Orphaned wolf

The orphanage

I am alive, and I will be for the next 7 days.

The thought ran through my head again. It was like a mantra I couldn’t forget. 7 days, 160 hours, that was all I had for certain. Everything after that was never promised. I had to fight for it. And I would. I would fight harder than anyone to get it, to earn my right to live. So, I would study, I would train, I would fight, and I would impress an alpha.

“What is the answer to number 8?” Dia looked at me from her place on the bed. A flashlight was suspended from the top bunk. It cast a ghostly light on our pages. The sheet covering us did little to help with the shadows dancing around us.

“I’m not going to tell you that,” I retorted and poked her pointy nose, “you have to divide 48 by the square root of 64. Then you get x.” I tried and pointed to the equation on her sheet of paper. Our first test was tomorrow, and we had been studying for several hours every day.

“Argh! I am never going to understand math!” She proclaimed. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Dia wasn’t good at math or reading or sport. She had an artist's soul, but unfortunately alphas were rarely impressed by artists.

“Of course you will. There is still…” I looked at my watch, “eight hours to our test.” Dia made a hopeless sound, and I didn’t blame her.

“Face it, Kaya, I am not going to be picked by anyone.” I tried to prevent the anger and sorrow from gripping me, but it was getting increasingly difficult.

“Yes, you will. I promise!” Dia looked at me with sorrow.

“Don’t lie,” she said and crawled out from under the sheet. I turned off the light and pulled our homemade tent down just in time to see her crawl up to the bunk above me.

“I am not lying,” I said mostly to myself. I would do anything to make sure she got a place in a new pack. She was beautiful. Her hair was long and black, her skin burned with a tan glow and her eyes were the same colour as a summer forest. She would impress an alpha. She had to.

I laid down on my pillow, thoughts about my parents creeping into my dreams. They were the reason I was here. I didn’t remember much about them. The only thing I knew was that they tried to flee from their pack, condemning them as traitors. The law clearly stated that traitors had to be executed, and that their cubs would become omegas. Omega wolves had to be delivered to an orphanage where they would have a chance to redeem themselves by impressing an alpha and gaining a place in their pack.

I fell into a restless and panic-filled dream. In my dream I was being hunted by a giant black wolf with eyes red as a dragon’s flame. It stalked me, and always seemed to be one step ahead of me. It kept calling my name.

“Wake up!” I woke up to Dia standing above me. Her eyes were wild and filled with fear.

“What time is it?” I asked drowsily. Dia didn’t answer, she just yanked my shoulder, pulling me out of bed. I had promised to go for a run with her before our test. It always seemed to clear her head, and my own for that matter.

We tiptoed out of the dormitory, careful not to wake any of the other girls, who would be pissed off if we woke them early on the day of the test. This test was one of five that would be used to determine if we were worthy of becoming part of a new pack.

The air outside the orphanage was chilly. It made my blood pound, and my lungs scream for exercise. Dia stepped away and carefully removed her night gown. Her skin was glowing, and she enjoyed the wind on her naked body for a second before her body convulsed and fur appeared from everywhere. Her bones began to elongate, and she fell to the ground, her wolf getting back up.

Dia's wolf was as magnificent as she was. Her fur was the same brown shade as her skin, but here and there lighter and darker shades embellished her body.

I looked at her for a second before I tore off my own clothes. My body was pale, and the wind caressed my naked breasts before I let go of the hold on my wolf. She rose to the surface with a growl. I felt the pain when my body changed and became something else, but then it was gone.

My wolf was slender, and the fur had a pale white, almost silver glow. In the right light, the colour becomes almost blue or purple. The colour stood out even amongst werewolves. Most wolves had different shades in their fur, and not many had silver-white fur.

Race you to the hill and back? Dia's voice sounded in my head. I laughed and sprinted towards the forest surrounding the orphanage. Dia followed close behind, her paws tapping the ground like thunder.

We ran as if we would never run again. Our bodies working like clockwork. We knew exactly where to put our feet and what branches to avoid. We had been running together ever since we got placed at the orphanage. Dia’s parents had been living as outlaws before Dia was even born, but one day faith caught up with them and Dia was made an omega and her parents were killed. Just like every other child here.

I could feel Dia slowing down, her body tiring. My wolf wanted to speed away, but I slowed down, encouraged her to keep going. So, she did.

We made it to the top. From here we used to imagine that we could see all the way to Kada, the Western territory's main city. It was there all the Alphas from the different packs met when important decisions had to be made. The city was 500 kilometres from here, so all we could really see was treetops.

Come on, we don’t want to be late for the test, I said and gestured to the house. Dia nodded, but I could feel her fear as clearly as if it had been my own.