Chasing After Ashes

Prologue: The First Hunt

The moon rose in the sky in its full glory, softly illuminating the earth beneath it. There was a chill in the air as a cold breeze passed and ruffled the furs of the werewolves who were gathered in the clearing.

Nobody could have mistaken them for anything but beasts tonight, an entirely different species from their namesake as their forms rose to more than six feet just standing on their paws. Every inch of their bodies were danger packed in their muscles, claws, and sharp canines.

Under the weaving shadows and cover of darkness the night offered, everyone could be exactly who they were. It was nothing like the stories say where they were forced to change, overtaken by the need to be in their most natural form. It wasn’t a curse; nobody was forced to howl, rampage the streets, or be in that form had they not wanted it.

It felt normal, natural, for them to slip off their humanity and wrap their true forms around them, embracing themselves fully along with their pack.

Everyone was ready for the hunt, to the game they all participated in whenever the moon was in its full glory. The game was pure tradition; chasing after whatever prey that had failed to hide when they started the hunt, feeling the rush on their skin, in their blood as they hunted, and shared the prize with their pack. This had been going on as far as they could remember, even before humans could walk upright, speak, and had built their tools and establishments.

However, tonight was a little different than most of their hunts.

There was a nervous energy around them, a fritter that took over most of them as they waited with bated breath. There was going to be a new addition to their hunt and most of them didn’t know what to make of it. The newcomer wasn’t exactly new and she wasn’t exactly a stranger to their pack.

But she was a new, strange werewolf in their eyes since they didn’t know she was one in the years they had known her. It was only a few months ago they knew of her as a wolf, and even then, they had thought it was some sort of spell like witches had done in the past. Recent events had forced it down their throats to accept the fact, the truth, that she was one of them—even if she could heal and was more dominant than their alpha.

It had been many weeks ago when she, the Alarick who was the head of the werewolves, his enforcer, a witch and a warlock, and the Reons pack, came running to them for safety. They were being hunted by the rogues and the pack which controlled them, the same ones who had been going around in the past few years killing other packs without mercy.

After the ambush where surprisingly, only a few Alcatrozz wolves and rogues died, and the k********g, the strange new wolf had been in her own world. She had trapped herself inside her own cottage and no amount of coaxing from their Louve, Elizabeth, her son Tate, or the Louve of the Reons, Lilian, could bring her out.

It wasn’t until one of the Reons’ wolf, Rastor, went in and talked to her for a few minutes that she finally came out of her cabin. Nobody knew what the guy said, but when the girl came out, there were dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed much thinner than she was before.

That was a few days ago. Since she came out of her place, she had been seen being dragged all around the pack house by Lilian, Elizabeth, and being followed everywhere by their future Alpha, Tate, much to everyone’s confusion. They weren’t close before and no one knew why he was acting this way when the girl only just kept ignoring him.

The first time people heard her talk again was when Tate had invited her to join them in the monthly game. The few who were around them had noticed a hint of curiosity surface amidst the blankness in her eyes, so no one was shocked when she agreed to come—it’s just that no one really knew what to expect.

She was much stronger than anyone of them, even their Alpha Hans couldn’t compare, yet she had no position in the pack. She could have easily taken the position of their alpha easily if she wanted to, but she didn’t. It was unheard of, like everything else about her.

Another breeze blew, stronger than the one earlier, carrying the soft scent of the forest and the animals around it. Tate, the wolf whose fur seemed whiter under the moonlight, turned to the side where the trees were closer to each other. Few streams of light passed through the thick canopy of leaves, leaving the ground beneath them almost hidden in the shadows.

A few wolves who were near him noticed where he was looking at and turned to see what could have caught his attention. Yet there was nothing there.

As they all waited with bated breath, listening to the soft whistle of the wind and in the distance, the bustling Ashburn city of the humans who were still awake, there was a shift in the air. A tiny, almost incomprehensible shift that made most of them stand alert as they felt something dangerous heading their way.

The wind carried no other scent besides of the animals and the forest, but they knew something was coming. Moments later, eyes that were the color of the arctic appeared in the dark. Its entire body blended perfectly with the shadows and it was only until it stepped out of it that they saw it was a wolf whose fur was the color of the night when the stars refused to shine.

If they weren’t waiting for her to join them, they knew they never would have seen, smelled, or even sensed her. She had blended perfectly with the night as she remained in the dark shadows of the trees, her eyes the only perceptible thing about her in the second too long she had remained there.

