Made for Him

The Wolf

It was cold and I was nothing but pain. The pain was unlike any other that I'd faced before. It seared through me like a fire that burned so hot that it was cold. I crawled forward anyway. I was going to die. I knew it with the same certainty that I knew the sun would rise come morning but I continued to crawl forward. He was probably with her right now. Living their happy mated life while I laid here dying. I hacked up a cough that was bloody as it came out. My limbs collapsed beneath me and my pathetic crawl came to a stop. My fingers twitched but I could no longer move. It was just as well, the only thing I regretted was that my death would be as meaningless as my life had been. That they wouldn't pay for what they had done to me. Then I smelt him. My senses heightened as they were caught his scent quickly. His boots treaded on the ground softly as he made his way to me. His boots were all I could see from my vantage. Then I heard his voice. "Will you join me?" I knew immediately who he was. The Alpha of the pack that had killed my father, sundered my family and destroyed my life. There was only one response. One that would give me the chance to avenge myself. "Yes."

2 Weeks Earlier

The shift like the others before was long and painful. The stretching and compression of my bones, the lengthening of my hair to fur and the enhancement of my senses. My paws felt feeble and unstable as I breathed in the night air and tested my footing. I padded weakly over to my phone and looked at the stopwatch. It had taken me twelve minutes. I flopped down dejected.

What was the point of all this? I could only bring my shift time down by three minutes. Other wolves in my pack shifted between three to five minutes tops. The pack run was tomorrow night and once again I would prove myself unworthy to be a part of one of the strongest packs in the Empire.

I picked myself up and started the run taking the path the Pack usually took on our monthly runs. I wondered - not for the first time - how two strong wolves like my parents had made me. My parents had been elders of the pack. They had risen quickly in the ranks after their Dedication and had secured their positions as elders after many years of service.

They had me late, this was not surprising as fewer and fewer wolves were born with each generation, the cause was unknown and many felt the Goddess had forsaken us. Soon after my birth, my dad died in a brutal inter-pack fight while protecting the Alpha of our pack and my mom was seriously injured, after extensive treatment, she survived but she was never the same. Maybe it was the combination of losing her mate and her severe injuries but she could no longer shift.

She lost her position as an elder of the pack, she then focused all her attention on training me even though I couldn't shift until I was thirteen. When I finally shifted, I was a disappointment. It took me over an hour for my first shift unlike the usual thirty minutes and when the shift was over, I looked like a puppy. An Honest-to-Goddess freaking puppy. My mother lost all hope that I could revive our family's honour and just closed herself off from the world. She was still there, she ate, slept and cried from time to time but she didn't speak to me or anyone. I tried my best to train on my own as I wasn't allowed to train with the Enforcers until after my Dedication but it wasn't easy. I would have given up already if I didn't have to go home every day to a mother who was no longer all there.

Thanks to the checks we got from the Alpha for my parents' loyal service to his father and my odd-end part-time jobs we'd been able to scrape by. The little checks would stop coming in when I turned 18 and if I didn't get a real job soon then I don't know how my mother and I would be able to afford our house or food. I increased my pace ignoring the rapid beating of my heart and focusing instead on the sensation of grass beneath my paws, the damp soil from recent rain and the lingering scent of petrichor in the air.

There was no other option, I had to qualify to become an official Enforcer to bring food to the table and make my mother proud. Maybe she would even start to speak to me again. I reached the clearing where I had begun my run. I looked at my stopwatch on the floor. I hadn't been able to shave anytime off the clock this time but I didn't have enough time for a redo, it was almost time for Mom's food and meds. I shifted back and as I pulled on my clothes, I heard the sounds of wolves conversing as they approached the clearing.

