Page 1 of Wolf Forsaken

Chapter One

Xander

Laughter filled the night sky as we sat around the campfire, beers in hand, celebrating Liam becoming alpha. It had been a long time coming; for years he had trained under his father, preparing to take over our small pack.

He'd already made a deal with the pack nearby to merge into one. We’d always been on good terms with them, but both of the packs were small and would benefit from combining.

“I’d like to make a toast.” I stood and held my beer bottle up to the moon. “All the hard work and sacrifice we’ve made over the past three years has been worth it to sit here next to our alpha. I’m even more honored to have been chosen as lead beta. My father would have been proud.”

I steeled my shoulders, trying to tamp down on the emotion that threatened to spill over. My father had disappeared a decade ago and we hadn't heard from him since. It nearly killed my mother and left me feeling helpless.

The other betas raised their beers, howled, and then we drank together.

Cal was just handing out another round when a woman’s scream came from the trees. We all jumped to attention, our wolves not liking the sound.

"It’s probably just-" Austin started, but the woman screamed again.

I shifted before I could stop myself, taking off into the trees.A woman in our territory was being hurt, and we needed to protect her.

"Alex, stop!"Liam had already solidified his alpha connection to me, but I didn’t heed his command.

The woman’s screams became louder until they cut off abruptly from nearby. I came to a stop and looked around frantically for signs of the woman. The smell of blood in the air overwhelmed my senses. I started in that direction as Liam, Cal, and Austin joined me.

Liam growled, but he must have smelled the blood too, because he didn’t say anything. She must have lost half her blood, and from the scent it became clear she was a human, not one of us.

What was a human woman doing in our territory so late at night?

“Jon and his team were supposed to watch the perimeter tonight. I can’t get through to him.”Jon was the previous beta who'd retired alongside Liam's father and the rest of his team.

The sound of dripping hit my ears, and I turned, a howl leaving me before I could stop myself. Liam couldn’t get through to Jon because he and the other two members of his team were hanging from a tree, bleeding out from their throats. Their lifeless, amber eyes stared back at us, warning us to run.

And then something hit my chest.

I wokeup panting and clutched my chest to ease the pain. They’d tranquilized us. The last thing I remembered before passing out was them commenting that we were much younger and more suited for what they had in store.

“Hey, man. Are you all right?” The voice was raspy and vaguely familiar.

Where am I?Things had been a bit fuzzy since I woke in the woods after months of being a prisoner. It was like I had been walking through a haze and it was just now lifting enough for me to process what had happened after they took me.

Liam, Austin, and Cal are dead.

My wolf prickled under my skin, threatening to take over, and I pushed him back. I felt like a pup again, trying to gain control of my beast.

Sitting up, I rubbed at my eyes, trying to make sense of what was going on. Metal bars surrounded me. I was in a damn cage again, but this time, I wasn’t alone. Cole sat across from me, the concrete floor stained with his blood.

“Did they find us?” Panic rose in my chest, and I jumped to my feet, stumbling a bit from the equilibrium change.I still wasn't used to standing and needed to take things slow.

Cole said nothing, and I looked down at him sitting against the bars of the cage, his hand over his stomach. Blood trickled between his shaking fingers. He was as pale as a ghost, and his jaw was clamped shut so tight he was probably cracking teeth.

“You were shot.” The memory came back to me, and I looked around for something to help staunch the bleeding, but nothing was within reach. Hadn't they tended to his wound? Why was he bleeding again?

I went to the door and shook it a few times, the metal rattling but not budging. We were screwed. They had gotten us, and now their sick, twisted games could begin.

“You need to shift and heal. We don't have a lot of time before they come for us again.” I knelt next to him and pulled his hand away from his wound. It was still closed, but he had lost a few staples. “How many of them are there?”

"Staples? I don't fucking know, man. Does it matter?" He yanked his hand back and covered his wound. “I can’t shift. No energy. Mental and physical.” His head lolled to the side before he quickly jerked it up again. “I shouldn’t have shifted in the first place, but when they tried to pick me up from outside, I did it to throw them off balance and tried to run.”

"How many men are there?" If there were two, we could probably take them if we played it smart. With his condition and my weakness, we'd be at a disadvantage.

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