Wolf's Essence Prologue

Prologue

"Hector! Morgan! Get a move on! We have to go, now!" I shouted up the stairs to my brother and his wife, while I held their six year old son, Theodore, tight against my breast. My husband, Harold, was busy packing our luggage into the cars outside with earnest haste.

We had come to visit my brother and his family just over a week ago, every time we did I was always surprised by how fast my nephew was growing. We had spent the initial part of the visit spending long hours swimming in the lake next to their two story cabin home. We often made time to go on hikes to the top of the waterfall, and even enjoyed telling stories while sitting by the fire pit and roasting marshmallows. That part was my favorite, as we usually ended up laughing at my nephew somehow getting melted marshmallows all over his face and even in his hair. Unfortunately the visit had taken a horrible turn.

"We're coming, Lidia," my brother shouted down at me. I could faintly make out the sounds of both their voices as they argued with one another, but I was unable to hear what was being said. Her alto voice was elegant and light, his voice a deep baritone that resonated in the walls of their home. I heard what sounded like a book falling off a table before they both came rushing back down the steps, their suitcases in hand.

We had been walking through the woods, on the northern side of the lake on a trail that wound its way up to the cliffs and waterfall. We were laughing and having a good time, enjoying time as a family, watching my nephew pick up pinecones and swing his whole body in an attempt to throw them. We could just make out the upper lake waters that fed into the waterfall. From up here we were able to peer through the thicket of trees to view the town below us in its tiny valley. We were just about to make it to the top of the falls when a massive gray wolf came striding over the hill, having followed its own path that started on the opposite side of the lake and wound its own path through the woods and up the peak of the falls. We all chuckled at my nephew when he gasped and in the cutest little child voice you could imagine said, "that's a big dog!"

He didn't know any better, but we did. This wolf was not just any wolf, it was Mr. Gordan Mitchell, the alpha of the Cedar Falls werewolf pack. I had met him several times before; in his human form, Gordan was just another man, physically in shape, standing just under six feet tall, with graying hair to match the fifty-two year old body he sported. He was fit, but I wouldn't necessarily say he was in shape. But in his wolf form, he was a massive 400 pound canine. He was so large that my head barely came to the middle of his chest, even while he was standing on all fours. I had no doubt that all of us could ride on his back with little to no effort on his part.

We all gave him our respect and let him approach us. He waded through the rushing stream, the cool clear waters barely coming up to the middle of his forearm. Once he had stepped out from the stream he slowed his pace, in attempts to not startle my nephew. When he was merely feet away from us he stared us down with his bright glimmering blue eyes, and we all knew what to do. He bowed our heads to him, lowering our gaze just enough to see only his paws. I don't know why, but I always closed my eyes at this point, it just felt more respectful in some way. We waited, as he bumped his snout against each of our foreheads. This was his way of saying we had his blessing to explore further. Being that his pack had a sacred clearing nearby, it was only right that we received his blessing to continue.

He then lowered his head down so his snout was level with my nephew's face. My brother crouched down, wrapping an arm around his son as he whispered in his ear. I watched as little Theodore reached up and gave the big wolf a scratch on the head. "You're a good boy, doggie," my nephew had said, just before his hand began to glow with a blue light exactly where he was touching the massive creature. The wolf yipped in pain, and my brother instantly pulled his son back. In an instant the large beast went from his kind and caring feature, to that of anger and murderous intent. The wolf snarled before it lunged forward at my nephew, but before it could sink its teeth into his soft flesh I tapped into my magic.

“NO!” I shouted as I thrust my hands forward, summoning my power into an invisible barrier and pushing it forward. The wolf roared as it was forced off its paws and was thrown twenty feet through the air, before crying out in pain as it collided with a nearby tree trunk. Before Gordan was able to get back to his feet, we were running as fast as we could back to the house.

Being born into a family of sorcerers had its perks; we each had a type of magic that was useful in different everyday situations. For instance, I was a witch, gifted with psionic magics, granting me the ability to move objects without touching them and even have power over one's mind. This allows me to cause something as simple as my coffee mug to float across the room and into my hand with a simple thought, read people's emotions or grant me limited mental communication with chosen people, though I don’t use the last two very often. My sister-in-law was a Naturist, she had the ability to control an aspect of a single element, Earth. This allowed her to speak with the animals, which was perfect because she had a PHD in psychology, making her the perfect animal Psychiatrist. You'd be surprised by all the emotions animals go through on a daily basis. My husband and brother on the other hand, were Rune Carvers, able to set magical wards on nearly any surface for nearly any situation. My brother had made Cedar Falls his home, he had found a life here, gotten married here, had a child here. But all of that changed the moment my nephew showed signs of his magic manifesting and coming to the surface. Our fears became a reality when we discovered the magical gift little Theodore had been born with. This was the day our lives changed forever.

