Terrified and alone, Alisa embarked on a journey that seemed never ending. Without any knowledge of where she was or how she'd even gotten there.

Memories had become slightly hazy and foggy due to the spell they'd cast to transport her elsewhere. As her head had collided with fallen rocks, she had passed out for several days before awakening to nothing.

The moment she had arisen, she had set out to find somewhere suitable to rest that came with rations or at least water to quench her undying thirst.

The days had been long, and the nights even rougher as she journeyed through the rough land.

After waking up on the rocky terrain, alone and naked, desperation had slowly begun to set in.

Despite knowing she'd been cast out for something she had no control over, she harboured no unpleasant feelings towards those she'd left behind that she vaguely cared for in ways she wouldn't ever understand.

Naporia had been home for many years and she refused to forget it just like that. One way or another, she would find herself there again.

Alisa was sure of it.

The one thing she did know after all this time was that she was indeed different from all the witches that had come before her.

A truth so evident that even her bones knew it too.

Alisa had grown to care for others in ways that were unnatural to their way of life. In time, some had cared back, if even in secret, because Alisa wasn't an unemotional robot like the rest.

The small movements she made in her life showed the affection behind each detail, which separated her from the clan forevermore.

Her heart was warm and burned like a rich fire in the winter unlike the icy shards of a normal witch's heart.

Some said it was the fateful curse they must endure for the gifts they harboured.

Alisa always feared her differences would finally be known to the world but she hadn't expected to transform into the very enemy they were trying to fight.

Although, she was extremely lucky that as she walked the desert, she had yet to see the beast within her emerge once more.

To her, she believed it had been a nasty magic trick casted on her by a fellow witch. Alisa hoped that by returning home, she could prove that to be just the case.

"I will journey home and reclaim it. I will protest my innocence until the Clan Leader allows me refuge once more," she murmured to herself, feeling determined and utterly stubborn.

The desert had become hotter as the days dragged on, and the promise of water seeming fleeting and unattainable.

The ground was harsher than she'd ever known before, a terrain so cruel that nothing but cactuses grew.

The wind frequently swirled into sandstorms, leaving an unquenchable thirst in her throat that caused her lips to begin to char.

The thought of Ace kept her sane each passing day, in hopes he would talk sense into the Clan Leader for her and to help her return home.

Alisa wasn't a monster nor the cursed gift they shouted at her as she disappeared within a spiral of magic dust. She would just have to prove everyone wrong.

As time went on, Alisa's resolve had started to crumble, deciding any refuge would do for now.

Even the dangerous ones she was warned to stay clear from.

Young and starving, she stumbles into Snake's Canyon, unaware of the beasts that lurk in the shadows and the monsters that go bump in the night – who star in her very nightmares.

"Kill the intruder!"

The order was barked before Alisa even knew what was happening and then she was off, running for her very life.

The faster she ran, the faster her heart beat and the more her muscles ached for something unknown to her.

Her blue eyes turned a crystal-light colour as her vision blurred and she stumbled more times than she stood up.

She knew of only how to heal with her magic, but never to fight for herself. Magic was forbidden to be used outside of Naporia and Alisa knew she must rely on the natural instincts within.

Hestia had always promised to teach her the fighting spells whenever she was free but Alisa knew that time wasn't on their side. The redhead dreamed of being a teacher while her mother and the tribe forbade it.

The fifteen-year-old understood her friend's struggles and so she had never pushed to learn more despite knowing that survival was a skill all must learn.

Alisa could fight like a barbarian, but she couldn't defeat an entire army of werewolves on her own. She had to hope her little legs could run faster than a wolf hunting its prey.

"Don't let her escape!"

It was time to try out her idea; fighting like an animal with animals. Running didn't seem to be working, and if at the last minute she had to fight like a natural to win, she was willing to try.

There was little chance to be taken when survival was at stake.

Fear emitted out of Alisa in waves, as she slowly began glowing red. Knowing a burst of magic would ruin her cover as a simple human, she ran faster, as the breath in her lungs began weakening.

Short of breath and out of options, Alisa panicked in a glorious fashion and then she turned again, without warning once more.

In the chilly, silent air, bones began cracking and hair began growing rapidly.

The sound of a stampede halted all at once and not a soul moved an inch. As if they were all secretly conversing between themselves, without using a single vocal cord, they then transformed back.

"She's one of us, Alpha!"

"She's just a child!"

"She's probably scared!"

"What if she needs help?"

All the shouts happened at once, at an alarmingly loud rate and Alisa collapsed from the high-pitched sounds.

Her legs could run no more, and her lungs could hold no more breaths. She was tired of running and tired of the fear that quaked in her bones – she was far too tired to escape any longer.

The wolf slumped onto the group, limp and unmoving and slowly began to reveal the naked, brunette child beneath the fur until only tan skin remained.

"Bring her to me," a loud, distinguished voice barked and all the werewolves moved in swift movements to collect the frail child who was barely breathing.

Goosebumps spread across her arms and legs as the cold air touched her delicate skin.

The moment it was apparent she was fully back in her human form, one of the beasts wrapped her up in some cut up bear skin, carrying her over to their Alpha, Ryker.

Slowly, the Beta, Levi, placed her softly in front of his Alpha as if the child were a mere gift once more.

"What shall we do with her?" Levi asked softly, head bowed down out of respect.

"Well, for starters, give her some proper clothes then some food and drink. She will need to rest for a while, especially if this is her first transformation," Ryker replied, loud enough for the entire pack to hear him.

His words were deaf upon Alisa's ears, however. She had long passed out due to exhaustion and hunger.

"But she will have the option to join us if she doesn't already have a pack."

"A rogue join us?" The outraged shouts came from lower ranked wolves that feared this would be a mistake.

Rogues posed unique kind of threats; wherever she came from, could return with a fateful war. But this was a chance the Alpha was willing to make for a small child.

"We don't know if she is a rogue yet," Ryker replied once more.

"And if she is, she may just need a home. She's barely of age to transform. She is probably terrified and hungry; we cannot be cruel to our own kind as well. If we did, who would we be then?"

A rhetorical question that left little room to argue with.

Alpha Ryker believed that fighting other wolves, even rogues, only left them distracted in the real battles.

A lesson he taught year after year, as he refused to be left unprepared when true evil arrives.

"We will be no better than the humans," a young boy replied back as an answer to his father's rhetorical question.

A wide grin spread across his cheeky features.

Ryder was barely fifteen, but he knew he was to take over his father when the time came. It was tradition and even the wolves didn't mess with traditions.

"Will she wake, Alpha?" Parker asked, looking about the same age as Ryder.

He was standing butt-naked, covered in dirt and scratches as he stared up at his Alpha with a tint of fear.

"Don't worry, Parker. She will be fine. Your mother is the best healer we have," the response came back swiftly before everyone disbursed to attend back to their stations once more.

The guards reached their positions quickly, keeping an eye out once more as the rest took Alisa to the pack house for medical attention.

"She's our age," Cora muttered to her friend Maya, as she pointed wildly at the newcomer.

"Do you think she'll want to be our friend?" The blonde girl asked with big hopeful eyes.

"I'm sure she'd love to be," Maya replied quickly before dragging Cora back to the pack house.

"Now let's go before Alpha realises, we're not back in our beds yet!"

There was an unvoiced command in the air that was given by the Alpha that every wolf was to obey or there would be consequences.

On Alisa's back, behind her right shoulder blade, bore a birthmark that slowly formed a crescent moon that sat adjacent to the three sun rays.

Her birthmark was finally complete.