I miss my Gran terribly, especially during these dark times. Grandma Juanita used to sit on the edge of the piano bench and tell tales of ‘The Legend of the White Wolf’ when my siblings and I were kids. Gosh, she could tell a great story; she could transport us to worlds we could never have fathomed even as kids. She had a beautiful, imaginative mind.
One day, my little brother Blaze and I were walking home from training. The kids had teased me. Asking me why I even bothered showing up for training at all.
When wolf shifters turn ten, their wolf announces themselves and we can shift for the first time. I’m now twelve. My wolf is called Samara. Sam is what I call her. She is my best friend. Unfortunately, I’m forbidden from shifting and because of that, the kids think I’m a freak and should leave the pack.
I wonder what they would really think. If I showed them. But Mom and Dad would skin me alive, and Sam says it’s for the best, even if she’s itching to teach those kids a lesson or two.
Blaze busts through the door, storming towards the kitchen. The smell of warm cookies entices us both. He dumps his pack on the ground in anger. “They shouldn’t tease you like that, Mazy. I hate it!” he growls.
Blaze turned ten a couple of months ago. Before his wolf came, he didn’t completely understand why everyone was so mean to me. Now he understands and refuses to shift under protest against our father, who is also our Alpha.
Blaze will only shift into his beautiful grey wolf when I do. Under the cover of darkness. The other kids think he’s stupid, allowing a freak to control him and his wolf.
“What’s this? The Reade’s do not hate lightly, child.” Gran chides. She runs her hand through my hair affectionately. “Who does he hate?” she whispers loudly, while Blaze sulks in the kitchen doorway.
“The kids were teasing me again about not having a wolf.”
Gran scoffs, she leans down, her wise eyes clouded with sorrow and determination, “How about I tell you a story about your wolf?” she pats my head and pushes me along toward the sitting room.
“I love story time!” Samara howls with joy. I bet her tail would wag if we were in wolf form.
“Really, Gran a story?” Blaze rolls his eyes, but he flops on the floor closest to the piano stool.
“Aries, bring me my album, please,” she calls. We all hear Aries immediately thump around upstairs finding Gran’s album, making us chuckle at his eagerness.
Aries is my older brother. He’s Fifteen and is next in line to take over as Alpha, as long as the King’s Pack don’t have an heir that wants to take over our Pack. He jumps the last couple of stairs with a thud, making the entire floor shudder. I roll my eyes and take a pillow from the couch to sit next to Blaze.
Gran takes the photo album from Aries, ruffling his hair as he sits down next to me.
“I’ll tell you a story of the Great White Wolves, for like your sister Mazelina, there were hundreds of men and women just like her, with skin as pale and beautiful as the moon, platinum blonde hair and eyes as pale as the midday blue skies. Their uniqueness didn’t stop there for when they shifted into their wolves, they had coats as white as snow. These wolves were cherished and protected for many, many moons.”
“Where are they now?” Blaze asks.
Without a word, she opens the photo album and holds a picture of a young woman who looks very much like me.
“Why, she looks just like Mazy!” Aries exclaims. He holds the photo close, while Blaze and I look over his shoulder.
“This was my mother, Amelia Winters. She was the last known white wolf in existence.” she eyes the picture. “She lived with the Pure Bloods, the Moon King Pack, before they banished her to our pack, The Sentinels.”
“I thought the white wolves were half breeds?” Aries asks.
“Of course, that’s what the Guardians want everyone to believe.” Gran scoffs, “But I’ll tell you a tale that is truer than any story spun by the Guardians, child. Listen closely, for one day you may need this knowledge of the White Wolves, for their very own people made them extinct.”
“Extinct?” Blaze questions.
“Yes, my love, the Guardians and several Alphas feared the power of the White Wolf and projected that fear into many.” She smiles and cups my chin. “White Wolves have extraordinary powers, just like your sister. She can calm you with just a thought or a mere touch when you’re angry. Isn’t that right, Aries?” she says pointedly. Aries is a hothead and I’m always sending him peaceful thoughts. He doesn’t mind, though. He says I keep him out of trouble.