It was her, Evangeline Rosewood. It was the first time they had seen her as a wolf since the fight weeks ago, but they knew they couldn’t have mistaken her for anybody else because nobody had the color of her fur.

She didn’t look as lost in her own world, wrapped in sadness, confusion, and the plethora of other emotions which constantly overwhelmed her, now that she had shed her human skin. For the first time after a long while, there was a clarity in her freezing blue eyes which said she was fully aware of her surroundings, as if the mist she had been shrouded in had finally cleared.

A tremor of fear ran up their spines as they took in the sight of her standing in front of them, her midnight black fur, a color which seemed to refuse light and the icy contrast of her eyes to the rest of her body.

It was as if they were faced with a predator, a beast which hadn’t been seen nor walked the earth since it was young. A primal being, more dangerous than all of them combined, packed in a sleek seven feet tall form of pure muscle, and every inch of her were power and strength condensed.

They all seemed to have forgotten how to breathe as she walked further into the clearing until she was only a few meters away from most of the wolves who were gathered. She was quiet, too quiet, as she padded closer, looking at everybody in the clearing before settling her gaze at the center of the gathering where the Alpha Hans and Elizabeth were.

Somebody in the crowd made a sound which vaguely sounded like a gasp for air. She turned her head and looked at the brown wolf who made the sound, her cold eyes freezing the wolf in his place, chilling it down to its lungs that even breathing seemed to be an impossible feat.

Only when somebody in the crowd moved and the wolves quickly parted to make a clear path did she take her eyes off the brown wolf and he could breathe again. Tate padded to where she was, closing the distance easily. Evangeline looked at him, making a soft sound in her throat in question to him as he stood in front of her.

Unlike the myths and fiction the humans made, werewolves couldn’t communicate telepathically with each other, pack or not, it just wasn’t possible. However, as Tate and Evangeline stared at each other, they seemed to understand each other; no words were spoken but the meaning was communicated, in a way only people with close or intimate relationships could.

Now that she was occupied, the wolves near them turned away, intending to catch their breaths and wait for the game to start after the two was finished talking. They wouldn’t want to catch the attention of either of them since not only were they stronger and more dominant, they both had fierce tempers especially when they were around each other. Something most of them had noticed in the past few weeks, which was why they were sure the two weren’t anything but friends which bordered on enemies.

Two wolves refused to look away; one because he was annoyed they had to wait for the human-yet-not-human to start the game and the other because she was interested in what was happening before her. A glint of knowledge was in her green eyes as she watched her son and Evangeline together.

The direct contrast of the two were more apparent as they stood together, bathed in the soft light of the moon. Tate whose fur was close to an opalescent white as he towered a few feet over Evangeline’s obsidian black. Elizabeth couldn’t pinpoint it exactly but she knew despite the obvious differences in their attitudes and beliefs, they complemented each other.

Evangeline huffed and as the other wolves turned to see what happened, they noticed how the girl had turned away from Tate and stared at the entrance to the clearing she came from. Tate moved in front of her, wondering how she was feeling, and as he did, she turned and walked towards Elizabeth and Hans. Tate growled softly as she walked away before following her.

The other wolves who were paying attention noticed how the girl’s eyes became glazed again. They watched as the plethora of emotions which continuously bombarded her, shrouded her again in a mist, making her unaware of the people and things around her. The difference was apparent in her every step until she stopped in front of Elizabeth and Hans, and jerked her head to the other direction of the clearing.

The pure power and strength coiled in her bones which made most of them fear her just on sight, were tamped down until she almost seemed like a normal wolf. One who was neither dominant nor submissive, somebody who could easily be overlooked, forgotten.

Ever since she had discovered the pack she belonged in were behind the m******e of the other packs in recent years, she had been like this. Nobody could blame her for the shock she must have felt, forcing her to live through a haze and barely living each day afterwards. Nobody could, but she had taken the brunt of the blame since news of what happened and her association to it, had reached the other packs.

However, she had been so consumed in her own world that she hadn’t noticed how most of the wolves had held her responsible for the crimes of her family. Yet as they saw the shift in their alpha’s body, signaling the hunt could finally begin, all thoughts of Evangeline, the Rosewood pack, and her association to them flitted out of their minds.

It didn’t matter because the hunt could now begin. They were werewolves and they were all going to play their game which span generations, centuries, and differences. Tonight they were going to stay true to themselves and let their instincts take over to be the beasts they were.

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Hi guys! This is the second book of the Rosewood Trilogy. You can find the first book here at Dreame, just search for Alpha, Do I Know You.

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