*trigger warning in story description*

Fire.

There was fire everywhere and her pack was dying.

Sage was a young shifter then, only 15 years old when her pack was ambushed by a coalition of rogue wolves. They were determined to usurp her father and take over their lands.

But all she knew then was that they had taken her father hostage and her mother had disappeared altogether.

She was alone amidst the ear drum bursting chaos that had overtaken her community.

"Sage! What the fuck are you doing?! Go to the safe house! It's too dangerous for you out here!"

Her brother's voice crashed over her from behind. She looked over at him and he was in his wolf form. His hickory colored fur was slick with blood in many places on his body. The most saturated place was his mouth, his maw was soaked with crimson.

Before she could reply, the anguished howl of a pack member made Akari snap into action. Sage watched in pure horror as her brother leapt into the air and beheaded an enemy wolf by tearing his head off of his body.

The blood that ricocheted from his enemy's throat seemed to touch the sky.

Sage had to will herself into shifting right in that moment. She began to run as fast as she could to the part of the woods where the pack safe house was.

The heavy smoke in the air burned her eyes as she weaved through fallen trees and burning shrapnel. Snarls and growls were all around her as people were fighting and dying.

Her people were dying.

 Endless anguished howls were being sung and Sage was terrified.

The wolves that were attacking their pack had markings of those who were from Red Mane, Eclipse Valley, and other southern wolf territories that were miles and miles away from Lake Noire.

They were not invited here. They had to come to kill them all.

As Sage launched herself over another fallen tree on her path, the smell of a foreign wolf came over her senses. She immediately froze and she knew, she knew the wolf was on her trail. 

Taking a moment to listen to the wolf's gait, he was running at full speed.

Her mind was screaming at her body to move, but she was frozen in fear. She was petrified of what was surely to come. The smell of the approaching wolf began to be so strong to the point where it felt like she would feel his teeth at her neck in the next few seconds and...

She was too young to die.

That is was caused her to begin sprinting at full speed towards the safe house once again as she was told. And sure enough in the distance, she began to see the house's form. In a couple more seconds, she was there and bursted through the door of the place. The door rattled as she knocked it clean off  of its hinges.

It was there she found her.

The whole pack was looking for her. Sage's father was begging for her.

Sage was the last person to see her mother alive as she teetered on her bare feet on the edge of the wooden chair she was standing on in the small kitchenette of the safe house.

And she knew her mother saw her. Her lips parted when they locked eyes, noose already tied and secure around her neck.

Sage knew she saw her.

What Sage didn't see coming was the same wolf that was following her catapult themselves into the house seconds after her. The crash he came with was the noise that caused her mother to jump right then and there. The eye contact between mother and daughter forever broken.

The image of the limp rope being pulled taut by the weight of her mother's body was burned into Sage's psyche.

Sage sat there, watching. She was too traumatized to move a muscle. She was in dumbfounded awe.

The soft sounds of paws on glass came closer and that's when the enemy wolf revealed himself.

It was no enemy wolf at all, but Akari, his fur so drenched with foreign wolf blood, he no longer smelled like himself. He looked as if his fur grew in maroon.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw what Sage saw. He stood there for at least ten minutes, stuck in the same trance Sage was.

A burning tree fell not too far from the house and brought Akari back to the situation at hand. He nudged his sister with his snout. Sage was unmoving. It was then, just as a mother wolf carries her young, Akari picked Sage's torso up with his mouth and left the safe house.

It was unbeknownst to the siblings that just shy of a decade later, they would be eating their breakfast in that very kitchen, under the same roof they left their mother hanging on that fateful day.

It was unbeknownst to them that it would take almost decade for them to finally understand why Lake Noire burned that day.

***

Sage, wake up...

Deep in her sleep, Sage heard the voice of her mother calling to her.

Sage, wake up, baby.

It was soothing almost. She sounded just like she did when she used to wake Sage and her brother up for school during the week...and because of this, Sage didn't budge.

Sage, wake up!!!

The sound of her mother's blood curdling scream ripped Sage from the clutches of her slumber. She woke up panting, sitting straight up on her bed and gripping the sheets for dear life, covered in a thin sheen of cold sweat.

"Sage, wake up it's time for breakfast." Her brother's soft voice replaced her mother's.

Turning her head to the side to look at the digital clock on her nightstand, the glowing red numbers let her know that is was 9AM in the morning.

