I lean against the banister and gaze into the fiery sunset. The tops of the trees in the forest look as though they are on fire and it is truly breathtaking. I breathe deeply and close my eyes. It's as though the sun is enveloping me in a heated embrace.

"What are you doing, you weirdo?" My 14 year old brother, Evan, asks interrupting a glorious moment that I had all to myself.

"About to punch you in the face," I spin around to face him. "Start running."

His once disgusted expression turns into a look of terror and I smirk. He takes off and I tap my right foot twice before taking off after him. I have to give the little squirt a head start.

"Oakley! Quit chasing your brother!" My dad yells once we enter the pack house. My other brothers chuckle and I glare at them.

I turn to dad with a sweet smile on my face. "Come on, dad. Let me wrestle someone, pretty please." I bat my eye lashes and keep smiling.

He shakes his head and I drop the fake smile. "You have to wait until the new group of boys arrives." He pauses and breaks into a smile. "Don't hurt them too bad." These guys are paying my dad for me to kick their butts. Okay, maybe not, but still it's a nice thought.

I smirk. "No promises." I grab a bottle of water and head up to my room. I sigh and collapse on my bed. Having seven brothers is tiring and so is being the only girl.

I am literally the last female werewolf on earth. Of course there are still female humans out there, but they aren't supposed to know about our world for obvious reasons. Some of the men in the pack have female human mates, but I think they feel threatened or afraid of me. They avoid me at all costs, most stay in their own small homes away from the pack house. I guess you could say I am famous in the werewolf world. My pack is very protective of me. They are all my brothers, besides my dad of course. We are one big family. A group of werewolves around my age, I'm 19, are coming here to be trained. My pack is labeled the strongest, but we have to be because of me. I am very valuable and a lot of people probably want to kidnap me or whatever.

I shiver involuntarily at the thought and sit up. I rush out of my room and down two flights of stairs. Once I enter the gym, I slip on my gloves and start punching away at one of the many punching bags hanging from the ceiling.

*4 hours later*

"Hey, sis, you broke half of the punching bags. Are you going to stop or break the other ones too?" Sam says breaking me out of my own trance.

I wipe the sweat off that drips down my face and gulp down the bottle of water I brought with me. I pant slightly and sit down on the concrete floor. Sam sits next to me and sets another bottle of water down beside me.

"You were worrying again," he states.

"If we are ever attacked, it will be because of me." I study the plain water bottle. I quickly add, "I mean obviously we would kick their butts, but still."

Sam stands up and reaches a hand out. He pulls me up into a standing position. "Go get some rest, Oakley." He squeezes my shoulder in a comforting manner.

After I take a shower, I climb into bed.

I glance around the dense forest and begin to creep around the unfamiliar surroundings. It's too calm. Something isn't right. Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone. I whip around and they are gone. I gulp down the fear and glance around again. I begin to walk again, but her face stops me dead in my tracks.

Mom.

She glows from the moonlight.

I blink.

She is covered in blood from the waist down. She takes a couple steps and her footsteps left behind are bloody.

"My baby girl," she whispers.

I whimper.

"Momma loves you."

"Oakley," Sam shakes me awake. I am frozen at first and then hot tears race down my cheeks. I whimper and Sam holds me as I cry. I curl into a ball and clench my hands into fists. "It's okay," he whispers over and over and over.