My sixteenth birthday was a hard day for me.
While most wolves could shift skins, I still had nothing. Wishing and hoping was all I had.
I was sure I would be disappointed no matter what, but I couldn’t help but pray that the next day would be the day it happened.
On the bright side, Coda was still training me, regardless of my inability to shift into a wolf or my lack of any wolf skills whatsoever.
The fight, nearly five months ago, had helped.
While any other master would probably have scolded and punished their apprentice for harming another pack member, Coda was thrilled with my show of skill.
When he’d learned about the damage I had done, he had taken me out for ice cream, and from that day forward he allowed me to spar with the other apprentices.
I won as often as I lost, which Grey said was impressive, all things considered. Coda, on the other hand, wasn’t so satisfied.
He started correcting my form and giving me tips during our one-on-one sessions, but he also started adding one thing in his instructions that was a wrong choice.
I had to figure out what it was by myself, which often took several rounds that ended in me kissing the ground before I figured it out.
Sometimes I needed to use an uppercut instead of a left hook, or I needed to lead with my left foot rather than my right. I was getting better at it, and faster.
My brain worked fast at deciphering alignment and calculating speed, strength, and range.
I slammed my fist against Coda’s chest, but he didn’t flinch. He stepped back and glared down at me. “What did I tell you?”
I sighed and lightly pounded my fist on my forehead. “The quickest way to the heart is through the fourth and fifth rib.”
“So why did you hit me between the third and fourth?” he demanded.
“I couldn’t get a clear shot,” I protested. I thought that hitting him anywhere was better than nothing.
“Then get a clear shot, Cleo. Make me expose myself.”
“I still hit you. You would have been wounded, and then I would have had a clear shot.”
“Maybe,” he conceded. His eyes flashed and he took a menacing step toward me, making me take several backward in return.
“Or maybe your knife would have gotten stuck in my ribs.”
He advanced another step.
“And since the blade didn’t pierce my heart, I am still very much alive and able to pull the knife out of myself and use it against you.”
Before I could blink, he motioned ripping a dagger from his side and he drove the underside of his fist into my chest, right where I should have struck him.
Without withdrawing his fist, he stared deep into my eyes.
“So maybe you would have killed them. Or maybe you might have given them a weapon to kill you.”
He dropped his hand and stepped away. “Either way, getting it through the fourth and fifth rib is instant death, which ensures they cannot kill you.
“Don’t take unnecessary risks, Cleo. It will get you killed.”
All my lessons continued in much the same way. Unless I did it perfectly, it wasn’t good enough.
Close enough wasn’t enough, and gravely injured wasn’t dead.
I practiced harder in my free time, sometimes asking Grey if I could practice on him. As time went on, I got better. More often than not, I beat the apprentices.
But no matter how much I improved, I could never best Coda.
Some days I got a few hits in, which did impress him, but that was the extent of it.
One day, when he lost a bet with me, Coda took me along on a border patrol with the other apprentices.
He had bet me that, with my sprained ankle, I wouldn’t be able to take out Gabe and Sylva at the same time.
He had done it to teach me a lesson: that there was such a thing as overtraining, and I needed to take care of myself and heal before jumping back in.
I had refused to miss my practice for the day, so he set me up for failure with the two wolves who hated me most.
He accepted, on the condition that if I lost I would be the only pack member chopping and stacking wood for three weeks.
I gave everything I had in the fight, remembering all of the cruel things they had said and done to me and using my anger as fuel. I had won, but I did not escape unharmed.
Finally, I was walking the borders with the other wolves. They were all in wolf form, apprentices included, using their heightened senses to scent any unwanted presence in our territory.
While they scented for intruders, I looked for signs like broken branches, pawprints, or tufts of fur that didn’t belong to my pack.
It had rained yesterday, making the ground mushy, which was excellent for leaving prints.
The other wolves were on edge, but so far we had not found any trace of intruders.
“Coda!” I called out to the gray wolf, who stopped and twisted around. I gestured toward some ferns that had been trampled.
The beta trotted over to me while I moved the ferns aside to reveal a set of prints. Coda sniffed them and growled. “Not one of ours?” I guessed. He ducked his head in a nod.
“There’s only one set of tracks, so I’m guessing it’s a lone wolf.”
Barking sounded from up ahead, and in a flash Coda whirled and dashed off in the other direction, leaving me alone as the other wolves followed him.