“It’s that very reason that our people became distrustful of our dear white wolves. They couldn’t discern if their feelings were their own or projections from the White Wolves. Even if they were calm and living a peaceful life, they didn’t know what was real anymore. They began calling the white wolves, witches, abominations. Eventually accusing them all of being witch wolves.” She smiles at our confused faces. “Not every white wolf has your talent, Mazelina. Only so many can change their appearance and change people’s moods. Some could manipulate nature, heal, read people’s minds without having to be in their pack. There were many, many other powers. Ones the Guardians deemed dangerous.” She sighs. “Because of these abilities, The Guardians requested a tribunal. At first, they decreed that all white wolves stay as one pack, away from the other wolves, for their protection. It was a devastating blow for all packs all over the world. Some lost farms, cattle, businesses, packs went to war within their own pack and against other packs…. There was so much loss, so much devastation. The Guardians understood the consequences of their actions, however, the people feared that what The Guardians had been telling them was true. The White Wolves had cursed them. They decided that the white wolf ultimately held too much power and they must destroy them.”
She leans forward. “Of course, The Guardians happily allowed the wolves to go against their brethren white wolves. First, they sent all the white wolves to the furthest outpost in an unused Snowy territory to be segregated from doing further damage. A couple of purebloods were spared. But when the white wolves arrived, they slaughtered them. Every single one of them.” Gran shakes her head in grief.
“Amelia Winters was lucky, she had been banished from the King’s Pack a week earlier, your father’s grandfather made sure to keep her hidden. She did not run with our pack. She did not shift with our pack. The picture you hold dear is the only picture of her natural self.” She holds up another, of a pure white wolf, “This is her wolf.” Then she holds up another picture, this one has a woman with the same features, but dark hair and dark eyes, “And this is how she looked to the rest of the world. She concealed herself amongst our kind. The rest of her brethren were slaughtered, for the Guardians created a law that all white wolves were to be killed on sight. It was further decreed that any white wolves who were born hereafter, are to be killed immediately at birth.”
Aries and Blaze both look at me with determination in their eyes, “They will never touch our sister”
Gran smiles, “Very wise, very wise indeed.”
MazelinaI stare at myself in the mirror in wonder, “Look at us, always hiding who we truly are” Samara, my wolf has been bitter about hiding our true selves for a while now. She thinks it’s time to show our pack. But dad, our Alpha does not agree.“Sam, stop it. You know we have to be cautious.” I chide. Not that I blame her entirely. I know we could do so much good for the pack, but I must obey our Alpha.As far as anyone in my pack are concerned, I’m an embarrassment to our Alpha, my father because I’m unable to shift, which brings embarrassment to the wider community and other packs. I know there’s a method to his madness even if Sam doesn’t like it, he’d much rather have me ridiculed and teased than dead. I mean, what’s the use of an Alpha’s daughter if she’s unable to shift? It’s completely unheard of.“Little do they know,” Samara mutters. If Sam had her way, she would burn everyone to the ground. “And we could do it too”I smirk at us in the mirror. “That was an accidental disc
MazelinaMazelinaIronmaw, I swear every misfit reject from the other packs above is in Ironmaw. They know how to party, and I’ve been to werehyena parties. Ironmaw kills it every time.But you never stay at the party long. These guys are maniacs. They love sex and violence and, above all, get completely annihilated on drugs and alcohol.And for the record, it takes triple the amount of human alcohol and drug intake to get shifters drunk. Imagine a half-human with all our strength and no inhibitions.I felt like showering a hundred times a day for a week after visiting them. But it was one hell of a way to lose my virginity. I did it out of spite of my father. I was Nineteen and concluded that I would never find my mate, not with this lie hanging over my head, so I got high and with some random guy.“Two Maze. Two random guys and it was the best night of our lives”, I shake my head.“Samara, you are going to get us in trouble one day” “Ha! Says you. I had complete control of us.” “Ar
Mazelina It’s been a long time since I was here at The Moon King Pack, and it hasn’t changed much. Each pack has thousands of wolves, except for Lonecrest, NightStar and, of course, Ironmaw, who have under a thousand wolves in each pack. To say that it was a shock to hear The Kings have a female shortage is an understatement, considering the pack contains over 5000 men, women, and children. Funny how they send the halfers to the back of the lands instead of the front entrance. It’s a long trek to get to this ridiculously over-the-top tent. They still don’t want us sullying their territory and yet they want our women. I roll my eyes. Maybe Gran really was clairvoyant, maybe the Gods and Goddess are punishing the Moon King’s. “If you continue rolling your eyes, you’re going to make us dizzy,” Sam chuckles. I take a piece of fruit from the largest fruit platter I’ve ever seen in my life, more like a fruit friggin’ table. “Do these people take notes from television series or what?
