Chapter 1 - The Craze of Wolfiness

Selena finds herself ensnared in the relentless grip of the Haze season, a turbulent period that looms like an ominous storm cloud over her existence. At eighteen, she is a virgin—a state that, for a she-wolf, renders the journey of self-discovery both arduous and fraught with tension. The intensity of her experience seems particularly acute, marked by a series of haunting, nocturnal visions. These nightmarish orgies, vivid and unrelenting, have become a grotesque intricate pattern woven into the very fabric of her psyche. Each night, her dreams are invaded by primal, feverish encounters that leave her gasping in the cold sweat of terror and desire. This relentless barrage of nocturnal turmoil is like a mental wolfsbane, searing through the landscape of her mind and leaving her in a constant state of disquiet. Struggling to navigate this labyrinthine torment, Selena’s days are a fraught battle against the shadows of her own subconscious, and the nights, an endless struggle to escape the savage grip of her own fantasies.

Her face goes blank. She is lost in her thoughts, replaying the frightening frenzy and intensity of last night’s orgy. She always tries to fight it off, but for an 18-year-old virgin she-wolf, that’s a herculean task… almost impossible even, especially when it is the season of Haze.

All werewolves know this fact and have accepted it as a traditional norm. To have sex with whomever and whenever during this season isn’t considered a crime in the werewolf world, so long as it is mutual between both parties.

A vivid picture of last night’s sexcapade flashes through the labyrinth of her mind and gives her this feeling of nostalgia. Last night’s was way scarier than the ones before, she thought to herself. In her dreams, she found herself in the woods as usual, the trees swaying like lovers with snarled roots and spindly branches. However, she found a scene so obscene and disturbing… way different from the other times where the orgies were appealing that she always wished to join before she awoke. This time, the scenery was grotesque and everywhere turns violent, gothic, bloodthirsty, life-draining, and something dark from the mist in the woods beckoning her to come over. It was both exciting and frightening. She tried to scream but no sound came out of her mouth, and then she awoke.

She goes deeper in her thoughts, almost like she is in a mini-world of her own; a utopia, or dystopia perhaps. She does not know what to make out of her feelings at the moment.

“Hey bitch!” a voice browses through her eardrums indistinctly, bringing her back to her tumultuous reality. “Where’ve you been girl? I’ve been hollering at you almost forever.” Demika fires… in a friendly angry tone. They’ve been best of friends since childhood. Probably because they find solace with each another, considering the fact that they feel alienated in a world filled with shape-shifting dogs.

Demika is of African-American descent. Her ancestors lived in Clovis City many generations ago as slaves. So she’s almost insignificant in the world of majority elite werewolves, and she has accepted her place… though she’ll soon discover that she’s not so insignificant after all.

As for Selena, she has always felt displaced and cannot seem to shake off that feeling, meanwhile she comes from a very respected background of elite werewolves. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are well regarded as one of the leaders of their district at Laketown, and her older sister, Gabrielle, is the mate of Jason Wayde, the renowned Beta of Alpha Wilson Smith of the Redbone Pack, Clovis City.

“Sorry Demi, I’ve not been myself lately… gonna be Haze soon,” Selena says wearisomely.

“Soooo?” Demika replies abruptly, with a funny looking face that seems to be asking for further explanation.

“Well, you won’t understand… you’re not one of us after all.”

“Yea, please remind me I’m not a dog… which is better than a toothless one if you ask me.” Demi shades her sarcastically. Her remark is not well-received by Selena, but she ignored because she is dealing with so much in her mind already; much pressing heartache to worry about.

It’s one thing to go through that Haze as a non-shifting she-wolf, but it is a totally different ball game as a shapeshifter; it’s like the sexual urge increases four times over. She just turned 18 three months ago and has shifted a couple of times to run in the woods, especially when something is bothering her, like the Haze for instance. Running for werewolves is like a mental-cum-physical therapy.

This is going to be her third Haze experience as a shape-shifting teenage virgin she-wolf. She dreads the fact that she has not found a mate yet for the season, and she doesn’t want to give her virginity to just any sex-drunken nincompoopic stray all because she cannot control her urges… she wants it to be very special. And if the moon god will bless her, let it be with her soulmate. She has been able to fight off the sexual craze during the Haze for the past two years, but it seems the older she gets the more difficult it is to control her libido, especially during the Haze season.

Her shift is over. She is standing outside the inn where she works, waiting for Demika so they can go get some icecream to help take her mind off things a bit… at least that was the plan, until it isn’t anymore.

There he was at the open fief parking lot, together with the inseparable mated couple, Jason and Gabrielle. She always tries her best to avoid him because their first two encounters wasn’t so pleasant. She feels he’s a show off. 

Selena’s heart beats faster than normal whenever he’s close, even when she has not seen him… almost like she smells his presence. And it gets worse whenever she gets a glance at him, even from afar. She hates the feelings she gets because she is trying to convince her heart not to like him. She knows it is impossible; she has already fallen for him since she was sixteen - but she hates his gut - about same time his father, the almighty Alpha of Alphas in Clovis City - billionaire Lucas Smith, was assassinated.