“Okay, I’ll be fine,” I called after them. “I’ll catch up to you. You go ahead.”
I sounded ridiculous talking to myself and sulking that they had left me behind while they confronted whatever or whoever was out there.
I crouched and traced the prints with my hand. Something was not right. I looked from the prints to the ones Coda had left.
The ones in front of me were much deeper, as if many paws had walked in them.
I cursed under my breath. There was more than one wolf. They had been following in the leader’s tracks to disguise their numbers.
For all I knew, there could be just two, but I had a gut feeling that this was a rogue pack looking for a fight.
My human nose caught a whiff of a musky scent. It must have been strong if even I was able to detect it.
Or it was because there were a lot of them and they were close by?
But that would mean that they were all right—
“Shit!” I exclaimed and jumped up from my position. I sprinted in the direction the other wolves had gone.
“Coda, there’s more of them. It’s a trap! He’s leading you into an amb—”
The breath was knocked out of me by a large form colliding with me and tackling me to the ground.
Heat surrounded me as the wolf that attacked me opened its jaws to silence me with a bone-crushing bite.
I grasped at its jaws to pry them open and push the wolf away from me as it tried to bite me again.
My hands slipped and I twisted my neck to the side, leaving the wolf biting at empty air where my throat had been moments before. I grunted as I freed my arm and punched the wolf in the side of the head.
It howled and dug its claws into my shoulder. I cried out and reached for the silver dagger in my boot.
I plunged my weapon into its rib cage and immediately heard the sound of burning flesh from the silver in its body.
The rogue howled in pain, and I was able to push it off me to yank out the dagger and plant it in its skull. I was on my feet in an instant, ripping out the dagger as I went.
I turned in time to see a sandy-brown colored wolf sailing through the air straight at me.
I dropped to the ground and pulled my legs to my chest, then pushed them out with all my might as the wolf made contact and sent it flying backward over me.
It landed on its back with a soft thud on the forest ground. It flailed around, getting to its feet, and I noticed straight away that it slightly favored its left paw.
It growled, raising its hackles, and jumped at me. I spun to the side but let my dagger hand remain outstretched so I could bury the knife in its neck.
The fur around its neck darkened with the sticky red blood that flowed from the open wound.
While the wolf was distracted by the pain, I slammed my weight into its left shoulder, throwing it off balance. I smashed the hilt of my dagger against its injured paw and it yelped.
I drove my dagger through the wolf’s ribs, killing it instantly.
Two more wolves emerged from their cover in the foliage and began to circle me.
They planned to take me together, and I wasn’t going to survive if they did. I vowed to take at least one of them down with me, though.
They pounced at the same time. The tawny-pelted wolf aimed for my injured shoulder, which had been punctured by the first wolf. I was sent crashing onto my side, where the other wolf was waiting.
I did my best to fend them off, but my body was getting tired and they were much larger and stronger than the other wolves.
As I was crushed to the ground and felt teeth clamp into my shoulder, three different wolves came into view. They stood back in the trees a distance away.
Their muzzles were bloodied and their coats were speckled with blood like they had just been in a ferocious battle.
These wolves weren’t normal wolves. In fact, they weren’t even werewolves. There was something serene about them.
The first wolf was a rusty brownish-red color, almost like a fox, a coloring I had never seen before on a wolf.
Beside it was a tawny-and-gray colored wolf with two different colored eyes, one brown, the other a milky blue.
The third wolf was a white and dusty color, a little lighter than the tawny wolf. They were all watching me, and none of them moved to help. An even bigger wolf stepped forward from behind.
I thought his pelt looked black, but I wasn’t quite sure because his coat was giving off a dark blue sheen. It wasn’t a navy blue, it wasn’t that dull. It was more like a midnight blue.
I was so wrapped up in deciphering what color it was that I didn’t realize help was on its way.
A series of enraged howls sounded and paws stepped into my vision.
The heavy weight on me was lifted as the wolf that had me pinned was flung off me. The stampede of paws rushed past me to take on the other wolves.
I didn’t move from my position but continued to look at the odd wolves, who were observing what was happening.
Rough hands shook me, but I ignored them. I was too entranced with the other wolves, the bluish-black one in particular.
“Cleo, Cleo!” The wolf shaking me was calling out my name. “Goddammit, Cleo, respond!”
“Who are they?” I asked, and then I blacked out.
