Ashira's POV.
Werewolves do exist. Humans believe they're just a myth. A way to scare the children or to keep the teens from going out at night.
But it is real. Werewolves are real.
I know this because I am one of them. A living proof of the myth.
I'm a She-Wolf.
But humans don't know about us. We live in a world made just for us.
"Ashira!" A cheery, sweet voice took my attention from dozing off.
My friend, Lucianna, came running in my direction. Like me, she wore a thin white satin dress just above the knees. Both of us wore wood-made sandals.
If you were going to compare the way we were dressed, we might look weird despite the age and year today.
We had no underwear inside the thin white dresses. The wood sandals were even made by the elders of the pack.
But this was different from the way we usually dress. We just had to.
A sacred ceremony was to be held, and we must dress like so.
It was a pack tradition.
Werewolves like us needed to stick together.
We had our pack. My friend Lucy and I belonged to the Regal pack under the reign of Alpha David together with his Beta, Eric. Eric was the one who took me in and acted as my guardian.
I was once a Rogue. A lone wolf. I was still determining who my parents were and whether I had ever belonged to another pack or not.
I had almost no memories of my childhood.
All I remembered was walking in the middle of the forest and being found by Eric.
Eric's mate, Ophelia, accepted me as their orphan child. They also had a son named Cruz; he was a couple years older than me.
I got along well with Eric and his family. Cruz was even overprotective like I were a real sister to him. Overall, I settled into this pack even though I was practically an outsider.
"You looked excited, Luce," I told her when she stopped before me. We walked sideways towards the line where the other She-Wolves were. They wore the same kind of clothes.
"And you're not? We're talking about the Mapping here! Of course, I'll be hell-bent!"
Mapping was a pack tradition. This tradition was held annually every last month of the year, a sacred ceremony and one of every pack's most meaningful events.
The continent had the East, West, South, and North. And every one of these regions had packs domineering it. I was from Regal Pack of the North.
It was not just our pack that held the Mapping. Every pack all over the continent did.
We'd be able to know from which pack our mate lives. This was the primary concern of the Mapping, to know which pack the females would be sent to.
Each wolf had their mates. If a wolf was not able to meet its mate, it wouldn't have the chance to produce a pup. Even if a male or female wolf had sex with every wolf, they would not be able to produce a child unless it was with their mate.
So finding a mate was a must, especially for the pack's Alpha, even for the Beta and third-in-command, Gamma.
They would need their mate to have a pup that would continue their legacy.
It took work to pick a Beta or Gamma. Those high-rank positions were mostly inherited. Unless that bloodline betrayed the Alpha, they would be banished from having any part in the high rank.
I just shrugged the thought of finally locating my mate.
I was not interested. Really.
"I'm just waiting for this moment since I was born." Lucy's eyes were even sparkling as she said that.
That reaction was widespread. Most of the She-Wolves were waiting for this moment of their life.
Not me.
I didn't have any butterflies flying in my stomach whenever the word mate was involved.
"How does this work again?" I asked. I knew most of the pack laws and its system, but I never dug deep into anything about Mapping or mates.
"You're so uninterested, Ashira. Aren't you excited to meet your mate?"
I shrugged only to answer her question. She rolled her eyes at me.
"Whatever. So here" —Luce pointed to the house of the Enchantress— "there's a sacred knife inside, and you'll cut your palm with it. You'll let the blood drop on the map, and it will do its magic," she explained with excitement.
"How?"
She slumped her shoulders and looked at me like I was unbelievably annoying. "This thing is taught to the toddlers, and you don't know?" she scoffed.
I scowled at her.
"Whatever. So after the Enchantress is done with the chant, a part of the map where your mate lives will glow," she said, having sparkles in her eyes once again.
"Technically, we still don't know who our mate is," I stated. That sounded like a job.
"Exactly! Isn't it exciting!" Her voice almost made me cover my ears.
I scowled. "Exciting how?"
