Chapter one.

" listen well and listen with your minds open. A night shall come when we would be in darkness for ages. The time lurks near and closer children, and it is no joke," Larkin said, her voice bold in an intimidatingly creepy and fear instilling way, her eyes wide as they stared from the children's faces to faces " a hundred years ago, when your mothers and fathers were but pups, when the bushes told tales to the ones you who listened well, a disastrous event happened. The night called the 'blood night'. It was a night never seen before. A night of total blackness, a night when hell froze over, a night which lasted for many Winters until werewolves couldn't shift and had to starve for many many months, hoping that the night would go away. It was a night when the blood riders crawled from behind the tall walls of the creeks and struck hard, giving an end to many many werewolf bloodlines, many of their kinds..."

I lowered my head and leant against the straw walls of the old elder Larkin's straw inn. I drank the last content of squashed purple lily flowers from the cup, feeling it's bitter taste burn down my throat. I couldn't believe she still told this pointless stories to kids. The popular story about some "blood night" was nothing but myth, stories told in the dark to young wolves. Stories told to instill fear on them so as to be careful about entering other territories. But Larkin said it like it was a real thing. She wasn't even born then!

I looked at the kids seated on straw mats around her, fear in each child's face as they looked into Larkin's, as they let her story instill fear in them. The view nearly got me smirking. Kids.

I looked out the door beside me, into the dark night that was dimly lit around the inn by fireflies and fires burning from sticks hung around the house. I could hear the chatters coming from the village, asking me what the hell I was doing inside this inn meant for Larkin's wobbly stories and babies who believed her words.

I looked back and saw how engrossed Larkin was on her story so I quietly stepped out, feeling the night's air hit my face. I shut my eyes, sniffing the air. This was one of those nights that makes you wanna tear out of your clothes, shape shift and run through the woods like nothing else mattered. Sadly that would remain merely a wish for me.

I walked out of the compound and maneuevered my way around the oak tree that stood just outside it, climbing down the stone steps that lead from Larkin's house into the plain grounds of the pack territory.

I felt the sadness wash inside me as I realized the only place I could go to at a night like this one was the Clinic where my mother worked as the pack's midwife. My mother, Gina, was the pack's midwife and sometimes surgical doctor. She tended to the wounded, whenever they went to fight with the enemy packs. Mother always told me I belonged in the clinic because I was a shewolf. Women weren't made for the fights, men were. When the men went off to fight, the women stayed behind to protect the younger wolves and the pack house. I spent my Winters learning how to tend to wounds from my mother and now I took pride in showing off my skills whenever the men came back from the wars.

As I approached the lake where the young pack members always stood around swimming and having fun, I heard Carl's deep voice as he talked and laughed with his friends.

Carl was one of the young werewolves who protects the pack's territory whenever the older men went for war. He was tall and well built around his chest and arms, his curly brown hair doing justice to his green eyes. I'd have found him incredibly beautiful if he wasn't such an asshole all the damn time. I'd probably run off from this pack if I woke up one day and found out that he's my long waited mate. The thought causes me to sneer silently as I approached him.

He soon notices me and instead of passing the ball on his hands to Jeffery, he holds it still and turns to smirk at me.

'Oh no, not tonight' I mentally cried.

" Look who we have here " Don, his third friend said amidst laughter, putting an arm over Jeffery's shoulders.

'just take deep breaths, Rose' I tried to calm myself down while ignoring them completely.

" Are you just gonna keep walking and pretend we aren't talking to you, Rose? " Carl finally speaks, bringing my attention back to him.

I stopped walking just as I was about to pass them and turned to face them. They stood on a line, Jason, their fourth friend coming to join them. They all stood inside the water, their bare chests dripping wet, their hairs smeared across their faces.

While Carl was the tallest and well built among them all and unmistakably the most handsome, Don was a complete opposite. Except that he was extremely fast in running. Jason on the other hand was black haired, muscular on the right places and well built too. So far he was also the nicest of them all. Jeffrey was a red haired walking pervert who always made jokes about finding his mate.

While their parents and the elders of the pack looked up to them with so much love, I saw them as nothing but nuisances to the pack.

" Done checking us out yet? " Don blurted, earning a scowl from me.

" Hell no, Don! " I retort.

" Where are you off to? " Carl asked, his eyes mocking " the midwife tent? "

I felt the anger burn through me and I clenched my fist.

" Go on then, we men are just gonna.....have fun here " He added, showcasing his muscular upper body to me.

Just then, I realized I'd been stupid for stopping in the first place. What was I thinking? This is them. They're always gonna be this jerks in the pack.

I faced forward and continued walking.

" Yeah, keep walking, Rose! " I heard Don's voice before I disappeared through the dark back of the next house.