Chapter One

                "You have to stop ripping their heads off every time we train. They are expensive to obtain." I looked down at the mat beneath me guiltily. I truly had a bad habit of doing that to the dummies. Luckily that's all they were, dummies. Although they were designed to resemble the anatomy of a human body, regarding the strength of the skin and bones, they were still dummies. They weren't real, they couldn't breathe, and they didn't have a conscience. Their "deaths" meant nothing but a loss in money. The thought of doing that to an actual human being thrilled me; it was a truly exciting wonder.

                Every time I got to put my hands on them, the image of the people who killed my parents would appear in my head. I didn't know what they looked like, what their gender was- nothing. But I knew they were human, and that was enough. And till their heads replaced the dummies, well, I didn't think I would stop training in the way I did.

                "I apologize, Kierse. It just seems to happen. It's beyond my control." I replied sheepishly, finally looking up at the tall man that stood before me. He looked down at me with knowing blue eyes and shook his head.

                "Sure it is," He muttered more to himself than to me before walking away from me to clean up the mess I had made. I looked around the room and took notice of everyone's facial expressions and body language. They were all upset and annoyed, mostly at me. Since I had beheaded all of the dummies we had access to at the moment their training session was over. I had suggested that I stopped training in groups when I was around twelve and began my preferred method of termination. But, I was refused so every group training with me in it had this outcome.

                "Since Cyra destroyed the dummies, again, our session for today has come to an end. Since it is only 10 and curfew isn't till 12 you are all on watch duty." More groans and complaints filled the air. It seemed that I was unknowingly making all of my peer's night worse. "Quiet." Kierse demanded his voice strong and harsh. Silence followed almost immediately. "I do not want to hear one sound from each of you as you make your way to Station 4. And, you will all stay there till ten minutes before curfew." Once Kierse turned his back to us we all began our walk outside towards our assigned station.

                Although no one was making a sound, like they were told, I could still hear the voices going through their heads. That's one of the things I hated about being a werewolf in a pack. Once you joined you were mind linked to every pack member. You were allowed to turn the mind linkage on and off as you pleased but with given circumstances turning the link off was rather dangerous. But considering that I didn't care very much about their thoughts and the threat of a hunter appearing to slaughter us at that very moment was low- I turned off my link.

                While everyone hated being on watch duty, I absolutely enjoyed it. It was a very simple task. We would sit on one of the peers at our station, find a branch in a tree, or find a cave, or rock to stay at until our shift was done. All we had to do was watch. We were keeping a keen eye out for any intruders, either mortal or immortal. It didn't matter what or who they were. If we saw them we were supposed to catch them. The physical part of the task wasn't often done by those under the age of 25, which included me. I was only 18 so the only thing I could do was find them, alert one of the warriors, and then watch the scene unfold.

                It wasn't often that we found anyone so the watch tended to be boring. But I didn't care, the thrill of knowing that it could happen was enough to keep me entertained for as many hours my shift may end up being.

                Walking away from my pack mates I positioned myself in a nearby cave. At the moment it was being occupied by wolves. But they didn't mind my presence and were quiet fond of me. The wolves were either afraid of the werewolves or loved them, there was never an in between. This group specifically knew me; this was my personally chosen watch area and had been for years now.

                Keeping my senses aware and alert, I placed myself near the mother wolf. She was quite small compared to other female wolves I had seen. But I knew she was anything but weak. Her fur was a dark brown and surprisingly clean, it shifted and moved along with her with each step she made towards me. The mother looked up at me with glowing hazel eyes and then nestled her muzzle into my lap. She was my favorite.

"I knew I would find you here," I had sensed him before I heard him. Deciding to ignore his existence, as I always did, I kept my attention ahead of me, beyond the cave. Due to my enhanced abilities I could hear an intruder coming hundreds of miles away. The forest we lived nearby was extraordinarily large so this ability was a great asset.

                "Cyra, why must you always act like this? You know you love my company." I finally averted my attention from the task I was given by Kierse and looked at Dominic. He was truly beautiful, one of the most handsome men in our pack. His body was tall and filled with strength. His face was structured fiercely; the outlines of it had the ability to slice your finger if you dared to touch. His eyes were a dark captivating brown that could mesmerize you if you stared too long. His lips were luscious and dusty pink, and when he opened his mouth a deep panty dropping voice flowed through. He resembled an Adonis; his only issue was that he was annoying. At least to me.

                "Why do you insist on bothering me Dominic? I never call for you but yet you always come." I let out not even bothering to hide my aggravation. Dominic chuckled before settling his body next to mine. One of the pups eyed him warily before moving far away from him to the other side of the cave. I chuckled to myself at the action.

                Dominic smelled of perspiration and dirt, he must have been training before he came here. It seemed that Kierse wasn't the only one who thought it be wise to send the younger members to complete watch duty. "Why did you turn your linkage off?" Dominic questioned me; his voice had dropped a level lower. I took another glance at him and noticed he was taking in his surroundings. Although Dominic was a foolish man who loved to play games he took everything regarding werewolves seriously. He wasn't supposed to be speaking to me right now due to the fact that it was a possible distraction. But, he was one of the more advanced students, like me, mere conversation wasn't enough to make us become unaware of danger.

                "They were complaining about me. I didn't want to hear it." I answered him truthfully. A smirk moved to his lips as he listened to my words. He probably knew exactly why they were complaining. It was routine behavior at this point. "Why are you here Dominic?" I asked him again, this time using different words.

                "I came to tell you some exciting news." My interest was obtained. "Tatiana has found her mate. It turns out it was John this whole time. Isn't that such a strange turn of events?" Tatiana and John were known to hate each other. Since they were young all they did was bicker. I had been witness to it many times. I guessed that pairing them together was another one of Fates wicked games.

