************
Prologue: Vultures
My heart thundered in my chest as I ran, full speed. Kraw my wolf, helping me go impossibly faster than supernaturally possible.
Still, sharp claws swiped at me, as one of the hideous beasts tried to grab me. Its claws just grazing my upper arm and shoulder. Not deep, but enough to burn, and it burned like hell, like someone just set those parts on fire.
I groaned loudly in pain, my screams reverberating through the thick dense forest. Kraw howling out his pain in my head as we kept running, dodging tree after tree, logs and jumping over brushes. Then I saw a big expanse of land with hardly any tree in it, 'good, at least now I could see them better and fight'. I thought to myself.
But my relief was short lived, as a huge rock mountain began to sprout from the ground covering the entire expanse of the land. Now I had no place to go, I could clearly see the merciless beasts after me, they looked like giants demons without horns, they towered over me at possibly eight feet or more.
I wondered at the type of creatures they were, but said nothing as I prepared to take a fighting stance.
At six feet six, I was one of the tallest werewolves alive, but the sheer size of these shadowed beasts aiming to rip out my soul was enormous.
Kraw and I were out of breath and tired from all the running.
"Sebastian this is okay , we need to stop and fight anyways". kraw said in my head, sounding out of breath.
"Aaaaargggggrrr !!"
I screamed like a terrified little girl as I felt claws dig into my arm, pinning me against the rock, I had no idea where it had come from. The beast snarled its acidic saliva dangerously close to my face and skin, its foul gut wrenching breath turned my stomach.
I have had this dream too many times not to remember how acidic their saliva can be. Fire slowly and painfully consumed my flesh, where the beast held me down, so I head butted him.
He staggered back, then came back at me, with his fist raised ready to strike me but I blocked him.
"Enough.!!" Another beast shouted, his thunderous voice caused the earth to shake slightly. It dripped with authority and I instantly knew he was their leader.
I looked up to see the owner of the voice, only to find over fifty beasts on their knees as one of them walked past. Maybe he is their kin? I asked myself inwardly as sweat beaded on my forehead and under my arms.
" you scream like a little girl. " He said disapprovingly. "you are a pathetic excuse for a chosen one, little pup, you won't last a day. " he paused in thought. " I wonder what the moon goddess was thinking handing such important responsibility to such a pitiful wolf." He finished.
That did it!!.. I growled as Kraw swiftly took over. There was absolutely nothing I could do that would stop Kraw from attacking the Leader of the beasts. And in a blink of an eye, I lunged at him claws drawn, all thoughts of fear and self preservation were gone.
A pained groan escaped the beast as my claws dug deep into his back, reaching his spine. I bit into his neck not caring about the terrible pain I would feel.
I sunk my other claw into his neck and tried pulling his throat out before his long arms and claws pulled me off his back, and flung me away from him.
I landed In front of the beasts who had been kneeling at his feet and they pounced on me, biting and trying to claw my bones out of my body.
I howled loudly in pain. My howls turning to screams as I Fell out of bed and back into reality. I groaned loudly in pain, as I stared at the ceiling of my room, my body was drenched in sweat and blood, the deep gashes from the nightmare rapidly healing.
The digital clock on the wall said it was well past Seven in the morning, but it was still very dark outside. I guess dawn was running late again today . I sat up, slowly getting to my feet, Kraw pacing restlessly in my head, he detested things he had no control over, he didn't like the nightmares at all. Well, no one did.
I had thrashed my bed again, my mattress was now big clumps of foam and pieces of bed sheet. The nightmares had become a nightly occurrence for over a week now and Kraw didn't know why, how or what was causing these dreams. No one knew and it left him restless and pacing in my head, sometimes all day. we even tried to avoid sleeping at some point, it didn't work, sleep would always sneak up on us.
This is the moon claw pack, the most prestigious pack in our world. We were the equivalent of royalty and the only pack that a moon alpha can emerge from. I could hear loud buzzing of insects just outside the window of my room. It was still a locust plague .