It indeed was time for breakfast.

Getting her bearings together and allowing her feet to sweep her baby pink throw rug by her bed, Sage was now calm enough to look her older brother Akari in the eye.

Akari was a six foot five tank of a man. He was a light sandalwood color with dark brown locs that always had pieces of pine sticking out from them. Akari spent most of his time in the forest foraging for plants and cool lost things. This is what made him happiest and Sage was a fierce protector of what brought her elder brother happiness.

He was born to be the next Alpha of the pack.

Their mother's mistakes had taken that from him.

Anala, when she was alive, was a good mother. She did what good mothers did, but why Sage now woke up to her screaming voice in her head was because Anala was not a good Luna.

She was selfish and because of her so many needs, her children suffered. And they still suffer to this day.

Sage smiled at her brother who was waiting patiently by her bedroom's door for her to put her smiley face slippers on and follow him down to the kitchen. This was the Moses siblings's daily routine.

On a normal day, Sage wakes earlier than Akari and she makes him his favorite breakfast: soft scrambled eggs, hot water cornbread, and two sausage patties. Of course, she eats something herself with him, but she really only got up to make sure he had a good start to his day.

Sage owed her brother everything in her mind. He was the reason what was left of their pack lands and even most people survived the battle that overtook them years ago. Akari was a mighty warrior and under his leadership, the pack was able to flee into the mountains for some time before making their way back when things were over.

Now, Akari was a more simple man.

The trauma and aftermath of what came after the attack had caused massive dissociation and age regression for the then 20 year old Alpha protégé. Now, he was 28 and had the mind and interests of a young tween boy.

Sage was the head of their house.

The two walked from Sage's room and into their small kitchenette. They lived in their pack's safe house which was never intended for long haul human habitation. It was a meeting point, a resting place, a halfway house... but Sage and Akari had been banished to live there for 8 years now.

In the same house Sage watched her take her last step. Her last breath.

Because Anala chose to die instead of see through what was to come of her.

"So, what are your plans for the day?"

Sage asked her brother as she turned on the stove and sat her phone down on the kitchen counter, pressing play to her morning playlist. Akari had taken his seat at the table in the dining area, he had brought his collection of crystals out and was arranging them into categories.

"I think I'm gonna go out to the river that feeds the lake—"

"Akari..." Sage softly broke his sentence as she cracked four eggs into a hot waiting skillet. She immediately began to softly whisk the yolks and egg whites together with a bright green plastic spatula.

"I promise I won't get lost out there again. I'll be home before dark, please don't worry about me." Akari tried his best to fight the stubborn-ness of his sister and get his wish to go out to the outskirts of Lake Noire territory.

It was his favorite past time to look for crystals in the shallow river bed that feeds the lake on their lands. Sage knew this and she didn't mind him going around the lake and even a little into the woodland areas around to scavenge things.

However, Akari had a habit of sneaking off to the edges of the territory where the river moved the fastest and the thick bush causes him to lose his way back to camp. Even he knew he had some deficits now and though the siblings never talked about it directly, he was willing to always appeal to Sage's better judgement.

Sage had spent many a nights worried sick in the forest, calling for him so he could find her and they could come home together. Akari's memory was not the best anymore, which was why he got lost so frequently.

Akari loved the forest and Sage did not want to stifle her brother. He still was a grown man even if he acted more like a child. She wanted him to be happy. They had such little happiness in their lives now.

There was a strained moment between the two. Sage was reminded how different there roles should be and for a moment, she could have sworn she saw a glimmer in Akari's eyes that hinted he felt the same way too. 

"Sage, please. I can do this." Akari bargained one more time with his younger sister. 

Sage sighed deeply, still whisking the quickly cooking eggs. Out the corner of her eye she could see Akari waiting with bated breath for her answer.

She couldn't find it in her to tell him no.

"Please be home before dark." Sage ordered firmly and gave in to her brother's request.

She was not looking at Akari as she plated his eggs and sausage patties, now preparing the boiling hot water for the cornbread. However, she saw in her peripheral vision his excited fist punch in the air.

Once she gave him his plate, Sage went on to make her a spinach, cheese, and bacon omelet and joined her brother at the table. They ate in comfortable silence and listened to the music that Sage was playing from her phone.

This is how they started everyday.

Some days, they didn't talk at all. Some days, Akari wasn't in such a good mood.

Today was a good day.

