to her shoulder blades, her sad grey eyes stood out against her almost ghost like complexion. Although she wore a similar black coat to his, she was dressed in just blue jeans and a pale red sweater; her boots and gloves a light brown color. She picked up some snow and they had a little snow fight to help break the mood.

"What was that feeling, and why did you seem unfazed by it," she whispered eventually, her back leaning against one of the many trees in the small enclosure.

He just looked at her for a minute considering her question closely; she would need to know if she tried to follow him again. It really wasn't that he was use to it, it just didn't trigger against him. After a minute he said, "You aren't allowed to be here, Palepaw," he said each word slowly, like each one had a deeper meaning behind it. "The reason I am unaffected by it is because I set forth a rite to compel anyone or anything, from entering this clearing. It's the same on the other side, though obviously the trees are allowed to be here. In fact, I had to get their permission to create the ward in the first place. The only person that has access to this part of the woods is me." He looked deeply at the massive tree that was dominating the enclosure.

Palepaw took a moment to look around, the clearing was small maybe only 20 yards in diameter, and in the middle was a massive tree. However, the area appeared to be well kept. A small chest lay next to the tree and she eyed it closely, but didn't move for fear arousing the other wolfs anger. "What is this place, Shadowfoot?"

"A place more important to me than anywhere else. A place that I risk pissing off the other packs in the area just to have it," Shadowfoot replied cryptically, "It is a place for me to be alone and think, a place where I am safe to relax and let my defenses drop. This is my place." All this was said in almost a loving way, after he finished he instantly shifted into his wolf form and start rolling around and playing in the snow.

She couldn't help it, she laughed. He was acting like a little cub who just discovered their first snow. She never saw him like this; he was always serious, always thinking or watching for something to happen. He never relaxed and just let himself be him. It was endearing to her; she switched forms and joined him in playing the snow.

After awhile they shifted back and laid in the snow in silence. After a while Shadowfoot broke the silence, "Most hunters have a place like this, like an area where they can let go the troubles of the world and just be. This is mine, and you must not let anyone know this place, not even the rest of my pack when you finally meet them. You have access here and even that is limited to only when I am also here. The ward would not of let you through otherwise." He looked at her seriously. He was stuck with her, whether he liked or not, not that he didn't like her, he truly loved her like he loved his pack mates. But with the incident, Shadowfoot knew that Palepaw only had him in the world. He was the only one to raise a hand to save her from those things, the only person who seem to genuinely care for her. Right now he was her entire world and he had to accept that. No matter how much he wanted to be alone.

She stared at her savior as her eyes filled with hope. He trusted her with this massive secret of his. A secret so big that he has even warded the area from others, and kept it from even his pack. No one had trusted her before the incident and not a single person did afterward. How could they? After all, who could trust someone who was supposed to become the incarnation of deception itself. In fact, she used that very power to try and get out of the incident that tied her to that power in the first place. And even that, she only barely got out. If it hadn't been for her savior, Shadowfoot, she most certainly would have died.

At that moment Palepaw swore upon her soul that no matter what, she would do whatever she could to help Shadowfoot in anything that ever arose to challenge him. If he went into the very depths of hell, than she would be there right by his side. After all, it was he who pulled her out of hell. She smiled and looked seriously at her companion and said, "I promise Shadowfoot. I swear upon pain of death and dishonor that I shall forever protect your secret and your sacred place." He looked at her and smiled.

His face visibly relaxed and he smiled back at her, "Well, let's lay down some ground rules while we're here. When we're here we shall not speak of any problem or crisis that is happening. This is a place of relaxation; it is where I, and now you, can come to gather up thoughts and ideas. But mostly it is a place to be safe and relax. Now I must introduce you to The Great One," Shadowfoot told her, as he gestured to the enormous tree, "We will have to step across the gauntlet to meet her. Mind your manners, although The Great One is kind, she is an ancient spirit and has had many millennia to gather allies." He then stood and gazed just as he was getting prepped to cross the threshold into shadow he felt an intense pain suddenly shot across his eye.

"Damnit," He yelled as he collapsed to his knees clutching his right eye. Palepaw immediately rushed to his side, trying to see what she could do to help. She than saw his eye through his fingers, it had shifted from its normal blue-grey, to a deep almost shadowed purple. The sclera was a deep blood red, as though he had popped a blood vessel. She felt a wash of supernatural energy rush from his hands to his eye, the color slowly changed back to normal. The red withdrew towards the iris and as it reached the iris, the purple started to drain back to it's blue-grey. The only way for her to describe what she saw would be to say that it was almost like the center of the eye was sucking the color into it. He sighed and gather to climbed unsteadily to his feet, Palepaw there to keep him from falling.

"Damn Azlu," he said to himself more than to her, "and fuck Steelskin, I wouldn't be surprised if he planned on this affecting me this way." He shook his head and tried to force the remaining pain away. Palepaw looked at him oddly, but said nothing. Either he would tell her about it or not, either way he was fine now.

"Sorry about that. Now let's go," Shadowfoot said. Although he looked pale, she thought better than to suggest doing it later. If he thought that this was a safe place, than he wasn't going to stop just because his eye acted up. She nodded and together they crossed the Gauntlet to the shadow world.

A/N Time:

Yay! Finally got my first chapter of my first fanfic done. Ok, first thing first. Yes they are werewolves. Most of everything that will in this story will be werewolves, though some of the minor characters I have planned will be other supernal creatures. Now these are World of Darkness werewolves, they have multiple forms but in this chapter they either needed human or wolf. If you like review, if you don't like, well screw you I write for my enjoyment not yours. This will be rated M so yes there will be sexual innuendo as well as brutal graphic detail. Take that into consideration when you review, for the first few chapters it will be light but as I get deeper it will get darker. It's called World of Darkness for a reason you know. My rp buddies and i use first tongue in a a kind of wolf like english, some words like follow, are replace with stalk, were as words like alone or lonely don't even have a variation and must have whole terms like 'Lone Wolf' to describe them.

On to follow up disclaimer, I only own the characters Shadowfoot, Palepaw, and Windwatcher, as well as most of the other characters. Steelskin, Righteous Fury, and Bandit-who-walk-on-still-moon-play-good-song-on-rainy-day (yeah I know it's a ridiculous name but he demanded I use the full name in the disclaimer, he will be known as Bandit for the most part) are owned by my werewolf pack/rp buddies. Please enjoy and I will try to update at least once a week. : )