Wolf Dance chs 1-3

This is the start of my new book, Wolf Dance

Chapter 1

Rosemary awoke from the wind kissing her face. She closed her eyes again and stretched, breathing deeply and intaking the fragrance of tree resin. She leaned forward and let her legs drop around the sturdy branch. Then Rosemary’s moss green eyes bolted open. The sun bathed her face and she rolled of the great cypress branch she slept on. Her naked feet barely made a sound when it hit the pine needles that were the forest’s carpet. Once she straightened out of her crouch, she moved like a ghost, fast and soundless, through the millennia old trees.
Rosemary was panicking. Not because she woke up in a forest, but that she had not clothes on and it was day, around noon. ~Streaker.~ she thought with humor, trying to think about the positive things about this horror. That was all she could think of.
She soon arrived at the natural looking house she called home. She sneaked through the back sliding glass door, trying to be discreet. “Ahem.” Rosemary heard her aunt clear her throat while she closed the door. She froze in place and turned slowly. Mina Blackwell, Aunt Mina, stood in the middle of the kitchen, a look of annoyance and cold calm plastered on her face. In the living room, five men were froze in place, looking at Rosemary.
Rosemary scrambled into action. She fled the area, and flew down the short hall. Her bedroom door was already open. She kicked the door closed once inside and exhaled sharply. Rosemary’s sister, Nissa, spun in her computer chair and laughed, saying, “I didn’t know that they were coming either.” Rosemary traveled across the room to the walk-in closet. She opened the doors and grumbled, “You’re kidding.” Nissa laughed again and replied, “Wear the white summer dress or Mina’ll get pissy.” Rosemary obeyed and pulled the halter cotton dress over her head. Smoothing down the wrinkles and scrutinizing herself in the mirror, she asked, “Who are they anyway?” Nissa said with a smile within her voice, “Just your qualified suitors.”
Rosemary stopped combing through her hair for a second, but resumed fiddling with her hair, a somber expression pervading her face. Nissa’s grin faded, “What’s wrong?”
After putting her hair in a high messy bun, Rosemary sat on the foot of the bed. She slouched and replied, “Its’ not… ENJOYABLE being bartered over like an item and not a person.” Nissa rose from the chair and twirled around in front of the mirror.
Nissa, herself, was wearing a brown elbow blouse with hanging sleeves, a warm knee- high brown skirt, and brown strappy heels. “Why not? THEY aren’t being forced to court you.”
14-year-old Nissa was the girly-girl sibling. SHE liked to go to MALLS and CITIES. She craved attention and drama. An opposite of Rosemary, she was. If only Nissa were the oldest, things would go much smoother.
“Because I want to stay independent.” Rosemary replied simply. Nissa shrugged to herself and lobbed white open-toed heels and a silver comb with daisies on them at Rose. She caught the items easily and put on the shoes. Nissa jumped onto the bed behind Rosemary and stuck the comb in the crease of the bun. She patted her sister’s arm and said, “Break a leg.” Rosemary groaned and they heard a sharp rapping on the door. ~Where’s Mom when we need her?~ Rosemary thought.

Chapter 2

Before Rosemary could say anything, Mina opened the door and pulled Rosemary out of the room. Her blue eyes flicked up and down Rosemary’s figure and nodded, satisfied. “Good. You’re ready… I think you’ll like these men.” Rosemary just nodded, not wanting to reveal her true emotions just yet.
Mina put her hand on the small of her most challenging niece’s back. “Come.” She motioned towards the door, and Rosemary went willing.
They walked down the dark hallway, the whole way Mina murmured things like, ‘good posture’, ‘cross your legs’, ‘be a delicate girl, not a tomboy’ and so on. Rosemary dutifully cataloged her advice, and grew more nervous with each step.
These people were not the boys she grew up with, the boys she trusted-her best friends. They were from the Fenrir Pack- named after the wolf that swallowed the sun in Norse Mythology. They were rightly christened because their occupation was so ferocious. Assassins, soldiers, master weapon makers, ultimate fighters with the grotesque knowledge of the blackest magick. Out of the four packs: The Fenrir (war) pack, the Energy (magick) pack, the Industrial (vampire) pack, and her own pack, the Mountain (peace) pack, she hated the Fenrir Pack the most. She still remembered how they took away her father’s life because he had an opinion and told it to the alpha. That was 10 years ago, when she was just seven. She didn’t know that her father was Alpha, and her mother was Beta. She just knew that she had lost both parents.
Only two years ago, after bloody fighting that was nigh tolerable to her, Alpha Fenrir passed away. His son, Kai ascended the throne and made a peace treaty with her mother. One year later, the treaty was passed, another six months before the packs even thought anything of it. Rosemary was of age, so her mother volunteered that she’d take a Fenrir mate.
This was why Rosemary tasted the metallic rancid fear in the back of her throat, and her heartbeat tattooed in her ears. ~ You are Sarah’s daughter. Make her proud.~ was her only pep talk. Rosemary took a few deep breaths and walked into the living room.

