'Lycan in the storms'

~Chapter one~

“Why?” Lucas snarls, and I have to back away.

“I’ve never met another wolf before... I was curious” I decide to arrange my answers carefully.

“And what makes you think I won’t kill you?” He asks, leaning close, I can smell the bloods in his breath and it makes me want to vomit. A lump forms in my throat and I can no longer speak.

“He’s a good tracker” Belle steps in. I look at her and she smiles back at me. Suddenly I feel safe. Who’d have thought it, I’ve been saved by the Belle.

Lucas looks shocked for a moment, he wasn’t expecting Belle to stand up to him, for a moment I think he may push her aside and kill me there and then, but instead he just sighs deeply, “You can stay, but you have to work” he grumbles. I can tell Lucas hates the idea, which just makes me love it even more, “Sure, I’ll work, what do you want me to do?”

“You can be our little hound dog” Lucas grins slightly; I think he likes the idea of me as some sort of pet to them. I shrug. I am happy to do some work if it means I’ll finally have a home.

The work isn’t hard, it’s actually rather simple. I sniff around, try and pick up a scent, and when I do I tell the others where to go and then they come back later with a meal. The only thing that bothers me is having to share the meal, when I was alone I didn’t have to share, so I’m used to bigger portions, but I have a sneaky suspicion Lucas is making sure that I get less than my fair share, just so that he can watch me squirm. If I ever get too hungry I sneak out at night and do some of my own killing, not many animals come out at night so the pickings are minimum, but I manage. Every day is like the next, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, I’m not allowed to leave the base in fear that I may run away and give away their position, what is Lucas so afraid of? There is nothing out there apart from the humans and they never come to these parts of the woods, as far as I know. One day I found the answer to my question, as I was sniffing around I picked up a new scent, it was fox or hare or deer, it was wolf, but it wasn’t anyone from our pack. I got back to the others and let them know. Everyone but Lucas and Belle stayed inside the cave, hiding and waiting. Lucas shifted and went to search the area around the cave whilst Belle waited by the entrance, looking out for any intruders. It was an intense moment; I don’t know how to fight other wolves, what if they attack? What if they see me as the weak one and go straight for me? No-one in the pack will help me, not if Lucas tells them not to, I’m just a waste of space to him, what does it matter if I die? From outside the cave I hear distant howls and snarls, and I immediately register what’s going on, I was right, there was going to be a fight, and I would have to be in it.

Everyone in the cave shifts into their wolf forms and gathers at the cave entrance, howling, snarling, and baring the teeth and claws. When I make it past the others I see six big frames covered in black fur and eyes glowing bright. Behind them a badly injured Lucas lays, wheezing and gasping for breath. Belle runs to help him, but the line of black wolves blocks her off and one of them swipes at her, leaving a deep gash in her right shoulder. Belle yelps loudly, the sound is horrible and watching is painful. They wolves push Belle off to the side and move toward the rest of us, I begin to shake uncontrollably. The other wolves look fierce, I can’t show them any weakness, yet I can’t stop shaking. They get closer and closer, knocking down the rock barrier that surrounds the cave. Nobody from the pack does anything; they just stand in line, blocking the cave entrance. I can’t stand still any longer and before I know it I’m launching myself at the wolf in front of me, I’m lucky to catch him off guard and get a firm grip around his wind pipe with my teeth. He drops to the floor within minutes, twitching in his last seconds of life. My kill has an immediate effect, everyone bursts into a battle, and blood thirsty snarls fill the air along with the sound of snapping bones and ripping flesh. I sneak away to Belle, she is slumped against a tree, gritting her teeth as the blood pours from her wound, I want to lick it clean, I want to help her, but she shakes her head when I try nudging her with my nose, whimpering sympathetically.  I look over to Lucas, he is lying on his side in a pile of blood stained leaves. I leave Belle’s side and carefully walk over to him, inspecting the wound on his stomach as I get closer. Lucas snarls at me as I come closer, but I know he is not strong enough to do any damage to me, so I ignore his warning until I’m close enough to smell the blood from his wound. I sit by him, watching, I don’t know what to do, so I just wait, for something, anything to happen.

I hear the crunching of leaves under foot and I turn, prepared for battle, I see Belle before she sees her attacker and that’s when I run. My claws go straight into the underside of the black wolf as he pounces for Belle, my counter attack pulls him off target and he lands on top of me, pinning me to the ground, digging his claws into my shoulders as his teeth snap at my neck. I dodge his attacks and struggle hard to kick him off, but eventually I get my feet underneath him and kick into his stomach, sending him backwards. I stand and run for the wolf, claws and teeth bared, ready for battle. We clash, I have my teeth latched onto his neck and his claws dig deep into me just above my shoulder-blade, his claws stay stuck in me even when he falls down dead and I have to painfully free myself by using one of the sharp rocks from the barrier. I wince from the pain and have to limp for a while until I’ve got to fight off another wolf; this one was already hurt and easy to kill. I take a moment to assess the area, the pack has returned to resting as the last of the black wolves fall. I rest against the outside of the cave and sigh deeply, closing my eyes for a moment as I catch my breath. When I open my eyes I see Belle and Lucas in their human forms, both of them limping slowly back to the inside safety of the cave. Me and the rest of the pack follow.