Chapter 1

Nix’s POV   

“Hey, farm boy,” somebody yells. I didn’t look around, as there couldn’t possibly be anyone talking to me. If they are, why are they talking to me? Would they be trying to provoke a reaction from me? Because today is not a good day to do that.     

“I said. Hey, farm boy,” the same voice yells. This time, I know it is coming from the crowd of jocks that have gathered during our physical education class.    

Yes, I live on a small farm and yes, I am a boy, but I have a name. In fact, no one knows my real name. Teachers call me by my nickname, which is Nix. But they are probably the only few that even know that.    

I am not in the right frame of mind to be around people today, but if I don’t attend school, someone will come to my house. So, I have to be here, but I shouldn’t be. It’s the rule of the human town I live in that I have to attend school. But I am not human, or at least my mom wasn’t. I am going to assume I’m not either. She never talks about who helped conceive me, seeing as he isn’t around.   

But they should avoid speaking to me at all costs today. I am not in the mood! Someone grabs my shoulder. “Are you ignoring me, farm boy?” I just snap. I grabbed his hand, twisting it, forcing him to his knees. His friends came running towards him to his rescue. But today is not the day that they should challenge me.    

I am usually so composed and keep out of the way. I ignore everyone and everyone ignores me. There is a reason for this.    

But today, for some strange reason, they aren’t ignoring me. Of all days, they should today. Today is my seventeenth birthday. I should be celebrating with my mom, I should be making cakes with her after school, I should be opening my presents, which will no doubt be clothes. But instead, I will have to celebrate on my own, make my own cake and I will have no presents. As my mom isn’t here anymore and today, more than anything, it is bothering me.    

His friends are getting closer, but I don’t care. He is still screaming on the ground and I am hardly touching him. I grew up on a working farm. I'm stronger than the majority of kids who are the same age as me. I’m considerably taller than most other children my age. Which is why everyone tends to leave me alone. But this idiot today hasn’t.    

I refused to let go of his wrist. His friends finally arrive, thinking a few feeble punches would take me down. They are wrong. Whereas when I punch the closest guy to me with my left hand and he goes flying. The others watch and retreat, worrying they will be next. They will be if they don’t back off. I picked the boy up off the ground by the collar of his shirt. “Did you want something?” I asked?   

“N...No.” Is the only word he stutters.    

They tried to bully me because of my clothes, which weren’t branded, and my funny haircut. But my mom did the best with what we had, which wasn’t much. But that all stopped one day when I held the bully up by his throat and threatened to rip it out. The school principal called my mom into school as this was ‘extreme behavior’ for a 7-year-old. In hindsight, yes. Yes, it was.    

Nobody has bothered me since then, which is just the way I like it. We have a visiting physical education coach this week and he came to the rescue of these idiots.

They are lucky when he tells me to release him. I don’t know why, but I snarled at the boy before I dropped him. I was so angry, not just about the boy, I was angry about everything. I could feel the rage building within me.

I turned around to face the coach and face the consequences of my actions. But as I do, he is on his knees, baring his neck towards me. I don’t have a wolf yet and I don’t know this coach. But he is acting like I am superior to him. Whereas the truth is. I am a nobody, a no one, and that is how it has always been.  

I was summoned to the principal’s office. Great, I think to myself. The principal tells me that although I acted in self-defense, I was to be suspended for violent behavior. As was the boy that hit me. This school has a zero-violence policy and the principal must adhere to it.    

 I think he just doesn’t like me, which is fine. I could do with a few days off from school. Then he told me he tried to contact my mom, but she hadn’t answered her phone.    

I want to tell him, but there is no point. The reason my mom is not answering her phone is because she is dead. But he doesn’t need to know that. He tells me he will write to her. My suspension will last one-week. It is the best birthday present I am going to get.    

I went to my locker and started emptying it. I’m not even sure if I plan on coming back here. I could just disappear. There is nothing keeping me in this town now that she is gone! I started walking out of school when the coach stopped me. “What pack do you belong to? Why are you here?” He gestured towards the surrounding school.   

I looked him in the eye. “I don't belong to a pack.” I didn’t give him an answer to his other question, as I didn’t know who he was. It's a long journey home from the school grounds. Comical really, and I never thought of it before. I am alone. Not even a lone wolf. I don’t have a wolf, so I am just alone.     

Every day I walk the three miles to and from school. It gives me time to think. Today I thought about the day they killed my mom. Like every other night, we had our evening meal. We laughed and joked about the shape of the carrots which we grew this year. We cleaned up, I went to do my homework while she went for a run under the full moon. Afterwards, I went to bed. Sometimes she took her time.    

She wasn’t home when I woke up at 2am, which was extremely strange. So I went looking for her. She had a route, she never altered her route. I knew exactly where she had run. Which is how I found her lifeless body less than a mile from our home.     

I cried until the sun came up, mourning my loss and plotting my revenge. It’s not often wolves come to this town, so it wouldn’t have been anyone from a pack. Meaning it was a rogue attack.    

I buried her body at the edge of our farm. She deserved better, but the scent of blood may attract other wolves and then I am putting myself at risk. As I don’t have a wolf, I need to strengthen my body. Because if they come back, I will kill them.    

When I get home, I imagine my mom coming up to me, giving me a hug and singing happy birthday to me. My memories are all I have now. My memories and my vengeance.