The half-breed (working title)

Strength in pain:

The night was cold, the frost on the ground hurt her bare feet but the smell of the moonflowers and lupines filled the air making her forget the cold. For the first time in her life Valentina was who she was meant to be, half wolf, half hunter with a dash of Witch; she sat under the oak listening to the song it sang. The pain that came from the earth was daunting, but she let it in, feeling the land, letting the history of her people touch her.

She saw her family, the reason she was who she was; the first person she saw was Siegfried, he was with a she-wolf, his wife Heidi. Then came their children, a son Sean who was a wolf and a daughter Lilly a witch. Heidi was killed by hunters, his daughter Lilly found her mate with the men who killed her mother; heartbroken she left with her mate, never to see her family again. Sean married Alvar another wolf, they had a daughter Alvar – named for her mother who died birthing her, Sean died in a hunter attack a few months later; Siegfried becoming the sole care giver to his granddaughter. Alvar married a wolf not her mate- her mate had been a vampire, he rejected her; they had a daughter Sally, her husband died in a hunter attack before Sally was born- it was her great-uncle who killed her husband; Siegfried kept Alvar and Sally safe in the cottage. Sally married a wolf Finn, they had a son named Finn; Sally and her husband died at the hands of their distant cousin, leaving Alvar to raise baby Finn. Then she saw her parents meeting; falling in love and the death of her family; by morning the earth had told the tale of the Wolves of Hame, hunted and killed by their family; Diana taken by the descendant of Lilly and turned into a creature of darkness. The land cried out for justice and Valentina was going to deliver it.

The sun rose and a new woman rose from the ground; she stood proud like a hunter, poised with grace, her eyes amber like the wolf alert and full of wonder but her face and hair were very different; her hair was silver like the moon, as long as had been before she cut it, and her face bore a scar for every wolf of Hame that had died at the hands of the hunters; it should have marred her beauty but it didn't, she was something different now and as she walked to meet the Cheyleigh pack flowers grew in her wake. Adam and Rosa rushed to meet her, both scared and awed at seeing her; her eyes went straight to Vlad and he bowed his head "I know you. I know what you did and what you are; You refused Alvar because she was the granddaughter of your friend and you'd seen her grow; you left me in the hands of fate, knowing what would come pass. Should I reject you Vlad as you once rejected your mate? Siegfried thought she'd rejected you; she loved you enough to not take him away from you". She turned and walked away; Rosa looked at her friend with new eyes "YOU rejected her?? All these centuries, and I thought it was her". He nodded "I helped Siegfried raise her, I could never see her as anything other than a daughter; it broke me to hurt her, but I couldn't trap her in a loveless marriage". Rosa nodded her understanding "give Tina time, she's clearly going through a lot".

The council were the last to arrive, they stared in awe at the girl before them; "I am Valentina, the last wolf of Hame, I demand justice for my people; I demand the return of my mother, and the blood of my brothers murderer".