Lucy rolled her eyes at me. "We'll go to them and will be surprised, duh! First, we'll be able to visit another pack—"
"Only if the mate is not from our pack," I cut her off and shrugged.
"Whatever, Ash!" She rolled her eyes. "Oh! Then, we'll be accommodated by the other pack. That's like having a free vacation with a place to stay and food to eat!" She screamed the last word.
"You sound like they don't feed you here," I cut in again, having fun annoying my friend more.
Luce pretended she didn’t hear me this time.
"Third, we'll finally have the chance to attend the annual Mapping party!"
Every year, every pack celebrated the annual mapping party, on the exact dates that the Alphas agreed on.
This year, the Mapping Ball would be held the night before Christmas so that the She-Wolves will have time to travel to the packs where the Mapping led them. And to prepare themselves or something.
She-Wolves from other packs came here at every annual Mapping party. And they would meet their mates at the party.
The same would happen to us soon.
Every year, the Regal pack lost its She-Wolves. And every year, new She-Wolves from other packs were added.
It was like exchanging the women of packs. But for a reason. The men could not leave the pack. Only females could. Male wolves couldn’t transfer to another pack. That was the law of every pack.
The loyalty of the male wolf was essential.
Also, it was a pack law. Even if males were asked to switch packs, they couldn’t. Well, unless they went Rogue. But only few packs accepted Rogue as one of them. They tended to have a traitor's blood. That was how packs saw Rogues.
"Any worst-case scenario?" I asked Lucy again. The long line was cut short. I guess the process of Mapping was easy. We were almost next.
Many girls came out of the Enchantress's house with wide-ear smiles. Knowing where their mate resides was causing a rampage on their system. Ugh, I couldn't relate.
Lucy tilted her head while thinking of an answer to my question. "Hmm, as far as I heard, there's a wolf before that lost her consciousness. Maybe from blood loss. She cut way too deep on her palm. But that's the worst I know."
Okay. I didn't think I'd be stupid enough to cut myself deep, and I thought I healed fast.
"Oh, my God! I'm next!" Lucy screamed.
I just smiled and gave her a light push, not feeling any excitement.
Lucy went inside, and I was next in line. I looked around and noticed that there was only one girl left behind me.
I took note of her excitement gushing through her aura. She looked like she’d pass out any second, from being thrilled to know her mate.
"You wanna go first?" I asked. I knew she’d love to.
The girl's eyes widened and sparkled with hope. "I can?!" she screamed, making my ears ring for a bit.
I smiled and gave way for her to make a curtsies.
"Thank you! Thank you!" she jump-walked past me.
A few minutes and Lucy came out of the house. There was a red cloth wrapped in her left hand, just like the others before her. Maybe it helped to stop the bleeding, but that was weird since we could heal fast.
Lucy was grinning like crazy. She sure was in high spirits. "Ashiraaaaa!" She jumped on me and hugged me tightly. The girl I made a favor already ran inside the Enchantress. "My god! I know where my mate is!" Lucy screamed once again, which made a whizzing noise in my ears.
"I'm happy for you. Yay," I said, trying to sound cheerful while I rubbed my ears without her seeing.
"Won't you ask me more?"
I was confused at first. Hell, this girl just wanted to be even more thrilled. I just laughed as I saw her eyes glittering and her lips pouting. "Okay. Where!?"
"Shadow pack!" she screamed again. Damn, my friend!
"Wow!" I exclaimed.
Shadow pack was the second strongest wolf pack in the North. Most wolves in that pack were fighters. They also outran the other packs in numbers.
Our pack, the Regal, was fourth in line in the strongest pack. We also had a lot of wolves which made us earn fourth place. We were mostly women, but we made that an advantage. Our She-Wolves were also fighters. Some even were the best.
I was about to talk more and congratulate her when I saw the girl leave the house. Her eyes mirrored the same sparkle every girl did.
