Prologue

I miss my Gran terribly, especially during these dark times. Grandma Juanita used to sit on the edge of the piano bench and tell tales of ‘The Legend of the White Wolf’ when my siblings and I were kids. Gosh, she could tell a great story; she could transport us to worlds we could never have fathomed even as kids. She had a beautiful, imaginative mind.

One day, my little brother Blaze and I were walking home from training. The kids had teased me. Asking me why I even bothered showing up for training at all.

When wolf shifters turn ten, their wolf announces themselves and we can shift for the first time. I’m now twelve. My wolf is called Samara. Sam is what I call her. She is my best friend. Unfortunately, I’m forbidden from shifting and because of that, the kids think I’m a freak and should leave the pack. 

I wonder what they would really think. If I showed them. But Mom and Dad would skin me alive, and Sam says it’s for the best, even if she’s itching to teach those kids a lesson or two.  

Blaze busts through the door, storming towards the kitchen. The smell of warm cookies entices us both. He dumps his pack on the ground in anger. “They shouldn’t tease you like that, Mazy. I hate it!” he growls.

Blaze turned ten a couple of months ago. Before his wolf came, he didn’t completely understand why everyone was so mean to me. Now he understands and refuses to shift under protest against our father, who is also our Alpha.

Blaze will only shift into his beautiful grey wolf when I do. Under the cover of darkness. The other kids think he’s stupid, allowing a freak to control him and his wolf.

“What’s this? The Reade’s do not hate lightly, child.” Gran chides. She runs her hand through my hair affectionately. “Who does he hate?” she whispers loudly, while Blaze sulks in the kitchen doorway.

“The kids were teasing me again about not having a wolf.”

Gran scoffs, she leans down, her wise eyes clouded with sorrow and determination, “How about I tell you a story about your wolf?” she pats my head and pushes me along toward the sitting room.

“I love story time!” Samara howls with joy. I bet her tail would wag if we were in wolf form.

“Really, Gran a story?” Blaze rolls his eyes, but he flops on the floor closest to the piano stool.

“Aries, bring me my album, please,” she calls. We all hear Aries immediately thump around upstairs finding Gran’s album, making us chuckle at his eagerness.

Aries is my older brother. He’s Fifteen and is next in line to take over as Alpha, as long as the King’s Pack don’t have an heir that wants to take over our Pack. He jumps the last couple of stairs with a thud, making the entire floor shudder. I roll my eyes and take a pillow from the couch to sit next to Blaze.

Gran takes the photo album from Aries, ruffling his hair as he sits down next to me.

“I’ll tell you a story of the Great White Wolves, for like your sister Mazelina, there were hundreds of men and women just like her, with skin as pale and beautiful as the moon, platinum blonde hair and eyes as pale as the midday blue skies. Their uniqueness didn’t stop there for when they shifted into their wolves, they had coats as white as snow. These wolves were cherished and protected for many, many moons.”

“Where are they now?” Blaze asks.

Without a word, she opens the photo album and holds a picture of a young woman who looks very much like me.

“Why, she looks just like Mazy!” Aries exclaims. He holds the photo close, while Blaze and I look over his shoulder.

“This was my mother, Amelia Winters. She was the last known white wolf in existence.” she eyes the picture. “She lived with the Pure Bloods, the Moon King Pack, before they banished her to our pack, The Sentinels.”

“I thought the white wolves were half breeds?” Aries asks.

“Of course, that’s what the Guardians want everyone to believe.” Gran scoffs, “But I’ll tell you a tale that is truer than any story spun by the Guardians, child. Listen closely, for one day you may need this knowledge of the White Wolves, for their very own people made them extinct.” 

“Extinct?” Blaze questions.

“Yes, my love, the Guardians and several Alphas feared the power of the White Wolf and projected that fear into many.” She smiles and cups my chin. “White Wolves have extraordinary powers, just like your sister. She can calm you with just a thought or a mere touch when you’re angry. Isn’t that right, Aries?” she says pointedly. Aries is a hothead and I’m always sending him peaceful thoughts. He doesn’t mind, though. He says I keep him out of trouble.

“It’s that very reason that our people became distrustful of our dear white wolves. They couldn’t discern if their feelings were their own or projections from the White Wolves. Even if they were calm and living a peaceful life, they didn’t know what was real anymore. They began calling the white wolves, witches, abominations. Eventually accusing them all of being witch wolves.” She smiles at our confused faces. “Not every white wolf has your talent, Mazelina. Only so many can change their appearance and change people’s moods. Some could manipulate nature, heal, read people’s minds without having to be in their pack. There were many, many other powers. Ones the Guardians deemed dangerous.” She sighs. “Because of these abilities, The Guardians requested a tribunal. At first, they decreed that all white wolves stay as one pack, away from the other wolves, for their protection. It was a devastating blow for all packs all over the world. Some lost farms, cattle, businesses, packs went to war within their own pack and against other packs…. There was so much loss, so much devastation. The Guardians understood the consequences of their actions, however, the people feared that what The Guardians had been telling them was true. The White Wolves had cursed them. They decided that the white wolf ultimately held too much power and they must destroy them.”

She leans forward. “Of course, The Guardians happily allowed the wolves to go against their brethren white wolves. First, they sent all the white wolves to the furthest outpost in an unused Snowy territory to be segregated from doing further damage. A couple of purebloods were spared. But when the white wolves arrived, they slaughtered them. Every single one of them.” Gran shakes her head in grief.  

“Amelia Winters was lucky, she had been banished from the King’s Pack a week earlier, your father’s grandfather made sure to keep her hidden. She did not run with our pack. She did not shift with our pack. The picture you hold dear is the only picture of her natural self.” She holds up another, of a pure white wolf, “This is her wolf.” Then she holds up another picture, this one has a woman with the same features, but dark hair and dark eyes, “And this is how she looked to the rest of the world. She concealed herself amongst our kind. The rest of her brethren were slaughtered, for the Guardians created a law that all white wolves were to be killed on sight. It was further decreed that any white wolves who were born hereafter, are to be killed immediately at birth.”

Aries and Blaze both look at me with determination in their eyes, “They will never touch our sister”

Gran smiles, “Very wise, very wise indeed.”