PROLOGUE

Something was coming.

Ghost pawed at the door to no avail. His nails dug deep into the wood with every hit. The door creaked and groaned but did not give any ground.

Ghost knocked his head back and howled at the roof of the man's den. His other half's den.

His other half had been furious. Ghost could feel his other half's emotions flowing like the blood from a fresh kill.

Ghost howled again.

Someone was banging on the door.

Ghost sniffed the air once and then twice.

This was not his man, his other half.

"Shut up will ya," the voice barked. And the banging stopped.

Ghost was growing anxious. He could feel his other half growing anxious.

Ghost leapt back at the door with a bark.

Ghost had always been the quietest of his litter mates. The rest of the pack liked to play more, make noises more. But not Ghost. Ghost took after his other half. Ghost was quiet and let little show.

But not now.

Something was happening.

Something was terribly wrong.

Ghost barked again. Dragging nails deep into the wood.

There were other men outside the man's den. Howling and barking at one another.

One of the men he recognized. It was his man's, his other half.

Ghost clawed at the door. Ghost tried tearing his teeth through the door like the neck of an elk.

The door was cracking like under foot ice. His muzzle was bloody and stung. It didn't matter. All that mattered was his other half.

And then it happened.

Ghost broke through the door and felt it.

A strange emptiness filled Ghost. It was not unlike the emptiness he had felt when his other litter mates had left this world. No, this was deeper. And it was wrong.

Ghost howled.

And then it happened.

Ghost felt the connection another mind in his own. Thoughts that were not his. Feelings that were not his. They belonged to his other half.

Ghost tore across the man den. The first man he came across was dressed in black. Ghost pounced.

The man whined.

Ghost went for the throat.

When the man went quiet, Ghost began again. Dashing through the man den. Until finally he was outside.

The yard was chaos.

The big man was smashing through the wall throwing men dressed in black against the rock walls. He even stepped on a cowering man covered in steel skin.

The wild men were running after the big man. Barking and howling at the men in black.

Their shining claws growled at one another.

There was blood. Ghost smelled it. This man den reeked of man blood.

And then he smelled it.

His man's blood. His other half.

His other half inside of him was barking. He was angry. So Ghost was angry.

Ghost wasted no time. Diving straight into the herd of men in black. They were startled and scared. Good, his other half whispered.

The fight wasn't a long one.

Ghost was in pain.

Surrounded and missing a paw.

He couldn't get up.

The big man and the free men have fled the man's den. While the men with hard shells and the men in black surrounded Ghost. His other half recognized most of them. They had been his other half's pack.

And his other half was raging. Urging Ghost to stand. To kill.

It was too painful and Ghost let out a growl and barred his teeth. Some of the men shrunk back into the growing herd.

Then she pushed through. It wasn't only his other half who recognized this woman. Ghost recognized this woman as well.

She was wrong.

Ghost whined in fear.

He could feel men pulling on his back legs. Dragging him through the snow.

That's when Ghost saw his other half. Laying down in the snow. Blood was leaking passed his black garb.

The men in black kept dragging Ghost into he no longer felt the snow beneath him. He was on the man's floor.

The woman in red was barking something. His other half was terrified. Begging, pleading with Ghost to stand up. To fight. To run. To do anything.

He couldn't.

That's when he felt the heat. And everything was glowing brighter. Something was shining red around the red women's throat. The men were howling something.

One of the men was trying to barrel through.

Ghost recognized this one's smell.

His other half recognized the man's howling.

They felt sad for the man.

He was sad for them too.

Men in black held him back from the growing heat.

And Ghost howled as the fire consumed both him and his other half.

Ghost opened his red eyes and scanned the surrounding woodlands.

He was no longer in the man's den.

And his other half was no longer in Ghost's head. His other half was laying in the snow next to Ghost. His other half was breathing, alive.

Ghost rose on all four paws and howled at the broken moon.