Bitten by a Goddess

*** Twelve years ago*** Seraphina I feel myself being shaken awake. I open my eyes and see my mother panicked and blood running down one side of her face. My beautiful mother, I look just like her, but I have my father's dark brown hair, but everything else I get from my mother. Her beautiful hazel brown eyes, and medium tan complexion. She looks scared and frantic.. I've never seen her this way before, except for when I broke my wrist when I didn't listen about climbing too high in a tree. "Mama, what's going on?" "I need you to listen to me very carefully. You need to stay as quiet as possible and don't do anything no matter what you see or hear. Do you understand me?!" Panic and fear quickly rose up my spine and stopped at my throat. I looked into my mother's eyes and shook my head, letting her know I understood. She looked around quickly before taking her necklace off and placing it on me. Pure horror settled deep into my stomach when she finished clasping it behind my neck. She never took her pendant off. It was a beautiful raw ruby pendant with a golden chain it always sat perfectly in between her collar bones. She always told me I would get one of my own when I grew older and got my wolf. I was in a daze as my mother shifted and threw me onto her back. My mother's wolf Emma made sure to stay still while I grabbed her fur before taking off down the hallway of the packhouse and out of the back door towards the forest. Outside, that's when I saw all the blood and heard the screams, snarls, and fighting. I was scared and hid my face in Emma's fur, finding comfort in her soft, beautiful red and black fur. My mama always told me it was special and only the woman of our bloodline carried the trait. I guess red fur is very rare, Mama never told me, but no other wolves in our pack had red fur like her. She always talked about how Emma and her couldn't wait to meet my wolf when we snuggled or played. She only showed her wolf form in front of us, though I never learned why. Mama said she'd explain it to me when I was older. Right before we reached the forest, that was when I heard the most terrifying roar of my life, and I felt Emma run even faster towards the river. I lifted my head to look around, and we were almost to the river when I saw three wolves charging at us when Emma fell howling out in pain. My mother shifted back and held her chest... something happened to Father. Hot tears started to fall down my face, but I stayed quiet. "SERAPHINA RUN!!!" My mother screamed at me before shifting back and fighting off the three wolves charging at us. I started to run when she killed two of them and hit the third into a tree before running towards me, scooping me up onto Emma's back and taking off sharply to the left towards the river where the cliffs and river banks start to get steep. I was never allowed over there without mother because the water was too fast for me except for when we came together as a family to swim her eyes were always such a beautiful silver when we when went swimming over here. My parents and I. My father always swam with me he always called me such a strong swimmer, while Mother sat on a blanket watching us with a smile. I heard that horrifying roar again as my mother and I reached the banks and cliffs to the river. That's when she got hit again, and I went flying towards the banks of the river. I looked up to see my mother running towards me in human form when she picked me up and whispered to me. "We love you, Seraphina.Your father and I hope you understand one day." Then she threw me towards the river. Its cold embrace welcomed me calmly as I swam to the surface. I saw my mother kneeling next to the bank when I saw a huge black wolf with white paws stalking towards my mother. I screamed for her to run. She watched me with Emma's beautiful silver eyes before she just mouthed "I love you always" and then lifted her head towards the moon. That's when the big wolf lunged for her throat... killing her... I screamed, and the wolf looked at me with these dark red eyes before roaring out. That's when the current took me. The current was getting too strong. I was getting too close to the waterfall. I tried swimming to the other edge but kept getting dragged under. I could hear the water smashing off rocks. I swam up for more air, trying to breathe before getting pulled under and smacking into a boulder under the water. I screamed, losing all the air in my lungs before the current pulled me closer to the waterfall. I grabbed a hold of my mother's pendant, knowing this is my end. It's too much I couldn't do it. I'm praying to the Moon Goddess is caring and that I can meet my mother and my father wherever I go. Then I feel a pair of hands wrap around my waist and pull me out of the water. I've given up. I don't care anymore. I can feel them swimming, trying to pull us out of the current. I can feel them struggling in the current just as badly. I can also hear people yelling and speaking when I feel we are being yanked from the water. I'm cold, so very cold. I feel someone put a blanket around me, trying to talk to me, willing I hear them. They are shaking me. Rubbing my arms, pushing on my chest. I start coughing. Coughing up water, I try to look around.. I'm too tired when I see a group of men and wolves. I can't keep my eyes open.. I can hear them a little over the ringing in my ears. "Stay with me, Seraphina. Stay with me." I can hear the desperation in their voice, but I can't stay awake. I'm so very tired. and then blackness takes over me..