• Meara Macfoulle, age 17, made her way down to the dock. She was still in shock from the two events that had just occured. First her father, Ewan Macfoulle, had killed her beloved Michael. The reason? Michael was human. The Macfoulles were not. Meara and here family were lycans, werewolves we would call them. Meara's father was the leader of the macfoulle clan. Or at least he had been.
    Meara thought of the second reason for her shock. After Ewan had slaughtered Michael before her eyes, she had retaliated. In a fit of rage and grief, she had killed Ewan. Now she was trying desperately to justify her actions. She thought of all the times Her father had beaten her, starved her, told her she was nothing. He had never loved her. Her mother had died giving birth to her. Ewan blamed Meara for this. He treated her like garbage and encouraged the rest of the clan to do the same. They did.
    A single tear rolled down her cheek as she thought of Michael, the only person who had ever loved her, lying cold and dead in the church they were to be married in. Never again would they embrace. Never again would she hear him speak the words " I love you". Meara wept silently.
    "ya' alright lil' lass?" Meara looked up and saw a middle aged man with big, bushy, red beard looking at her from the dock. "I will be." she answered. She hesitated. "Are you captain james?" He smiled broadly, revealing a nearly toothless grin. "aye. You must be Michael's girl. Where is that lad anyhow? I'd have thought he'd be with ya'." Meara's eyes filled with tears. She didn't answer. James looked worried. "Is 'e alright?" Meara shook her head. "He's dead." She managed to whisper. At those two words she became overcome with grief and began sobbing uncontrollably. James ran to her and knelt beside her. "What happened?" Meara struggles to compose herself. "My father caught us. He killed Michael." "Who's yer father?" Meara hesitated before speaking. "Ewan Macfoulle."
    A look of horror crossed James's face. "Are ye runnin' from him?" he asked. "No..... He's dead too. After he killed Michael, I took his life." Meara hung her head. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up through her tears at captain James. His face was grim. He patted her on the shoulder and said "I know what ye are. And I know what kind of man yer father was. While I'm not sayin' it was right to kill 'im, I do think th' world's better off now that 'e's gone."
    He helped Meara to her feet. "I suppose the rest of the pack'll be after ye' now." Meara nodded. "aye." she said. James nodded slowly. "then I guess we'd better be off." Meara stopped him. "It's too dangerous. the pack'll kill ye' if the catch us." James only smiled. "I've survived war, famine, a shipwreck and more than one encounter with yer clan. I think I'll be alright." Meara hessitated.
    Suddenly, in the distance, they heard a lone howl. Meara recognised it as a distress call. "They must have found him." She whispered. "Do you think they'll know it was you what killed 'im?" She nodded. "My scent is all over the church. plus i'm probably the only one missing from the village." James grabbed her arm, and pulled her towards his boat. " We gotta get on the water before someone finds ye' here. Come on!"
    Meara ran with him to the boat. Within a few minutes they were out of the harbour. " Stay down below till we're outta sight." James warned. Meara found a small cot and sat. She fell back and starred at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and thought about where she could go, how she would survive. Within a few minutes she was asleep.

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    Rhage Mcleod, stood over Ewan's body. He was in his partial form. Not quite wolf, not quite human, but a mixture of the two. The lycans could change their form from fully wolf to fully human, as well as a combination of the two.
    He could smell Meara's scent all over the little church. He glanced at the dead human in the corner of the room and guessed he was the one Meara had been secretly meeting. He had heard roumors about his cousin's secret companion. He assumed Ewan had discovered them, killed the human and Meara gotten revenge.
    Rhage through back his head and howled. Within a few minutes help would arive. He knew what would happen then. The councle would meet and discuss who the new leader would be. Normally, as the closest relative of the dececed, Meara would take her father's place. But since she had been the one who killed him, the next closest would be chosen. A slight smile crossed Rhage's face. As Ewan's nephew, he would be the one. The one with the power. The leader of the Macfoulle clan. He could hardly wait.