Luna Lena

Chapter 1 - Vanilla Oranges

About half way back, I decided I'd take a longer way around so that my fur had a chance to dry out. I wasn't planning on shifting back to my human form this evening because it was much easier to stay warm when you were a furry wolf with a body temperature of around 101 degrees.

I hadn't ever taken this route before, but it was very pretty. The trees seemed to have more ice on them in this part of the forest and the snow was a little deeper. I darted between the trees, allowing my wolf to fully stretch out her legs for the day. Running was a huge part of our life, and we loved it. The deeper snow did slow us down a bit, but it certainly didn't ruin our mood.

As I made my way up a hill, I caught the scent of something. It must have been my fire. I had to be getting close to the cave by now, so surely I could smell the fire from here. I sped up my pace, really wanting to get back to my warm cave. The winds had gotten gustier as the day went on, and my damp fur was causing me to shiver a bit.

Just as I could see my cave in the distance, I got the wind knocked out of me by something large and powerful slamming into my body. I yelped as my snout went straight into the ground and my legs came out from underneath me. It was only then that I realized the scent I had picked up wasn't my fire after all. In fact, the scent of my actual fire had mingled with this foreign scent, which caused me to let my guard down. It was another wolf...perhaps two or three.

He was a very large wolf, much bigger than me, and he was strong too. He had me pinned in the snow when I saw a man in his human form step out from behind a nearby tree with a set of clothing in his hands. When the man got within an arm's length of us, the wolf on top of me shifted into his human form and quickly slipped on the clothing that the other man offered him. Before I could react, one of the men slipped a collar around my throat, causing me to yelp and cry in pain - It was made of silver.

"It's a damn rogue," one of the men muttered. They were both very tall men with a considerable amount of muscle. They had pale skin just as everyone in this region did – one man with light mousy brown hair and the other with blonde.

The other man chuckled darkly. "Damn trespassers," he growled.

It had been almost a decade since the packs' war with rogues had ended. We were a peaceful group now, never wanting to start trouble, but I must have wandered onto Polar Moon pack territory. Was this a joke? I always tried so hard to keep within my known boundaries. I should've known taking a different route back to the cave was a bad idea! Even though I meant the pack no harm, Alphas always took trespassers seriously. No one, even if they were just from a different pack, was allowed in another pack's territory without notice and permission.

The blonde man began pulling the chain connected to my collar as they dragged me back to their pack. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't the type to tuck tail and submit.

I growled loudly at them and thrashed around against the collar, trying to ignore the pain. The silver was already burning away some of my flesh and it hurt like hell. The pain was steadily draining my energy, and I honestly didn't know how long I could put up a fight.

The man simply laughed at me and tugged on the chain again. This time, an involuntary yelp escaped my mouth. The pain was excruciating. I couldn't keep up the fight right now. My energy was dwindling and fighting only caused the collar to burn deeper into my skin.

"I wonder what the Alpha will have us do with this one," the other man hissed. They chuckled with each other as if my life were some kind of joke. Sadistic motherfuckers. Despite all their chuckling, it was one word that nearly made me faint right then and there. Alpha. Were they seriously going to take me to their Alpha? Oh goddess no! Alpha Elijah was known as "the cold one," and I had never intended on finding out why. I never wanted to be within a mile of any Alpha, but especially not him.