Chapter 2

Azrial had seen much pain in his lifetime. He had been called many things as well. For his people they had viewed him as a god descendent. Someone that had served to unite them when he had been the very person who had stopped their kingdom from being entirely torn apart.

When Azrial was born werewolves weren’t common knowledge and they kept who they were a secret. There was a large surge of hunters and because of that they had to be careful. His mother had fallen in love with his father who had been from a rival pack to hers and because of that fact they had both been cast out by their people. They were seen as abominations and none of their people wanted to associate themselves with the both of them.

They had been forced out of their pack and were forced to abandon everything that they knew as they joined a human tribe in order not to run mad from the isolation. Every wolf needed a pack even if it meant that the pack was human. At the time Azrial’s mother was pregnant with hum and they needed the safety. The tribe was very welcoming and showered them with love and opened their arms up to them.

They were able to lay low for a few years in solitude with the pack and they were treated as though they were family. Azrial hadn’t been told that he was a werewolf and so he had thought that he was human. His parents knew that once he was ready to shift they would have to inform him eventually but they feared what the tribe would say and what they would think of them.

They had guessed that they would figure that out eventually when they got to that point and tried to convince themselves that it was nothing to worry about. But all that changed when Arial shifted for the first time unexpectedly at the age of seven. He had been playing around with the other human children when suddenly his whole body had erupted in a pain that seemed to consume him. His father had heard his cries and had immediately rushed over to him. He was tight aware of what was wrong and what was happening to him.

He tried to get Azrial to the safety of the forest in order not to blow his cover but it was no use as the whole tribe watched in horror as he turned into a pup. The chief had been horrified and all the tribe’s men and women had demanded that they leave immediately but they had refused. The tribe was their home and they didn’t know where else they would go if they were going to be forced to leave it.

They had promised that they would cause no harm to the tribe and that they would use their abilities to keep them safe rather than cause harm and the tribe had agreed.

But the thing was that promises were never meant to last and betrayal seems easier than one living in fear. The tribe had ended up betraying them by calling the hunters. Azrial remembered the fat very clearly as he had been listening to his mother rock him gently to sleep. He was woken up by the sound of commotion coming from outside and before he could react, their door was forced open and he watched as a tall muscular man barged in. He had tried to shift to protect his mother but he was too afraid and he had been completely helpless and he watched the hunters drag his parents away.

He had stood there unmoving like a complete coward and he vowed that he would hate himself for the rest if hid days after that. He had run away from the village not wanting to stay in the place that had taken his parents from him. He was small and he had no idea where he was going. By the time that he collapsed on the ground he had found himself at the edge of the forest just outside the territory of another pack.

What he didn’t know was the pack was in fact that of his mother. They were hostile towards him and they didn’t take kindly to strangers.

As Azrial would have expected the pack members weren’t fond of him. He was raised in the orphanage and was destined to be nothing more than another forgotten child. But even as a young child Azrial showed incredible strength and quick reflexes.

He was the top of all his training classes and soon enough he took the position of one of the top warriors in the pack. The silver pack, although they didn’t care much for him, knew that they would have to take him into their fold and under their wing. The Alpha had taken an interest in him and had made the decision to take him under his wing. He treated Azrial like he was his own son.

For once Azrial was finally starting to feel as though he was starting to fit in somewhere but everything changed when the neighboring River Stone pack attacked. They were much larger than the silver pack and they were able to sneak in and kill the Alpha leaving the pack weakened. When the dust cleared the question remained who would take on the position of Alpha as the previous Alpha didn’t have any surviving children. People set up an Alpha challenge which would bid their strongest warriors against each other.

The battle ended with one of the warriors either dead or surrendering. Azrial, despite not wanting to take on such big responsibilities, reluctantly agreed to take part in the challenge and he was able to easily win. He was given the position of Alpha and Azrial was forced to start working towards putting the pack back together. There were still those who were unsure of having him take over but reluctantly they gave in as they came to realize that he cared about the pack just as much if not more than they did.