Sealed Fates

Prologue

Prologue:

     My hunting partner Savannah and I had just taken down a full grown buck when I got a whiff of an unfamiliar wolf’s scent within our pack’s lines.  A deep growl escaped my throat from deep within my chest.  Savannah’s head snapped up and scanned the vicinity for any possible threat, the only remainder of our lunch being her bloodied muzzle.  I huffed a warning for her to keep hot on my heels and darted into the trees to follow the intruder’s scent.

     The wolf’s trail led us to the eastern most part of our territory near Hawthorne Creek.  I buried my nose deep into the soil and slowed my pace down, waiting for Savannah to catch up.  She shifted quickly and stalked confidently past me.  “Wait,” I hissed at her hoarsely, “You need to be careful.  You can’t just go barging in there.  Think a little, the first thing they’re gonna do is attack.”

     Savannah rolled her eyes at me in that annoying way she always did and crossed her arms in defiance.  “Well if you hadn’t been tracking so fast, you might have noticed the obvious trail of blood our beloved intruder is leaving.” She spat at me.  “They aren’t going to attack me because they can’t.  They left the obvious trail because they want to be found, genius.” 

     She pushed past me and I bit my tongue to keep myself from saying anything that would make me look even stupider in her eyes.  I followed her silently, glaring daggers into the ground the entire time.  My body snapped into attack mode when Savannah froze and caught her breath.  I followed her gaze and felt my breath leave my body as I caught sight of the pitiful scene before my eyes.

     There, lying just a few feet short of the creek, lay a man covered head to toe in blood.  His clothes lay in tatters around his body and his breath came in shallow gasps.  Savannah was by his side on her knees in an instant holding his hand.  “Jase, we need to help him!  We can’t just leave him out here to die…” she trailed off as the man groaned in pain and coughed up another pool of blood.  She looked up at me with a desperate look in her eyes.  “Please, Jase…” Savannah begged, “he doesn’t have a lot of time left…we need to get him out of here before whoever did this to him comes looking to finish off the job.”

     Before I even registered what I was doing, the man was in my arms and I was charging through the woods back to base.  We were almost there when the man’s eyes snapped open and stared vacantly into mine.  “Where is she?!” He roared at me urgently.  “She needs to save us before it’s too late!  They didn’t believe me!  Why didn’t they believe me?!” The mystery man cried at me.  He started clawing at my chest frantically.  “Let me go!  I need to get to her before they come for me!”

     Savannah took the man’s face in her hands and wiped his pink tinged tears away tenderly.  “Who is it you have come in search of at such great risks?”  She asked softly.  “We won’t hurt you, but we do need answers if you are to remain in our care.  Who is it you seek?”

     “She’s the Savior!”  He croaked huskily.  “She’s going to save us all!  I have come for your alpha, Aria Nightingale.”  Savannah and I shared a frantic look and rushed the rest of the way, planning to go straight to the War Room after the infirmary.  The man’s eyes fluttered closed and sank back to the blackness of unconsciousness without another word.