Cherry
“Ruby, wait up!” I call to my older sister as she races ahead to the edge of the woods.
“All three of you wait for us before you shift!” my mother calls out behind us.
I look back and see her and my dad headed our way. I turn back with a laugh as I continue jogging toward Ruby, who’s waiting for me just ahead. She grabs my hand and tugs me along with her.
“C’mon, I don’t want Scarlett to get a head start on us!”
We jog, hand in hand, toward where our older sister Scarlett stands excited at the edge of the woods.
Today she turns eighteen, and Mom and Dad have a tradition of taking us to a forest on our birthdays so we can run together as a family pack.
It was a few hours’ drive from our current home, but they said it was worth it to visit this particular National Park, full of beautiful scenery.
“You know she’ll wait for all of us,” I tell Ruby, chuckling. We finally catch up and move to stand on either side of Scarlett. I put my arm around her waist and she puts her arms around our shoulders.
“Happy birthday, Scar,” I tell her, giving her a side hug.
“Thanks, Cherry.”
“Yeah, happy birthday, big sis!” Ruby says from her other side.
“Thanks, Rube.”
We stand and look into the forest from the edge of the field, excited for a chance to run. My wolf is anxious to be free, smells already starting to reach us with the tease of a chase.
“Oh, that’s such a beautiful picture of my three beautiful girls! Now turn around and let me get one of your faces too!”
We turn around, and sure enough, Mom has her phone out, taking photos of us, as usual. We laugh and reposition ourselves facing her, arms around each other. She takes another photo, then points to our dad. “Harold, get in behind them and let’s get a group selfie.”
My mother is obsessed with photos, but we don’t dare deny her.
She’s the glue of our family, and I know when we grow older, we’ll appreciate having the physical record of our lives growing up.
At least, she keeps telling us we will. It’s something she didn’t have from her past and wants better for us.
She moves behind us with Dad and passes me her phone to take a family selfie. I take a few shots, then look at the camera to make sure we have at least one good one. A smile spreads across my face as I look at the photo. There’s no mistaking us as family.
We all have red hair of varying shades. Scarlett’s straight hair is a bit closer to auburn. Ruby’s hair is a bit curly and more of a copper red. Mine is dark red, closer to black, with a slight wave to it.
My mom and I have bright blue eyes, while my sisters and father’s are green. Their stunning features are what make my sisters so popular with the boys.
Mom takes her phone back, and we walk to the edge of the forest as she and Dad spout the usual rules of staying together and stopping at every fifth trail marker to make sure nobody is lost or lagging behind.
Being the youngest, I’m normally the slowest, but I’m getting faster.
I know in a couple of years I’ll be even faster than Ruby, even though she’s two years older than me.
I’m sure I’m faster than she was at my age.
Dad moves behind a big tree to remove his clothes and shift. The rest of us do it together, piling our clothes at the base of a notable tree, hidden from the trail.
I let the magic that helps me change take hold of my body as I shift into my wolf form. The first shift had hurt, but since then it’s been easy and painless.
I shake out my fur coat and stretch my limbs as I watch my family shift. Dad comes trotting out to join us in his wolf form and makes sure we’re all ready to run.
Although we all have red coats, the shade of red matches our hair. My mom’s is between mine and Ruby’s color, a deeper red with a tinge of orange. My dad’s is closer to the auburn of Scarlett’s hair, although they’re both very much redheads.
Besides fur color, I find it easy to tell us apart, but I stick out the most as I’m dark red and a fair bit smaller than the rest of them still. I’m definitely smaller than my sisters were at fourteen, so I’ll likely always be petite. But I’m determined to make up for it with speed and agility.
I bounce on my paws, eager to start running. Dad chuffs, then takes off, Scarlett following him, Ruby next, then me, and Mom at the rear.
Running feels so freeing. My feet pounding on the forest floor, the wind whipping through my fur, new scents and sights blurring past as I press hard to catch up to my sister. It’s the best feeling in the world.
Soon, I feel Mom nipping at my side as she starts to overtake me. I nip playfully back before she runs ahead. She’ll probably make it to the front before our first trail marker. She loves running with my dad, and I don’t mind being in the back. It makes me push harder to catch up to Ruby.
An hour into our run, we make it to a trail marker near a creek. I greedily lap up some water when I arrive, the others having already drunk their share as they waited for me.
A crunch of twigs and leaves makes me glance up in surprise as a man steps out from behind a tree with a gun pointed at me.
I freeze in fear.
I hear more twigs snapping, then the growls of my family. I manage to glance around to see we’re surrounded by at least ten men. They wear all black with ski masks covering their faces and rifles in their hands, all pointed at us. My family all pulls into a circle with our back legs touching.
My father growls as he turns his head to look at each man, unsure who the ringleader is.
It’s the man to my left who speaks first.
“Shift now, or die.”
Panic races through me. I wait for my family to start shifting, but nobody does. He doesn’t even wait a full ten seconds before he warns, “Last chance,” and adjusts his gun like he means to shoot.
I have no idea what’s happening, who these men are, or why they want us to shift. I start to consider attacking the closest man to me when a gunshot rings out.
The sound has me whipping my head around to find Ruby lying on her side, blood pouring out from a hole in her head.
No, Ruby!
I whine as I quickly move to her side, nuzzling her head with mine, but it’s too late.
She’s dead. They say animals can’t cry with tears, but at that moment, I feel them run down my face.
I lay down beside her, my nose against her throat as the agony of the loss slams into me like getting hit by a freight train.
My family growls and starts lunging at the strange men, and I squeeze my eyes tightly shut as my body jerks in fear as multiple gunshots ring out.
The next few moments are a blur. I’m not sure if I passed out, but I feel as though I’m waking from a dream, or a nightmare. I’m surrounded in silence and a terrible feeling moves through me. Why can’t I hear my family?
My eyes are still closed tight, and I’m afraid to open them. As long as they are closed, I can imagine my family is still alive, surrounding me, instead of a group of armed humans.
I try to tell myself to open my eyes, to face my attackers with courage, but my body’s in shock.
Plus, I have no idea how to fight. I’ve always been more docile than the rest of my family, which is maybe the reason they didn’t kill me.
I start to feel a strange pain in my head, and for a minute, I wonder if I’ve been shot too.
A burning pain starts to sear my skin below my ear, but it fades quickly.
I feel the air move around me, then a gentle hand touches my head and my eyes shoot open.
“Your family were fools. It got them killed. But you…” The gunman looks over my body before his eyes reconnect with mine. “You’re special. You’ll be perfect.”
He stands up and yells to his men. “Leash her and bring her with us. Leave the bodies.”
I feel something snap closed tightly around my neck, then I’m yanked up by it, forced to stand on my four legs.
Finally, I let myself look around. The rest of my family lies sprawled around me, blood pouring out from bullet holes in their heads.
My wolf and I howl together in pain. My family is dead.
All of them. My sisters, my parents—gone in an instant.
There’s no mistaking it. As wolf shifters, we have great regenerative powers, but a gunshot to the head is not something you recover from.
The collar around my neck pulls tight, and instinct has me moving with them as I’m led away from their bodies with tears rolling down my face.