by Stacey Card
I ran to the edge of the cliff where my father died, they climbed down and got his body too burry, but I still felt closer to him here. I would sit here for hours and talk to him, telling him how much I miss him and telling him what's happening with the pack. I sat on the grass near the edge; the breeze blew my light brown hair out of my face.
"Hi dad. Another birthday without you, more fake smiles to hand out. I wish you were here to see me, you promised that I'd have a car." Tears streamed down my face slowly. "Nick has something planned and I know that I won't like it, I have a feeling that I will be mated off soon. I won't be able to talk to you then though, so I won't do it."
I closed my eyes and listened to my surroundings. How could a place that has seen so much death be so peaceful? I wiped the tears from my face and opened my eyes again, the sun was just starting to rise, and it was so beautiful.
"Nothing has been the same since you left; I don't feel part of the pack anymore. It's like Alysha has taken my place, mum will talk to her and she isn't even her daughter. It's like I'm invisible, I like it sometimes but I need them dad. I need my pack and they aren't there for me!" I could feel my anger rising, it always did when I thought about how I'd been treated. "I wish I had died that night too." I whispered.
I got up and slowly looked down to the place where my dad fell, I knew it wasn't my time to leave, but I wanted too. Just one more little step and I would be down at the bottom of the cliff. I sighed and walked away from the edge.
"I should probably go and face the music. How's my fake smile?" I asked. I smiled, but even to me it felt as through I was just bearing my teeth.
I phased back into my wolf form, I was light brown, it was boring but beggars can't be choosers. I ran the path that was familiar to me; I could probably do it in my sleep. I was lost in thought and that's why I didn't hear the hunter pull the trigger, or the sound of the twigs and leaves crunching under his boots, until it was too late.
I felt the bullet go into my back leg and I let out a howl of pain. I heard him get ready to shoot again, but this time I knew it was coming and moved behind a tree, dodging the bullet as it flew by. My back leg was burning with the pain from being hit, I knew that I couldn't heel without removing the bullet, but I couldn't phase until I had dealt with the hunter. The first rule about being a werewolf was to never, ever tell a human what we really were.
I ran and could hear him trying to run behind me while reloading the gun. It was his first and last mistake, I circled back and he was too busy trying to catch up to me that he didn't see the attack coming. I jumped on his back, knowing it was safer than going for his side where he could twist the gun and let out a shot. My claws dug into his back and he screamed in pain, I dragged my claws through his back and he cried out. I knew that I should stop but I couldn't, I needed this.
I needed someone to feel pain, like I have been for the past two years. I leaned down and opened my mouth so that his neck was in my mouth; I then bit down drawing blood. He was still alive however, but his life was fading quickly. The blood was flowing into his throat and drowning him, he tried gasping for oxygen but it just filled his lungs with his blood faster. Once he took his last breath I started walking back to the house.
It was a painful walk because of the uneven ground, but when I got to the main house I knew that I would have preferred if he had hit his target and got my heart instead. I opened the door and limped in. I shouldn't have phased back because it just made the injury worse, but if I hadn't nobody would have found me. Dan was just coming down the stairs as I was closing the door.
"Happy Birthday, princess!" He said.
I hated him calling me princess, but he's called me it since birth and in a way I was a wolf princess and my brother was the king. I grunted in response. He did a double take then and rushed over to me.
"What the hell happened to you?" He demanded, looking at my leg.
He picked me up and carried me into the dining room, setting me on a chair, he called for Nick to get the doctor. We had our own special doctor because we heal faster than normal humans and we couldn't risk getting exposed.
"Hunters." I replied, shrugging as if it was no big deal.
Nick came into the room then with Alysha trailing behind him. She was wearing a dress and you could clearly see the massive bump that the baby had given her, she still managed to look beautiful though. They both stopped and I could see their faces transform from shock to worry, in a matter of seconds.
"What the hell happened?" Nick asked, anger radiating off him.
"Damn hunters, again." Dan replied before I could.
"Wait, what do you mean again? This has happened before?" I asked confused.
Nick, Alysha and Dan all looked at one another, as if deciding on letting her in on a secret or not. This was ridiculous, I had a right to know, I was pack and it had effected me. I should know what I'm up against.
Finally Nick sighed. "It's nothing to worry about; we've just been having trouble. We found some traps the other day and we could smell that humans had been on the property."
I was about to ask him to tell me more about it, because I could tell he was hiding something, but the doctor walked in. Doctor Nelson was considered tall for a wolf, the females were mostly short but she was a tall lanky woman. She had a straight nose and would look over the rim of her glasses at you with her hawk like eyes. She had greying hair and had a no nonsense attitude.
"What do we have here?" She asked while kneeling down and inspecting my leg. She turned to the men. "Will you please give us a moment so that I can clean the wound?"
They looked at each other, none of them really wanted to leave but with grumbles they left the room. The doctor then told me to take off my jeans so she could have a clearer view of the wound. I complied and she used a medical tool to remove the bullet, she then used a damp towel to clean it, before wrapping it up in a bandage. I wouldn't need it in an hour because I would be healed and back to normal. She left and I went up to my room to rest.