Chapter 1 Untitled Chapter
“She still gets nightmares, witnessing her parents and entire pack’s murder is not something a child should have to witness.” Claire still recalled Luna Moona, a very beautiful woman with a bright smile, who was more than happy to take her into her arms and home after the mass murder of her pack.
That was eight years ago, although on rare occasions she still has nightmares, she could still hear people's tortured screams, her mother hurriedly pushing her under the bed as their houses were raided by unknown men. She recalled being so frightened, so frightened that she could do nothing but cry silently beneath the bed she was hiding.
Long after the bad men were gone, she still couldn’t come out, afraid they were still out there and would come for her. Hours passed by but when help finally came, it was then she found out that she had been beneath the bed for three days. Luna Moona had wept bitterly as she carried her out from under the bed, whispering smoothing words into her ears.
“Jet!” Lady Moona's stern voice pulled thirteen years old Claire away from her silent brooding. “Will you stop practicing your bow in the house? If you hit one of the servants then I’m taking it away.”
Smiling, Claire climbed out of bed to poke her head through the crack of her bedroom door into the hallway. Just in time to see Lady Moona pulling out an arrow from one of the guests bedroom door.
“I made sure to practice when no one is around.” Responded Jet as he emerged from his father’s study. It’s safe to note that ever since he has been gifted that for his fifteenth birthday, he goes everywhere with that thing. Claire has lost count of how many times her snacks have been pierced by one of his arrows when she wasn’t looking.
Unimpressed by her son’s response, she glared at him. “I meant it Jet, I’m taking that thing away if I have to remove it from one of my servants.” As if sensing her presence, she turned and spied Claire. “Fair Claire.” Claire couldn’t help but smile at the affectionate nickname.
“I beg you to take it away!” She added, earning a death stare from Jet. “I have lost count of how many times my door has been hit by that thing!”
“Because you would not stop being annoying! She scares me with that creepy thing she carries around.” Jet responded, referring to Claire’s favourite doll. Lady Moona also shared the opinion that the toy was indeed creepy but she would never admit it out loud, besides Claire loved that thing to death, even her own parents could not understand why.
“You have your toy and she has hers.” Came her reply.
“This—” Jet half angrily waves his crossbow in their faces. “Is not a toy.”
Instead of answering him, they laughed which seemed to annoy him further. He made to leave but stopped. “I’m heading out, I’ll prove to you this is not a toy when I return from hunting.” He boasted.
“I’m coming with you!” Claire announced, slipping out of her room.
Lady Moona watched the two walk down the hallway with a smile on her face as they continued bickering about whether or not the crossbow was a toy. Her attention moved away from their departing figure when the study door opened and her mate emerged, their eyes immediately drawn towards one another.
“Jordan, can we talk about the crossbow you gave Jet?” She asked, taking a slow deliberate step towards him while he watched her with mischief.
“You cannot hunt.” Jet stated as he and Claire came outside the building. They both stopped walking, waiting for their new companion to join them at the bottom of the steps.
“Last time I remember, Morgana too cannot hunt.” She pointed out, with a deep sense of satisfaction.
“I have been practicing.” Morgana defended herself, having heard what Claire said. “My parents and I arrived last night and I did not see you at breakfast, where were you?” Her questions are now directed at Jet as she waits patiently for an answer.
“I have been practicing with my new weapon and now I’m going to prove it’s not a toy to Mom and Claire by hunting dinner.” That made Claire burst into a full blown laughter.
“This is going to be a long day then.”
Morgana rolled her eyes. “Why must you always be so negative? I told you the voodoo doll you carry around is a bad omen, it is going to suck out all your positive energy and replace it with a bad one.” Morgana warned, causing Claire’s smile to slowly fade.
“It is certainly a unique doll, I would not say it’s creepy. It’s unique, just like Claire.” Jet corrected, which made her smile once more but Jet did not see it as he was distracted by the young boy jogging towards them. While he appears a little too young to be hanging out with the rest, Jet did not mind even though at first their parents forced them to hang out.
Kale was fun, full of mischief despite how young he was. And he’s far too eager to follow Jet around and do whatever he says, they pretty much cause mischief together despite their age difference, not to mention him seeing Jet as a mentor also plays a role in that.
“Finally! Kale is here, Jet will have plenty of hands to carry the dinner he is going to hunt down.” Claire remarked, covering her mouth to stop another laughter from escaping.
“Neat!” Kale agreed, not grasping the hidden joke behind Claire’s words.
“Wow.” Claire breathed as they came upon an orange tree near the pack’s border. “Jet, could you use some of your arrows to get some oranges for me? Luna is going to love it!” She gushed, immediately rushing there and giving the others no choice but to come along with her.
“Do not be ridiculous Claire, how could a toy achieve that?” Now it was his turn to smile.
“Fine, you have made your point, now please help me.” She pleaded, stepping aside when he got into position without words. It was something that she liked about him, no matter how angry he was at her, he could never say no to her.
Morgana came to stand beside her. “I thought you hated to be out here, why did you decide to come today?”
“I had nothing else to do and I wanted to see what Jet new weapons could do. You arrived last night, did you not? I thought you would be out exploring the grounds with your parents.”
“I wanted to but when Jet told me he would be going hunting, I decided to come with him instead. Also, hanging out with adults can be so boring! All they talk about is work, work, work.” Claire nodded in agreement, watching in excitement as the first orange dropped.
Kale raced towards it just as she did, the two fighting over who gets to pick it first. Just as Claire reached to grab it, her foot slipped causing her to fall backward into a shallow grave. Kale took the orange with the arrow in it, declaring himself to be the winner before racing back to where Jet stood, targeting the next fruit.
“Blasted!” Claire hissed as she stood up, furiously dusting herself off. Just as she was about to crawl out of the ditch, something caught her attention, causing her to jolt back. Stepping closer to examine it, she was shocked to see it was a boy, laying face down into the dirt.
“Jet!” She screamed. “There’s someone out here.”
In panic, Jet raced towards her, pulling her out of the ditch before he went in to examine the boy. Rolling him on his back to get a better view of his face, Jet was shocked to see that the boy was wounded and bleeding heavily. “Kale, can you please go back home and tell my Dad about this? Tell him we found a boy bleeding!”
“I will go with him, that way he will be more believable.” Morgana suggested, raising to her feet.
After the two left, Jet stood up also. “Watch over him Claire, I need to find something that would stop the bleeding, I will not be far nor long.” He assured her, running in the opposite direction.
A few minutes later, Claire leaned forward curiously, peaking at the boy, from beneath her lashes. Her heart squeezed with sympathy for him. What could have happened to him? She wandered, her eyes moving across the claw injuries on his body then to her horror, the boy suddenly opened his eyes, making her scream and jerk backward in surprise.
To further shock her, his wounds begin to close, stopping the bleeding completely before he sat up, looking around curiously and back at Claire in confusion. Claire knew the boy already had his first transformation, just like Jet, it was rare but it happens.
She expected the boy to say something, instead of blankly staring at her. And when it seemed like it would never happen, she decided to break the silence. “Help is on the way.”
He shook his head, making her frown.
“Can you not speak?” She meant that as an insult but when he nodded his head yes, Claire felt terrible enough to flush with guilt. “I’m sorry, I did not mean it that way. Will you tell me your name?” She looked around, finding a dry stick then handed it to him.
Looking unsure, the boy crawled out of the ditch then wrote his name on the ground in bold letters.
“Hunter.” Claire echoed the name as if to remember it. “I’m Claire-” she glanced into the distance, watching Luna Moona and Alpha Jordan approaching them. “Help is here!” She declared…