Casmas Clan: Josiah and Clara
Chapter Two

~ Josiah It has been a year and Josiah felt confident he could pull this off. For the past year, he had been watching and following Albert. He had been calculating and planning and finally decided he would outright challenge Albert for his position as Second. All he had to do was practice and hone his fighting ability for another year and then he could challenge the wolf.

A wolf could only challenge another for their ranking when they were considered an adult, which was between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five depending on the wolf. Josiah was confident they would allow him his challenge next year when he turned eighteen.

A grey colored wolf approached him, causing Josiah to smile. Young Jolepar was the closest wolf to his age and his only friend. The boy also felt the same way he did over Albert's ways and views over humans.

Josiah had spoken of his plans with Jolepar and the young boy happily agreed that would be the best thing for the pack. Oddly enough though, Josiah hadn't seen the boy since that day several weeks ago. Just what had the boy been up to that prevented him from coming to Josiah's den for a visit? He used to come by four or five times a day before. Oh well, it didn't matter. His friend was back now and appeared quite hale. Jolepar probably just had the flu or something that prevented him from leaving his den.

Jolepar yipped at him, causing Josiah to stop and stare down at the wolf. That was strange. Thinking nothing of it, Josiah shrugged and followed Jolepar in the direction of the mountain range and waterfalls. A very bad feeling began to rise within Josiah when seven other pack mates joined them, all in their wolf forms as Jolepar was. What was going on? The last time the pack came together like this was when they butchered that poor human girl. Jolepar didn't, did he? Did his only friend betray his trust and spill his guts out to Albert and Rogé?

Rage, pure and unadulterated, overpowered the bad feeling rising within him. Josiah ground his teeth when Jolepar stopped at a cliff edge overlooking the waterfalls, and right beside Beta Albert. They weren't going to do this to him. They weren't going to tear him apart like they did that poor girl.

"I challenge you, Beta Albert!"

Josiah stated as he quickly changed forms and rushed at Albert who was already in wolf form. Albert's orange eyes glowed in eagerness a moment before a different wolf slammed into Josiah's sandy-colored form. Battling that wolf off, Josiah rose back to his feet and rushed after Albert once more, only to be attacked by another wolf and another. Every time Josiah would fight his way back to his feet, more and more wolves would attack him. All the while, Albert stared on, watching with amused orange eyes and not bothering to raise a paw to fight Josiah himself.

Josiah was quickly losing his strength, between the blood loss and pummeling. He wouldn't let them win though, he just couldn't. Too much was relying on his beating Albert. He fell to the ground once more, but this time he didn't rise back to his feet. He couldn't, even though he desperately tried to over and over again. His body refused to comply. There was a flash and Albert stood over him in human form, smirking at him.

"My dear, poor, Josiah. You never should have challenged me. I don't ever fight fair."

Albert snapped his fingers, then pointed at the cliff. Four pack mates also in human form approached them, before reaching down and grabbing one of Josiah's limbs each. They then lifted him from the ground and walked up to the cliff face. After swinging him back and forth three times, they released his unresponsive body over the cliff. The last thing Josiah saw before the river sucked him under was Jolepar's remorseful gaze peering down at him.

~ Clara Clara loved this school. She loved the school, the town, everything about this place. There was absolutely nothing about this town she didn't like. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She didn't like the fact the town was owned and run by the Casmás Clan. Shapeshifting felines, go figure. Ever since she saw that vision a year ago, she very well couldn't call it anything else but a vision; Clara was terrified of any and all shapeshifters. Especially werewolves or any canines. At least the Casmás didn't shift around the other people in town, so Clara was able to deal with it, and pretend everyone was strictly human. She knew it was a lie, a big one, but she didn't care. She loved Kosta, so she would pretend all she wanted.

Walking down the sidewalks, Clara took in the sights and sounds of the seaport town. It had an old New Orleans feel to it, before the world was destroyed and rebuilt itself. There were no roads in this town, only sidewalks separating the houses, businesses, and other sides of the town. A large playground separated the north side of town from the south side. It was built for both adults and children.

The houses and most of the businesses were built as the old plantation houses once were. They were really lovely and varied in color. Taking the path leading down to the beachfront, Clara admired all the sights, sounds, and smells of town. Extremely glad she no longer lived in that small town she grew up in.

The ocean was marvelous. Reds and golds glittered as waves capped and crested. Seagulls dove into the red water catching their lunch among the silverfish. Not caring about getting dirt or sand all over the rear of her pants, Clara dropped to the ground so she could watch the seagulls play and eat. People walked by her doing their own things, but she ignored them all as she enjoyed the ocean. She had never been this close to an ocean before, not even a river, so she wanted to enjoy this as much as she could.

It had been over an hour when Clara spotted something odd floating in the tide. Standing, she brought a hand up to stop the glare from the sun and stared at the object. 'What is that?' Striding closer to the water's edge, Clara felt the blood drain from her face. It was a body!

"Help! Somebody help!"

She yelled as loud as she could when she noticed the hand of the floating body move. People ran past her when Clara yelled out 'help' once more and pointed at it. A tall, older lady stopped beside her and placed her hand on Clara's shoulder.

"Is he going to be ok?"

Clara couldn't help but ask as she looked up at the lady. She had striking green eyes and a kind countenance.

"It is too soon to tell. But you did a good thing here; you gave the boy a chance."

The lady glanced out at the group pulling the body through the tide and toward shore. Gripping Clara's shoulder a little tighter to get her attention, the lady's gaze returned to her.

"My name is Catalina. What if I walk you home? This has been quite an ordeal."

Catalina didn't give Clara a chance to respond, she just turned her and led her in the opposite direction. It wasn't a bad experience; Catalina answered any and all questions Clara asked, as long as it didn't deal with the floating boy's body.

~ Catalina It was several hours later when Catalina returned to the main den. Upon entering the guest room, she raised an eyebrow at the large, sandy wolf sleeping prone on the bed. Turning her gaze away, she looked over to the chair sitting in the corner of the room and her Alpha, Dermet.

"The boy's a wolf?"

"I believe that is quite obvious, Catalina."

"What are we going to do with him?"

"Nurse him back to health. Then offer him a place to stay among us."

Catalina's eyes widened. "But he is a wolf..."

"Enough, Catalina. It doesn't matter that he is a wolf. He is a shifter who obviously needs help. He can stay here among us if he so decides. Understood?"

Her head bowed. "Yes, Alpha."

"Now tell me of the girl."

"Her name is Clara and she is human. ... Yet not."

Dermet's eyebrow rose. "Explain."

"Well, she is human. But there is more to her. I think she just might be a witch."

"Then we'll need to watch out for her. Protect her. And eventually, claim her as ours."