The Last Daughter novel Prologue

   My eyes squeezed tight as my ears twitched. I struggled to get my eyes open while pushing myself up to sit. When I do sit and open my eyes, I saw myself in a cell. The walls were solid silver, the ground made of some kind of concrete material. I raised my hands, I was chained. I frantically looked at my legs. My fingers went up to my neck, a shackle laid there comfortably.

The girls were right.

At first, when my three best friends mentioned their theory of me being used and my wolf locked inside me intentionally, I didn't believe. Why would the ladies protecting me stop my wolf from coming out? From what I was told all my life, the moon goddess forbade me from shifting because my wolf was a devil and was too dangerous to others. If I should ever shift, she would go on rampage and destroy everything. It made sense, my hair, eyes and powers justified to that. But again, why do Lady Ursula always tell me that I'm more than good for them than I am in here? Why? Why would they keep me here against my will? Surely, my parents knew what was happening.

According to my friends, every year on the moon, they heard a howl, a very loud howl that always caused an earthquake. The ladies told them it was the combined shouts of the wolves below that causes it, but April, my friend with the power to manipulate nature and animals said the howl sounded familiar, like it belonged to someone she knew. She said it always felt like the wolf was calling out to her and it caused her extreme pain every time she didn't reply.

"What if it's you, Xyra? What if the power of the moon is so strong it causes you to shift, but the ladies don't want you to shift, so they tie you down?" She had asked. And she was right.

"The wolf's howl is filled with sadness, loneliness, anger, and so much hatred. Whenever I hear it, it breaks my heart and tear me apart. I just couldn't make sense of it."

They were all right.

   Why didn't I always remember this after I leave? The one thing I always feel like I'm forgetting. Did The ladies remove my memory of this place? If they did, now my friends already planted the idea, I knew they would remind me. I did as Moira instructed, I reached into my mouth and touch the tracker twice. It was to assure them that I was fine and yes, they were right.

I screamed as a sudden wave of pain vibrated through my brain. The charge of currents flowing into my head put everything on hold and made me hold my head. My fangs scurry out of it depths and push hard against my lips.

   Images displayed itself in my head. At first, it was a rush, but then it slowed down. It was a stream, a small stream. A little girl was hopping from rock to rock as she held the hem of her dress. She was singing a song, a nursery rhyme, as she hopped. She jumped on the bank of the stream and clapped with a giggle.

   I watched her skip on, swinging her dress and pigtails bouncing behind her. She looked familiar, very familiar. Her hair was dark brown and swishing from left to right. I looked at her face, so familiar… Mum! Mum! She looks exactly like mum! I wondered if it meant she was mum when she was younger. Then I remembered, mother had buff hair and hazel brown eyes, not grey.

   I was still wondering what it was as I ponder over it. She stopped walking and gasped. I could hear howls, loud howls, coming from the woods. The girl panicked and ran, her little feet rushing off deeper into the forest. I could feel her fear, I could hear her start to cry as the beasts chased her.

   "Mummy! Daddy!" She screamed. She was just six, or seven. She tripped over a fallen branch and cried harder. The girl, the girl… my head hurts, as if trying to tell me something about the girl, who she was. She scrambled to a tree, sobbing as the wolves surrounded her, seven werewolves. They were rogues, I could almost taste their smell at the tip of my tongue.

   The leader shifted back to human while laughing. "Well, well, well, look what we have got here, it's a little stray wolf. What happened? Your family abandoned you?" He mocked. She shook her head. "She's from Crescent pack, I can smell them all over her. Whose daughter are you?" When she raised her terrified eyes to meet the tall guy, my trance world froze.