Once back on the property, we crossed over the circle of protective runes that my husband and my brother had spent hours creating years before. The circle consisted of twenty runes spaced evenly, encompassing the entire property and down to part of the lake. The runic spell, having been magically carved into boulders and trunks of trees, was designed to keep out anyone who bore ill intent toward anyone else within its boundaries. I was grateful my brother had come up with the idea all those years ago, because the moment we crossed into the circle, a howl rang out through the valley. Gordan was coming, and now, so was his pack.

Once we were back in the house, everyone rushed from room to room grabbing anything and everything we needed for our quick escape. Food, clothes, wallets, purses, other luggage we had brought with us. Before long, I was calling up the stairs to my brother and his wife, ushering them to hurry. It wasn't long after that they came down the steps with their luggage in hand. Within minutes we were outside next to our cards, hashing out a plan as my Morgan buckled her son into the car seat of my brother's red land rover.

"We need to get to West Yellowstone as fast as possible," my brother Hector stated, the panic obvious on his face. "Now that Gordan knows that Theo's magic is just like his grandfather's, they're going to kill him. They're going to kill my son! Oh god, they're going to kill my son!"

My husband, Harold, stepped forward and gave his brother-in-law the strongest embrace I had ever seen them share before. They got along, but their hugs usually didn't last more than a second or two with a couple pats on the back. Harold just held my brother tight as he spoke. "We're not going to let that happen, Hec." He pulled back from the hold and looked my brother in the eyes, his voice full of reassurance. "We're going to do everything we can to protect him. I promise you."

Morgan Flashed me a look before she went racing back into the house.

"Morgan," I called out after her, "what are you doing? We need to go!"

"I'll just be a second," she replied as she vanished through the doorway. "I can't leave without it!"

Harold and I got into our rental jeep, which sat in the lead, as Hector got into his car with his son. We waited impatiently for Morgan, who came running back out of the house with a small chain clutched in her hand. "I can't believe I almost forgot this," she said as she jumped into the land rover with her husband. She slammed the passenger door shut and gave a final shout. "GO!"

As we began to pull forward, we found our path down the dirt driveway blocked by a familiar gray wolf waiting just outside the protective barrier, Gordan. We watched as several more wolves began to step from the trees. Their sizes were impressive, but nothing like their alpha. Sure, they were much larger than the normal wolves that roamed the world, but alphas stood no less than triple that of the largest wolf, standing almost as large as our car. They all glared at us with intensity, but Gordan's blue wolf eyes glared at us with extreme hatred.

Harold didn't hesitate. He slammed his hand on the horn, at the same time he forced his foot down on the gas. The car's horn blared as we raced toward the wolves, all of them barely managed to leap out of the way as our vehicle roared across the barrier line and barreled down the driveway. With the pathway being longer than your average driveway, the wolves attempted to cut off our path, but Harold didn't waste time cutting through the brush and gravel separating the driveway from the town streets.

The wolves gave into the chase as we weaved through the town, swerving around cars as we went. The canines barked and slammed their bodies into the sides of our vehicle, trying their hardest to drive us to a stop. But they failed. Thankfully the moment we veered onto the highway and left the town border, the wolves fell behind and eventually gave into their defeat. But we didn't stop. We continued our pace, speeding down the paved road.

Breathing a sigh of relief, we shared a laugh as Hector and Morgan pulled up alongside us. As they pulled ahead I caught a glimpse of Morgan turning to face her son in the back seat, and I guessed that she must have been reassuring him that they were safe. But that was cut short the moment they got thirty feet ahead of us.

The Alpha was a blur as he charged onto the road, slamming his body into the left side of their car with the full force of his massive body, causing the vehicle to lift off the left wheels. The car balanced for a moment before it fell onto its side, the sound of breaking glass and screeching metal reached our ears for a moment. That was when the vehicle began to roll, end over end, roof to tires, again and again. After the fifth roll it slid to a stop on its roof.

Harold was already slamming the breaks the moment we saw the wolf. Coming to a stop we threw our doors open and ran to help. As I ran up next to the car, Harold took a defensive position with his back to the flipped automobile, his metal dowel in hand, or as others may refer to it as a wand. He traced a single large rune into the air, preparing to finish the last swipe if something attacked. Thankfully he was a powerful Rune Carver, as most are unable to create runes in mid air. By this time I was able to pry open the rear door, using some telekinesis to assist. As it opened I noticed my nephew crawling toward me, tears pouring down his face as he wailed. I knelt and gave him  the tightest hug I could before examining him.

