Fighting for Power (Howl of the Elements: Book One)

Chapter 1

***picture of Layla***

Chapter 1:

Layla was staring at the dark ceiling in her room, desperately trying to fall asleep. Her mind was racing. She was frustrated, angry, and hurt. So many thoughts were running through her head, and she felt as if she was on an emotional roller coaster. How could Shawn do that? How could he flirt with that girl? Especially a mere one-skinner! We are supposed to be a couple! I want to just tear the both of them to shreds. How could my father expect me to make Shawn my mate? These thoughts had been haunting her all day, never missing a minute to creep into her mind.

The pack's alphas were her parents. That meant that someday Layla would become the alpha female, so of course her father wanted her to have a suitable mate to become the alpha male. Her father chose Shawn Feldman, a boy who had no problem being a flirt. Most girls in their town were very jealous of Layla, wishing that they were the ones that got to be his mate. Layla did have to admit, he was pretty dreamy. One flash of his smile or a glimpse of those dimples was all it would take to make a girl's heart flutter.

One-skinners are what they call humans that do not have the ability to shift into wolf form, and it is frowned upon for someone in their pack to be with one. Those relationships never end well. Also, it would cause there to be less numbers in their pack.

The fact that Shawn would flirt with one made Layla's skin crawl. Surely, she had to be a better option than one of them. Just thinking about him made Layla furious now. Clenching her fists into balls and slamming them down on her full size bed, she wished she could take her anger out on something before she blew a gasket.

Adrenaline rushed through her veins, and the wolf inside of her pawed at her mind. It was begging to come out and show her dominance. The light of the moon that was flooding her room only increased her natural desires. The shadows that danced across the pale green walls taunted her focus.

She was beginning to give a low growl, when all of a sudden her room lit up with a bright orange light shining in through her window. Snapping up out of her bed, she sprinted towards her window to see what could possibly be happening this late at night.

The entire sky was filled with an orange hue, and clouds of smoke were starting to form. Flames licked at the trees in the distance. A line of wolves stood just at the edge of the forest, lifting their heads to howl. Layla had never seen them before, but she could see that their fur was a bold mixture of orange and red. Familiarity dawned on her, as well as fear.

Her heart leapt to her throat, and she instantly knew what was going on....they were under attack.

Rushing out of her room, she didn't even bother to change out of her pajamas. The scent of smoke and ashes had already started to fill up her nose. There were shouts and screaming coming from outside.

As she was running down the narrow hallway, she was stopped in her tracks by a tight grip on her forearm. Already getting ready to defend herself, she whipped her head around. Her body was tense and on high alert, but then she saw her mother's dark green eyes staring back at her.

"Hurry Layla, your father is already outside. We need to gather up all of the women and children and head to the shelter now!" her mother, Selena, shouted as she roughly pulled Layla towards the door.

As soon as the door opened, Selena shifted to her wolf form and took off to go through the eastern houses. Glancing around at all of the chaos forming in front of her, Layla could feel her feet beginning to get weighed down by her anxiety. She was in shock, but she had to remain calm. Taking a deep breath, she turned to the west before transforming into that four-legged creature that had begged to come alive just moments beforehand. There were many houses that needed to be cleared, so she wasted no time running over to get a start on the small western houses.