chapter one: Hunting

They had been crouched behind the thick shrubs in the woods for almost an hour now, waiting patiently for the deers that came drinking by the creek a couple meters in front of them. The deers usually come out before the crack of dawn to avoid being seen by predators and hunters.

Lilibeth and her uncle had risen quite early for the purpose of catching them unaware. She loved the whole hunting exercise and the thrill of catching game. She smiled slightly, remembering the first time she caught something. She was eight and her dad had finally made her her first bow and arrows. They had gone to the bushes behind their cottage and her third practice shot had missed the target board and instead flown into a Bush rabbit.

After that lucky incident, her father had started introducing her to the woods on days he wasn't hunting with her uncle, to help with her aim and she had gotten good. Overtime, she grew to love the experience and looked forward to it as it served as a bonding time for them both. She had learned the woods, the wind and stealth. Still nothing had compared to the joy of making a kill and taking it home to the family.

That was years ago and her father, alongside her mom, had unfortunately passed in a fire two years later. The incident broke her so much that she couldn't bring herself to pick up a bow and arrow since. Now, all her hunting exercises were with her uncle Tony, who had quickly jumped into the role of her father. She was grateful for that. Though she wasn't feeling all that happy about their reason for hunting today.

In seven days, it'll be Soleria-the celebration of the first full moon of the realm. Believed to be the day the moon comes out the biggest and shines the brightest, everyone in the realm, wolfbloods and witches alike, consider it their most meaningful celebration. The first moon meant a fresh and new start. New furs, new leaves, new strength, fresh power etc.

Lilibeth couldn't care less because for her and her kind, it meant nothing new. She was a mute, a wolfless wolfblood. The lowest in the realm. So that day was nothing important to her. If anything, it was another opportunity for the full bloods to rub their identities further in their faces.

The realm had other celebrations like the harvest day, when they gather their harvest after the rains and offer the choicest ones to the goddess, at the witches' sanctum. The day of lost souls for remembering those who died during the war when their realm was created. And then winsteria, the last celebration for the year. She loved this one best because of the snow and the gifts everyone shared.

Winsteria used to be the only celebration they could get as close to interacting with the fullbloods but even that was on a restricted basis. They eventually stopped showing up because some of the fullbloods and even witches wouldn't take their gifts.

The other celebrations remained the same too. Everyone is on their own side, doing their own thing. Just like this one. She hated the fact that she would be disturbed all night by the sound of their howls.

But uncle Tony felt otherwise. He always encouraged them to participate in the celebrations even if they couldn't make the pack run, not having a wolf and all. Which was why they were out in the cold, before the crack of dawn, to hunt for meat suitable enough for the celebration. She looked over at him, her eyes making out the taut lines of concentration on his face even in the dark.

"We really could just catch anything uncle, I don't see the point." She whispered

"The point my dear, is that we give thanks to the goddess and still have meat to last weeks." He whispered back.

She rolled her eyes. "We could give thanks with wild chickens, you know. You do this every yea-" she couldn't finish as he placed his hands gently on her shoulder to get her quiet.

She turned to him but he was staring up ahead, his free hand going behind him to pull out an arrow. She turned to the direction he was looking and of course, there was a very majestic looking deer, walking towards the creek from the bushes.

He took his hand from her off her shoulder and quietly picked up his bow, eyes still on the deer. It looked around cautiously before approaching the creek to drink. Soon as it bowed its head to drink, her uncle swiftly matched the arrow to his bow, drew it and fired. It happened so fast. The arrow sailed surely into the deer and it fell sideways to the ground.

Lilibeth let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Finally, they could go home. Her uncle turned to her and smiled.

"Now that's a meat fit for thanks" he laughed.

It took them over an hour to cut up and wash the meat, getting it ready to take home. It was really big and Lilibeth knew she'd be sore by the time they got back to the village. By the time they were done, it was almost dawn. If they hurried back home, she'd be able to wash up in time to go to her favorite spot.

They packed up and began their walk back to the village, her uncle carrying the majority of the load. Her Nana would be so happy. This much meat meant food for weeks.

Because they couldn't hunt very well like the full bloods, it was hard to come by meat. So whatever they got, they portioned and rationed. Sometimes they shared with some of the villagers too, seeing as they were all the same.

They didn't particularly have it easy. Though they got allocations of some relief items from time to time from the pack lands, it wasn't enough to get them half as comfortable as the werewolves. She wondered if it was the same for the other mutes in the rest colonies. She hoped it wasn't.

The only thing she knew they had that distinguished them from mere humans was the fact that they were stronger and had better eyesight. But still, it was nothing compared to the abilities of the werewolves.

Thinking about it again made her sick to her stomach. It was so unfair to them. The mutes were pushed to the village settlements while the full bloods occupied the majority of the pack lands. The segregation was obvious enough. They didn't want to have anything to do with them. Some Days she was actually grateful they didn't cohabit together while on other days like today, she just wanted to curse them and their selfishness. She sighed out loud.

"I know for a fact you'll age faster than your nana" her uncle chimed from behind her.

"Why would you say that?" She retorted

"Because you are always sighing and frowning. You're still so very young, I wonder what you're always so angry about?"

She stopped walking and turned to face him. Of course he knew why she was angry. She wasn't particularly angry, just confused at the situation. She just couldn't understand it. Surely he should be too. Before she could open her mouth to answer, he held his hand up.

"I already know what you want to say lili, the goddess and the realm are unfair. But we can't question her or why fate gave us this end of the stick. We just have to believe that there's a purpose for it and that someday, we'll be acknowledged" He said softly, looking at her face.

She sighed again. There was no point and there was nothing she could say. She turned back to the road leading to home and started walking, adjusting the weight on her back. She really wondered when that day would be or if it'll ever come.