Capture (Book 1 in the Wolfen Brethren Series)

The Suns Promise

This has been edited but there may still be mistakes.

Neema shook off the eyrie feeling the wolf's eyes had left over her body. Her frame trembling as she realised how close they had been to meeting their demise.

So close

Her lip bled deep as she gnawed away on it in an attempt to gain control over her emotions. She hadn't felt such profound fear in such a long time, the type of fear that settled heavy in her bones making movement impossible. Her brain turned to sludge and her limbs had locked up. That type of fear was crippling, so crippling it left her hating herself in its aftermath.

A smooth arm glided over her shoulder and gripped her free hand, rough fingers meeting rougher, stronger ones. A quick squeeze was given before it disappeared as if it had never been there. Like a ghost's breath whispering along her fingers. A lover's touch by the hands of a friend.

Neema eyed the broad back of Victus as he marched away from her, her fingers twitching with the need to chase after him and grab his hand again in comfort. The need for comfort that she hadn't craved for years overwhelmed her being until she stood quaking with the need to go to him. To ask him to give her some of his strength. Strength that was evident in his broad shoulder and the thickness of his thighs and beefy arms.

In a world of gaunt people, he was rippled and chiselled with muscles that could tempt the dead. His dark auburn hair was cropped short to his head in jagged strands and his skin was almost transparent. She ached for him to turn around so she could finally catch the colour of his eyes.

He was strong and all man compared to her scrawny femininity.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she gripped Caillum tighter and moved further away from the still thumping door

The wolf was persistent

The section of the cave they stood in had high ceilings that were dripping with water, the smell of damp was so strong she felt herself gag at the stench. Bile rose in her throat but she swallowed it down. She was used to stenches just as she was used to tamping down her bodies reactions. She could not be weak or show any weakness.

Glancing down at her siblings to see how they were fairing, she noticed that Jana had managed to fall asleep in all the havoc. Her baby cheeks were ruddy with heat and her little fist clasped around a lock of her golden hair whilst Caillum's eyelids were drooping over his violet eyes, his face streaked with dried tears. Neema felt her heart quiver at the innocence of her siblings, hoping against all odds that they would remain as oblivious as she was at their age. Stroking Caillum's hair she whispered calming words to the little boy, promising him she would keep them safe. Though she knew any innocence he had left had vanished before it had ever really existed.

At the realisation that she could see her siblings features clearly Neema looked for the source of light. It had been so long since she could clearly see anything. The gods had surely blessed her this day, first granting her with moon light and now the red hue of the rising sun.

Only the hunters of the village were permitted to go outside and feel the light along their skin, see life that existed outside of the cave. Though it was mostly at night because that was the safest time to hunt, they were sometimes permitted out in daylight. They were the only people to constantly see light but here Neema was seeing natural light twice in one day. Surely life could only improve from here. She could not believe the gods would bless her and curse her in the same day.

The struggle for life was a hard one, but humans for centuries had remained resistant to the lure of the money and wealth the wolves and their mates had. They had forgone all items of luxury for their humble lives of freedom. They were an emancipated people but at what cost. Neema could only hope that this token of light would lead them into a better life. One where she did not have to scrounge for meat in order to feed her siblings because her pride refused to let her lay with a man for food.