CHAPTER ONE

Anne's POV

"Anne, duck!"

The twittering of birds in the backyard were enough indication that it was time to get up for the day's activities but dad still wouldn't let me do one thing. As I yawned and stretched lazily on the creaking bed, I could hear the faint but familiar sound of his axe coming down on wood in the back of the yard.

It was a sound that had almost become music to my ears as it was his usual routine, no matter the amount of firewood we had in the house. It was as if he did it to have fun.

"Hey princess," he greeted, the biggest smile on his face as the cold winter ice hit my face. "Go back inside the house. It's too cold to be out here."

"It's alright dad," I yelled back, my hair bouncing at my face. "Would you like some tea?"

He looked at me in a goofy manner, making me smile. "To what do I owe this act of benevolence?"

I stomped back into the house and set the tea on the cooker, or the fireless stove, as he liked to call it. My mind drifted briefly to the lady who had convinced him at the last trade fair to get it and wished he would just consider himself a new wife.

I never knew my mum, long gone before I could understand what was going on around me and since then, he was the mum and the dad, and yeah, the cousins too.

The chopping stopped abruptly and was replaced by the sound of rushing feet towards the house. I looked out the window and realized it was someone else coming towards me.

My wolf instincts instantly became activated and I attuned my senses to find out what was going on. My nose could pick up more than ten different scents around and they smelled so familiar, smelled like…me.

Dad's warnings flooded my head once again. "Once you percieve a scent that looks like ours, you run! If you can't, make sure you are hiding until they are out of range."

There was no place to run to but he had made sure there were more than ten spots in the house I could hide.

His voice cut through the silence, "Anne, run!"

And I knew the danger was up. My adrenaline levels shot up and the door flew open immediately, the first assailant coming in, his fangs bared and his claws up as if they were ready to cut and slash.

"There you are," he announced in his gruff voice as he approached me.

Everything happened so fast. Dad came rushing from outside, his axe in his right hand and claws out on the left.

"Anne, duck!" He ordered and my body answered immediately, the next sound being the sound of axe connecting with bones, muscles and flesh. All it took was one swing and the man was already on his knees, clutching his throat as he struggled frantically to hold on to life, his blood disturbing the uniformed aesthetics of the floor.

Father looked at him and removed the axe from his chest, swiping the blood away and looking at me with the I-will-explain-later look. All this was too much for me to process at the same time.

"Dad, who are they?" I asked, panic stricken.

"We will talk later. Grab whatever you can, we are leaving, now."

My fourteen year old brain didn't understand any of the things that was going, but it could clearly interpret the blood and the innards on the rug of our sitting room.

I followed his instructions with robot precision, going in only to wear my shoe. We were being hunted, maybe Father will listen to my advice now that living in the wood wasn't the best option and I knew no reason why someone else would want our head.

In the midst of everything that was going on, Father didn't seem fazed or surprised, but instead handled this more calmly than I could comprehend. The axe was now sitting on his back, held in place by a makeshift sheath and he was wrapping his hands in bandage.

"You do whatever I ask you to do, and if I tell you to hide. You go hide and don't come out of there, no matter what happens. Do you understand?"

"Wait, whenever something like this is said, it means danger. Are we going to die?"

He froze for a little moment and looked at me with the most loving eyes in the world. "No one is dying here sweetheart."

"But, I just saw you take out that man with a single swing!" I shrieked in horror and watched as his countenance changed, his eyes out the window, as if he was looking at something at a far distance.

"I really wish I could explain this now, but there's no time to argue." He drifted and picked me up like a teddy bear, placing me on his shoulder as he broke into a run, the axe head hitting my chin.

We've never had the cause to be threatened since I was a toddler. Father kept all the wild animals in the woods away from the house and he claimed he liked here because of the serenity it offers away from the turbulence of the pack settlement.

Now, those after us had left the cover of the trees and were now chasing us in their full wolf forms; snarling and lashing. It took only a little moment before they caught up with us and they rounded us in a corner, our backs against a cold rock.

"What are you doing here and what do you want?" he asked, his voice filled with confidence. I didn't know if he was fearless or he was just trying to hide his fear.

"You knew this day would come, didn't you?" a man answered, transforming to his human state to initiate conversation. "Is this the princess? Such a little cute thing."

"Only my dad has the right to call me that." I answered defiantly, dad holding me back.

"She's brave too. Just like her father, or should I say…"

"Shut the fuck up." Dad cut him off, drawing his axe. "She has nothing to do with this. If you want to come, come after me."

The naked man laughed hysterically. "She had everything to do with this. Maybe we would not be having this conversation."

Dad brandished his axe while the other wolves, about eight in number circled us, their low growling constantly reminding me of their presence.

"The only problem I had with you back then was how much you liked to talk, Shane. You talked a little too much."

The man faked a hurtful look and even burst into more laughter. "Well then, let's see who would not have a mouth at the end of the day."

I could swear I heard my father laugh. "That's why you had to come with these untrained minions on your way." Then he pointed his axe at each of them. "You have come to the wrong place, folks. This is your last chance now."

The man, obviously shaken by what he had just heard raised up his hands as if proposing a peace talk. "Just give us the girl and no one gets hurt."

Father snarled, "You will have to go through me."