The following is a sneak peek at the third book in The Trescott Series, titled Into the Wild, scheduled to be released this summer! To read the first two in the series, click here to purchase.
*This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.*
High above the tops of the trees, the sun shone down upon the pack. Their chests rose and fell, deep in slumber. In the middle of them all, Amber lifted her tired body. Rubbing her eyes and tugging her long hair from her face, she took in her surroundings.
The trees up north reached closer to the sky, to the fluffy white clouds overhead. The creeks were deeper and dangerous to traverse through. Too many times she’d tripped or ended up hurting herself. Despite always being healed by night fall, it still hurt every single time.
More than anything, she missed the woods of River Falls. She longed to go back. And finally, her wish was answered. Today was the day they’d finally leave these woods behind. It’d taken Conan, their pack leader, long enough to realize it was time to go.
Stumbling on bare feet, leaves crunched beneath her toes as she left the other eleven pack members. Her stomach rumbled, but she was still full from the venison feast last night. It was enough food to last them a couple of days before they needed to stop to hunt again. There was a town not far from here, but no one would be bold enough to explore it. Except her.
In only a giant oversized shirt that said “My mom went to the Twin Cities and all I got was this t-shirt”, Amber trudged through the woods. Mud caked her feet, her shins, and most of her exposed skin. She hated being dirty. She admired the townspeople, because they always were groomed and clean. Mom swore they were barbarians, but she thought differently. To her, their entire way of life was fascinating.
The first signs of the town arrived with the smell of burning fire, sweet maple syrup from the trees around her, and fragments of cooked meals, which they got in something called a grocery store. She’d learned a lot about humans from eavesdropping and spying on them, when she could.
Usually, the female humans would wake early and help the kids, just like her mother did when she was younger, before she could join the pack on full moons. They would cook with something that controlled the fire, which the pack needed desperately. And then the kids would get in this giant yellow moving box on wheels, and disappear. They would go somewhere called school, whatever that was.
Just before the edge of a thick black path, Amber crouched down beside a giant boulder. Gripping the jagged edge of the stone, she took a deep breath. No one was following her. At least not that she could sniff out.
Standing up straight, she walked along the thick black road, feeling the early morning dew under her bare feet. With each step, she left a muddy trail of footprints. The sound of rushing wheels startled her. She whipped her head around, watching as a bright red flash of color sped past her, narrowly missing her. Stopping in her tracks, she spotted a sign she could read: WELCOME TO MENOMONIE.
“Menomonie?” Amber spoke out loud, letting the syllables roll off her tongue. The name meant nothing to her. They’d never come here before. Still, she kept on going. She had only a little time before the rest of the pack would notice her absence. Then she’d have to return, or else she’d face consequences worse than her future.
Conan and her mother had it already sorted out. Unfortunately, it was not what Amber wanted. She was chosen to be pack leader with Caleb, who was Conan’s son and a year older than her. Caleb was a tall, dark coated boy who was educated more in the art of practical jokes than the ways of the pack. Caleb alone as pack leader would destroy the nomadic traditions. That couldn’t happen, which was why Amber was chosen to help him.
After some time along the lonely black path, the scents of the town strengthened. She eyed the horizon, seeing the first slivers of sunshine and tall box-like figures ahead. Those were houses, as her mother had taught her. Humans lived, slept, and groomed themselves in there. To be away from nature was such a strange concept to her. As a werewolf, it was their privilege to remain one with the world around them.
“Amber! What are you doing?” A voice hissed behind her. She jumped and turned around, growling. Her mother stood with her shoulders hunched over and a golden glare directed her way. “What did I tell you about wandering away?!”
“No one was awake. I was just seeing what the smell was,” Amber explained. Her mother rolled her eyes. She snatched Amber’s wrist with a dirty hand and tugged her away from the town. The two of them stepped down into a small valley, and then slipped through a break in the trees. They left the human world behind. Amber frowned, but didn’t utter a word of protest.