After breakfast, Sage went upstairs and began to get herself ready for the day. She spent most of her days working as The Council's secretary and that was more than enough to make her wish she was doing anything else with her life.

The untimely death of her parents, the pack's dwindling numbers, and her brother's mental state making him unfit for the pressure of Alpha made for a leaderless pack. More importantly, an Alpha-less pack. That is not something that can happen in Sage's world.

The whole United States was separated into territories regardless of federal state boundaries. It was much like the way Native American tribal lands had crooked borders and wide divides between tribes all over North America in the pre-colonial era.

Before her father's death, Black Maw territory spanned from New Orleans, Louisiana to the most disputed border near Houston, Texas. They lived in peace and harmony with all the wolves in their territory. Being Alpha of a pack was like being a human Governor, the well being of all the wolves in your territory fell on you.

The one thing human governors did not have to worry about were rogue wolves. Rogue wolves were wolves who did not belong to a pack. People move territories all the time. The most common way of switching communities was to alert your current Alpha before you left and contacting the presiding Alpha of the place you're planning on moving to.

This communication allows for both packs to be able to send you on your way and help move you out as well as provide you with information on the new city you're moving to. Wolves supported each other and stayed connected with different packs very commonly.

Most wolves loved this system. Most wolves were pack people.

When a wolf spends more than 3 months unregistered with a pack, they are then considered rogue. If your birth pack cannot connect with you, you are cut from their roster. You are now a stranger on their lands. Since pack territories are so wide, you can bet that each territory has a number of unaccounted for wolves living on the land. This is expected.

Some wolves would rather go it alone. As long as they don't stir up any trouble, most Alphas left rogue families alone. Sage's father Cain was one of them.

However, most rogues do not try to bed an Alpha's Luna.

Black Maw held something special. Sage's mother had the gift of walking the thin line between the supernatural world and the mortal realm. She was able to protect the pack from enemies and otherwise because of other dreams and premonitions she had.

This attracted wolves from near and far. The pack was the protected by the Goddess itself it seemed like and therefore wolves felt safe from danger. The booming family life brought booming businesses.

The thriving territory brought thieving jackals to boot.

Another first was them still being a functioning pack without a presiding Alpha. They were the first pack to be governed by a Council of Elder Wolves. These were the left over warriors that served her father... the left over warriors who were either too weak or too scared to leave like most of the other survivors.

Those who had survived the brutal ambush attack from years ago and were still intact, left Black Maw. At their highest, they had half a million wolves that called Black Maw territory home. Now, they had just over 100 wolves.

When Sage came back downstairs from getting ready, she saw that her brother had just finished washing their dishes from breakfast. She walked to their front door and opened it, sticking her hand outside to feel the temperature. 

The cool autumn breeze met her skin and goosebumps immediately sprung up her arm. She turned to her brother and looked towards their coat rack. Already knowing what was to come, Akari immediately began to groan and roll his eyes. 

"You have to start wearing your coat again, 'Kari! I'm sorry! I don't make the rules!" Sage piped up while walking towards their coat rack and pulling out the bright orange fleece lined wind breaker that Akari hated. 

However, the weather combined with him going to the far bank of the river meant that she was taking no chances of him dying of hyperthermia should he get lost at night.

"Sage, you know the rustling scares the deer away." Akari protested softly as he pulled his arm threw the jacket anyway. Sage truly hated micromanaging him like this, but she couldn't chance things with him.

 "I know..." Sage empathized with her brother in the most caring voice she could, stepping away once she straightened the neck of his jacket.

"It gets cold by the river, okay? I need you to keep this on for me just incase you get lost. I promise to not come looking for you early if you promise to keep the jacket on all dayyy." Sage wagered with her brother in a sing song voice.

His sour mood broke a little and he smiled at her. Taking a deep breath, Akari nodded his head and Sage felt a little lighter. As they always did after making a promise, Akari held his pinkie out for a pinkie swear.

Sage beamed at the gesture and wrapped her pinkie around his. They then went a step further and touched thumbs. 

"We all we got." The siblings said together before letting go.

"Love, ya bud." Sage told her brother softly. With another quick hug to his sister, Akari then packed all his crystals into his large leather satchel. Armed with his stones, a map, magnifying glass, and a farmer's almanac, Akari was off to do what he does best in the forest.

And poor Sage, she had no idea that his best was about to bring another battle right to Black Maw's doorstep.