Azure (The Silver Series Book 5) by Cheree Alsop Page A

to look at
them. Faces of young men and women around the age of the werewolves
at Two stared unseeing at the full moon. Several of the girls were
beautiful. I could imagine suitors kissing their cheeks and working
up the courage to ask for a dance. The men reminded me of soldiers
sent off to war, barely old enough to hold a gun, yet entrusted
with the lives of those on either end. I pictured mothers saying
farewell and fathers telling their sons how proud they were.
    A lump formed in my throat. Sorrow rose so
strongly I couldn’t hold it in. The agony I felt over Sam’s death
and the death of the other werewolves at Two battered against my
mind and thoughts until I couldn’t think any longer. The fact that
other families would feel the same loss for the Hunters below made
my bones ache. I lifted my nose to the moon and howled for the
lives that would never be lived because of a foolish decision to
attack a werewolf hideout.
    A few minutes later, nine other voices rose
to mingle with mine, their howls as dark and raw as my own with the
loss of our companions. We said goodbye to them as wolves letting
go of trusted comrades, saying farewell to boys we had grown up
with and watched mature, of memories wasted and lives thrown away.
We might not have made a proper pack, but when our parents took the
easy way out of raising us, we stood by one another and helped each
other through the hard times.
    I let the guilt I felt at not being prepared
for the attack tangle in my voice. I was the leader of Two. I
accepted responsibility for their deaths and for the loss of the
Hunters in the ravine beneath my feet. The heaviness on my
shoulders threatened to choke me and my voice died away while the
others continued to echo through the countless canyons. They, too,
eventually faded, leaving the desert sands fuller and more empty
with their passing.
    I studied the bodies below until their faces
blurred into one and Sam's empty eyes stared back at me. A drop of
water fell on my head, shaking me from the memory. I blinked and
rose, the rare desert rain falling like tiny stars laced with
moonlight. The moon was starting its descent in the sky, casting a
halo of silver from behind clouds that had gathered while I was
lost in my thoughts. I closed my eyes and relished the moon's
embrace for a moment, then forced myself to turn toward home.
    It was hard to leave the bodies of the
Hunters, strangers who had come with the intent to kill us, but who
were nonetheless sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and
perhaps lovers whose bodies wouldn't be mourned or buried like they
deserved.
    I ran away from thoughts that would be
treated as outrageous back at Two. I thought of Sam, Riff, Jason,
and Sy, once full of life, hope, and dreams, and now just bodies
that would be taken home in the morning for their own loved ones to
mourn. I regretted that I couldn't go with them and wish their
families the condolences and respect they deserved, but I didn't
dare leave Nora to the whims of the others if a vengeful mood came
upon them. A group of wolves could be worse than a mob if fueled by
the right type of rage.
    I arrived back at Two to find Nora gone, her
scent hours old. A pit formed in my stomach, but I wasn’t
surprised. I picked up her trail amid the rain just outside camp
where Brian had been stabbed in the leg. His blood colored the
sandy ground in a dry dark patch that would soon be washed away by
the rain. Fear didn't color Nora’s scent, only anxiety and urgency
so I knew no one was chasing her. She had chosen the perfect night
for her escape, the only night when I didn't post sentries at Two
because usually no one was there to worry about.
    I loped along her trail, her scent growing
stronger and stronger until I made out her form stumbling through
the shadows. She glanced back, but her gaze moved past my black fur
camouflaged in the darkness. She wiped rain from her forehead and
continued around the corner. I trotted to catch up to her,