"I guess I'm next," I said to Lucy. She nodded nonstop with excitement; I just sighed.
I walked through the door of the house of the Enchantress. Once inside, I was welcomed by the dark, and only the dimmed lights from the candles were lighting the place. A circular wooden table was in the middle of the living room. There was a massive map on the table, a box on the side, and five candles formed into circles shaped like a Star.
Behind the table was where the Enchantress was seated. I could barely see her because of the dark.
When my eyes adjusted, I saw her face more clearly.
The Enchantress was almost in her fifties. "Come closer, Wolf," the Enchantress said, almost in a whisper.
I did.
I was not nervous or afraid, but my feelings were uncanny.
This place felt so heavy, and I wondered why. Should I feel this way? I felt so different from the way the other females reacted. The ambience gave me a light fear. Not enough to make my knees tremble, though.
It was like my Wolf was saying something. Somehow telling me of danger. At least, that was how I felt.
"You know what to do," the Enchantress said. She sounded tired and bored. She has been doing this thing all her life, and she was not into it anymore.
I eyed the table in front of me. I looked at the box beside the map. Inside, I saw the sacred knife lying flat, almost waiting for me to take it.
Two wolves were hugging each other, carved on the knife's handle.
I picked it up and put its edge on my palm. I inhaled deeply as I started cutting through my palm, and I realized that the metal used in the knife was silver. Silver makes our healing slow, and the blood loss finally made sense.
It stung a bit. My forehead was in a knot as I let my blood drip on the map. Once my blood dropped on the map, it was quickly absorbed by the piece of paper. That explained why there was no blood stain on the map after all those girls before me.
I placed the knife inside the box carefully, then growled when the Enchantress hastily took my hand. Damn! That scared me.
Her move was fast, it also made me think she was weird. She wrapped my hand with a red cloth like others, and I felt that the wound in my palm healed faster.
Hmm.
After, she looked at the map, waiting for the result, and I did the same.
Frowning, I continued looking at the map. There was no light showing yet. Lucy said it would glow or something.
A few seconds and a little round glow was visible in a part of the map. I gasped. Wow. It sure was magical. I looked up at the woman in front, and she quickly broke my growing enthusiasm.
The Enchantress's eyes looked even more bored. "Prime pack," she announced; no emotion could be detected in her voice.
Okay, I was done here, huh?
Once informed of where my mate lived, I turned around, ready to step away from the table since everything seemed to be done. I was about to take a step when another light showed on the map. What the hell? There were two. And then another glowed, two, three, and another.
Almost every part of the map was glowing!
The map took my full attention. I was not sure what was happening, and confusion was displayed on my face. "What—" I was about to ask, but stopped before I could.
I didn't understand any of it; I was scared to speak!
The map and its glowing lights were too distracting. My wolf bombarded me with a lot of questions in my head!
Confusion and fear slowly crawled on me.
The Enchantress's expression didn't help at all. She looked more shocked than I was! And if I was not mistaken, there was fear in her face. The heck?!
"W-What's happening..." I managed to ask. Was this supposed to happen? Maybe I should be glad after knowing the results of the Mapping? Oh, hell, why was I trying to blame myself?
"You're a stealer!" the Enchantress exclaimed.
Her voice sounded hysterical, and I knew there was something wrong with the sound of her voice and her expression.
Stealer? I was not a freakin' thief!
But what does that mean?
I slowly walked backward, away from the table, away from the map, away from the Enchantress.
'Ashira. Go home. Now!'
That was Eric talking to me through our mind link. I was trembling with an unknown fear, but I did not think twice when I heard him. I ran fast, heading outside of the house.
Lucy was about to come near me, but I immediately shape-shifted into my white wolf.
My wolf and I were so confused. I could hear my wolf whining. And somehow, she sounded angry. I heard Lucy call my name, but I did not looked back.
I ran towards home. All I wanted now was a talk with Eric.
He must know something about this stealer thing or else… I'd go insane!