It was too late for me to get away. "Look who we have here. I knew I smelt a rat somewhere." Sienna's sultry voice held me in place as she stepped out of the tree cover with her entourage consisting of her boyfriend Logan, sidekicks Natasha and Luana alongside three other male wolves I couldn't recognize. "Aww, I think she was training." "Luana, don't be silly. She came here to avoid her batty mother not to train." Natasha smirked. I froze before common sense kicked in and informed me I couldn't take one of them alone much less all seven of them. I continued walking and was almost past them when an ironclad grip caught my arm. "You should know your place. This spot is meant for real wolves, if you want to practice," Sienna mocked. "There are many places more suited for your kind, perhaps the pups' park?" "Baby just leave it. She's not worth it." Sienna relaxed slightly and I was able to free my arm.

I walked home quickly as though I was being hunted. I tried not to dwell on the words they said to me but I failed. I wanted to make them pay for all the numerous insults and shaming they had done to me but I had to get stronger first. I entered our home. It was rough, unfinished and one of the primitive homes left in the pack made of clay, wood and a hard-packed dirt floor. It was all we could afford for now. Mom sat in her rocking chair staring at nothing. "Mom, I'm home." I pecked her cheek before heading to the kitchen to fix something for her. I fed her the last of the porridge after mixing in her medications to it.

She didn't like the meds so I had to make sure she couldn't see them when she was taking them. She let me feed her while she stared blankly. I lifted her, she had lost more weight despite the food I fed her on schedule, she seemed to be wasting away in front of my very eyes, and took her to her room to tuck her in. We were still owing the pack doctor for the last visit and the check for this month was almost exhausted. Between the food, medications and rent we were almost out and I clocked 18 in two days. I wiped away the tears in my eyes, I couldn't afford to be weak. Mom needed me.

A knock sounded on the door. I wondered who would come calling in this late. "Who is there?" "It's me." It was Melanie's voice. I opened the door. She smiled at me before giving me a warm hug, her brown and silver hair smelt like almonds and her brown eyes were dark with worry as she inspected me. "Lilac, have you been eating? You look so thin. Here I brought this for you." "No, you shouldn't have bothered." She huffed in reply and brushed me aside to enter the kitchen and unpack the bag she'd brought. She had been Mom's close friend before everything happened and dropped by with food, clothes, and money. I didn't like to accept them because I felt she needed the money herself. She had a family herself and her mate had made it clear to me in private that he considered my mom and me freeloaders. That was why I'd declined her offer to move in with them.

I could smell fresh bread and my mouth watered. "Melanie, I appreciate all you do but…" "Stop right there young lady. I know you have your pride but you can't make me stop helping my friend and her daughter if you don't want it, wait till I'm gone to throw it out." She had her hands on her hips like she was waiting for me to disagree with her. Like I was that stupid. I smiled. "Yes ma'am." "Better. So how is my friend doing today?" She nodded before she removed the pasta and oats from the bag. "Same as always." I must have sounded despondent because she grasped my hand in solidarity. "It's going to be alright."

I nodded. "Thank you for everything, Melanie." "Don't worry about it." She oohed and seemed to look around for something. "I saw an envelope on my way in. Where did I drop it? Oh, here it is." I collected the envelope from her outstretched hand. It was a plain brown envelope. "For us?" I wondered and came short on who could have sent this in. I opened it. It was an eviction notice.

The Run

Everything was falling apart. Our handler said he was sorry. There was nothing he could do, the Pack was undergoing a development project to level out the archaic structures and build more safe modern ones. In a month, the demolition would begin. I went through lessons in school like a zombie. What was I going to do? My Dedication was tomorrow but there was no guarantee that I would be allowed to enter the Enforcer training that lasted three months before the testing that would let me become an official Enforcer.

Even if I got into the training program, I wouldn't get paid until after I was tested and qualified to be an official Enforcer. I had to get a full-time job. An ordinary job at the farm or a restaurant. I had to shelve my dreams of becoming an Enforcer for now and focus on earning enough to get us by and save towards the three months where I could not work during Enforcer training. My initial plan had been to ask our handler to give