The Untameable (completed)

Chapter 1

I take a deep breath, enjoying the piece and tranquillity of this place one last time.

This has always been my favourite place in the whole pack territory.

I'm sitting on top of a big cliff in the miles and miles of forests and mountains that surround the small pack town, staring out, over the cliff at the forest below and the big rocky mountains in front. Somewhere off in the not to far distance you can hear a steady stream flowing. Although I can't see it, I know it is fed by a waterfall deeper in.

Today was graduation and tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday. After tomorrow I'll finally be free of this place. Most of my class members have already gone of to celebrate. Parties have been raging almost all day long. I'll probably join them again later, but since I hate big crowds of people, I'd rather hide out here just a little bit longer.

My thoughts are interrupted by a soft growl, followed by the soft sound of foot steps as someone approaches. Even faintly, I'll always beable to tell who they belong to.

"Hey, there you are."

I barely turn my head away from the view to look at James, strolling towards me out of the woods. He's only wearing a pair of torn and faded jeans, leaving his toned chest exposed.

"Oh, hi". I say as he sits down next to me.

"You've been here the whole time?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

James stretches out next to me.

"Ready for tomorrow?"

"Am I ever! So excited! I'll finally be able to get away from here."

James frowns.

"Do you really hate pack life that much?"

"You mean the cult?" I give him a cheeky grin, knowing he hates it when I call it that.

"It's not a cult, Essie." He answers with a sigh, using the nickname my mom always calls me by.

"Well, lets look at it this way. There's a leader who pretty much dictates everything we do. Minimal people in the pack make their own money - everything they own was provided to them in exchange for complete and utter submission to pack life. Sounds an awful lot like a cult to me."

"A cult has religious ties, Esme." I can hear the exasperation in his voice.

"Oh yeah? Well then, who are you going to marry one day?" Even though we both know it's a rhetorical question, I pause a bit for emphasis before continuing. "Someone that has been predetermined via a deity who supposedly controls who you are going to be attracted to?"

James purses his lips, knowing I've got him there. This is a debate we have often. Ever since my mom and I joined his father's pack after my father was killed. Before that, my family and I lived as lone wolves, without a pack. We travelled constantly and I got to see so much in my younger years.

"No, I really can't wait to get back on the road again. To be free of pack law. To make my own decisions about who I am, what I want to do, where I want to live and for how long. I want that freedom to decide for myself."

"What about your mate?" he turns to look at me.

I scoff, "What about him?"

"What if he wants to stay with the pack?" He moves his body backwards, lying down on his elbows.

"Then that's his choice. I'll just reject him as soon as I know who he is, so that he doesn't feel he has to wait for me, or that he's tied down because of me." I throw a small pebble off the cliff, listening to it clatter as it falls down, down, down...