Escaping Wildfire

Prologue

32 Years Ago

She made her way through the smoke-filled corridor. She clutched her little wolf in her right arm and kept crawling even though she was terrified.

“Mami!...Mami!” She called out. She’d already found her parents’ room empty as well as her brother’s room, so she had little hope of finding them upstairs.

She was also losing energy as the smoke got thicker, but she managed to find her way to the stairs and continued to crawl. There was less smoke as she made her way down. There didn’t seem to be any fire on the second and first floors, but the usually full packhouse was eerily silent.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her brother Joaquin came barging through the front door, “Elena!” He shouted, and ran towards her, embracing her. “Tenemos que irnos.” (We have to leave).

“Y Mami, en dónde está?” (And Mommy, where is she?)

“Vamos, Elena!” (Let’s go, Elena!). He grabbed her hand, nearly dragging her as he sped off towards the exit. He didn’t bother to answer her question.

Once outside, Elena saw only chaos. Wolf shifters fought, some in their human form while others were in their wolf form. The bodies of the fallen littered the field. Elena wasn’t sure what was happening, but she continued running with Joaquin. Her usually calm older brother looked scared, which made her even more scared.

As they neared the edge of the woods, a large tan wolf rushed towards them, knocking Elena down. The wolf snarled at them and came towards Joaquin. Neither of the two had shifted yet, being as they were only six and ten years old, so they were at the mercy of this tan wolf. He stalked closer to Joaquin. “Corre, Elena!” (Run, Elena!).

She didn’t want to leave her brother, but she also knew she had no choice but to run. Elena looked toward the forest and took off but was intercepted by a smaller brown she-wolf. The she-wolf knocked her down and clawed at her back, making her cry out in pain.

“Elena!” She heard her brother cry out for her, but he could not reach her as he was still cornered by the tan wolf.

Elena’s back burned, and she was trying to think of how to get away from the brown wolf when she saw Tia Lorena’s gray wolf run towards the brown one and knock her away. Lorena was their mother’s younger sister and the pack’s Beta female. She was a strong fighter, and her wolf quickly snapped down on the brown wolf’s neck, effectively saving Elena.

Lorena’s wolf motioned with her head for Elena to run towards the trees while she turned back to help Joaquin. As Elena turned to run, though, she heard her brother cry out in pain. She turned towards her brother and saw that the tan wolf had knocked Joaquin down and lodged his teeth into his shoulder. Lorena ran towards the two and attempted to knock the tan wolf away, but he was much stronger than her and knocked her into a nearby tree.

Elena was frozen to her spot as she saw the tan wolf turn back towards her bleeding brother. He lunged for the boy and quickly clamped down on his neck. Joaquin went still.

Before Elena knew what was happening, she felt warm arms wrap around her and heard the thud of running feet. She held onto her little wolf tighter. It had belonged to Joaquin, but he gave it to her so that she wouldn’t be scared at night. Now, it was all she had left of him.

Elena felt the person holding her stop running before she was set back on the ground. She looked up and stared into the soft brown eyes of her Tia Lorena.

“Mi niña. (My girl) ” Lorena sighed and smoothed down Elena’s hair. “There is no one left but us, we have to go. We have to find somewhere safe.” Elena could see the tears threatening to fall from her aunt’s eyes, and she stood quietly as her aunt looked for clothes to wear among the trees.

Elena could smell the smoke on her pajamas and she felt confused. Her aunt stood in front of her now dressed and held out her hand, “Vamos.” (Come on.)

“Mami?” Elena looked up at her aunt.

“No, mi niña. Your Mami is gone now, like your brother, and your Papa, Alpha Jonas…My Miguel and Mateo, too...they’re all gone.

The Blue Oak Pack came in the night and attacked all the guards, then they came for us in the pack house and set the fire. They somehow missed you, probably only cared about Joaquin as the Alpha heir…I’m sorry I didn’t get to him in time for you.” Lorena let out a stifled sob and finally let her tears fall. “Blue Oak is like a raging wildfire, destroying everything in their path.”

Elena cried silently as she walked with her aunt. In just a few short hours she had lost everyone, both of her parents and brother, her uncle and cousin, all of her friends…her entire pack. All gone up in flames.

The two made it to a neighboring pack before nightfall and were allowed to spend a couple of days there. Lorena contacted her old pack, where her parents still lived, and arranged for her and Elena to go live there with them. It broke Lorena’s heart to tell her parents the news about her sister, Luz Maria. She also felt the burden of the loss of her mate and young son, but she knew she had to be strong for Elena.

That night, Elena woke up yelling out for her brother, “Joaquin! Joaquin!...

It was the first night of her nightmares, but it would not be her last…

Present Day

Elena

“Joaquin!... Joaquin, run!”

“Elena…Elena, mi amor, despierta.” (Elena, Elena, my love, wake up.)

I startled awake, drenched in sweat. For a moment, I was that little girl again, staring at Alpha Marek as he killed my brother, but then my mate, Tomas, brought me back to reality.

“Another nightmare?”

“Yes, I hadn’t had one in so long that I thought they were over.” Elena shook her head in disbelief.

Tomas brushed his hair back and blew out a deep breath. “I know Luna Christina told you the news that the Wildfire Pack is nearing Cobalt Falls. You’re worried.” Tomas grabbed my hand, as I tried to calm my breathing.

I was always worried, the Blue Oak Pack had gone on to attack several more packs after they destroyed my home. As Tia Lorena said, they tore through everything like a wildfire, so they were eventually nicknamed the Wildfire Pack. Alpha Marek found the nickname so amusing that he formally changed the pack's name to Wildfire.

"I don’t know what I’d do without you and the kids.” I sobbed quietly. “What if we left before they came? You, me, the kids, Tia Lorena…what if we went somewhere safe? I just…I can’t lose anyone else to them.”

“Elena.” Tomas softly sighed and hugged me tightly. “I know you’re terrified, but we have sworn our lives to this pack as it’s Betas. You are the bravest and strongest woman I know, and I promise you, I will not let any harm come to you or our children.”