Chapter 2

Alora's POV

"What happened to you, little one?" a young but magnetic voice asked.

"Son, what are you doing in the mud? get over here." an older voice demanded.

"Dad, there’s a little girl here, she's covered in blood and mud and she's soaked." said the young voice.

"WHAT! " I hear shouted, then there was running, the feet stopped on my other side, then he was also kneeling in the mud. "Why would a pup be out here like this?" I hear him ask in a voice filled with horror.

I was barely conscious as they continued to talk about me, sounding worried.

"Look at her arm, there’s a dark bruise in the shape of fingers, see the nail marks, she's got another hand shaped bruise on her other cheek." points out the older voice. "All these cuts, she must have been tossed over and over, the poor child. How did she get out of the river?"

"She was abused?" The young voice, probably witnessing such a nasty thing for the first time, had a hint of disbelief in his tone.

"I'm afraid you're right, son, and she could have died. The river is swollen and dangerous, her legs...." the older voice trails off.

"So many bruises...." the younger voice also trails off.

"Where did she come from dad?" the younger voice asked.

"There is a Pack Picnic today. Remember, that’s where we were heading, looks like she had on her best dress, despite what it looks like now, she must have come from there." the older voice had said.

"Dad....that's five miles up river." points out the younger voice.

"I know, Goddess...she should have died, any other pup would have died, she's incredibly lucky to have survived." said the older voice.

"There seems to be the Frost and Northmountain Families nearby. Perhaps she is from them? But she doesn't smell like them." remarked the younger voice.

"The Frost and Northmountain Families though are exclusively pale and blond for a few generations now. The girl has beautiful black hair, she can't be one of theirs." said the older voice.

He continued, "that Clan has been purposely breeding dark coloring out, they only mate with others who have blond hair and blue eyed features son. Any family member born with tan skin or dark hair is made an outsider, or married off, still removing them from the families. If their fated mate has dark coloring, they reject them."

"That's stupid, why do that?" asked the younger voice.

"I don't know son, but that Clan's practice is why I have always been at odds with that Clan." Suddenly the older man thought of something and added, "But the Heartsong Clan's ancestor was tan, with black hair and violet eyes. It's said that Allister and Bettina had a daughter who looked like the Heartsong’s Ancestor, the First Alpha."

"Do you think this girl is her dad?" asked the younger voice.

"The abuse this child has obviously suffered, was not necessary. We will find out if this was her family's doing." said the older voice.

I don't know how long it took, but my consciousness gradually became clear. I was finally able to open my eyes and look at them. The young man next to me gasps when he sees my eyes.

He was the one who found me. His scent was so comforting and seemed to carry some kind of power that could heal me.

"Is your name Alora, little pup?" The older wolf asked, I had nodded my head yes, my throat hurting too much for me to speak.

"She has bruising on her neck too dad." said the young male. His voice was so pleasant that it brought my eyes back to him. He had black hair and midnight blue eyes, and pale skin. His shoulders were broad.

You could tell he was going to be a giant of a werewolf when he was done growing, just as large as the older male next to me. The older male looked like the young one. Only his eyes were green and there was a streak of silver in his hair at his temple. It made him look more handsome.

"Do you know who I am child." asked the older wolf.

How could I not? I had only seen him once, but I'd felt his power and status over me.

"Alpha." I'd croaked.

"Yes child, and this is my son Damien. We'll get you to the Pack House, and treat you before taking you back to your family." said Alpha.

"Dad, are we really going to let them have her back?" asked Damien.

"We have no choice but son, she needs to be with her family, and I can't just take the child away." Just as they were arguing, along with the tantalizing scent of grass, I fell into a coma again.

The pounding on my bedroom door brings me back from that memory. Sadly, that was not the only awful memory I carried. It was not the only scar embedded into my soul by my family, there were many, many others. I knew who had been pounding on the door, even before I heard her voice.

"Get up you wretch!" she screams, she's always screaming at me. Half the time I think she's forgotten my name, because she is always addressing me as "you wretch." The 'her' being my mother. You would think she would call me by name. But it was a waste of time to hope for something different. I've known that for awhile now.

Time to get dressed and go to school, I do my best not to give in to the urge to sing in the shower. Every time I sing, my family goes into a rage. They tell me to stop screeching like a dying cat, telling me my voice makes their ears bleed. It was one more thing they used to hurt me.

I've become less and less tolerant of the oppressive and abusive way they treat me. I've been struggling to hold back, to maintain the image of a submissive and obedient she-wolf. There are only two more weeks left of school. That's what I have to remind myself, and Xena.

'Just two more weeks Xena, and we'll be free.' I say to her.

'What exams do we have today?' Xena asks.

'I believe we have our training exams today, both in human and wolf combat.' I feel her immense delight. We both like the exercise of training, of feeling how powerful we really are.

With my deliberate concealment, no one knows my true strength. But Xena and I both know very well how superior Luna Heartsong's lineage is for us. Our strength is definitely enough to shock everyone. But now is not time for us to go public.

'Are you going to ask me to hold back,' she asks, I feel her delight dim at the thought.

Sigh, "Yeah, we're going to have to, we are going up against the elites today, but we're going up against them in front of the rest of the seniors." I tell her.

'That takes all the fun out of it,' she whines, I feel her tail droop.

Sigh again, 'Yeah, yeah it does,' my reply filled with my own disappointment.

Then I pause to think for a moment. There was no real reason for me to hold back on my exam. 'Seeing as we’re not going up against the Ice Princess, and this is the last exam, there is no real reason to hold back anymore.'

I felt Xena's excitement pick back up, visualizing her tail wagging with her tongue hanging out, and her ears perked up in interest. My wolf's antics made me laugh.

I put on a dark purple wireless sport push up bra that supports while putting my girls where they're supposed to be. And I put on a black razorback midriff tank with purple skulls and a pair of black capris leggings with side pockets down my thighs for my phone.

I french braid my hair to my neck, bind it with a dark purple hair tie then split the rest of the length in three different braids tying them up with thinner dark purple hair ties. I grab a purple wrap around skirt over the leggings and a shoulder length black short sleeved cardigan over the tank. I decide to wear silver studs in my ears so my earrings don't get caught while fighting.

I'm probably going to catch hell for my clothes. But I really don't care anymore, I feel the impatience of my wolf. We're tired of hiding. Now we don't need to do that.

I'll be given my Doctorates and licensing as soon as I pass the exams and have graduated. This battle is the perfect rite of passage for me. I will appear in front of my family with a new look and I will blow them away.