Chapter 1

Jennifer’s POV

There was a soft knock on my door. I raised my head and put my book on the side table as I said, "Come in."

As the door opened I knew something was off and when I was able to take in the look on Ivan’s face I gasped knowing it was something huge. The man that stood before me has been my shoulder, my guidance and friend for some time. I have rarely ever seen the expression lurking behind his guarded mask. It was clear something major is about to go down and it big enough to spark some emotion from him. His oceanic dark blue eyes were clouded over and his full lips were pressed into a thin line. I immediately jumped to my feet and meet him by the door. He was so tense and shielded I could not catch a read from him. He had closed his mind to me. Ivan stood with his fists clenched to his side with a foreboding look emanating from him. Something was really not right.

Watching him for any sign that might help me know what is going on when I asked, "What is wrong?"

His bulky figure silently passed me as he made way to the edge of my bed and sat. He broke eye contact when he passed; I was completely shut off. He would not even look in my direction and quietly murmured, "Jennifer you have been summoned. The Master wants to speak with you."

Without another word I grabbed my sweatshirt and went for the door. Before I headed down the hall, I stopped and looked over my shoulder to take a quick glance at him just as he looked up and caught my eye, and like always he said, "I´ll be waiting for you."

I turned quickly, pulled the door closed, and quickly went down the hallway to find the Master. When he calls we run there is no questioning; he will tell us all is needed at the right time and not a second before. As I quicken my pace down the corridors, I can recall the first days I step foot on this campus for it has been five grueling years out in the middle of Siberia. I was such a fool then. I was only 16 year’s old naive and clueless, thinking I was being sent to a boarding school for only a few years. Believing it was for the best interests of everyone. How quickly that changed and sad reality crashed down on my. This was all a plot a grand master plan of deception. I was thrown away by those I trusted to take care of me, those that loved me.

The Werewhick Academy was purposely placed in the middle of nowhere where people like us could train without discovery by humans and outside the control of the King. I tried to escape many times at first thinking it was a mistake and that it was not really true. But no matter how far I traveled and how well I planned my escape they always found me. Most of the time, I was almost frozen to death, hungry and sick only to be taken back and disciplined within inches between death and life. With each attempt came greater punishments, ones designed to instill control and compliance. After a while, I stopped and accepted my reality. I no longer had the hopes of a child the dreams that my family will come, that I would get to go home, that it was a mistake. I stopped caring all together and just as each day passed, I lived. I changed to survive. Just like the land we trained on, my heart became frozen solid nothing penetrated the surface. My body was taught and made to seduce, I became a device of destruction, and emotions no longer had power over my existence. I became the perfect weapon, a deadly tool to be used, to kill or defend anyone as ordered by my Master. I have become numb to pain and remorse. Nothing distracts me from my mission. In this life I now live, love is no longer important. There are no warm greetings or feelings from others to them we are just an uncountable force a weapon. I have become a Warrior through and through.

I slowed my pace and moved to knock on the door that leads to my Master’s office. Just as my arm was about to reach the door his voice echoed in my head, "Come in Jennifer, we were expecting you."

I opened the door and quietly closed it prior to proceeding into the room. Master was sitting behind his desk and watching me as I approached. I moved to the middle of the room and knelt down on one knee and dropped my head in a sign of compliance and submission. This was our way and the only person we share any sign of respect to is our Master. Warriors will not bow before any other, he is our life line. He is the only being that can control us. His orders are followed without question…he is Master. Outside of us everyone is seen as only as targets. We can interact like high nobility or scum of the dark allies we do what is required to finish a mission. We do not answer to anyone and will never be summoned by another. Master has given us a chance to be more. He has allowed us to be once more. We are a type of family, a secret pack, hidden within our own.

"You may arise, Jennifer and please sit." As I stood I caught the scent of second person in the room and was suddenly on alert. It was the first time someone else was in our academy, besides my Master and the other Warriors in all the years I have been here. He reeked of fear and nerves but I paid him no mind. I could kill him before he ever twitched in either of our directions. Master has my full attention when I am in his presences. He earned the respect and obedience from us all, without him we would have not survived. To me and the rest of the team, nobody else mattered, not even our families mattered anymore. We became a family a unit an indestructible force and we only protected each other as part of our scared code.

"You have summoned me Master?" I looked up at him as I sat in the chair he pointed to. Even though he looks only about 25 years old my Master has a head full of silver hair that flows to the middle of his back. He is one of the most dangerous wolfs in the world. He stands 6’6" and built with a body of a wrestler with the agility of track star. Nobody knows his exact age and it doesn’t matter, he is the reason we are here. His presence alone makes the strongest shake with just a stair, to challenge him means death. There is nothing that has occurred to any of us that he is not aware of. From the start, Master chose to personally train me. This is unheard of amongst the Warriors and to this day I am grateful, for it was his guidance that I exist once again. Since then he has been my mentor and confidant and my Master.