Saving Us *Mate Astray*

Chapter 1

"The sun had begun to descend on the world, the forest in which I ran seemingly closing in on me as the dark became like a blanket over the flora and fauna, enveloping everything in its path. 

My heartbeat pounded in my ears, drowning out any other sounds. My body begged to stop as I was over my limit however I felt free so I refused to give in to exhaustion.

Memories played out in my mind as a painful reminder of what I had done and the reality of the monster I had truly become. I forced myself to ignore them, to simply run and enjoy the way the trees and vegetation blurred into an unfocused background as I flitted my way through the forest, hitting speeds a shifter could only begin to imagine.

I am free

I am alone

We are an abomination "

The sun was rising in the horizon. The first rays of light had gotten through the small gap between the curtains indicating that it was morning and therefore time to get up for school.

I rolled out of bed before my alarm went off. It was 6 am on the dot however I would not need to be ready for school for another two and a half hours so plenty of time for my morning jog.

I carefully made my way to the bathroom as I didn't want to wake anyone else knowing for sure that if I did I would get in trouble. My family can be quite grumpy if woken up too early.

After having done my morning routine which included brushing my teeth and getting dressed, I headed out through the back door of our mansion. Yup you heard right, mansion, there are a lot of us living here so we needed a big place. This is just the main house though, we have many other smaller houses spread out throughout our territory where other members of the pack reside.

Making my way into the forest that surrounded our land, I started off in a slow jog, warming myself up until I jumped into a sprint through the paths of fallen leaves, broken trunks and beautiful views of nature. Everything that surrounded me was in shades of dark green, yellow, orange and finally brown. The landscape was formed by dirt and enormous trees and from the soil you could see hundreds of roots connecting the entire forest together. This was my favourite scenery, nothing in the world compared to running freely in the forest, it was relaxing, and it always felt like home to me. I ran for an hour, jumping over broken trunks, running by the lake that sat quietly in the middle of the forest, alongside the various animals that had made it their home.

It was only when I was running back to the house that I sensed something in the forest, running towards me at an alarmingly fast speed. I could feel the dirt vibrate underneath my feet with the immense force of paws hitting the ground, the forest becoming silent, the only sound coming from the large animal that was finding its way to me.

Ten seconds later a large wolf stood in front of me. It's fur was dark brown in colour but with black patches that scattered across its body without a pattern; even underneath that much fur, it's muscles were huge and seemed capable of tearing a man apart with only the swipe of its paw. It stood proudly at 6'6 in height, a great difference from my 5'2 tiny form. It's eyes were the colour of the Caribbean Sea, light blue, a colour that stood out when in contrast to the dark tones of its fur. Those same eyes held a look of mischief, one you would see in the eyes of a child that had just pulled a prank on a parent but the same had yet to realise.

Whilst in the midst of analysing it, the wolf stood on its rear legs with its tail standing in the air, a pose which I had only seen in cats before they pounce on what is usually a prey. Before I had time to register what was happening, it ran at me at full force, only to miss its target as I leapt into the air, performing a back flip over the wolf and landing perfectly on my feet behind him.