Wolfsbane

Chapter 1

I was born sometime at the end of the 15th century. I'm not quite sure where. I was adopted by a kind couple that lived in our village. Our names have changed over the last few hundred years since technology started advancing so much. It wasn't acceptable to have the human government figure out that there were people that lived well beyond the regular human lifespan. Even with the name changes, I've always held onto my first name. I never felt like changing that part of me. I had my full name engraved on a necklace that was my real mothers'. Tara had told me that my mother had worn the small green gemstone as long as Tara had known her. The small charm with my name was a recent addition.

Tara and Charles weren't horrible parents to have. They had two children of their own, which had made things tense from time to time. Their son Felix was a nightmare to grow up with. Constantly competing for attention. Boys who were immortal tended to be insufferable for all of eternity. I had to learn to defend myself quickly. Felix was a horrible brother to grow up with, but to be fair I wasn't much of a good big sister either. Felix had once tried to play a prank on me by setting my door on fire, after I put it out, I tried to break every bone in his body. I broke fourteen before Charles stopped me. I was much older when Adrian was born. By that time, it was too late to run and play with him. Instead, Felix and I protected him with our lives. Adrian was a sweet little kid, and it was a miracle that he was even born.

It was extremely difficult for werewolves to have children. Often times either the mother or the baby would die. It was very likely that both would die. In my case my mother died while giving birth and my father was murdered that same day. It was alright though because it's difficult for werewolves to live without their mates. Tara was lucky to live through one birth let alone two with both being baby boys. Boys were harder to carry to term, and the mothers were more likely to die.

The current village that we had settled in was quiet and far away from most human civilization. We had enough room to run for miles and not run into anyone. We had set up and built everything our pack would need and a few things to make it so anyone who wandered through unwanted wouldn't wonder what the hell was wrong with us. We divided our people into roles by natural skills when we came of age. Most of the women were cooks, doctors, business manager, or financial advisors. Most of the men handled the security of the pack, farming, and going into the human world to collect the things we needed. Depending on the family you were born into you might be a Alpha, Beta, Gamma, or Delta. These are the top four leaders of the pack that make sure we operate as a unit. They held meetings with the Lycans that ran our world. In a pack it was all about your strength, your dominance, your wolf and your ability to take care of the pack. Most of the sixteen packs around the world operated like this. We hid within the world but also outside of it in a way.

"Hey Princess, are you done primping yet? Get your ass out here," I heard Felix say from outside my door. The only response I deigned to give him was a low threating growl before I heard his steps retreat back from where he came.

Today was an important day for the pack. Adrian was turning two hundred years old. We aged as humans did for the first twenty years of our lives before the immortality gene took hold. Our aging would stop completely, but we could still die. Because of the long lifespan we didn't consider a pup an adult until they turned two hundred. Adrian would no longer be a pup. He was a wolf now. Adrian was to go through the pack initiation tonight. Felix and I had gone through this long ago. Long before Adrian was born. I was not impressed by today, nor was I necessarily happy. I had been through this with many other pack members. I had duties to attend to today. I wasn't like the other women in the pack. I worked hard to be who I am. I worked hard to achieve my position and I hadn't let any man or woman tell me what I could and couldn't be. I kept my Alpha safe. I kept the pack safe. I eliminated threats to us, and I was the best at it. I ranked higher than almost any female in the pack, because I trained from a young age. The second I could stand on two feet Charles had put a knife in my hand. He taught me everything he knew. He trained all of us mercilessly, and that was to be expected of the man that formerly protected our alpha.