The sun had risen far into the sky by the time I found my home village. I had thought the moment I saw it, I would be overflowed with such wild emotion that I would throw away all concerns and run into the arms of the first person I recognized. Instead, as the village came into view in the distance, I stood staring at it quietly.

It looked different. Were the buildings always so unimpressive? And the farmland nearby was a much sadder and smaller replica of the ones that the wolves contained. I had known, living the life of a human, that we weren't allowed the wealth the deity shapeshifters had especially without being able to move beyond a certain range of our village. But had we always lived in such a sad state?

Still, after some time I began to remember and recognize things. That building was the schoolhouse. And that one was the Center Hall... it felt like years ago that I'd been selected from there. This was my home.

I moved quietly along the edge of the village, watching the humans go about their day as they did everyday without me. I recognized most of them, images of memories flashing through my mind when I did. But I didn't want to speak to them. I wanted to go home.

I continued until I finally was near the house I'd grown up in. I didn't see my father, mother, or younger brother anywhere nearby. Being that the sun was so high in the day, they would be working to bring food to the table. I could probably sneak inside and get some rest before revealing myself to them.

Would they accept me? Or would they know the moment they saw me that I wasn't the same Mila that had left them?

After much hesitation, I finally moved towards my home. I reached for the door handle, opening the door quietly like a ghost. Just the sight of the room within flooded me with memories. How many times had I run through these rooms like a mad child, my mother calling out behind me to slow down? How many dinners did we have together, our laughter rising despite our small living?

My eyes scanned the common rooms quietly and then I froze.

My mother was there, in the kitchen. She stood silently looking out of the small window above the sink where she was cleaning the same bowl over and over again. Her head was tilted slightly and she breathed slowly, looking at nothing as though she weren't truly there. It was a vision that shook me to my core. Her hair was usually a crimson fire that matched the colors of the leaves of the tree outside my bedroom window during autumn. Now it was dull from lack of care, flattened to her shoulders rather than the lively waves I'd been used to. Her skin was even paler than before which was something I didn't think was possible. And yet, she was still this thin beauty, frail but still there.

"Mama?" I whispered, afraid that if I spoke too loudly she would just disappear into the air before me like the spirit she seemed to be.

Mom froze, the bowl held stiffly in her suddenly tight grip. For a moment, I thought she wouldn't even turn to look at me, but then she did almost violently. The moment her familiar amber eyes landed on mine, the bowl slipped from her hand and crashed loudly on the ground. I knew I must've looked like a beast to her. My skin was blackened from the smoke of the temple fire, streaks no doubt patterned through my face from my tears. My hair was untamed and longer than before. My skin held scratches from my travel through the forest and my clothes were slightly tattered just the same. Would she even recognize me?

"Mama, it's me," I began, but before I could finish, she was suddenly rushing towards me. I lost my breath when she threw herself at me, caging me into her arms with such intensity that it was blinding.

"My baby," Mom cried out, a wail of pain and happiness all in one. She tightened her grip and a sob tore through her so violently that it hurt me. "I thought you were-" She sobbed hysterically. "I thought you were-"

"I know, mama," I whispered, wrapping my own arms around her and burying my face into her chest. I closed my eyes, inhaling her scent deeply. She smelled of the perfume she made from the lavender plants just outside the village, which was familiar to me. But I could smell even more now. She smelled like freshly cut vegetables and cleaned linen, scrubbed vigorously with her own hands. There was also a hint of blood from preparing fresh game for feasts, though it'd been awhile since she'd done this. I'd never been able to put such specific detail to a scent before being with the wolves.

We clung to each other and I let her cry into my soul, my own eyes dried as though I couldn't express any deeper emotion after the night I'd been through. But I didn't shove her away. I would stand like this for months, if that's what my mother wanted. Anything to sooth the pain in her cries and to make it clear to her; I was home.

~...~

In some ways, my home village, or Alpha as they were unaware it was called, reacted to my presence just as I worried they might. But it was for different reasons than I expected. I had worried they would sense this beastly nature that had begun to consume me while living with the Trinity pack, but it seemed they, as expected of typical humans, could sense nothing.

Instead, what they feared was that I had escaped the clutches of my sacrifice, living in the wild like an animal, and only just was able to find my way home. When I had been selected, there had been several injuries following the reaction and resulting attack on Roman, and people like the village leader, John, worried their luck would be lost by accepting me back into the fold so easily.

My parents convinced him to let them hold me as prisoner in their home, isolated from the rest of the village, while a message would be sent out to the Trinity pack of my existence here. I hadn't even felt a twinge of concern in such an action. It was nice to know that my own people would actively go out of the way to ensure I couldn't faithfully escape, should this had been that type of situation, but Roman knew already where I had gone. A message from the humans wouldn't be a surprise.

