Clayton

I watched from the trees as the girl turned and walked away. With a sigh, I turned and took off into the forest, heading toward home.

I loved the feel of the dirt beneath my paws and the smell of the fresh oxygen-filled air as I ran through the forest. It was about a thirty-minute run to reach the tree line that led to the backyard of my home.

I groaned as I shifted, then grabbed the shorts that I had left hanging on a tree limb. After slipping them on, I stepped out of the tree line into my backyard, then headed for the house.

My home was a four-bedroom single-story ranch country house made of thin red bricks and a green tiled roof. The house sat on a decent-sized lot backed close to the edge forest.

It has a full-size basement and two and a half baths, with all hardwood floors and wood-paneled walls in the kitchen and living room.

As I walked towards the house, my mind returned to the moment I had felt a strong pull while running through the forest. The pull felt like an invisible string that led me through the maze of trees until I found myself looking at a beautiful auburn-haired girl.

She looked like a broken little bird who had lost her will to fly. My heart ached at the sound of her crying; it took everything I had not to shift and pull the broken girl into my arms.

With a sigh, I stepped onto the back deck, sliding open the back door to find my twin brothers sitting at the wooden table playing spades.

They both looked up as I stepped through the door.

The kitchen was small, with red oak cabinets, granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances.

"What's up, bro?" Asked Cole, laying down a card.

"How was yer run?" asked Flint, discarding a card, then grabbing a new one from the deck.

Flint and Cole were identical, with long black hair, dark-tanned skin, hard-angled faces, high cheekbones, and brown eyes. The only way to tell the difference was Cole was a little taller and usually wore his hair down; Flint liked to wear his hair in a long braid.

Since we have different mothers, you couldn't even tell we were related. Cole and Flint both had dark hair and dark skin like our father, but I looked like my mother with short dirty-blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, and weird mismatched eyes.

"The run was great," I said, pulling out a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Are you ready for the Blood Moon pow-wow tonight?" Asked Cole.

"Are you ready to finally join the pack?" Asked Flint, smirking when he laid the winning card down, making Cole groan.

"You win again, asshole," Mumbled Cole.

When they both turned to me, I nodded, "I think I'm ready."

'A long time ago, long before the white skins came to America, the Great Spirits gifted the Natives of this land with the spirits of animals, changing us into shapeshifters. The Great Spirits asked the shapeshifters to watch over the land and to protect its creatures from the evil that walks this earth. And that is how we became known as Guardians.

The same species does not possess every tribe. The Nantahala tribe is possessed by the spirit of the Red Wolf, who had merged through marriage with the Smoky Mountain Gray Wolf tribe, hoping to help with their declining numbers.

The Guardian spirit is passed on through every generation. When we turn 16, we become stronger and faster, but the best and most painful part is shifting into your Guardian form for the first time.

Twice a year, during the Blood Moon, when we are most vital, the Alpha gathers all the newly shifted Guardians to perform a blood pact to create a telepathic bond with the other members of the pack. It can be helpful, especially when we shift into our Guardian forms.

When the moon was at its highest peak, the pack gathered around in a large clearing in the forest on the top of a hill where we could feel the energy from the moon.

The other newly changed Guardian's and I stood in a line before our Alpha. Standing to my left was my best friend, Asher Denton, and to his left was his twin sister Shelby. To my left was my other best friend, Shawn Altaha, and a few others who had their first shift sometime between spring and summer.

We all wore the regalia we had spent the last year putting together, which had to be made from your own blood and sweat. I caught the deer for the leather and tanned the hide myself, then used the bones of the deer to carve the beads, and my headdress was made of bald eagle feathers I found around the forest.

"Welcome, my people of the Nantahala tribe." Said our Chief, who was also Asher's father.

Nosh Denton was a tall man in his late thirties with long black hair, brown eyes, and dark-tanned skin. Tonight he was wearing his regalia with his ceremonial headdress.

The Chief held up a knife made of bones from our ancestors, then said, "Tonight, each of you will shed their lifeblood as a sacrifice to the Great Spirits."

After using the knife to make cuts our palms as we passed the knife around the group, and then let our blood flow into a wooden bowl. Once we each had our turn, the Chief added his blood.

My grandfather, our Shaman elder, mixed the blood with the knife, then dipped the base of the handle, where someone carved a four-pointed morning star. Then one at a time, he stamped the symbol with our blood in the center of our foreheads.

When he finally reached the Chief, the marks lit up simultaneously, causing searing pain as pressure built up in my head, growing until it popped like a balloon. When the pain faded, I was startled when the Chief's voice filled my head. "Welcome to the pack, young pups."

After the ceremony, we all shifted into our wolves and ran through the forest as a pack. Then, after the run, we had a grand feast in honor of their new pack members.

It was two days later, and today I had a shift at the wolf sanctuary. I pulled into the gravel driveway, parked behind the small building they used to check in customers, and sold handmade trinkets as souvenirs.

"Good morning Clayton." Greeted, Iris Blackwater. Iris was a tall woman in her late forties with short black hair, dark brown skin, and brown eyes.

"Morning, Mrs. Blackwater," I replied, handing her a bag of trinkets I carved from stones, wood, and deer antlers I found around the forest.

She smiled as she peered into the bag, "Your trinkets sell more than any others," she said, pulling out a wolf carved out of a green stone. Carving became my hobby after making the beads for my regalia, and I made so many that I always gave some to Mrs. Blackwater. The money she made from the trinkets went towards the sanctuary.

A few hours later, I had just finished cleaning a cage when a familiar girl walked in. She had dark circles under her eyes, and she looked way too thin.

Today she wore a black hoodie with Tinkerbell on it, black leggings with silver stars, and a pair of converse shoes. She had her hood drawn up to cover her face, walking through the maze of cages.

Taking a deep breath, I approached her. "Hello, my name's Clay. Would you like me to give you a tour?"

She nodded, then followed behind me while I showed her around. She smiled when her eyes fell on the new charcoal gray wolf we got last week.

"That's Wick," I told her as we approached his cage.

"Why's his name, Wick?" She asked

"I ah…named him after John Wick '' I explained.

"Hello, Wick," she said, kneeling in the dirt.

I knelt beside her, "Wick was found caught in a bear trap; his leg got so infected that we had to remove it." I explained, then asked, "I've never seen you around here before; what are you in town for?"

"My mother died in a car accident." She explained with a frown, "I don't know who my father is, so the only choice I had was to live with my Mamaw."

"I see. Will you be starting Nantahala high school next month?" I asked.

She nodded, then said, "Yeah, I'll be a Sophomore."

"I'll be a Sophomore too. What's your name?" I replied

"My name's Evelyn. Evelyn Monroe," she replied.