This ended up being better received than I had thought it would so as long as people are enjoying it, I'll continue it for as long as I'm able to. Thank you to those that read and reviewed the prologue. So without any further ado let's move on to the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story except for the OCS. The others belong to Darren Shan, the wonderful creator of this amazing world.


Chapter 1

After he'd released her from the trap, he'd shifted back into his wolf form and carefully led her back to the stream, watching over her as she slowly drank. Indicating that she should wait there, Mika had gone off to hunt. Any other time, he would relish the thrill of stalking prey through the undergrowth, the softness of the soil beneath his paws, the sound of the wind as it rustled the leaves in the trees over-head, the scents of the birds and animals that came from countless directions, but now he was single-minded in his determination to help a fellow wolf, one that was injured. Normally, wolves would only help members of their own packs, outsiders were rarely treated with just generosity and compaction, but there was just something about her, this single solitary female, that had interested him. Many questions crossed his mind as he hunted, but the most important one had to do with the whereabouts of her pack. In the last few generations, females were becoming a rarity, one female born to ever twenty or so males, so for a pack to cast out such a blessing was beyond his understanding.

Before long he returned to her with a rabbit he'd caught. He placed it before her and nudged it towards her, indicating that she should take it. She shook her head and took a tentative step back, knowing that the kill was his and that he should've taken it. He growled lightly and nudged it towards her again. They repeated this process a few more times before she acquiesced. She had eaten only a little of it before stopping and nudging it back to him, he growled lightly and nudged it back to her, telling her to eat more. She shook her head and shank to the ground, her injured leg stretched slightly away from her body, an irritated look on her face. She kept glancing from the rabbit to him, tilting her head. He huffed, knowing that she wouldn't be satisfied until he had eaten a little of it. As he ate a few bites, she got up and hobbled over to him, waiting for him to be finished. When he turned to look at him, she rubbed against him, thanking him for sharing his kill, licking his face and muzzle clean. He stiffened for a second but let her do what she wanted.

It had been a long time since someone had done something like this for him. On the rare occasions when he would accompany others on group hunts, they were too afraid of his position to really get close to him. Sure they did their parts during the hunt and they let him take what he wanted from the kill when they caught something, but none of them had taken the time to help clean him and make sure he wasn't injured as they would do with each other. He would watch them, and though he would deny it if he was ever asked, he was envious of the relationship they all seemed to have with each other, of the care they were more willing to show to ones of their own rank. It was in small moments like this that he hated being an alpha in training when he just wanted to be one of them, wanting to escape such responsibilities and titles when they were in the woods.

Mika was pulled from his thoughts as she was finishing up cleaning him, and when he returned the favor of cleaning her face, her tail wagging slightly. After he finished, he padded around her until he was in front of her wounded leg. Glancing at her to make sure it was ok, he started licking the wound clean. She gave a small whimper of pain but didn't stop him, though she did have difficulty trying to stand still, fighting against the instinct to pull her wound away from him. When he finished, she tentatively lowered her leg and tried to put some weight on it. When she tried to take a few steps, the movements stiff and jerky, she almost fell over. Mika was on her other side in an instant, letting her lean against him for support. She tried again, her body shaking slightly from the effort. After stumbling a few more times, she was finally able to walk smoothly. Leaving her to practice on her own, Mika watched from where he lay as she walked around the small clearing, his attention fixated intently on her. He was relieved that she was doing much better than she had hours ago.

The sun was starting to set and it was about time to find some sort of shelter for the night. Normally, he wouldn't have minded sleeping in the open, but he was worried about the she-wolfs condition. He yipped a little to get her attention and when she looked at him with her head tilted in confusion, he shifted into his human form. She hesitated for just a moment before trotting over to him. He crouched until he was eye level with her and spoke for the first time.

"My name is Mika Vur Leth. I know what you are and I want you to know that you can trust me. I'm the son of the alpha of the northern pack. I came here to find you and bring you back to the pack. It's dangerous for a wolf to be alone, there are many dangers that are worse than the creatures of the forest. If a human were to see you, they would try to drive you off, or worse they would hunt you down, capture you at best, kill you at worst. If you come with me, my pack can protect and guide you. But first, I'm going to need you to shift back into human form. I have questions that I need answered and you're the only one who can provide them."

The wolf looked hesitant, but Mika could tell that his words made sense to her. She lowered her head obediently and took a few steps back. Her change wasn't as fluid as his, almost like she hadn't changed forms in a long time. But the time she finished, she was collapsed on the ground on all fours, panting from the exertion. Her skin was pale, spotted with dirt and grime, her long dark hair was clumped and matted, sticking up in wild directions, but when she finally looked up at him, he could see the clarity and intelligence in her clear eyes. Mika wanted to start asking questions but found himself hesitating when he noticed something was missing from the girl, namely her clothing.

