Call of the North (Book 1 of the Tribrid Queen Series)

Chapter 1

Days spent running for my life are days I can't get back. Why? Well, my opportunities were taken away. Vanished into thin air.

Mum had always said that my future would be amazing; a mate to call my own, a family at my side, and a luxurious home was supposed to be my future.

Or at least, that's what she told me before she read my palm.

"What is it, mama?"

While she watched me, my mother looked at me through a bundle of fabric she had wrapped around her head. This kept her hair from being visible to protect spirits from seeing it, or that was what she told me.

"My love, you are destruction in its greatest form..." I couldn't help but want to laugh at that moment, although since my mother looked at me seriously with her green eyes, I couldn't help but think about how much destruction I could cause. I started to think of all the potential harm I could do - to others, to myself, and to the world around me. I realized that the power I had to do good was equal to the power I had to do harm, and the thought was both terrifying and exhilarating. I didn't know at the time that I was the only one of my kind.

Now, years later and still on the run, I never felt safe. Even now, as I stared into the trees that I had made my temporary home for the night, I looked around me. At one point, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My body warmed to a slightly warmer temperature and I knew it was all of my senses picking up on something, or someone.

"Who's there?" I asked, my feet shifting slightly along the ground as I attempted to gain sight of the intruder.

I was already ready for whoever it was, so when the figure stepped out of the shadows, I lunged.

My fingers had sprouted talons, the benefits of my dragon form and I raked them down the coat of fur....?

What the hell?

I managed to focus in on my prey just as I saw the blank brown stare of deer eyes flash before me. I revolted and stepped back, holding my bloodied hand to my mouth as I gazed in horror at what I had done.
It was only a yearling. Its coat barely had specks of white along its backside and there was no mother in sight. I had never expected to be capable of such a ruthless act, and the subsequent wave of guilt and regret that washed over me was overwhelming.

I could hear my mother in my ear.
If you must kill, kill for food, not for anger.

"I'm so sorry.." I felt my breath hitch in my throat as I stared at the fallen deer. Kneeling beside it, I gently took its head in my hands. I purposely avoided looking at the gruesome claw marks that lay at rest on its flank, deep enough to kill a young deer. I was filled with sadness so deep that I had trouble breathing. I knew I was responsible and I felt a pang of overwhelming guilt. I had made a mistake and now this precious animal had paid the price.

My hands were restored to normal as I cradled the young one's head in my lap, staring into its lovable brown eyes as its life began to slowly diminish.

When my ears picked up the non-existent sound of its breathing, I ran my fingers down its eyes, closing them. As I looked up, I saw a flash of brown nearby and felt tears fall down my face.

"Why couldn't you have stepped in and saved her? She did not know." I stared glaringly at the mother, tears streaming down and dropping onto the yearling. Clearly, it was unable to answer my question - the question of why this happened. I could only take solace in the thought that at least the yearling would not be alone.

The deer only looked at me with its captivating blank stare and I gently placed the yearling's head onto the ground, taking slow steps away from it.

I watched the mother cautiously approach, and I couldn't blame her. I had just slain her daughter in front of her.

As the deer sniffed the young one's limp form, I couldn't help but turn around, guilt claiming my head and hate claiming my heart. Grief-stricken, the mother looked at me as though sending me a silent message, one I would carry with a heavy weight: "You will live with this for the rest of your days."

As I left the clearing, I could hear steps behind me and the cracking of twigs on leaves.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think the mother would follow me after I killed her daughter.

"Go home! Can't you see I'm just a danger to you?"
I turned sharply on my heels and was met with a rag in my mouth. My heart raced as the gag filled my mouth and muffled my screams. With shaking hands and a racing heart, I felt the fabric tighten as the rag sealed my cries for help. The rag smelled of some unknown chemical, but whatever it was, it was putting me to sleep.

The last thing I heard was my wolf muttering "Mate" until I lost consciousness.