The Orphans of Blue Ridge

Prologue: Friday July 15, 2016

(Declan Jacobs’s POV)

It’s 11pm as I exit my home into the muggy summer evening.

It’s been two years since I weaseled my way into the main pack house after Alpha Anderson cut all pack members off from entering the mansion six years ago. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. I was appalled that the rumors were actually true. Over a dozen pups were slaving away at cleaning a house that was slowly falling apart. Boys and girls alike wearing dirty, torn and ill-fitting clothing that existed more as an afterthought than a necessity. Every pup there was malnourished, dirty, and the youngest ones smelled like an unkept bathroom. Bruises in the shape of hands were easily visible on the ones that had recently bathed.

It was shortly after that first visit that I decided to help. I formulated a plan and buddied up to the alpha in an effort to get closer to the kids. It took a solid two months and numerous illegal acts but I succeeded in being invited monthly for dinner meetings as Alpha Anderson seemed interested in replacing his current delta.

I managed to keep up the act for eight months before I got caught speaking with the oldest, a young girl who was uncomfortable with my very presence in the home. She barely spoke even when spoken to and the closest thing to a name I received from the younger pups is Luna.

I have tried for nearly two years to get the council out here but each time they respond they claim I don’t have enough evidence of tyranny to forcibly remove Alpha Anderson from the pack. My vivid descriptions of what has happened to this pack in the twelve years since Hunter and Melina Blue were murdered hasn’t even been enough to get the families who want to leave but have lost all their resources the help they need.

I beg your pardon, where have my manners gone. My name is Declan Jacobs. I’m a beta by birth turned delta upon my friends’s murder. I used to be the lead warrior and trainer for Blue Ridge but there’s not much left to protect now, especially since the rogues attacked and Alrik Anderson moved into the alpha position. Help is what I’m after tonight and despite some of the nastiest rumors one can hear about what the Crimson Dawn pack does to trespassers I’m hoping for a better outcome than what others have met.

I have spent the better part of eighteen months engaged in a reconnaissance mission memorizing the different paths through the woods to create the quickest path with the least obstacles between Blue Ridge and Crimson Dawn. I’ve memorized Alpha Anderson’s schedule for when the rogues he helped take over the pack pass through my chosen pathway and I’ve hacked into his big brother account so I can strategically schedule updates to occur at the same time every night giving me a two hour window between 11pm and 1am to make my move and return without him knowing. Hacking honestly makes me sound smarter than I am, I must admit. The truth is, as lead warrior for Alpha and Luna Blue I was in charge of using the program to track all activity happening throughout the entire pack. Ordinarily, it’s the upper ring that has such access but somehow they trusted me over their beta and their delta, Brody, went missing shortly after their funeral. Once Anderson took over I expected him to start hunting me down so I could teach him how to change the login information but it was as if he didn’t even know about the program. He never came to me asking questions nor did he put any effort into finding out who had the account information.

I walk swiftly to just inside the tree line. Covered by the darkness of night and shadows of the trees, I remove my clothes and place them in a special backpack that I can slip on once I’m in my wolf form. Once my clothes are secure I call upon my inner wolf and silently go through the process of transformation. I fall to all fours as my entire body contorts unnaturally into the shape of my lean but muscular black and brown wolf. I stand silently as I wait for my senses to adjust to my wolf before slipping my bag onto my back and proceed slowly along the path I’ve chosen.

It only takes me forty-five minutes at a steady trot to make the three mile trek through the forest to the edge of Blue Ridge territory. I duck my head allowing my pack to fall from my back before returning to my human form. I know from my own experience that entering another alpha’s land in wolf form is at a minimum, incredibly rude and in most cases, down right dangerous.

I slip into my clothes before crossing the border, I maintain my wolf on the surface without entering a partial shift so I can use his enhanced sense of smell and sight to make my way through this new land. He growls quietly as I encounter the different smells of multiple unknown wolves. I gently console him while encouraging him to maintain vigilance as this was expected. I easily find a well-worn path and continue my journey northwest away from my home land. I take my time, walking at a normal pace, I periodically stop to sniff the air not wanting to sneak up on anyone. I truly am trying to be as transparent as possible in the hope that doing so will persuade them to hear me out.

A rustle of the trees ahead of me causes me to freeze my movements. My wolf growls lowly as the very prominent scent of an unknown shifter reaches me.

“I mean you no harm.”

I call out into the darkness but before I can inform whoever is there of my intentions I’m hit hard and fast from behind. I tumble several feet off the path into the thickness of the woods; fur, claws and teeth savagely growl as they tear into my flesh. I yelp several times as I refuse to fight back. I knew this was a possibility but I wasn’t quite prepared for the amount of pain involved in getting beat to death.