                "She's just turned sixteen. How unfortunate for her." I muttered sympathetically. Ever since our population began to decrease drastically it had become tradition for the mating process to begin as soon as it was detected. You could never truly know who your mate was until you consummated the relationship. John and Tatiana's relationship must have switched from hate to lust rather quickly for their bond to be revealed in such a short amount of time.

                In an attempt to lessen our population, since they felt we were becoming too over powering, the witches had cast a spell on us some centuries ago. Werewolves were only allowed to create offspring with their mate. This made it difficult for children to be conceived as mates weren't very easy to find. For all I knew my mate could be somewhere in Antartica, no where near my location in America. There were signs of someone being your mate before having sex with them. I heard you felt a need to protect them, comfort them, and just be by their side in general. There was an underlying connection between you and the other werewolf that was unavoidable. But, until the relationship was consummated, after their 16th year of living, and each werewolf bore the mark of the other their bond could not be confirmed.

                Tatiana and John must have gone through all of this already. Tatiana had just turned 16 two days ago and yet she had already become tied down to a new responsibility. Since finding a mate wasn't exactly the easiest thing, those who did find theirs were almost forced to continuously mate until they bore a child. After each birth the mother was given a 6 months to a year intermission before she was forced to begin mating again in the hopes of getting pregnant with another child. And this continued almost forever. The act had only started just recently so I had no idea how long those women had to keep conceiving.

                I pitied them. Living life as a womb wasn't ideal at all. But, it was necessary for the survival of our species. So, I appreciated and respected them as well.

                "Imagine if we turned out to be mates." The air in my throat got caught and I unintentionally scoffed at Dominic. The men didn't seem to understand how horrible finding a mate in this time really was. All they could think about was the thought of constant sex. Truly disgusting.

                "We're not mates Dominic. All hopes for that disappeared once I turned 16. We have not one sign to suggest that we have a spiritual bond." I answered calmly. He was trying to get under my nerves, I knew it.

                "But what if it's a delayed reaction? I'm only 20, and you, 18. The signs could just be buffering." I shook my head at his foolishness before turning my head to face him so I could look him in the eyes.

                "Dominic, if I turned out to be your mate I would willingly give myself to the hunters." Fake shock and hurt took over his face and he let out a small gasp.

                "And why is that, Cyrus?"

                "Simple, your dick is ugly." His eyes narrowed and the playfulness in his demeanor disappeared. Grasping the back of my neck, Dominic pulled our faces close to each other.  I could smell him even better now. I could hear and feel each breath that left his nostrils on my lips. His mouth was so close to mine that I could sense the heat being extended to me. The mother wolf raised her head from my lap and growled when she took note of his ministrations but he didn't seem to care.

                "But yet you love the feel of it inside you, don't you?" The eyes of his beast began to glow under the dark human irises and I could hear his teeth start to elongate from his jaw. Dominic nibbled my lip lightly with his canines before licking it tenderly, almost soothingly. The bite had not hurt, it only excited me- and he knew this. Dominic's eyes didn't move from mine once. His choice of words had caused a certain warmth to develop within me. Warmth that would need to be sated by him, but later, not now.

                "You could say that." I forced out between the deep breaths that my body had reduced itself to. Gripping Dominic's large hand that still firmly held my neck; I snatched it away from me and placed it back on his lap. A smile stretched across his lips as he watched me. He felt smug knowing that he had gotten to me. So annoying. Now was not the time for him to try to seduce me. We were on watch duty. "If you're going to keep this up I will leave." I warned him. The smile remained on his face but he said nothing else and brought his attention back to the forest. Good.

                That night, on my way back from Dominic's room to my room, I had felt an unfamiliar presence in the air. I wasn't supposed to be out at this time for this specific reason. The hunters lurked around at this time of night because they believed we were creatures that thrived in the darkness under the moon. They were right. Because of them we were forced to succumb to our homes once the clock hit 12. And they knew this was our strategy so they were always ready for us as soon as the sun was no longer visible.

                If any of the elders knew I was out of my chambers at this time of the night I would surely be punished. I was hoping that the presence was simply an elder ready to scold me and not a hunter. If I was found by a hunter I would not only be risking my life but the lives of everyone else in my pack. Where you find one werewolf you were sure to find another, it was one of their mottos.

                Our pack lived in houses like humans did. We only held around 50 members so it was enough to make our homes resemble that of a town. We allowed some humans to live in our town called Seidmak to not raise suspicion. Dominic's house was only a block away from mine. It was like we were neighbors. But to get to my house I had to cross a street. If I were to use my natural born speed I could make it in my home in less than three seconds. But that would be suspicious, especially since I sensed that someone was watching me.

                Taking a deep breath I looked on either side of the street to check for a car, like humans did, before slowly crossing. I took my time feigning ignorance of whatever was around me. Whoever it may be. In about a minute I had successfully made it across the street and onto my porch. Pausing again, I fumbled my keys before opening my door. If anyone wanted to hurt me they would have been now. After only a moment I opened my door and made my way inside my home, still facing my door, I knew I wasn't being paranoid, I could still feel them. They weren't far, I knew it.

                That's when I heard it, the sound of a heart beat. And it wasn't far from me. No one in my house would be awake at this time. My designated 'parents' were upstairs sleeping. Whoever else was here had a heart that was beating erratically. In less than no time I dropped my keys and ran to my living room where I heard the breathing and grabbed the intruder by the throat. I didn't take kindly to surprise visitors at all. If it was a hunter I would make sure that tonight was the last night their heart would ever successfully pump blood through their murderous body.

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