Prologue

-Bialowieza Forest, Poland-

-Early 1700’s-

Alameda Kalt, (Aly to those closest to her) looked up at the bright full moon. The mist that only she and others like her could see, swirled around the bright circular shape of the moon. She has always felt that if she reached out enough, she could touch the edges of the moon.

She heard a yip and looked down at her pack, who were wrestling each other, under the pale moon. She wasn’t changing tonight. She preferred to watch the others, as they roughhoused and chased each other around the thick woods.

Something dark and luminescing, lingered in the air. She breathed in and shook her head. She has been feeling it for months now. The time was coming near.

She has plans to keep her pack safe, but how long will that last? One of the pups ran up to her. She knows them all by name.

“Serene, why aren’t you playing with the others?” Aly asked as she bent down to the pup.

Serene was only six, so her wolf was so small, Aly could pick her up, and she did. Serene licked Aly’s cheek and made her laugh.

“Is your brother picking on you again?”

Serene let out a whimper and Aly sighed. Serene’s brother, who was five winters older than her, felt it was his duty to tease his little sister, mercilessly.

“You tell Keir, that if he doesn’t leave you alone, he will have me to deal with.”

The pup yelped with excitement as she wagged her tail, then wiggled to be set down. Aly set the pup on her paws and smiled when she ran into the forest, in search of her brother.

Aly turned when she felt a cold nose on her shoulder. A large wolf stared her in the eyes. The grey eyes stared at her, intensely. The coat of the wolf was a dark tan color, the wolf’s paws were large and planted firmly on the ground.

“Hello, Autor.” Aly said with a smile as she laid her hand on her cousin’s large head.

The wolf bumped her again with her nose.

“I’m not changing tonight.” Aly said as she looked up at the moon again.

The warm air that was blown in her face, was wet. Aly wrinkled her nose as she wiped her face with her hands.

Autor whimpered, wanting to know why.

“Things will come into play, soon. For now, I want to just watch you and the others.”

That didn’t seem to satisfy her young cousin, but the wolf nodded her large head, then slumped down onto the ground, as if to say, ‘Then I’ll watch with you.’

“As you wish.” Aly said with a smile as she sat on the ground beside the large wolf.

Being a werewolf has always been dangerous, but it was getting even more so, with the fighting packs, and the domination. Every pack has an Alpha, and every Alpha has a pack. Whether the wolf is born into the pack, or bitten, they are all the same.

Except that those born a werewolf, are more powerful and can change on will. Whereas, one who has been bitten, only changes on the three cycles of the full moon. The day before, the day of, and the day after.

Sometimes, she has found one changing on the new moon. But she calms them, and they stop the change.

Her family goes back generations. She comes from a long line of Alpha’s and nothing made her prouder. An Alpha is always the strongest of the pack, but they can also be challenged. Her pack has never challenged her; they have lived in harmony, for so long.

But something was about to change all that, and soon. She felt it in her bones. She sat there in the middle of their forest with her cousin at her side, as they waited for morning to come.

When morning came, Aly found herself cuddled against her cousin’s soft fur. She moved off her cousin and turned to watch the girl change back to her human form. She smiled when she watched the light brown hair fall over Autor’s body. So different from her own dark hair.

Autor stretched, then smiled at her cousin, her grey eyes sparkling in the morning sun. “Morning.” She said in her too chipper voice.

“Good morning.” Aly said with a smile.

“Have the others returned?” Autor asked as she sat up.

“Not yet.” Aly said with a shake of her head.

“I’m going to go get dressed and get me some breakfast.” Autor said as she got to her feet.

Aly smiled as the young girl turned and walked away, totally naked, and unbothered. She turned when she heard footsteps. The others were heading back to their dwellings as well, all restless and full of fire.

“Have a good run?” Aly asked as she got to her feet.

“Wish you had joined us.” Dermont said as he walked up to her, totally naked and unashamed.

“I am sorry, I had a lot on my mind.” Aly said with a smile.

“Monty just wanted to see if he could finally pin you.” A tall, muscular man said as he walked up behind Dermont and ruffled his hair.

“Someday I just might.” Dermont said as he brushed the man’s hand out of his hair. He paused when he saw the look on Aly’s face. “Are you okay, Cousin?”

Aly shook her head, then smiled at the boy. “I am just fine. Let’s head up for breakfast.”

Breakfast was the same as every morning, after a change. Full of naked people and lots of food.

