Forbidden

By Amanda Wiparina

Embers life was routine, normal, stable
Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened in her simple life. But Ember wanted more, she just didnt know what she was searching for until a boy on a black motorcycle rode into town. Challenging everything she knew.

Will the secrets this boy holds so close destroy everything?

Will Ember be able to forgive the secrets of those who were suppose love her the most?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469183329

Amanda Wiparina

Amanda Wiparina was raised in a Christian home and home schooled until her freshmen year of high school. This privilege gave her the freedom to fall in love with a diversity of different genres. Her writing first started as a hobby, a release from her busy life. When she becomes lost in a muse of writing the words go quickly from the notebook she is writing in to her computer screen. Her passion for life flows through ever word she writes. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and on her blog: lifeofpassion.blogspot.com.

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Prologue 

There once was a curse, a story told long ago. A Priest went on a pilgrimage to a far away land. He found himself lost. The moon hung high in the sky, bright and full. Dark and terrifying was the forest, the priest could not see his hand in front of his face. Stumbling in the dark did him no good, so he sat down on the ground against a tree and prayed to God for continued protection on his journey. Something in the night, a sound or a movement in the forest awakened him. In the night he could see two glowing eyes coming out of the darkness. Human eyes? But not human. A wolf, bigger than any animal he had ever seen, stepped in front of him; the animal’s sharp teeth just inches from his face. The wolf let out a low growl and the Priest was sure that he had come to his end on this earth; but then the impossible happened, the wolf asked him a question,

Do believe in curses, Priest? The wolf’s voice was deep, void of emotion. The priest was in shock and no sound would come from his lips.

Well, I have been cursed, the wolf continued. And I ask nothing of you, I will not harm you save you come with me now. My mate, my . . . wife is dying and her last request is for a man of God to pray over her.

The priest was still in disbelief. He hoped and prayed that this was but a dream and all that would be required of him was to awake. But still very much aware of the beast before him, the priest agreed to follow the wolf to it’s mate. There was an old belief, that the priest held true, that if one died in their sleep they would never awake in the real life; which at the moment was the Priest’s greatest fear.

The Priest became overly curious along the way and asked the wolf why he had been cursed. The wolf looked at the Priest curiously, as if to ask, ‘What concern of it is yours?’ The priest probably thought he had gone crazy anyway, so why shouldn’t someone know their story.

My wife and I lived in the same village are whole lives. We grew up together, fell in love, and grew old together. But there had been a curse on our village for generations. The villagers had to sacrifice one person in every generation to the wolf. My wife and I were very old, we had no family, and no children to keep us so we volunteered together to be sacrificed. I would not live without her in human form or in the wolf form and she felt the same. When we became wolves it was like our lives had begun again. Almost like we had been reborn. We have kept a close count of the years we walked this earth as humans and as wolves. It has been a hundred and twenty-five years. The priest’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. A wolf’s life span is longer when a human soul lives within. The wolf continued to explain, avoidant of the Priest’s reaction.

A cave appeared before them and the wolf continued through the mouth of the cave. The priest hesitated, but followed slowly behind. When the priest’s eyes became adjusted to the dark he saw five wolves surrounding an older, sickly wolf that laid in the center of their circle, barely breathing. The wolf at the center was as white as snow with the bluest eyes, that stared back at him in relief. The white wolf whined softly and the other wolves backed away from her, throwing cautions looks his way.

Priest? Will you pray for me? The white wolf said it in a motherly voice of reassurance and calm. Such a simple request uttered as a last dying wish.

If it is not too great a request, my Lady, the priest asked, Could you revert to your human form?

I cannot, Priest. Since the change we have not been able to revert back to our human forms. But our children can, I do not know how it is done. In wolf form my husband and I can speak in the human tongue but not our children, they can only speak the human tongue in their human forms.

Your husband told me that you have no children. The Priest questioned her though he was completely aware of the six others wolves watching his every move.

The Lord has blessed us, indeed. We wanted children and we prayed for many years but not until our new life did God see fit to answer our prayers. And He has blessed us abundantly, our quiver is full, She moved her head around as best as she could to look at each of her children.

Very well, my Lady, the priest said, overwhelmed, "May I know your name?

Call me . . . Eve, for I have brought forth the first among many.

The priest prayed for her soul and asked that the Lord would accept her into his Kingdom.

God bless you, Priest. A very old woman shall now die in peace.

The priest backed away as the other wolves surrounded their beloved mother once again.

I will take you back now, Priest. said the black wolf as he led him out of the mouth of the cave. At the entrance, the priest stopped and looked back,

Shall I pray that the Lord lift this curse from you and your family?

You do not understand, Priest. The curse has already been broken. Once my wife breathes her last breath everything will be as it should. And the wolf continued to walk away from the cave, into the night.

But you are cursed! Your family is cursed! The Priest yelled in frustration.

The curse was only on my wife, Priest! The black wolf growled his impatience. She sacrificed her life for our village . . . for me. Only one needed to be sacrificed. One! The wolf paced back and forth angrily. I did not have the strength to be without her in either form and I could not leave her behind. So she made the choice for me. When she turned I lost my reason for living, for existing in your world. Until that moment we had never been apart and I never understood until then, but she had always been my essence of life and I hers. Like the air that flows through my lungs, and how can a man live without air? She is my soul mate, we are two half’s to a whole and if torn apart we could never survive. The wolf was silent, looking intently into the night and then turning back to the Priest he asked, Do you understand now, Priest?

I believe I am only just beginning to scrape the surface of understanding,

The priest left that place and never returned. He never told another soul what he had seen or heard that night. But every story he heard among his travels about wolves changing or becoming human, from that day on, he never doubted the truth that lay in those tales.

Chapter 1 

The first vivid memory that came to Ember’s mind was the day her mom left. She had heard her parents talking in hushed tones in the kitchen and it had woke her up. Ember was three years old, she had sat on the stairs listening while, James, her dad, tried so hard to convince Cara to stay.

Cara, please! he pleaded, You can’t leave us . . . I can’t raise her by myself . . . if not for me, then stay for Ember. She needs her mother.

James, I can’t stay. I’m sorry. After everything you have done for me . . . Cara trailed off. But this is for the best. Cara said, finality in her voice. Ember will be fine, you are an amazing father. You both will be just fine . . . Then with a fake smile she said, You’re better off without me. With that she turned around, her red hair trailing behind her, walked out the door, and out of their lives.

It’s been fourteen years since that day. If someone would ask Ember what her first memory was she wouldn’t tell them this. Everyone thought she was too young to remember, anyhow. Ember would tell them a story about jumping in a mud puddle and ruining her new white ‘girlie’ shoes at the age of five. Or when she was seven and her dad took her hunting for the first time . . . Yep, she would tell them a story that made them laugh and smile at how adorable little kids are.

Dad and I, we don’t talk about when Cara left. We both understand that it hurts too much to talk about. He loved her, in a way that I can’t understand and the sad thing is that I don’t think he has ever stopped loving her . . . like he is just waiting for the day when she comes bursting through the door saying, Hi, Honey. I’m home! Like nothing ever happened . . . like she never left.

Well that’s my sad story, we all have one and you have probably heard mine a hundred times over. Sorry. Life is life. Take it or leave it.

My Dad and I live in a small town in Montana called Ismay; where everyone knows everybody. Some people would find this bothersome but I don’t. I like knowing when I finally graduate that my best friend in pre-school will be graduating with me. There are a few schools several miles on the outskirts of Ismay but most people who grow up in Ismay go to Cottonwood High School. The drugstore in our town also doubles as a dinner but don’t let that fool you; it has the best milkshake and double-decker cheeseburger