The Wolves of Willow Creek

Chapter One

It's the same dream every time. She is running free in her forest, her sanctuary. Lush redwoods and sheet moss filled the forest with the rich scent of lichen and fresh rainfall. Her footsteps are muffled by the soft ground as she dodges fallen branches and thorn bushes. The sickly sweet smell of  the forest quickly changes to rot and decay. The ground beneath her feet begins to squelch under her weight, she doesn't dare to look down. In this dream, the forest becomes a place of fear and loneliness. Her perfect world away from all of the chaos diminishes in her dreams and became her worst fears as a suffocating darkness closes in around her, her breath getting tight in her chest. She tells herself to run faster as she dodges branches and hurdles over moss shrouded boulders. She can hear the deafening sound of a great void closing the gap between it and her, a wide mouthed yawn in the dark. Faster! Her lungs are on fire. A sharp cry escapes from her throat as she pushes through the pain. Run. Faster! The trees begin to thin out as she races closer to the edge of the forest, the clearing between it and her house mere feet from her. Faster! She wills her legs to push harder. The violent sound of blood rushing in her ears drowns out her desperate gasps for a full breath. She finally breaks through the trees and turns around to face the dark unknown, her chest heaving and her body slick with sweat. Her skin pricks with fear as the darkness closes in around her – a soundless scream escaped her lips as it swallows her whole.

***

Jovi shot out of bed like an arrow from a bow drenched in a cold sweat. Her nightmares have been getting worse. The pit of her stomach churned and gurgled. A wave of nausea clung to her like a wet blanket; the Change was happening soon. She sighed and her emerald eyes darted across the room to her calendar on the wall; the Full Moon was in a week. It was a day that she hated more than anything because it was the one time she couldn't control the Change. She hated who she was, she hated what her people were capable of. She was a monster inside and she refused to be one on the outside as well.

Jovi let out another heavy sigh as she stretched her arms over her head. She ripped the covers off of her and put her feet on the cold hardwood floor. She willed herself to get out of bed even as her entire body groaned and protested. Her nightmares seemed so real that even her body hurt the next day. She opened her door and the aroma of bacon, pancakes and eggs filled her nose. Her mom brought another man home to cook for. Jovi seethed with silent anger. Ever since her dad disappeared, her mother had done nothing but fill her head with booze and her bed with different men. She wondered how long this man would be around before he realized that her mom was a ticking time bomb. Jovi made no attempt to be quiet as she stomped down the hallway and down the stairs but much to her surprise there wasn't another person in sight, just her pack mates gathered around the small, round kitchen table in their rustic eat-in kitchen. Seated at the head of the table, in her fathers seat, sat the man she despised most in the world; a smug grin plastered on his hardened face.

Wallace Graves was, by all accounts, an asshole. Wallace was one of the pack-mates that all the bitches lusted after. He knew it, too. He loved watching the women fight for his attention. It made Jovi sick to her stomach. After her father vanished, Jovi's mother made a deal with Wallace for clemency from the pack. That clemency was the betrothal and promise that Jovi and Wallace would be a mated pair. That was the day Jovi hated everything about who she was and denounced the Garoux Laws. Or tried to at least.

"Well it's about time your lazy ass got out of bed!" Caleb exclaimed, bringing her back to reality. Caleb was your typical pretty boy. His hair was so blonde it was as if the Goddess herself blessed him with a drop of sunlight atop his head. He stood at six feet exactly, he cast a shadow over Jovi and his deep ocean-blue eyes followed her as she crossed across the small space from the entrance of the kitchen to the counter where breakfast was waiting.