Chapter 1: The Brewing Storm in the Hill

VALKYRIE

Almost forty-foot down from the bottom of the trunk, I watched my target feeding its own mouth with the moss of the earth. The white-tailed deer had such gentle and soulful eyes I almost felt sorry for it but they were part of the lower chain beneath us. And so as I peeked to its entirety, I gracefully jumped down to slash its neck with my sharp nails. But before I could even rip it apart, my twin brother seized it out of my way and cut its throat too fast it didn't even manage to make a sound.

Once I landed on the ground, I crouched down and growled at him which sounded more like a manic animal.

"Too slow, Sis! It's my win this time!" Vance yelled as he stood meters away from me and I could see the smugness in his golden eyes which turned back to a blue pair in an instant.

"Ooh, I hope that's not our dinner for tonight. I don't want another venison meal after our first day of school," Esther, one of our Sentinels, said when she scrambled behind me.

I sighed, straightening up and flipped my blonde hair over my shoulder. "Whatever."

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Val?" Esther questioned which I just responded with a shrug.

"She hates moving into this town, love!" Vance said to his mate while lifting the dead animal on his broad shoulder before hopping on our spot in one jump. Then he leaned forward to get a kiss from Esther and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. They'd been more intimate with each other since their Nexum which occurred just a year ago. 

"Can you guys be discreet around me? You are both hurting my eyes," I grumbled, giving them a sharp look.

Backing away from Esther, my twin brother smirked at me. "Oh c'mon, will you get used to it? We'd been mates since we were children and you know that when two mates officially bonded together under the blood moon, they are going to be more connected with each other... and way hotter for each other."

I covered my ears. The last thing I wanted was to see and hear my twin brother getting it on with my hopeless romantic best friend. "Shut up!"

"Someday you'll understand, Val," Esther added, laughing a bit at my face.

"And I hope you find yours already," Vance then said, almost sympathizing. 

I grunted at the idea. "No, thanks. Can't imagine myself being lovesick like the both of you. Your cheesiness is making me nauseous sometimes."

Vance laughed out loud as he pointed at me. "Mark your words because..."

"...you're going to wolf them down your throat once you find your mate," Esther continued for him, clearly amused at herself for that wolf reference. Before I could even counter back, I heard my mother's voice in my head, sending her thoughts to us using our telepathy link.

'You're all gonna be late for school. Come back here this instance,"

she said with her authoritative Alpha command.

'Coming,"

I responded but inside, I was revolting. Not that my mother would know about it. Only a mate could feel our emotions anyway once fused by the blood moon.

The three of us sprinted back to the territory with ease. It was a three miles trip with just an hour walk on foot but of course, with our enhanced speed, it only took us less than two minutes to get back to our new house which had been abandoned many years ago. The Olcan Manor stood at the top of the northwest hill from the center of the town. Our new home was made of brick stones and slate roof tiles, and the size was enough for our family of five, including Esther who just resided a year ago. It was a tradition in our pack that after Nexum, we would invite our family's mate in our household with open arms. Esther wasn't a stranger anyway because she was the daughter of our Delta Chief, Oscar who was living just a few kilometers away from the house to govern our territory's security.

The Storm Hill Town was like a citadel built upon woods and hills. The old township was fairly civilized with approximately five thousand people. Our pack, the Scarred Moon, originally had settled here during the infamous Triad Uprising along with our enemies almost eight hundred years ago. But according to our Elders, we were forced to move out of here because of the vampire invasion which had taken the lives of the three packs who'd been in civil war since the uprising. Very smart move from the vampire, indeed, if you were to ask me. 

However, the Great Parting didn't end the civil war as our hate for each other's blood had grown tremendously over time. Many of our kin and warriors were slaughtered because of this unending cycle of butchery between the Triad, including my Aunt Aria, my father's oldest sister. Hence why we had moved back here, to exterminate the Phantom Pack who was behind her torture and her death eighteen years ago exactly on the day my brother and I were born.

The day of our birth was claimed to be neither a blessing nor an omen. Nevertheless, that sucks for us. Imagine celebrating our birthday while the pack mourned the death of Aunt Aria, who was supposed to be the Alpha during her time. 

"Go on ahead, I'll just give this deer to Simon," Vance said, referring to our household chef once we arrived.

Esther nodded, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek. "Tell Simon not to butcher it for tonight or ever."

I just shook my head at the two before leaping on the balcony on the second floor of the manor, which was direct to my bedroom.

'I'll have mochaccino today,'

I mentally said, bending down to unfasten my mud-covered shoes then tossed them aside after.

'Get it yourself, spoiled little pup,"

my Mom replied causing me to snicker.

Once I stepped into my bedroom, I scrambled towards my own bathroom while taking all my clothes off. I had to admit that I smelt so bad after hiking through the woods for almost an hour. I didn't want the kids at my new school to think I wasn't taking a bath or anything, although I was just being oversensitive because of my heightened sense of smell. But still, I needed to give them an impression that I wasn't like anything in their supernatural books——just an ordinary teenager attending high school. Not a beautiful being who didn't take her bath on the first day.

After I cleaned myself up and getting ready for a brand new start, I headed out to eat some breakfast. I could already smell the hot fresh aroma of the cinnamon waffles through my nostril as I went my way downstairs. Although our manor looked so old and dark outside, the interior was somewhat modern as my father had it renovated before we had moved in. I couldn't say much at the underground though because, beneath this building, there were gloomy dungeons solely for combat training, prisoners, moon rituals, and vaulted escape routes. But I had a curious soul and I was more than willing to explore it if I got the time.

"Good morning," I greeted, seeing that my whole family was already seated at the dining table. When I sat next to my Mom, a smile rose on my face as I spotted a cup of mochaccino beside my plate. "Thanks, Mom," I said, glancing at her.