“You would think they would have gotten that energy out of them last night.” A short, plump woman said, as she sat down next to Aly.

“You would think.” Aly said with a warm smile.

The human was one of few, who were a part of her pack. She was married to her Uncle, and the mother of her cousins, Autor and Dermont. She loved the woman dearly and thought of her as blood. She was the closest thing she had to a mother; since hers had been killed by a hunter, many moons ago.

“Okay, listen up.” Her uncle shouted over the roar of the werewolves, as they talked about their shenanigans of the night before.

“Listen.” Aly growled to her pack.

Everyone stopped talking and turned to her uncle. He paused to give her a smile before he continued to address the group. “We have a hard winter coming on us, and everyone needs to be prepared. That means you as well.” He said when he saw the tall muscular man rise to his feet.

“Yes, sir.” The man said with a nod before he left.

Aly watched her uncle sigh. “As I was saying. Long, hard winter. So, everyone needs to pull their own weight, or I will see you all hanging by your tails…” He stopped talking when everyone began talking again.

Aly gave her Uncle an apologetic smile.

“I give up.” He said under his breath.

“You know they will do as they need.” Aly said as she took hold of his hand when he passed her.

He smiled down at her and patted her shoulder. He never ran with the pack when they changed. He always stayed with his wife. During the winters, those were probably the best sleep her Aunt got. With a large wolf to snuggle against for warmth.

Aly walked into the cabin her cousin shared with the rest of her family. She had something she needed to tell the young girl before it was too late.

She didn’t know how to start.

“Autor.”

“Aly!” Autor said happily as she flung her arms around her cousin’s neck.

Aly smiled as she hugged her back. She had been gone for a few days, trying to figure things out. She knows something is going to happen to her, but she doesn’t know how, what, or when. And she needed to prepare her beta, her second in command.

“I need to talk to you.” Aly said as she backed away from the young girl.

“What’s going on, Aly? You’ve been acting strangely for months.”

“Just…” Aly didn’t know how to tell her cousin about the pending doom, without scaring the poor girl. “Something is going to happen, and I need you to take care of the pack.” Wow, she hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that.

“What?” Autor asked, confused and afraid. “I…I can’t do that, you’re the Alpha…” She shook her head. “What’s happening?”

“Please Autor, I can’t tell you any more than that. I just know something horrible is going to happen to me. And I don’t know if I’m going to die, or just simply disappear, or worse…”

“What could be worse than dying?” Autor asked on a sob.

“I don’t know. Please, you’re my beta. I need you to lead the pack…”

Autor shook her head. “Why don’t you have father…”

“You know it has to be you, Autor.”

“Dermont?”

“No. He is too young. It has to be you.”

“No. I won’t accept…” She stopped talking and burst into tears.

Aly sighed as she pulled her cousin into her arms. “I love you, Autor. I love all of you. And if anything happened to you, I… I would die.”

Autor cried against her cousin for a long time, before Aly finally pulled back, gave the girl a small kiss on the cheek, then touched her pointer finger to the girl’s nose.

“Remember. If something happens to me, you’re in charge.”

Three days later, Autor woke with a horrible headache. She never got headaches. Something was wrong. She jumped out of bed and ran out into the clearing, in front of the houses. There was a stone she had never seen before, stuck in the ground. She ran to it and paused when she saw the etchings in the stone.

Your Alpha has moved on to bigger and better things, don’t bother looking.

“No.” Autor whispered.

“What’s going on?” Her father asked as he walked up behind her.

“Someone took Aly.” Autor whispered.

“The bastard.” Her father said with an angry growl.

Autor turned to her father. “Do you know who has her?”

“I do.” He said with a nod. “What has she said to you in the last few days?”

“Nothing much…” She stopped for a moment as she remembered three days ago. “Oh no.” She cried as she told her father what her cousin had told her.

He growled. “Gather everyone in the dining hall, we have lots of work to do, to get ready to search for your cousin.”

“But what happened to her? Who has her?”

“A very powerful witch, and he’s not easy to track. Now go.”

They talked and planned, for days. But they never found the witch, or their Alpha. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. Too many moons had passed since Autor had last seen her cousin, and she feared she would never see her again.

They had been on the trail of their Alpha, a few times, but things would change, and the trail would go cold. Then it would start all over again, fifteen years later. But every fifteen years, they would lose her. Come within inches of finding Aly, only to lose her again.

Will the cycle never end?