For the past five days, My pack has been plagued by different hordes of insects. We have had hordes of hawk moths, Mites and now locusts. The alpha and the elders say it's a sign of what is to come and that the emergence of the new moon alpha was very near.
The moon Alpha, is the most powerful werewolf in our world. They are deities and their wolves are directly from the blood line of the moon goddess.
But we didn't always have moon alphas . Centuries ago, after the entire royal family was killed in a senseless massacre, the moon goddess turned her back on all werewolves, she said our human side had bested us. She abandoned us and that led to the near extinction of our kind, by our kind.
We turned on each other, and a full out war broke out which raged for another century. Finally the entire families of the titled wolves in my pack had had enough of the war. They sacrificed themselves to the moon goddess in a desperate plea for peace. They killed themselves on full moon night in the sacred lands surrounding the pack.
That night the first Moon Alpha emerged from that sacrifice, and since then almost every ten centuries, a new moon alpha emerges.
The first sign is the birth of the chosen ones, three alpha males whose births cause an unusual change in the dynamics of day and night.
When I was born the night extended for a few hours, I was told that daylight didn't come up until around three pm the next day after I was born. The other chosen one's are Hilary and Curt and there was no daylight for two days, when they were born.
Hilary and Curt didn't suffer horrible nightmares, like me. But we all knew that the time had come, the sacred lands called to our souls like we were missing a part of us.
Once my body had completely healed, I changed into a pair of black jeans and a black tee shirt and headed out to the kitchen. I could hear my family moving around and getting ready for breakfast.
The elders say once the horde of black vultures hit the pack , we will (the chosen ) be sent into the sacred forest. Only one of us will come out alive. That's partly why this is such a big deal. Two families would loose their sons and no one can predict who will die and who will survive.
My name is Sebastian Haller and I am nineteen years old, the youngest of the chosen ones. Hilary is twenty and Curt is twenty-two, we have all found our mates, but I have lost mine, Curt and Hilary have theirs.
The floor boards creaked slightly under my weight as I went down the stairs of our house. The scent of coconut and strawberries wafted into my nose, as I neared the kitchen. My mom and younger sister Stacey have been the worst hit by the reality of my situation. Mom can't stop or interfere with my destiny no one can, or the entire pack would gradually perish.
" Morning mom, dad, Stace? Why do you make breakfast, when no one eats?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen. "Come here sweetie," my mother demanded, completely ignoring my comments. She was sitting on dad laps, he was constantly comforting her nowadays.
I smiled ruefully at her, there were bags under her eyes from her excessive crying. "Seb we are not little pups, we don't need to be babied." Kraw grumbled in a futile attempt to stop me from going to her.
I hugged her and dad ruffled my hair, we didn't talk much just silently hugged, until Stacy hit me on the back of my head.
"Hey mop head." She said as she plopped down on a kitchen stool. The women in my life had been worse hit by the impending doom hovering over our pack, my mum and my sister have lost a lot of weight overnight, their eyes had thick black bags underneath them from their incessant crying and lack of sleep.
Kraw growled, mostly in frustration, I just chuckled in response. As I left mom to hug Stace from behind and kissed her on the cheek. I didn't have much of an appetite myself but I managed to take a few bites of reheated steak and was sipping my coffee, when I heard it.
Everyone must have heard it too, because every member of the Haller household froze. The loud cackle of a wake of black vultures, resonated through the house again. This time there was no mistaking or denying It, the birds continued their cackle all over the pack.
The alpha's howl was the next thing we heard, it was a call to all pack members, one that everyone must obey. As the chosen ones we only obeyed because of the calling of the forest nothing more .
The howl of the elders was next. As a small burning sensation began to spread out from the middle of my chest, where my heart was. Kraw was silent, we both knew it was time.
To die or not to die?