I did as they asked with a sense of listlessness, as I was prone to do since coming home. I remained with my mother. I helped her with chores, repairs of clothing, preparations for food, and listened to her humming with a sense of happiness now that I had returned to her. My father held a slight fear in his heart, that my presence was something of a dream and the wolves would return any moment to drag me to my fate.

My younger brother, Gregory, had aged in the time I was gone. His face was settled into one who knew of pain. He'd been punished for causing the uproar during my selection. Scars marked his back from a whipping the village leader declared upon him. Beyond this, he looked at me with determination, without surprise, as though he'd known all along I would have survived anything. He was patient. He greeted me with joy the moment he saw I'd returned, but something in my presence made him pause. And now, I'd catch him watching me from a small distance; waiting.

In the night, I'd find myself standing just on the edge of the forest. Time was passing quickly. I'd clench my hands into fists and then release them before doing it again, the whispers of those I'd met with the wolves echoing in my mind.

Should I warn my village? A great purge was coming led by those they worshipped and feared... no one had any idea. It was so isolating here. There were no ideas of preparing for battle. There were no weapons being created or defenses being built. When the packs come, it would be a brutal, swift massacre. And the only thing between the wolves and the humans would be me; a strange half-breed who couldn't even shift, who healed like a human, and who struggled to pause even one pack, much less six.

And if Roman led the way? My heart stung to consider.

Weeks went by like this. When no word or wolf came for me, the village leader released his declaration of my imprisonment, considering it an act of mercy from the deities. From then on, I was allowed to roam the village as I wished under the acknowledgement that if the deities did come back for me one day, the village wouldn't protect me. I wanted to tell them it was a pointless disclaimer; their actions wouldn't save them in the end. But I only accepted quietly.

The hot summer air was slowly fading into cooler weather. The leaves were beginning to fade as well; their colors shifting from bright greens to quieter browns, oranges, and reds. I would look at them intently, asking them why they wanted to change so quickly. Didn't they know what was coming?

On one random walk around the village, I found myself in front of the map of Alpha. This map had no name. It was so much smaller than the one Roman had shown me. The village was lined out, a small line of trees beyond it, and nothing more. I could sense rather than see my younger brother stopping to stand nearby. When I tilted my head to glance at him, he was also looking at the map, as though trying to see what I see.

Should I tell him what I saw? Would it ease his mind or would it only make him more curious? I turned to look back at the map, lifting my hand to touch the surface.

"We are called Alpha," I said to Greg without greeting him. As if on cue, he stepped closer to me, looking at the map more carefully.

"Did you finally see what it was?" Greg asked me, his tone careful and wise for a newly turned eleven year old. He turned to look up at me with a frown. "Did you see what was out there?"

I looked down at him as well, frowning. Then I looked up at the map again. So it did make him curious rather than satisfied.

"There was nothing," I said, remembering the vast world that I had left behind. "Just violence..." I recalled the soft touch of new friends and the warmth of Roman's lips on mine. "And misery." Without looking to see if Greg took my words to heart, I turned away to be alone once more.

On the night of the Harvest Moon, I was requested to go to the celebration with my family. A concern was beginning to replace the happiness upon my mother's features. I didn't hunt as I did before. I avoided the forest and stayed by her side; something she was grateful for but knew wasn't typical of me. I agreed to attend if only to ease her concerns even by a fraction.

The Harvest Moon would be the final full moon before the Hunter's Moon. In just one month's time, if Cynthia's predictions were correct, the humans would be attacked. It would also be around my birthday, but this thought seemed so insignificant to me when compared to the grand scheme of things.

I got dressed for the celebration carefully, pausing when looking at the blade next to my bed. The hilt was covered in etches of wolves and if I were to take it from the sheath, the blade would hold the shine of a dangerous silver metal. I'd had it on me when I'd left Roman and the wolves. Every time I looked at it, I could remember Roman gifting it to me. Then my mind slipped to my hand over his mouth. Like a dog, I'd teased him. A sharp ache of pain struck my heart. I grabbed the weapon to strap onto my hip, just in case.

When I arrived at the festival for the Harvest Moon, I stood before the bonfire and music unmoving. How strange. The night that Roman had let me mark him, I'd thought of my home when I stood before the flames. Now I thought only of Trinity and of him. And as I looked into the flames, I also thought of a temple enveloped in its own fatal fire.

No one reached for me as they would do in the past. The humans of the village still looked at me warily, as though I were a wandering ghost that they weren't sure what to do with. I went to sit somewhere in the distance, looking over the festivities as a ghost would; invisible and apart.

My eyes slipped to the children running around the outskirts of the celebration, chasing one another with loud laughter. It still felt strange to see small humans of various ages running around so freely here after spending months among the childless pack. The sound of their happiness was almost hypnotizing and I found myself staring at them whenever they passed me on random days throughout the village.

