ALPHA BECK

CHAPTER 1

The silver gray wolf was much larger and ruthless as it tore into the leg of the lithe tawny wolf. Blood spilled onto the pristine white snow, smeared and scattered by their paws as they danced through the cold. The smaller wolf howled out in pain, limping away from the sharp teeth of the larger one. Going for the leg was a good tactic; wound your opponent, then you can go for the jugular. Going for the jugular too fast was a death sentence in itself, anyone could expect that maneuver. But the tawny wolf was smart and quick, and she managed to get a few bites in of her own. Their snarls were loud, echoing across the gulch they fought in. This wasn't a fight over a kill, it was a fight for dominance, survival. The silver wolf bit into the flank of the small wolf, shaking his massive head back and forth until a large flap of bloody skin fell open. The smaller wolf whined in pain, shuddering away from his teeth. Their breath panted out in plumes of white, frozen air. The fight was looking to be over for the smaller wolf. Until she put the last of her strength into sliding beneath him, and ripping into his underside. The larger wolf reared up, and when he did, she leapt up to meet him, tearing out his trachea as she fell back to the snow beneath them.

Millie's eyes tracked the wolves as they darted back and forth across the screen, the blue glow from her laptop reflecting onto her face. When the silver wolf fell, the video ended and closed out. Just in time for her alarm to go off. She closed her laptop and tossed it aside, laying back onto her bed and trying to breathe. That night, her dreams had been full of wolves. Chasing her, tearing into her, beckoning her into the woods. It was becoming unbearable, the feeling that they gave her was something she had had to live with for the past decade almost. She felt like she was going crazy. Maybe she was. It was exhausting.

Overall, it was just another day, and that meant school. Millie reluctantly drug herself from her bed and got ready.

April was quickly approaching, which meant there was only a month left until Millie could graduate and decide where the hell she wanted to go. She had the grades for college, but school wasn't interesting enough for her to pursue. Although she considered wildlife biology because of her fascination with wolves, the thought was short lived. Millie liked to learn, but she had never felt more alone than she did at school, and she didn't think that would improve at college. As if she could even afford college.

Even though she wanted desperately to leave Sapher, she couldn't seem to shake the feeling that maybe she was destined to stay. Something subconsciously urged her to stay, and she couldn't figure out quite what it was. It also seemed like a sort of absurd thought to leave her mom all by herself. Millie was all Sandra had. Maybe she could convince her to come with.

The small town of Sapher was infamous for two things. First, they had the county's largest grizzly bear statue. Second, they had the county's largest and most expensive mansion. It belonged to Eben Welch's father who was a well known neurologist, or something like that. He worked at the same hospital that Millie's mother did, along with many others. Overall, Sapher, Montana was poor, rural, and conservative. The school pulled kids from many smaller towns in the vicinity and managed a student body of 613 kids. Hell, her graduating class was only 112 students, and even then there were many with grim outlooks regarding graduation.

"Millie, did you make your lunch?" Her mother called down the hall. She was unbearably loud when she got ready for work, always slamming cupboards or dropping things or cussing to the heavens. Millie could feel another headache coming on, a tell-tale sign that the day was going to be a long one.

"No," Millie replied honestly, eyeing the sad looking loaf of bread on the cutting board. Her mother refused to buy bread from the store and somehow managed to always make a loaf between long shifts at the hospital. Anyway, Millie usually did the grocery shopping with any money her mother left behind for her. There was no time in the day for Sandra to shop. She worked in the big hospital in Kalispell, about an hour drive from their house. It was the closest they could live and afford given the market and their economic status. Despite that fact, Millie had never heard her complain.