Normally, Mika wouldn't have been bothered, he knew of a few in the pack that didn't bother with clothing when they were shifting, nakedness was a part of nature they claimed, but he found it slightly unsettling to be questioning a naked woman in the woods. He felt his face heat up as he glanced away from her. It was one thing for mates to see each other, it was quite another for someone like himself who was unmated and didn't really plan on taking a mate anytime soon.

"Are you ok?"

He started at the voice and a glance out of the corner of his eye confirmed his suspicions that the girl had gotten up and moved closer. She was looking at him intently, trying to look into his face, a slight frown on her face.

"Fine," he muttered. He frowned at himself, his voice sounded thick, like he had something in his throat. He cleared it with a cough and tried again. "I'm fine. I just didn't expect you to be naked, that's all."

She looked down at herself, her frown deepening as if she had only just realized her state of undress before she shrugged. "Not much need for clothing in a place like this. Besides I'm usually in wolf form so I don't really think about things like that."

His wolf rumbled in approval and he frowned at it, telling it to be quiet. He needed to find something for her to wear, but his options were limited. With a sigh at himself, he slipped his shirt off and handed it to her.

"Here," he said, offering her the garment. "It's more acceptable for me to walk around without a shirt then you."

She took it from him with a small thanks and slipped it on. When she was somewhat covered, he looked at her. His shirt came down to her knees and he relaxed slightly. Now they could have a decent conversation. When he mentioned finding a safer place to talk she nodded, telling him to follow her. There was a cave a few miles south of where they were that she had been using as a temporary home and they could shelter there if he wanted. He nodded and she led the way back to her home.

Once they were seated in the cave Mika started asking her basic questions; who was she, where was she from, how long had she been here, did she know she was in another packs territory, things like that. She was quiet for a long time and he was just starting to think that she wasn't going to answer when she sighed. She drew up her knees and began to tell him her story.

"My name is Kaya," she said, her voice low and steady. "I'm not entirely sure how old I am, I've been on my own for a long time. I'm not sure where my pack is or how to find them. I don't know what pack I belong to or if I even had one in the first place. All I know is that when I was a child, I was abandoned somewhere in the woods far from here. Since that day, I learned to hunt and survive on my own. I knew there were others packs but I could never find them and I didn't know where one territory ended and another began, so I just wandered from place to place, trying to keep a low profile and avoid detection. I guess I just wasn't as careful this time around."

She had a sardonic grin on her face when she finished, but Mika had more questions than answers at this point.

"What do you mean by abandoned?" he asked with a frown. "Why would someone abandon their pup?"

Kaya tightened her grip on her knees. "At a young age, I was able to shift between forms," she explained, her voice tight with emotion as she drew her knees closer to herself. "I was maybe, I don't know, five or six when they first started happening. From what I've heard, most don't have their first shift until into their teen years?" She glanced at him for confirmation. When he nodded, she continued. "Because of that, I was labeled unnatural, even by our kind. And so my parents took me deep into the woods, treating it as just another family outing to explore the area, I had fallen asleep after playing and when I woke up, they were gone. I waited in that spot for days, but they never returned. So, I learned how to take care of myself, how to hunt, how to avoid detection, how to avoid large populations of people, things like that. You're actually the first of our kind I've seen in a long, long time."

Mika stared at her, he couldn't help it. Someone as young as she shouldn't have been through such hardships. She should've had a normal life, surrounded by friends and family to guide her, a stable home to go back to.

For a long time, neither said anything. What could one say after hearing a story like that? The sun had set some time ago, the forest coming alive as the creatures of the night began to stir in the darkness. Somewhere to their left, an owl hooted, and small mammals scampered through the undergrowth. There were bigger crashes as deer moved around before bedding down for the night. Kaya yawned and Mika too realized how tired he was. It had been a long day for both of them and it was finally catching up with them. They both spread put a little, attempting to get more comfortable.

Kaya was laying on her side, an arm under her head, her other arm draped across her body. Her mouth was open slightly, her breathing even as she drifted off to sleep. Mika studied her from where he lay in the darkness, his eyes easily finding her form in the dim light of the almost full moon. Her face looked so peaceful and young in sleep, if it wasn't for her filthy appearance, Mika thought that this could just be a normal outing with any member of his pack. He knew that soon, he would have to take her back to his pack, but how was he going to explain her story when he didn't even understand it himself? He shook his head, a better question was would she be ok surrounded by so many new faces all at once after being alone for so long.

We can protect her, his wolf told him. As alpha, we have a duty to protect her.

Mika frowned. "We aren't an alpha," he told the wolf. "At least, not yet. Maybe someday if something happens to my father or I go off to start a pack of my own. Right now, there's not much we can do, but you're right about one thing, we need to protect her. Until she can stand on her own anyway."

The wolf huffed in displeasure but agreed that he had a point. Right now, all they could do was wait and see how the next few days turned out. If all went according to plan, Mika would meet back up with his pack and help Kaya find some sense of normality and companionship that every wolf needed.


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