Her years of planning had slowly transpired and she now had almost everything the way she wanted...
~
After her father's funeral, Anna kept a low profile. Despite the enormity of their pack and its well wishes, she found herself alone most of the time. Kitanya promoted her uncle to a diplomatic emissary for another pack, leaving Anna by herself. The loneliness seeped into her life, and deepened with each day. Her parents dead, all she had were her snide step sisters and negligent step mother.
Anna was constantly in trouble with her new alpha. No matter what she did, or how hard she tried, Kitanya was always furious with her, the screams and shouts echoing across the packs grounds.
Things from the house went missing, to be found in her room when a search was conducted. She would never take anything in her life. She knew it was her step sisters. She would always see them giggling behind their mother's back while she ranted about theft. But her step mother ignored her and brushed aside any accusations made against her little "angels".
Slowly Anna's image changed, and the pack had no time for her, believing she was acting the spoilt brat to get attention.
Everything escalated when Kitanya's family jewellery went missing. After a huge search it was found in Anna's bedroom, under her pillow.
Before the entire pack, Anna was demoted to an omega, the lowest rung of the pack ladder. She was kicked out of the alpha's house and left in a dorm with 5 other girls her age, who tormented her and stole the few possessions she had left to her name. It was the lowest point in her short life.
At 13 she was shipped off to a boarding school on the other side of the city, on another pack's territory. The new territory belonged to the Brannan Pack, which was larger than her own and much more powerful, with Curt Brannan as its alpha. Kitanya made sure the pack would ignore Anna completely and no one was to have any contact with her.
~
St Maria's was the fresh start Anna had needed. She was different compared to all the humans at the school, but she still fit in a lot better than she did with her pack at home. She had never had anything to do with humans, and quickly learnt how to blend in. She slowly developed friendships with a small group of human girls, who were outcasts from the mainstream. Her best friend Emma, who slept in the bed next to her, became her best friend. She was the same height as Anna; short. They were the same size which meant they could swap and share clothes. It felt like having a proper sister, which Anna had always secretly wished for.
At 16 she felt her change approaching. Her step mother had completely ignored her, and she had no pack to run with. Her first change had been a scary and lonely experience, as it was normally marked with celebrations and a pack run. She couldn't let her beast out any more than she possibly had to, for the risk of being seen was just too great. Being found out meant death to the finder and the were silly enough to get caught.
On full moons, when her beast demanded control, she would sneak out and run free in the forest surrounding the grounds, hunting and frolicking, finally carefree.
~
It was another full moon as Anna said good night to her dorm mates and friends, and waited for them to fall asleep. Once all of the breathing in the room had transformed to snores, Anna quietly got up and left the dorm.
Sneaking through the old buildings was always hard- the floor boards would squeak and creak under the lightest weight. She always made sure to keep to the wall and, thanks to her heightened senses, she could always see where she was going. She had always wanted to jump out of their second floor window, phase midair and lope off that way, but because the moon was so full and so bright, anyone could see her. It was just too much of a risk. Plus the window was a bitch to open...
A creaking floorboard from the hallway Anna had just passed through made her crouch in a defensive stance, a growl threatening to disrupt the deep silence of the dark house, her eyes glowing molten gold as her wolf responded to the threat. A door up the opposite end of the narrow hallway opened, spilling a harsh yellow light.
The head matron poked her head out, her hair mussed in their rolls, shadowed eyes like a hawk looking for anything out of place. After a moment of seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she grumbled about the old house and students before shutting the door.
Anna thanked Luna for all of the action movies she was forced to watch with her friends, as her four claws wedged against the narrow walls kept her flat against the ceiling. She loved that it had actually worked, but a shadow crossed her face as she remembered the event that had taught her the seemingly trivial lesson. She used her claws and the leverage to move along the ceiling, past the head matron's door, knowing that she would be listening carefully for any noises.
Past the hallways, Anna slowly climbed down the walls and continued outside. She had meant to look behind her as she walked out the front doors, but the pure moonlight shining down on her called to her wolf so strongly, the thought left her mind completely. If she had looked back, she would have seen the shadow, clinging to the walls, watching her carefully.
~
Out in the moonlight, her wolf cried aloud with happiness. She ran freely across the open fields towards the woods at her natural pace- fast. It was very fast; too fast for any human to match. She always hated having to run at human pace in her physical education lessons, her wolf wanted her to run properly, but she couldn't draw suspicion. She let out a deep sigh at how hard fitting in truly was.
She didn't slow until she reached the tree line and passed into their comforting shadows. She inhaled deeply, smiling pure joy at being truly home with herself and everything around her. She quickly stripped her nightclothes, folded them and stowed them in the trunk of her tree that she had marked.
Calling forth her beast, she felt the air around her hum with magic. On her hands and knees, her beast slid forward, shifting her body to its form. She shook out her pure white fur. It unusually long for her kind, but she refused to cut her long, blonde hair to shorten the pure white fur.
She leaped through the air and began to run, elated at leaving her human troubles behind.... Or so she thought, as the shadow followed her silently and unseen through the night.