Mazelina Course after course arrives from oversized plates of meat to vegetables, nuts, and fruit. “There’s so much food,” Sam says with sorrow in her voice. “I know and I bet this will all just go to waste.” “I know what you and your wolf are thinking,” Blaze chuckles, “And I agree it is a great waste of food.” Still, we all eat because heaven forbid that anyone insults Alpha Gaius or the King’s. In between meals, Alpha Gaius addresses us, with the usual ho-hum of speeches, ritual poems, and performances. I try to prolong dessert, but of course, time gives me no mercy and speeds up. Usually, Blaze escorts me, but tonight Dad has decided it’s his turn. Blaze gives me an apologetic look. Guess I have no choice but to go on this archaic mating hunt. I look around and find there are five groups just like ours and we are all escorted to the edge of the forest. The forest looks dark and foreboding, just the way I like it. To humans, it would be a nightmare, but to creatures like u
Mazelina“What is the meaning of this!” Dad shouts, “You cannot force my daughter to accept your son!” he continues to my surprise. Dad has always pushed me to go to these events and now??My head is spinning. I found my mate…… I repeat it over and over in my head because it’s just so unbelievable. “I will force no one to do anything they don’t want to do,” Gaius says calmly. They continue to argue back and forth.I feel like I’m at a terrible tennis match mixed with terrible political dialogue and all of it is at my expense. I can feel myself vibrate with anger. If they continue, Samara might shift on me, and we’ll all be in trouble.“Come with me.” Rush whispers. His scent washes over me and instantly calms us down.I gaze up at him. I’m not sure if I should be alone with him. Samara is utterly unhelpful; she’s totally blissed out, drunk on his scent.Goddess, she is even loving the fact that he hasn’t let go of our hand. She loves how his breath tickles our neck and his scent. Jes
Mazelina “Is that true?” I ask, suspicious of both of them. “It is,” Blaze says. “Alpha Gaius told us of his plan. The problem is they will never accept you as Luna and Alpha Gaius know it. They will ridicule you every single day for the rest of your life under the King Pack or worse, they’ll kill you. I don’t know what Gaius is playing at, but we will not allow this.” Dad’s shoulders slump. “They killed my first mate here.” Both Blaze and I look at Dad in shock. “What?” “Before your mother, I had a mate. My father changed the law like Alpha Gaius is attempting to do now. My father wanted me to be Alpha to the King Pack. I was the only male, and my father did not want to lose the Alpha line over an outdated law. But no one accepted my half-blood mate as Luna. It became a constant battle for months. Instead of being Alpha and doing pack business, I was fighting for her acceptance. I had to have three warriors with her at all times.” He looks away in shame. “It was a little over a y
Rush Kali takes Mazelina to her room right away. The pull between us is so strong I feel the need to go to my mate, to be alone with her. I know she’s confused. I can feel it, taste it all around her. Somehow, I have to convince her to not reject me. “RUSH!” Dad thumps his fist on the table. I look up, surprised that we’re the only two left. The library is one of my two favourite places to go for privacy, it’s why I bought her here. No one really comes in here. “Where did Alpha Eric go?” “To his rooms. You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?” he rubs his chin painstakingly, “You must persuade her she belongs here”. “Why is this so important to you, Dad?” “Are you questioning your Alpha?” he growls, his Alpha tone making me almost buckle at the knees. “Of course, not Alpha. I’m just surprised. The Pack Law says.” “I say.” He stands thumping his chest with his fist, “I say what is the Law, not you, not The Guardians. You will convince the shiftless bitch to stay. You will ma
Rush I’ve been awake since dawn, pacing in my room. “Calm down” Bain complains. “I just want everything to be perfect”. “We have arranged everything. If you keep this up, you’re going to give us a heart attack before our mate gets to-” he stops mid-sentence. “She’s awake!” we both say at once. I race to my door and open it as she closes her own door, she’s so beautiful, her hair is all black today, she’s wearing a blue summer dress with white polka dots all over, a white belt cinched at her waist and a soft white cashmere sweater and the same shade of blue, heels. Last night she was in flats, making her chest height to me. Today she’s a foot taller. She twirls around, clutching her hand to her chest. “Goddess, you scared me.” “I’m sorry.” I stammer. My heart is racing a million miles an hour. Her deep blue eyes sparkle with amusement. She’s so damn beautiful. “Come on Rush, quick, say something, you’re making a fool of us”, a wave of peace flows through me, I smile, “Told yo