Here ya go, let me know if it's something you want more of!

You should also all thank KimberlyJacobs6
as this story wouldn't be happening without her!

A Wulvers Prequel

Jakkon & Signy

In the Beginning: Part One

The forest shuddered as the young contender's opponent hit the ground.

Out in the heart of the wilderness, away from most of the pack, it didn't matter much that he fell as hard as he did. If the pack had been there to see the older male brought down, the tension would become more suffocating than it already had over the last few months. A buzzing energy flowed around the spectators who wavered uncertainly despite the fact their Alpha was only on the ground a moment before he repaid hi opponent in kind, tackling the younger male with fangs at his throat so there was no choice but for the male to submit.

Signy had been interested in the fight until that conclusion.

A false conclusion.

Lips curled in distaste, she watched her Alpha stand again and shake himself off with a smile too strained to be relief. Warriors gathered around to congratulate him while the fallen male crawled, bleeding and bruised, out of the training ring.

Even defeated, her heart fluttered, unbidden, at the sight of him.

Dark hair was soaked to his face and neck, every muscled inch of him glistening with sweat as he chest heaved with ragged breaths. A safe distance away, he staggered to his feet, then froze when his midnight blues met the look of disapproval on Signy's face.

The male bristled and rose to his full towering height, gnashing his teeth as if in frustration with his loss.

Signy knew better. Scoffing, she turned her face away from him and returned her focus to the row of daggers needing sharpened before her. She would take her turn in the ring to show the pack she was ready. Dress hiked up around her knees, the grass was cool against her flesh where the sun beat down unforgivingly from above, and the air grew cooler still when a shadow fell over her.

Without looking up, she addressed the angry male with a flat tone, "You should have beaten him."

"I did my best."

"You didn't, or I would have congratulated you instead. You were too scared to even try to beat him, despite the fact his loss would have meant little without a formal challenge."

The male growled, the hot tang of irritation tainting his forest scent. It still wasn't enough to make her look up at him.

"When I fight our Alpha, I will take him down," she said, finally lifting her gaze to meet his with a sly smirk. "If you don't challenge him soon, someone else will. Everyone can smell age on him. Everyone can see he's moving slower in the hunts."

"You speak with little respect, Signy."

"And you, Jakkon, would have more respect from others if you stopped submitting instead of standing your ground. Everyone held their breath for you today."

Fingers reached out for her cheek then thought better of it. "Did you hold your breath for me?"

Signy's lips pursed together at the hope burning in his eyes. His curled up slightly at the edges, his chin lifting with a cocky edge because he already knew the answer. Of course she'd held her breath. She always did when she watched him fight. Just as she knew he did when he watched her. But her father didn't think Jakkon worthy of her, and neither did their Alpha. In all honesty, neither did she, not when he continued to bend instead of rise.

"You are missing the point," she muttered.

Jakkon turned his head towards where their Alpha schooled the other young wolves in the art of fighting in skin, but it wasn't them he was looking at. She saw what he did; snapping teeth, sneers aimed his way. No one was happy he'd lasted so long against the strongest of the pack.

"You are missing the point," Jakkon insisted. "They won't accept me. Not as I am."

Signy had no argument for that. She understood that he had a lot to prove to many; his stumble in the winter hunt had cost him much, even all these years on it took from him. She could see the weight of guilt on his shoulders, the shame of it on his skin, a dark shadow around his form. He would have to forgive himself one day or the pack never would. And she would never forgive him if he chose that path.

"It's you who isn't ready, I think" Signy commented, eyeing him in her way that often made others uncomfortable. Jakkon showed unease but never wavered, something which had drawn her to him in the first place. While others were wary of her talents, he had never been afraid to hear what she might say. Even when it vexed him. Softer, she added, "You have to let it go. Move on. Fight for what you want, what you deserve. You block your own path, no one else."

"Spoken like a true seer."

She sighed again. He was in a bad mood. That was alright. But she'd prefer he go lick his wounds in private instead of trying to dampen her own mood with his scowl and gritty words. It did him no good acting this way for all to see. She could try to sympathise with why he wore shame like a badge of dishonour, using an accident he blamed himself for as a black stain on his name, but she had less patience with every day that passed since the death of their Alpha Female.

