Chapter 3

POV Braxton

Two years ago

Abigail held my head in her hands. Her voice full of urgency and pain. “You must go now. I have created you for a very special purpose and I’m afraid the time is coming. The evil I have cursed on this world is spreading.”

Abigail was a powerful witch when she was alive, pulling on demons and shadow spirits to fuel her magic. When a nearby tribe took her daughter to try to bend her to do their bidding, she summoned all the dark forces she could find. Cursing them to live as both man and beast, but dark forces rarely make a deal without putting their own spin on it. Darkening the souls of the human side the tribe truly became monsters and she watched as her creation tore her daughter apart before her eyes.

Overwhelmed with grief Abigail took her own life believing she would find peace in death, but the spirits would not allow it. She became the keeper of her creation. She could mold and shape the wolf side but as soon as they crossed the veil she could no longer intervene. Unable to rest until she had restored the balance.

“How will I know what I’m meant to do?”

“I’m sorry my child you know I can’t interfere, when you break through the veil your bond to your ward will straighten. That is all I can do, the choices you make are your own.”

Pulling my eyes up to meet hers. Her solid white eyes begin to glow, shards of light breaking through becoming blinding. All of a sudden, I hit the ground surrounded but complete darkness. “Abigail” I cry out into the nothingness. I strain my eyes to adjust looking to the left then the right. Finally, I can just make out a pinhole of light and I know where I am.

The journey to my human counterpart. Feeling his every emotion, the warmth of his mother and constant fear of disappointing his father. The drive and determination but most of all I feel the loneliness. Walking through the nothingness there is no sense of time, but it felt like forever.

After all this time the pinhole had expanded to little more than a baseball. Walking along straining my eyes to try to see through the small hole in the veil. I’m overcome with fear, absolute terror but not from my human. From somewhere else, someone else. I charge in the direction of the opening running as hard as I can drive by the adrenaline rushing through me. Every muscle ache urging me to stop but I push on. My legs give out beneath me. Pulling myself back up I force myself to keep going, keep moving. The panic is subsiding. The adrenaline I need to keep going has burned out. My vision starts to blur, darkness creeping into the edges and little stars form everywhere. Almost crawling at this point, I have to force each paw to leave the ground. The world around me goes completely black and I collapse. When I come to again the feeling is gone. I can hear voices in the distance. “Abigail, what was that?” Looking around I can see the veil like looking through jello. Everything is distorted and blurry. “Hello!” I scream.

The other side blurs. I think he’s running. Stopping on a feminine face. “Mom, mom! He’s getting closer, I can hear him!” It comes through just above a whisper, but I know it’s him, he can hear me.

Terror overwhelms me again and pain.

Abigail’s voice fills my head. “You must go now. Go now!” She screams.

I try to push on the veil, but it molds around my paw, sticking to me like cobwebs. Clawing and biting I tear chunks of the barrier. Shoving a paw through I can feel the warmth of the sun on my fur. Pushing harder up to my shoulder. It’s not big enough I can’t get through. The veil sticks to my fur, ripping it out as I try to pull my leg back. Frantically digging I can get both front legs through but no more. Pulling back again I feel the hide ripped off my shoulders. The feeling of panic worsening I slash at the hole ripping the pads from my paws. My head fits through, I can make it. Pushing and squirming the fur and skin being torn from my body I’m almost through. My tail catches on the veil and is torn from my body before I crash to the ground.

I shake out my fur and stand but it’s not me moving my body, I squint in the bright light. A hand moves under my chin and my eyes focus on a pair of dark blue eyes looking down and me. “What is your name young wolf?”

“Braxton.” I replied.