Chapter 2

Up on the roof of a nearby house, Nova crouched by the chimney and watched the girls as they walked down the street. Two of them were cute enough, but it was the dark haired one in the red coat that really caught his eye. There was something in the way she moved, the way she smiled, that intrigued him. And out of the three, she was the only one that had heard the wolf’s howl. He wondered what she looked like up close, what she smelled like. How soft her skin was, and what it would feel like to hold her hand.

Stupid, Nova thought, cursing himself under his breath. He shouldn’t even be thinking about a human girl, much less fantasizing about her. His job was to protect his clan’s territory. Strathford and all its humans were included in that protection, as they had been for the last sixty-five years.

He had only been allowed on watch the last couple of months. Nova grinned to himself. He had finally been allowed to join the Protectors of the Mountain Wolf Clan, the elite group within his pack. He wasn’t about to let some stupid infatuation with a human girl mess it up.

Keep your distance, his brother, Nemoy, had always said. Don’t get too close—just close enough to keep them safe—and definitely don’t get to know them. You can’t protect the humans if you can’t stay objective. Besides, it was forbidden to get involved with a human. And he’d be damned if he was going to break one of his pack’s rules.

Turning at the sound of footsteps on the roof, Nova watched Nemoy’s nearly silent approach. Although the two brothers were two years apart in age, they looked almost identical. They both had long, jet-black hair, tanned skin, dark almond-shaped eyes, and a lanky, muscular build. Nemoy, at nineteen, was starting to fill out and his frame had stopped looking so boyish, and more like a man; something Nova, at seventeen, secretly envied.

Nemoy crouched beside him, gazing stoically down at the girls walking across the street. “Seems pretty quiet tonight, doesn’t it?” Nemoy asked, his deep voice a harsh whisper.

Nova nodded. “Not a lot going on. There was a howl a little while ago.” He tried not to let the worry show in his voice. “Think we should check it out?”

Considering, Nemoy shook his head. “Nah. Probably just one of the younger pups, out running around.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Still, Nova found himself probing the darkness for danger. “Any word on the Valley Clan recently? Have they come into our territory again?”
Nemoy’s features turned grave and serious. “The was a breach on the East border last night. They think it was teenagers, maybe not even of age. We sent an envoy to their Alpha, hoping he would re-enforce the territory restrictions, but it doesn’t look promising. The Valley Alpha only took over six months ago, and from what we can tell, he has a thirst for violence. His son seems to be just as bad, unfortunately. Personally, I think we need to do something about them.”

“What’s Father say?” Nova asked. Their father was the Alpha of the Mountain Clan, and a known pacifist. Yes, there had been peace between the clans for some time now, but lately, conflicts were heating up all along the borders, most of which from the Valley Clan, and still, his father hadn’t done anything more than increase border patrols.

Nemoy just rolled his eyes. “You know Father. Always the peace keeper. He thinks if we just keep them clear of our borders, it will all settle down.”

Nova glanced sideways at him. “You don’t agree?”

“I think this new Alpha is looking to make a name for himself.” Nemoy shook his head angrily. “You know how the Valley Clan has always wanted to acquire our territory. The treaty Father struck with their old Alpha kept things quiet enough, but now…I just don’t believe the new Alpha is adhering to the guidelines.”

Nova pursed his lips, taking it all in. His entire life, the most exciting thing that had happened within the territory was a few border skirmishes from some rogue wolves setting out on their own. Now, however, things were finally starting to get exciting.

From the corner of his eye, he caught something moving in the darkness. “Nemoy, did you see that?”

“See what?”

Nova narrowed his eyes, trying to spot what had moved. There. A flick of a tail around the corner. “Nemoy,” he said sharply, starting to stand, “there’s a wolf down there.”

Suddenly, his brother was on high alert. “A wolf? Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Nova nodded, glancing up at the girls to make sure they were still okay. They’d made it a few blocks down the street, but he could still see them. “It disappeared right around that corner.”

“And you’re sure it wasn’t one of ours?”

Frowning, Nova kept watching the darkness. The girls had turned a corner and slipped out of sight. “Well, no, I’m not sure. I really only saw its tail.”

Nemoy’s shoulders relaxed, and he slipped back into a crouch, pulling Nova down with him. “Relax, little bro. Like I said, it’s probably just one of the pups.”

“I don’t know, Nemoy,” Nova replied skeptically. Something told him it was more than that. “No one’s scheduled to watch this end of Strathford tonight, right?”

“Just us.”

“Then why would they be skulking around when they know we’re on patrol?”

Despite calm outer demeanor, Nemoy frowned, and a vein at his temple began to pulse. It was a sure sign that his adrenaline was pumping, and he was preparing for battle, Nova knew.

Suddenly, an earsplitting scream split the darkness, followed by the unmistakable growl of a wolf. Nova glared at his brother. “That was not a pup, Nemoy.”

“No, it wasn’t. Come on.” Getting to his feet, Nemoy hastily loped along the roof until he got to the edge, where he dropped lithely to the ground. Nova followed, his movements just as agile.

Once he hit the ground, Nova began to change. His bones creaked and groaned as they grew and shrunk, turning him from boy to wolf. The pain of the transformation was sharp and familiar, and after all these years, he was almost numb to it. He felt his legs crack and snap as they elongated and morphed to form the hind legs of a canine. He fell to all fours, his hands scraping at the dirt as his fingers fused to form paws, his nails growing thicker and elongating to become claws. Fur sprouted all over his skin, thick black and silver, replacing the clothes that shredded and fell to the dirt. His face thinned and his nose grew outward, forming his snout. The tingling sensation along his gums told him that his teeth were growing into the sharp weapon of the wolf.

All around him, the night came to life as his senses sharpened. He could smell everything from the grass to the rotting food permeating the dumpster of the restaurant three blocks over. He could smell the enemy wolves that had invaded their town, and they were definitely not part of the Mountain Clan. Running his long tongue over his jowls, he could taste, rather than smell, the scent of blood on the air. They needed to move. Now.

Turning to look at his brother, he found Nemoy already in wolf form, his jet-black fur difficult to see in the darkness, even with his heightened vision. Throwing his head back, Nova howled up at the moon, the sound was as much a warning to his enemies as it was a battle cry.