My Mom, Veronica, the Luna of the pack, shook her head and pointed at the man of the house who was sitting at the head of the table. "Don't thank me. Your father personally prepared it for you."

I looked at my father, Dimitri, with a wide smile and the Alpha wiggled his brows playfully at me. "I hope that's enough to boost your mood and please accept that as an apology for forcing you to move here even though you hate it."

"You're just spoiling her too much, Dad," Vance commented before putting a large portion of waffle in his mouth. Esther giggled at his messiness, wiping the side of his mouth sweetly with her thumb.

I let out a deep breath. "I don't hate it. I'm just not really a fan of adjusting. And Dad, you don't have to apologize. I know that you're just doing this for the pack. I can't really be selfish knowing that we're here to avenge Aunt Aria's death."

"Not only Aria's. We lost many warriors because of this war and I want to end this once and for all. Zymir tipped us off that they are building an army here—— a hybrid army." Dad looked down grimly on his plate and we suddenly felt a bit of rage in his presence. Alpha's emotions in its human form were a bit strong when closer but they were overwhelming whenever they were in their werewolf form, especially during the full moon.

"That means the Phantom has a strong witch on their side?" Esther concluded, her tone was surprised.

Vance and I were as shocked as her because it was our first time hearing about this hybrid army. What kind of hybrid anyway? And to top it all off——a witch? That was really bad news! This was new territory, indeed!

"That's why we have to be extra careful. Double your senses all the time. Do you understand?" Mom said, her voice was domineering yet it also possessed concern over us.

We all nodded, knowing all too well about the danger ahead of us. We were trained for that and it was put into use two years ago when a pack struck us just because the enemy Alpha wanted to expand his territory. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated us, thinking that we were a cluster of weak fools who weren't keen to initiate a war. Apparently, they had thought wrong as we put their tails between their legs overnight. However, my father just threatened them not to disturb our peace again because he wouldn't hesitate to cut their head off next time. Seriously, Dad only wanted was peace but when it came to the Phantom, it was a whole new story. 

Once we finished our breakfast, we scurried out to get to school. Glancing at my digital watch, I realized we were just on time when Vance started to drive off his Jeep Wrangler. We could just run to the school for it would be just less a minute trip but then, we had to cover ourselves in crowded places as much as possible.

"Do you remember when the Elders told us about the witches during the History Feast?" Esther initiated a conversation, causing me to look at her through the rear-view mirror. "They said that they are formidable enemies"

"Yeah, the twisted one in this war," Vance said, glancing at me for a while. "If it's true that the enemy is building a hybrid army, I'm sure that this witch they have on their side is powerful——an ancient one."

I nodded. "I agree. A mere one can't really invoke a ritual to create a hybrid anyway. Only a witch who was turned immortal can do such a thing."

"I didn't imagine moving into this town would be this dangerous." Esther sighed, leaning back on her seat.

I saw Vance's uncertainties piqued up at his mate's dilemma as he could feel Esther's emotions directly. "Dad's decision about moving all the members of the pack back to its original territory is the right one. A storm is surely brewing in this place and we need to act fast before it devastates us. Don't worry. I'll give my best to protect you. I'm not sure about my sister though because she could really kick some us."

Esther chuckled and I had to give it to Vance for breaking the tension inside the car. 'I love you, you know that right?'

she mentally said to my twin brother, her brown eyes were twinkling in adoration, not even aware that she was saying them openly for me to hear. 

I rolled my eyes and just blocked them out of my head, staring out of the window. Then I started wondering about how should I improve my hand-to-hand combat and my acceleration. Oscar made sure to point out those weaknesses of mine during the weird combat training which just started a few weeks ago. He said that we shouldn't rely on our wolf strength at all, given that the moon wouldn't be able to enhance us all the time. Apparently, we could only transform during the night and we were in our best state during the full moon, of course. Knowing that we had a variety of enemies who wouldn't have the luxury to wait for us to turn, they started to train us in our superhuman form. Pretty difficult though because Oscar would always push us to go against the transformed deltas. 

 I remembered how I was thrown away like a mannequin a few times. I could barely do any damage to them, unlike my brother who had managed to punch them back a bit. When it came to strength, we were both equal but since his Nexum with Esther, my twin brother had gotten stronger each day. My father said it was because once you were officially claimed by your mate, your will to live would thrive, giving you more reason to survive.

I groaned at the thought of being claimed by a mate. It repulsed my ideology of oneness. Why do you have to be with someone in order to have a will to survive? Was mate really necessary to our species?

"I don't get it," I muttered unconsciously, earning the attention of the couple inside the car. I just realized that we'd already arrived at the Storm Hill Highschool once Vance shut the engine of his car.

"What is?" Esther asked from the backseat.

Shaking my head, I opened the door from my side and climbed out. "Nothing."

Vance got out of the car, followed by Esther who automatically walked to his side like a magnet. "You look so stiff. Can you give yourself some slack, sis?"

I frowned at him. "I am not stiff, brother."

"Oh yeah? I can see that alright," he exclaimed, tone full of sarcasm. "Just act normal around these homo sapiens."

"You mean a fake?"

Vance shook his head. "Not this time, Val. This is a new start and we're allowed to be ourselves as much as we want. Don't cover up anymore. Just be your 'human-self'."

"Just a normal teenager, Val. We are teenagers anyway. Vance and I have already talked about this," Esther said, smiling warmly at me.

I let out a deep breath, nodding at that. Nevertheless, I doubled my senses as we walked towards the school building, hoping to spot an enemy. But so far, there was no strange entity inside my parameter. My sense of smell didn't pick up anything at all but I'd noticed that some students were looking at us. Probably because we were new faces. 

Yeah, this was really a new start, indeed.

........