“You know Conan would have you by the tail if he knew where you wandered off to,” Mom warned. Her gold eyes bore into Amber’s with a desperation she’d never seen before. “You have a bright future ahead of you. You’re going to throw it all away.”
“Mom, it’s not like I’m going to run away. I was just watching them,” Amber replied. Her mother said nothing and continued on, still keeping a firm grasp on her daughter as they walked through the woods.
They were far from the pack, judging by the scenery. There was a river Amber had never seen before, and the trees were thinner. The sun was higher than before. It was mid-morning, which meant they would be leaving soon. How had she made it so far from everyone?
“I worry about you. You’re just like I was,” her mother sighed. Her eyes returned to their normal evergreen color. “I don’t want you to do the same thing.”
Butterflies fluttered deep within Amber’s stomach. Her mother’s adventures were just what she wanted. She wanted to run away, be free of the expectations of the pack, and actually explore the human world instead of always being pulled away when her adventures were getting to be interesting.
There had to be a real reason why their pack avoided and hated humans. She knew there were werewolves, like them, who blended in with the human world. Her father was one, even though she’d never met him. To Amber, their worlds didn’t seem too different from one another.
The pack followed several easy rules. First, don’t let humans see you. Second, if you join the human world, you’re not allowed back. Even if it’s with werewolves who act as humans in their world. And the final rule, above all, was to never mate with a human from the human world. She’d never met a werewolf who mated with a human, but she’d heard what happened to them.
As she grew up, Amber became curious of the world beyond the trees. The world of moving colorful boxes, school, houses, groceries stores, lights after dark, clothes, and so much more. There had to be more to the human world than what she’d only observed from behind the bushes.
Coming through a clearing and down a larger valley, Amber and her mother sauntered in silence toward the pack. Conan and Caleb were the only ones not of blood relation. They were strays, picked up years and years ago after their pack was killed by hunters near a lake the humans called Lake Superior. Ever since they’d been taken in, they made their way to the top, until Conan eventually earned the title of pack leader.
“There you are,” Conan greeted them, nudging Caleb, who was assisting with the clearing of their supplies: coats, clothes, and leftover berries. Caleb didn’t move an inch. “Where’d you get off to?”
“Just went for a walk,” Mom answered before Amber could say something stupid. They forced a smile and walked past Caleb. His eyes remained on Amber as she walked to her sleeping spot to get her own coat. Amber shivered when she felt his eyes on her. Staring at her like she was a piece of meat. Maybe that’s all she was: nothing but an object Caleb needed to be pack leader someday.
“Amber, come here dear,” Conan called, noticing how quickly she ignored him. She stumbled over as she pulled her jacket over her lean body. He eyed her, taking her in. Then he glanced over to Amber’s mother. “It’s nearly time,” Conan told her.
Her mother glanced over to Amber, her eyes full of a mix of emotions. Amber saw them all: worry, sadness, anxiety, but also excitement. Her mother never had this chance, since she ran away and was outcasted. Amber had the chance of a lifetime to be in the most powerful position of all in the pack: mate to the leader of the pack.
She’d have to watch after her children, educate the cubs, and take part in decisions made by the leader. They’d be able to hunt and travel wherever they pleased. She’d be given to the power to decide for the whole pack.
But Amber didn’t want that. Her mind fixated on what she saw at every town they passed as they traversed through the snow, the leaves, the flowers, and the rain. It’s what she dreamed about, at night and during the day, and she couldn’t keep the thoughts away. The longing to escape and explore, no matter how dangerous it was to break a pack rule.
“Let’s get a move on. We’re still two days away,” Conan announced to the group, his eyes shifting away from Amber. In unison, everyone grabbed their things, tightened their clothes, and moved along. Mom stepped next to Amber, both of them as silent as the forest at night.
Amber thought of the picturesque town she had left behind as they headed back towards their home territory. There had to be more out there. There was more to life than running through the forest and hunting, and she was going to find out what it all was. No one—not Conan, Caleb, or her mother—would stop her this time.
