The Rejected Elemental

[1]

The sun was setting as I reached a few kilometers away from Moon Stone pack territory. Exhausted, I plopped down on a large rock and stayed there for a while, too tired to move, soaking in the sight of the red sky, faint rays of the barely-visible sun still glowing. Removing my dark, recently dip-dyed waist-length hair from my bandanna, I slowly braided it.

It had been exactly eighty six days since I was kicked out of Moon Stone, my former pack, for not being a proper werewolf. Yeah, I counted.

I guess I was always different. While all my werewolf friends transformed and connected with their inner wolf at the age of seventeen, I remained a human. I didn't even hear a whisper in my head, let alone an entire werewolf inside.

I'm not that ashamed of it, to be honest. Besides, I've not only discovered the true colors of my family, but I've also overcome my irrational fear of bugs. That in itself is an achievement, seeing how I'd nearly beheaded myself the last time I came in contact with one.

Traumatic would be an understatement.

Realizing that it would be extremely dangerous to stay out in the open on the forest floor, and that too at night, I stood up, mustering all the strength I had and trudged on at a faster pace. I might have trained under the Beta of Moon Stone, but I was after all a teenage girl with a willowy build, and wouldn't be able to defend myself from grown-up werewolves that had transformed.

The maximum I could do was screech and point at something at their back, feigning a look of surprise, and bolt away when they're not looking. The classic.

The natural scenery around me was changing as I trekked uphill into the dark safety of the tall shadows cast by the forest canopy to shelter myself during the night. The wide stone path gave way to a rough track that wound through the trees. The still air smelled refreshingly clean and fresh, unlike the windy breeze back home. Unlike the Moon Stone part of the forest, which was open area, this place was filled with shadows and darkness.

The further I advanced into the wilderness, I suddenly got a vague, bad feeling that I had trespassed into another pack's territory. If I have, then I'm in deep shit. Rogues are never looked favorably upon, or trusted. Most Alphas look upon rogues as robbers or if they're female, free invitations to rape.

I glanced around me uneasily as I went forward. I might not have an inner werewolf, but I still had my gut instinct with me, and my instincts were screaming at me not to go in here. The place seemed deserted, wild and insanely beautiful, but I had a feeling I was not supposed to be here. A feeling that I was being watched.

It was easy for anybody too. The rocky outcrop with a dense cover of foliage and stone gave excellent hiding places. I edged forward slowly with cautious steps. To my bad luck, I hadn't brought any weapons with me. I only had a small pen knife that wouldn't help me very much in a fight.

Indecisive for a while, I finally turned around. I couldn't stay here, no matter how sheltered or lovely it was. There was a feeling of impending danger. I turned around and froze as my eyes locked on two pairs of bright eyes glowing in the dark.

Before I could move, two huge black figures lunged out of the darkness and pounced, flinging me to the ground roughly and knocking the wind out of me. They had pinned me to the ground before I regained my senses and began to struggle, my knee hitting one of my attackers right in the crown jewels.

He gave a surprisingly high-pitched squawk and immediately toppled over. I suppressed a smile. Sucker.

The bigger of the two, however, still had my arms firm in his tight grip and was careful to avoid my flailing legs.