Free Half-breed Wolf by Shiloh Saddler

Chapter 1
     
    Lance knelt at the freshly dug grave,
singing his father’s death song. The man had suddenly taken ill. He
barely had time to say goodbye. He mourned privately, the others in
the village giving him space as was their way. Taking a small knife
out of the sheath on his belt, he sliced his arm next to the scar
in honor of his mother. Warm blood spilled from the wound, easing a
fraction of his pain. The deep cut would form a visible scar—scar
that would serve as a reminder of his father.
    As soon as he shifted into wolf form
the bleeding would stop. He drew a deep breath and slowly rose to
his feet. Now without a mother or a father all he had was his
pack.
    He steps back to the village were
measured in time with the throb in his chest. When he arrived he
saw the pack gathered waiting for him. It was time to celebrate his
father’s life, not dwell on his death.
    One glance at his Alpha and the dull
ache in his heart intensified as if he’d been stabbed. What was
wrong? Instead of offering to console him, his Alpha looked ready
to go on the war path. Those menacing amber eyes bore through
him.
    “ Lance,” his Alpha called
in a gruff tone.
    “ Yes?”
    “ Come here.” Mighty Elk
motioned Lance over to him. His top lip curled, showing off his
teeth.
    Lance swallowed hard, his inner wolf
trembling. The man was imposing when he was in a good mood with
broad shoulders, his limbs bulging with muscles and
sinew.
    Standing in front of him, Lance tilted
his head to the side, exposing his throat.
    “ I tolerated you as a
favor to your father,” he growled. “Not that he’s dead you are no
longer welcome here.”
    Lance blinked. Did he hear his Alpha
right? He’d done everything he could to fit in. He’d adopted all
their traditions and beliefs. “Not welcome?” His shaky voice
sounded almost ghostly.
    “ Don’t worry,” Mighty Elk
sneered, “we’ll help you start your new life.”
    Help how?
    The Alpha snapped his fingers and his
Beta overpowered Lance.
    He landed on his back with a thud, the
wind knocked out of him. The Beta held him down. Sobs bubbled up
his throat and he did not try to push them down. He was a small
man, no match to fight his captors if he’d had it in him to
fight.
    His Alpha stood over him sneering.
“You really are a poor excuse for a man. It wasn’t your father’s
fault. He was a great warrior and will be honored. Your mother
ruined you.”
    Lance didn’t respond. There was
nothing to say. He’d heard it all before, and now he didn’t have
his father to come to his defense.
    His Alpha held a small branding iron
to the fire. After it glowed red he pulled it out and held it in
the air waiting for it to cool to the proper temperature. “I forbid
you from shifting from this day forth,” he snarled.
    His inner wolf shrunk deeper inside
him, cowering.
    The Beta’s turned Lance’s head to the
side, showing his cheek. His Alpha pressed the hot iron onto
Lance’s skin and he howled.
    This couldn’t be happening. It was all
a nightmare. Why didn’t his Alpha just spare him the agony and kill
him?
    * * * *
    Exiled from the pack after his
father’s death, Lance didn’t have anywhere to go. He touched the
small S branded on his left cheek. The flesh had healed, but the
emotional scar ran clear to the bone.
    Lance’s anger ebbed leaving him numb.
He might as well be a nothing. He had no family, no connections. He
should just sing his death song and… He heaved a loud sigh. That
would be the coward’s way out, and would not bring him an honorable
passing. He’d brave the miserable storm his life had
become.
    He stayed hidden in the day time, only
traveling by the light of the moon. In wolf form he had protection.
He longed to shift, to race through the wilderness and hunt, to see
the fear in the eyes of the rabbits and deer as he passed. In wolf
form, he was still at the top of the food chain, holding on to some
form of dominance. As a human he was as low as they came. Damn