I could feel the blade poking against me, reminding me of its presence on my hip, and I absently lifted it in my hands to look at it almost wistfully. I twisted it in my hands slowly and then carefully removed it from the sheath, watching the flames reflect on the surface of its blade ominously.

After a thoughtless moment, I reached to touch the blade just lightly with a fingertip, expecting the sharp fire of silver to burn me as it had Roman. It took a moment to realize the metal only felt cold on my fingertip. And then I paused before touching it further.

Even now, my body remained human. Of course the silver wouldn't hurt me. I wasn't a wolf. And yet, as I looked at my same hand, I recalled the claws of a wolf forming over them. I wasn't human either.

"Where'd you get that?" Greg's voice chimed from beside me. I had been so enveloped in my inspection of the blade that I hadn't realized he'd joined me. I snapped the blade into a sheath just as quickly as he spoke, turning to look at him.

"It was a reward," I said to him simply, "For surviving the Wolf Moon." I suppose in some ways this was true.

"You don't like it?" He inquired thoughtfully with a frown. "You looked sad... did you lose the knife father gave you?" I recalled the blade I'd used during the Wolf Moon. It had been taken from me so long ago that I wasn't sure when or where I'd lost it. Logan had given me my own blade after that and then Roman gave me this one.

"I lost it," I decidedly only answered one of his questions. Greg looked at the blade in my grip with his frown deepening, but then a flash of an idea crossed his mind. He stood quickly, digging at his belt before lifting his own blade, similar to the one I'd lost. He sat next to me again with determination.

"Take mine and then you can finally hunt again without being reminded of them," He insisted, holding his blade out to me. It was such an innocent gesture that for a moment I could only look at his blade, too oversized for him at his current age, in his grip. Did he really think I hadn't gone back to my hunts because I only had the blade of wolves? A smile lifted on my lips humorously.

"Well, I suppose that's true. But I can't just leave you empty handed, can I?" I told him fondly, reaching for the blade in his grasp. I looked at the wolf blade Roman had given me, an ache of pain following the glance, and then lifted it to hand to Greg gently. "Keep this with you. It'll protect you from any wolf that might want to hurt you."

Greg looked at me as though he didn't understand what I meant. He definitely wouldn't have any idea why that particular blade would keep him safe from the shapeshifters, if that's the connection he'd end up with. As for me, I might not be able to save the entire village, but if I could just protect one person, at least it would be him. I lifted my free hand, messing up his hair teasingly before pulling him to me with an arm around his shoulder. His usual grumpy features fell into one of a small relief before relaxing into a smirk.

If it was to ease my family's mind, I would try to act normal. After the celebration, I began to hunt again, even if it wasn't with the same wild heart I had before. I smiled with them once more, offering game I'd caught in the forest, and practiced my archery behind the house as I used to. My mother's concern faded, my father's fear was nothing more than a memory, and my brother approached me without hesitation once more.

More time passed and my aunt, cousins, and other extended family began to visit more often. I supposed my mother had requested they keep their distance until I felt more at ease back home. On one random day, my birthday had arrived before I'd even noticed. My parents threw a small celebration with just family, gifting me small trinkets and wishing me decades of life. As we feasted together, chattering away as we used to, I felt a small warmth of comfort. Even if the village couldn't look at me the same, then my family would be enough.

I left my quiet musings to the night, when their eyes were no longer on me. Was it nearly the Hunter's Moon now? I was afraid to look to the sky anymore. Should I demand the village evacuate? Should I at least run with my family?

Roman would comb the forest looking for us for the rest of our lives. I'd heard him speak of it already. But more time would be better than nothing, wouldn't it? I just... I wasn't sure what to do.

I'll be waiting for you.

I recalled my last words to him. And so, with no other ideas, I did as I promised. I waited.

As I sat peering out of my window on one particular night, I felt a humming sensation vibrating around me. I lifted my head from leaning on my hand, sitting upright and attentive at the familiar sensation. I could sense a shapeshifter nearby. Was it the packs come to attack?

No, it was only one.

Was it Roman? I'd kept him blocked for months now with such focus and determination that I doubt he would have been able to get through just now. I considered reaching out to him, just to check, but hesitated. No, this wasn't Roman.

Whoever it was, they were coming closer towards me, moving stealthily and quickly. I stood, moving towards my bedroom door. The old floors squeaked quietly under my steps as I made my escape out of the home, stepping towards the forest towards the shifter with my own care.

I was ready to use to my abilities on whoever it was, should it be someone nefarious. I walked purposely into the forest, towards where I sensed the wolf. They weren't far away now. As I stepped into a clearing, I spotted them.

A large wolf stood under the moonlight, its fur shades of gold. Whoever it was, they were beautiful. The wolf froze before me, as though surprised, and I peered into their eyes cautiously. Soft, brown eyes peered back at me and I was struck by the familiarity.

I stood more relaxed, but yet surprised.

"Diana," I greeted the wolf quietly.

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Music: Yas- Empty Crown