Shadow Range

Chapter 2

“I came to bring you home.” Those were the last words Dom had said before he walked out of the kitchen and went upstairs. Ariadne had leaned against the counter before finishing dinner. She had made both their plates and set Dom’s on the table outside his door before knocking and going into her own room. She had finished her food and was lying in bed thinking about what he had said and what all it meant for her.

Ariadne thought about when she came here to Shadow Range. It had been a little over a year ago. She had just graduated early from Harvard and was supposed to get on a plane for Texas the next morning. But something had stopped her; she just couldn’t go back there. So instead she had hopped onto a train and came here to Shadow Range, her Aunt Ash had welcomed her with open arms. She had even lied to the pack telling them that she hadn’t seen or heard from Ariadne since the day she graduated. Ash had gotten her the job with Tucker and even set her up at Ash’s company as President of Public Relations.

     In return Ariadne had cleaned and spent time with Ash. Almost six months after Ariadne had moved in, just days before her 19th birthday they had sent Malachi to see if Ariadne had shown up at Ash’s. Ariadne had watched as her older brother, passed over as leader of the pack, had walked into the house and hugged Ash looking for any sign that Ari was there. Ash had known he was coming and had taken every precaution to make sure that there was none. She had even made Ariadne hide in the secret passage.

Malachi had questioned Ash and then looked over the house. Satisfied that Ariadne wasn’t there he sat in the chair by the door and sighed running his hand over his face. By then Malachi was 22, and already a guard of the pack. It had always been his dream. “Aunt Ash, I just don’t understand her.” Malachi had said, and Ariadne could hear the strain and worry in his voice. “She just didn’t show up. I know that it was a big responsibility. I know others have walked away before but we NEED Ari. She has been the chosen one since birth.” He leaned back and cupped the back of his neck.

“Malachi you and I both know that what is meant to happen will happen. Ariadne may just need time to cope with everything. She lost Dominic when she was 15. Of all people you should understand how losing one’s pair bond affects you.” Ash had then walked over and held the door open for Malachi. “Now if you are done this old woman would like to rest.”

Malachi had sighed and nodded walking to the door. Just before he stepped out he had looked at Aunt Ash and said “I understand the feeling of losing her pair bond but it wasn’t like me losing mine. Dominic walked out. Cecilia died.” With that he had walked out and no one had come looking for her until now.

Ash had called Ariadne out and sat her down in the same chair. “It’s time we talked about why you ran and some other things that are very important now.”

“Aunt Ash I ran because I didn’t want to do it. I was scared.” Ariadne had replied

“Sweetheart everyone is scared but it doesn’t mean that you should run from your duties. Like me for instance, when I found out I was going to be the priestess I ran. But I realized that the pack needed me. I had to go home. And here I am.” Ash sat next to her and held her hand. “Now I know you have some questions so ask them.”

Ariadne sat there quiet for a moment before mumbling. “What was that nonsense about a bonded pair? I thought you only bonded at 13 or after. I’ve never bonded.”

Ash had sighed before answering “You did bond. But you bonded when you were just a baby. It has only ever been done once before in our history. Before the pack moved from Shadow Range, the last bonded pair ended up ruling the entire race not just our family.”

“Who did I bond with Aunt Ash?” Ariadne asked even though she knew the answer to her question

“A little 2 year old boy who just happened to come visit with his mother to see the pack’s new baby.”

“Dominic.”

That had been only a month and a half ago.

****

Pain lances through her chest and she curls into herself, silent tears leaking from under her closed eyelids. Aunt Ash had been killed and essentially it was her fault. She knew that everyone would tell her no it wasn’t and that in fact many of the family had no idea she had been anywhere around but quintessentially the men who had murdered her aunt had come for her. She was, after all, one of the two youngest wolves to pair bond in over three centuries. There was a high price on her head even though she hadn’t known that until the night Ash had died. But Ari refused to dwell on that and instead unfolded herself and climbed out of bed determined to clear her head through a nice night run.

She tried to be as quiet as possible while she dug through her drawers and pulled out a pair of running shorts and a tank top sliding them on over her bare body before grabbing a that was small enough to tie around her leg but large enough to hold clothes. Sweeping her long black hair into a ponytail she headed out her bedroom door and into the hallway.

As she headed downstairs she tiptoed past Dominic’s door, the light shining underneath enough to make her be cautious. The last thing she needed was him to hear her and think she was trying to run again. Not that it was a bad idea but she refused to be chased away from her home again. A sigh of relief escaped past her lips as she opened the front door and slipped out. This was what she had needed for several weeks now but the nights that she had off from both jobs were few and far between and those were really the only time she could do what she had planned.

She walked around the side of the mansion and headed for the heavily wooded area on the north side of the property. The woods led straight into a mountain range, one that used to be famous for hiking but was now more of an animal refuge than anything. She stretched as she walked loosening up her arms and legs for the long stretch ahead of her. Once she entered the trees she followed a path that was almost unnoticeable but considering her eyesight was better than that of an average person she had no problems.

When she was safely in the trees she relaxed her shoulders and set off at a jog dodging trees and looking ahead of her. She didn’t really need to watch the ground, she knew exactly where she was going, they had all been there about a million times since they first started coming to the Range. Sooner than she would have liked the trees began to thin and she ran out into a field of fragrant flowers. They were all colors and sizes and the meadow had a slightly cloying scent but other than that it was one of her favorite places in the world and the beginning of her real run.

Glancing into the sky she noted that the moon was three-quarters of the way full and without really thinking she slid out of her top and shorts folding them carefully and putting them in the bag before tying it back to her leg. As she straightened she let her arms lift to the sky and the light of the almost full moon wash over her bare skin making it glow golden rather than just a tan as she relaxed and opened her body and soul to the change. Within moments hair had begun growing on her body and she seemed to shrink her limbs pulling in on themselves and her face changing and elongating. Where minutes before there had been a beautiful young woman there now stood a young female wolf her snout still raised to the moon.

Had anyone been looking from a distance they would have assumed she was a mountain lion, her coat nearly golden in the dark. During the daylight she was the same unless a light source hit her just right and her coat would light up like molten gold. Coupled with eyes the color of lightest blue with a spark of human intelligence in them they would have known she was an anomaly and would have been hunted, killed and sold her to the highest bidder. No one would have been any the wiser on what she really was.

Ariadne shook herself, feeling the familiar form before taking off into the trees headed up the mountain. She flashed through the trees, she was faster than a normal wolf, and if she hoped to be back before Dominic woke she would have to use every ounce of her speed. She could almost feel in her bones how close dawn was, it was just a built in thing for wolves. She relished the feel of the ground beneath her paws and the wind through her fur. This is what she lived for, the moment every few weeks when she could let this side of her out and let it run. After all you could take the girl out of the den but you couldn’t take the wolf out of the girl.