Chapter 3

“They are Kane, Silver, Gabriel, Jared, and Zack.” Mina rattle of their names left to right. They all sat on the couch, but rose to there feet when Rosemary entered the room. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” She said courteously. One by one, they kneeled on the hardwood floor, their jugular exposed to her. She belatedly remembered that that was a sign of respect and loyalty to royalty in the Fenrir pack. In response to their customs, she twisted her torso, looking the other way and gave herself as a good target. Mina gave her a thumbs-up and Rosemary smiled.
Once all of the formalities were done, Mina explained, “Okay, here’s how it works. All of us except Rosemary and a suitor will go out onto the back porch and bide out time while the two talk. When they’re done, I’ll send another suitor, and so on. Once you and Rose is done talking, you may leave or stay. Just remember, I will serve dinner afterwards, and you are welcome to it… Now Silver, would you break the ice please and go first?”
The second man nodded and opened the sliding door. Rosemary saw him wince-probably from the very inappropriate event he saw only fifteen minutes ago. All of the other men filed outside, mina grabbed two trays- one with glasses and a pitcher of lemonade, the other piled with little cocktail snacks like crackers, fruits, and nuts. Mina sent a look Rose’s way saying, “Don’t screw up.” And exited out of the house. Rose gulped the panic down and sat on the couch. Silver followed closely behind.
Silver was an attractive man. He had gentle light blue eyes framed with long lashes. He had a clear complexion except a faint scar marring his right cheekbone. He had full pink lips and shaggy light silver hair. Surprisingly, he pulled off the color well. He was tall, a couple inches taller than Rose who was 5’6”. He didn’t seem to have any muscle, but she knew it was impossible that he didn’t because he donned on the Impregnable Guard jacket, given to Kai’s guardians.
Silver caught her looking at him and laughed. “Different, huh?” He asked. “A little.” She shrugged, self conscious. To get it off her chest, she said hastily, “Sorry that you saw me without clothes. I usually don’t go nude places.” Silver was shaking with laughter. She knew it was her insistent, desperate face. “It’s all right… But may I ask WHY you were nude?”
“Oh…” She laughed nervously, “I got surprised by the moon. I stayed out all night and fell asleep. I guess I turned back when the sun rose.” She admitted, not happy with her foolishness. To her surprise, he chuckled instead of chastising her. “Good, because for a minute, I thought you were a streaker!” They both laughed, hers a soprano belly-laugh and his an alto guffaw.
Rosemary liked Silver. He was funny, with a light heart. He was talkative and sometimes downright silly. ~Not a soldier. But Why?~ Rose thought, confused. She finally asked, “Why are you a guard?” Silver tensed up and immediately she said, “I apologize for my curiosity,” with her head bent downward. Silver reached over and tilted her chin up. “It’s fine. I just don’t like the subject…My father was part of a conspiracy to take down Alpha Red, Kai’s father. As punishment, his eldest son would have to join the Impregnable Guard…It’s not the career choice I had in mind… I wanted to be a performer but sometimes things don’t work out the way you want.” HE explained softly. Rose saw the ghost of past pains echoing in his sky eyes. She exclaimed, “That’s not fair! Your father made the mistake, not you! Who thought THAT one up?!”
“SNOW!” He said sharply. She flinched because he used her surname. “That’s blasphemy! You can get into trouble!” Rose closed her jaw with a snap angrily. “I’m not mad at you, its just a reflex.”
The sliding door slammed open and Mina was running in her half form- a scary form. Her brown fur covered her human body. Ears were pointing out through her hair and a snarl on her lips. Behind her, 2 of Rose’s best friends, Kyle and Jake, were in full wolf form. Nissa’s shoes clattered as she ran down the hall. All four of them had a look of fury on their faces. “We heard…voices…” Mina said through clenched teeth.
Rosemary explained quickly, stealing glances at Silver, “Everything’s fine. I just felt very passionately about a Fenrir custom. Nothing’s wrong.” They did not look assured by her words. Mina straightened up out of her crouch anyway and her fur receded. She put on a mask of calm and her ears turned to human. Fully human, she stated, “I think we’ve had enough excitement today. Come tomorrow and we’ll continue.” Silver kneeled and went out of the door wordlessly. Rosemary felt things shift outside, in the back, and become empty. The others had heard her Aunt’s instructions and left. Nissa uttered a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the couch.