A death that had struck their Alpha so hard it was truly a wonder he himself was still standing. He wouldn't stand much longer. Someone would displace him, most likely in time for a new Alpha to lead this year's winter hunt.

If only Jakkon could understand that was why his packmates watched him closely with growing aggression, attempting to intimidate with growls and snapping teeth - they sensed a new challenger on the rise. Signy's own father and a few other, older and more experienced males peacocked their intent too. Her father had no real interest in being Alpha though, he prowled the ranks as he did for her benefit in this, not his. Everyone knew she was being groomed to be the matriarch of the pack, it was simply a question of who would stand at her side.

Not one amongst them would be half the Alpha she saw when she looked into Jakkon's future. However, if Signy would not choose a mate of worth, her father would choose for her. She'd tried to give Jakkon the push he needed, but she was done waiting. . .no matter how much it caused her heart to shatter in her chest.

She would not lose her chance at the future she wanted for herself.

-

Jakkon felt an ache in his chest as he stared down at the female lost to her own thoughts. Her gaze was far off, a small frown creasing her brow as she mindlessly swiped a whetstone over a mean looking dagger. He felt much like that stone, being dragged across a sharp edge again and again, every day coming away with more cuts, bruises and broken bones than he had when he'd been forced to jump a cliff to avoid colliding with a herd of moose.

That memory, the one that ever haunted his steps, sent a chill down his spine. He'd survived only because another had fallen in his place. Why couldn't Signy understand that? He wasn't worthy of the sacrifice that allowed him to have his feet planted in the grass while a worthy wolf's bones lay in the dirt.

He was close to falling into the dirt himself.

His fight with his Alpha had near drained every ounce of strength from his body. As little as a twitch of skin brought hot stabbing needles of pain raining down on him. Only being in view of others stopped him from showing weakness, no matter how much he wished to fall to his knees before the female trying so very hard not to look at him.

A low growl from his chest, almost inaudible, still made her cheeks flush red and her hands slow their work.

He smirked.

Even if she thought him a coward, she was still attracted to him. And he'd take that. He'd take anything she had to give when he could feel her father glaring at him as if debating whether or not to rip his head off.

As if any member of the pack's hatred of him was worse a burden to bear than his own. But Signy's disappointment? That was the hardest to bear of them all. It ignited something in him that he hadn't felt in years. A spark of will. Of desire and motivation for life. She was ever the infatuating, infuriating, and captivating female he wanted to call his mate. It was more than her radiance he wanted though, Signy was wise, and kind, had taken to the role of Alpha already under the guidance of her mother and the tutelage of Sol. He wanted to have her fierceness at his side. He wanted to believe he could be her match. Gods, he wanted her.

Forgetting himself, his chest puffed up with a fortifying breath, instinct demanding he gives this female anything she demanded of him. "Next time I will win and then I will claim you as my mate, is that what you want?"

"Is that what you want?" she repeated back to him, leaf green eyes searching his as she cocked her head to one side so golden hair spilled over her shoulder.

He tried to imagine being Alpha, of leading a hunt, having the lives of others in his hands. . .and he hesitated. The only hunt he'd led was the very reason Sòl was faltering decades before an Alpha like him should have.

"I will not lower myself for you, Jakkon. You must climb your way up to me."

"You think being mine would be to lower yourself?" he hissed, his face warming with a mix of humiliation and frustration.

Unaffected by the spitting male, Signy lowered her gaze, shoulders dropping slightly. "So it is not what you want."

The sourness of upset in her scent made the wolf in him claw at his skin. Green eyes shifted, and he followed to see her father moving amongst a group of males, surveying the potential of each one.

Another growl rumbled from Jakkon's chest, this one from deep within his gut. Crouching before her, he lowered his voice so no other would hear, lips close to her ear, his cheek nearly brushing hers. "It is not what I want, it is what I will make happen."

She breathed in on a hypnotising purr but Jakkon rose to his feet just as the energy that always fizzled between them drew her body to his.

Frightened by his own words, and the energy that flooded his veins as he proclaimed a lie, Jakkon turned on his heel and walked away.

It felt wrong to leave with none of their usual subtle brushes of fingers or otherwise stolen affection. He felt her eyes on him though. And that gave him hope as slipped away to find a quiet place he could let out the groan building with each painful step.