Wolf Queen - Book 1 of The Nightfall Series

Fourteen

Adelaide had been born into a large, growing family. A loving mother and father. Fiercely loyal siblings.

It had always made her wonder why the Goddess had chosen her.

There were many other high-born families and regular wolves that were born with the power to rise through the ranks. That had the power to take on the mantle that the Goddess coveted for her most cherished. But she had chosen her despite all others.

Her mother was an oracle, strong and kind, making her the perfect fit for the strong fierce power of her father. Adele Jones was the matriarch of the family and kept her children in line with her sharp tongue and stern words. Her siblings never once stepped out of line when their mother was around, too afraid of the fierce glare that would meet them if they dared.

While her mother had been the rock of the family, her brothers made sure her days were filled with joy and laughter. Adelaide and her twin, Adam, had always had the more serious demeanour out of the seven. It was what came with being the first and second born of a high-alpha.

Adam had trained to take their fathers place when the right time came. Adelaide had been trained since her earliest memories to become the Goddesses Harbinger.

It held a lot of responsibility which left little time for fun and games. She had been robbed of her childhood because of the gift bestowed upon her and the look she had always seen in her mother and fathers' eyes told her far too well of the pain it also caused them.

She was never treated differently by her brothers, however. They never saw her as the big bad wolf that would haunt their nightmares, they never saw her as a bloodthirsty, feral beast that prowled the battlefield. They helped to stitch her back together after every fight, every battle she was guided too. They kept her soul intact.

They never judged her for the path that she was chosen to walk, and they never once looked at her with pity. They embraced her as she was and they each gave everything until the last to each other.

They had been happy for a long time, she had doted on her younger siblings as each new brother was brought into the world. She had been twenty-five when Angus, Archibald and Alexander were born and the decent of mankind had begun. In the following years the rest of her siblings followed, each being born into an on-going, dangerous world.

Her brothers had all reached maturity and herself and Adam had been seventy-six when mankind had finally met its end. The months that followed were filled with a strange calm as the world was re-arranged into a new world order.

There had been a sense of harmony between the werewolf community for some time, but it didn't take long for ravenous wolves to crave more than what they had. The Pack Wars had spanned for a lifetime and had seen brother fight brother and families split in two.

The wars had begun as small disputes towards neighbouring packs for more land as their populations grew. Alpha's moved into the major cities, taking over what was left behind, but while many were content with their new lands there were still some who craved to rule over all.

Michael had been one of those men. As the battles became larger and bloodier the more pressing the matter became. As the Conduit she was never to intervene. Her purpose was to keep the peace and to forever serve the Goddess. Adelaide would have never thought in her life that she would have to experience the pain that she had.

The death of her mother had been the turning point for her to join the war. In a way, Adelaide was glad that she had died first. That way she didn't have to endure the gradual death of each of her sons. No mother should have to endure the pain of losing a child.

Her death had been brutal. Moon Fang had been quiet throughout the Pack Wars and the politics that came along with it. As followers of the old ways and the family of the Conduit it was their duty to not intervene unless instructed too by the Moon. The faith allowed them to miss the pettiness that the wars had started over. The wolves had lost the true reason for life and had lost their faith altogether, a recurring issue that had led to the unresolved issues that still plagued them.