AVA

I was a nobody, or at least that's what they told me.

They told me I was a nobody and therefore worthless; I deserved to be bullied, because being bullied would make me stronger, more resilient. It was bullshit, but when you say that to a prepubescent teen, they start to believe it.

All day everyday, the ranked heirs to the pack and some of the girls my own age made a point of making my life miserable. To begin with, it was just verbal, but in my early teens, it became physical too. I had scars everywhere that would never heal properly because they were from before I shifted for the first time.

I got my wolf early, but they didn't know that. I never smelled like a wolf because my wolf, Artemis, could hide her scent. Even before they can shift, wolves have a distinctive smell that identifies them; all wolves smell like the woods, with their own unique scent overlaying that.

Whilst being able to hide my scent was a nifty trick that was great for my safety whilst out and about, it did mean the girls at school assumed I was human and so would never have a wolf, which just made the bullying worse.

I wanted nothing more than to leave when I turned 18. I had a place ready to go in my maternal aunt's pack, I was just counting down the days until I could finally set out on my own.