"Are you okay, sweetie? Are you alright?" I asked, eyeing his body frantically for any injuries. He gave a simple nod, and to my astonishment he was right. He didn't have a single scratch on him. I would've thought it impossible, until I noticed the chain necklace wrapped around his neck and clutched in his hand. A small circular metal medallion hung on the end, it was no bigger than a quarter with a small blue crystal at its center. I recognized it to be a small protective charm that his mother had kept tucked under his bed every day of his life. That must have been what she had run back into the house for. Thankfully she did, and it had obviously done its job, but I had never known them to protect against physical harm, usually it was just magical threats. Had he somehow subconsciously pulled from its magic and protected himself as the car rolled?

He must have noticed it caught my eye, because he sniffled and pointed into the car. "Mommy gave it to me. She said it would keep me safe from the big bad dog."

I leaned down to help Morgan and Hector, but what I saw brought pain and sorry to my heart. Morgan hung upside down, her nose and face red with blood, her eyes staring ahead… lifeless. Her seatbelt had kept her in her seat, whereas Hector hadn't been wearing one and was in far worse shape. He was laying on his stomach, facing away from me, his head was halfway through the windshield, his arms and legs bent at gruesome angles. Tears filled my eyes and I used my hand to stifle a sob. I said my silent goodbyes before picking my nephew up and heading back to our car.

I stopped next to my husband, looking him in the eyes with tears rolling down my cheeks. I shook my head. His eyes widened as he caught my meaning, he ran to the car. Hearing him gasp, I let him say his own goodbyes while I stayed silent, watching the tree line around us. But there was no sign of the alpha. Just a lone black wolf sitting while it watched us and surveyed the crash, with its ears lowered.

Once Harold was standing next to me again, wiping the tears from his eyes, we hurried back to the car and reluctantly continued on our way. My heart broke at knowing that I'd never see my brother again, and that Theo would never grow up knowing his parents. Now sitting in the backseat with my nephew I pulled him close as we both sobbed.

We sped to the Yellowstone Regional Airport, getting tickets for the earliest flight possible. With a little bit of my own manipulation, we managed to get through security and on the flight within the hour. The day had certainly been traumatizing and exhausting for all of us, especially my nephew. I did my best to reassure him that everything was going to be alright, but I knew he was still in a bit of shock, we all were. Thankfully he fell asleep after the first hour of the flight and slept the remaining five.

I turned to my husband, giving him a desperate look. "You have to use it. He's too young to handle all of this."

"No, there has to be a different way, Lidia." He whispered as we both looked at the snoozing child. "It's not easy to do. I could cause some serious problems. There is a very high possibility that I could make him forget everything, not just today. He'd forget his entire life."

"You have to, Harold." I was doing my best not to raise my voice, in fear of drawing unwanted attention, but it was rather difficult. Taking a deep breath I steadied myself and continued. "We can't let him live like this. Imagine the pain he'll have to deal with every time someone mentions them. He'll live through this entire day all over again. I don't want him to have to deal with that. Please just do it."

He stared down at Theo, mentally taking into account all possibilities or repercussions of what I was asking him to do. Fulling knowing the possible consequences if he did or did not follow through with the idea. After several minutes he finally turned back to me.

"Alright, fine. On one condition." He met my eyes. "We raise him as our own. I am not going to put him into foster care or anything like that. We're the only family he has left. And if I do this, there is a very high possibility that he may forget everything, about who we are, about magic and the supernatural. If he does, we will keep it all a secret from him, protect him from all of it. If he discovers the truth, then I will tell him the truth. Everything about who we are and what he is. What really happened today. I don't care what else you say, but I'm going to spoil the fuck out of this kid. Agreed?"

I carefully considered everything he was telling me. We would have to lie to my nephew throughout his entire life. Have to keep secrets about everything. It wasn't going to be easy, especially not after relying on my magic for half my life. But in the end I couldn't argue. He was right, we couldn't put him in foster care, not when we were his family. I looked at my husband once more and gave him a nod.

Once back in Maine, we picked up our car from the parking garage and made the drive home. I found myself glancing at my nephew in the backseat and back to my husband as he drove. Moments after we had gotten off our flight, Theo had begun to weep once again. Looking out the window every now and then, I watched as the lights raced past in the night, tears streaking down my face as I listened to my nephew continue to cry.

We sat at our kitchen table, Theo between us as we hugged him tight. “I m-miss m-mommy and d-daddy,” he bawled, his tears soaking the front of my husband's shirt. It took everything I could to keep myself from crying with him.

“I know sweetie, me too.” I said with a whisper as I kissed his forehead. “But they're in a happier place now.” I watched as Harold  withdrew his dowel from his pocket and began tracing a rune just behind our nephew's head.

“It's okay, son.” He stated as he finished the rune and it rapidly faded away. As it vanished, so too did our nephew's sobs. My husband kissed his head and gave him one more tight hug. “It's okay, Theo. You're home now.”