Crown Of Shadows

Prologue

I can almost remember the day that my life changed forever. It was when I was young, only about 6 years old. At the time I didn't know my life was going to change. I was playing in the woods like I always had. We were a large pack of supernatural shifters. We were safe in our territory lines. Or so I had thought, I was chasing butterflies. Something I did often, trying to catch them but never achieving success.

I remember walking into the field and they were everywhere. Butterflies, there was no way that I wouldn't be able to take one back to my mother. She loved the outside so much, but father wouldn't allow her out of the house. She was under lock and key. He said it was to keep her safe, and the time I had asked him about her coming to play with me he had looked down at me with dark brown eyes so different than my own sea green, and a disgusted frown formed on his face.

"She is lucky I let her keep you mongrel." And I had known his words were not friendly, but I didn't know what that word meant. I had asked her later when she was tucking me in bed and she brushed my thick dark hair away from my face and smiled down at me.

"You are a beautiful girl who is going to show the world one day that they shouldn't mess with you. That is all you have to know...now remember Emmie bear..."

"I know momma. I know." She touched my nose and kissed my forehead. She tucked me in a second time and her hand lingered on my stomach.

"You are more than they say. Don't let them get under your skin."

And I had tried my best to not let the words my father threw at me hurt me, but it was hard sometimes. My older brother was my hero, he would stand up to my father, and he was the one to comfort me if I felt the bite of his anger.

And I think that was the moment my life changed. The day Seth died protecting me. I remember everything so clearly about that day. I was in the meadow chasing the butterflies and the attack came from the left. All of the butterflies took flight at once, and it was a curtain of insects between my eyes and the threat. I heard a shot behind me causing me to turn, I was tackled to the ground by a heavy furry body. I had cried out in pain and surprise. And my brother shifted from his human form to his golden-brown wolf and attacked the animal on top of me.

Run Ember! Run! I got to my feet and I ran. I had blood running down my back from claws that had marked my skin. But I ran, as fast as my little six-year-old legs would kill me. I ran home, and I screamed for help. My father came out and I pointed screaming for Seth. My father took off into the wood, changing in form halfway from the porch to the wood line. He didn't pause a second for me, just speeding into the forest with a couple of pack warriors following behind him. My mom came to the door and I ran inside. She turned me around and gasped at the marks on my back. She cleaned me up, and they brought his body back I will never be able to get my mother's shriek out of my mind. My father carried him into the house and he pushed me away as I approached.

"Get away maggot." I stumbled back and I looked at my mom. I didn't understand, what was wrong with Seth. She pulled me back to her, and everything began to change then. The attacks from my father became more frequent and harsher. I learned to make myself scarce when he was in the packhouse. I snuck food at night, I was not allowed to eat with the pack, and not to be in the same room as him. My mother died shortly after, and my father blamed it all on me. I should have died that day. The beatings I received should have killed me. But the words my mother told my night tucking me in kept repeating in my mind.

"You're going to show the world one day they shouldn't mess with you." And even to my six-year-old brain, it instilled the strongest will to survive. And I did, for the next 16 years, I did more than survive I thrived. All while keeping my little dirty secret to myself.