The scent of blood always came first.
Adrian Vukan huddled in the shadows behind a weathered stone wall, the wet wind stinging his face as the aroma swept in on his breath- smoke, sweat, iron… and a whiff of sadistic cruelty.
And still another raid. Another human settlement was assaulted.
He tilted his head out toward the uproar beyond where the trees lined. Shouts rent the night. Buildings burned. Boots thundered across dirt saturated with ash. Men whooped in sharp, malevolent tones, their sound echoing above the mingling cries of the defenseless.
And then, too, the smell of blood.
Adrian stood up to his full height, looming over the rest of his strike team, his muscles rigid under his black leather. The full moon loomed overhead within the trees, dropping silver down his back. It glimmered against the soft gold spark in his eye, which his pack understood to be on the lookout for.
A warning. The beast was close.
"Alpha," was a faint whisper behind him. His second-in-command, Marek, stepped out of the undergrowth. "Fifteen we counted. Mostly drunken raiders. No sign of any defensive organization."
Adrian didn't respond right away. He was looking out across the village. A tiny house was slowly burning; its roof was already on fire. Just beyond was a running woman. Stumbling. Being pursued.
By three men.
Adrian's lips clenched tightly between a silent snarl.
Marek looked where he was. "You want her extracted?"
"I'll do it myself," he whispered gruffly, his words charged with repressed rage.
He proceeded without waiting.
Reviewing
As soon as his boots hit the edge of the village, the ground seemed to respond. Whispering wind wrapped around him, smoke dividing in respect or terror. Fire cast its shadow upon the walls, long and horrible.
One raider spotted him too late.
Adrian's hand was around the man's throat, lifting him up in a quick movement and slamming his back into a smoldering cart. It broke ribs. He wheezed once, then fell unconscious.
The other raider swung an axe-- sloppy, slow.
Adrian intercepted the weapon in mid-swing. His golden eyes went wide. He jerked on the handle and pulled loose the axe, plunging it into the knee of his attacker and then, in a vicious motion, into his temple.
The third raider was still chasing after the lady.
Adrian's boots hammered mud and stone as he ran- he was running at an inhumanly fast pace. He reached out and grabbed the running shape, grabbing at her wrist. She struggled and screamed, nails scratching his arm.
Adrian's fist connected with the raider's back, and he lurched forward while the woman flew to the ground. She rolled on her side, screaming, hair fanning out like ink.
The raider rolled onto his back, gasping, wide-eyed.
"You don't know who you're touching," he grunted, his throat rough, almost feral.
Then he shifted.
Bones snapped. His face contorted. Fur erupted down his arms, his fingers transformed into claws in a flash. He didn't even shriek; the raider's throat was already ripped open.
There was silence again, only interrupted by sizzling sounds of flame.
Adrian stood over the gore-stained corpse, chest rising and falling. The monster inside him snarled, grinning at his own satisfaction.
Then… a soft sound.
Behind him, the woman, huddled up on the ground, shivering, looking up at him out of wide, terror-struck eyes.
She didn't scream. She didn't run.
She only whispered, "You won't harm me, will you?"
Adrian blinked. The shift receded slowly, his bones resetting with audible clicks. Fur vanished. The wolf's snarl faded, leaving only the man again —sweat-slicked, breathing hard, with golden eyes dimming to amber.
"No," he whispered. "You're safe now."
She looked unconvinced.
***
Forest edge, near temporary camp
She was huddled in a blanket near the fire, arms about her knees. Smoke clung thickly to her tightly curled hair. She was soft-bodied, her curves concealed behind dirty clothing too large to fit her body, probably looted off dead people. Her lip was cracked. An eye was puffed up.
But she carried herself like a creature still struggling to survive.
I'm not from around here," she whispered hoarsely. "I was brought here by… by him. Once his town was conquered."
Adrian did not speak. He was sitting across from her, honing a knife, allowing her to speak. He understood the flow of trauma. Better to have it bleed out than keep it locked in.
"He bought me like livestock. Said I'd make a good wife." She choked. "I'd actually buried my own husband three weeks before that. Then I was thrown into another jail."
Adrian's hands paused briefly.
"You killed him," she went on accusingly in his direction. "Didn't ya?
"Yes."
"Thank you."
They locked eyes- their dark, injured, uncertain gazes. His inscrutable.
"Your name is?" he asked.
"Lilian. But everyone calls me Lily."
Adrian turned back to his knife. "I'm Adrian."
There was a pause in the rhythm until she demanded, "What are you?"
He didn't respond.
Instead, he stated, "You need rest. We'll leave early."
****
Adrian's hands were bloody.
He was sixteen on his first kill of another wolf, the Blood Rite, a merciless ritual to decide leaders of the Northern Fang pack. They hadn't wished him to fight. "The accursed lad," they muttered. "Half animal, half witchspawn."
He had beaten them all.
Not out of cruelty. Not even out of delight. Just necessity.
It had made him strong, yes—but it took more. He could not shift like them. Transitions were accompanied by pain, as bones twisted helplessly in the moonlight. He couldn't breathe some nights. He woke some nights with blood underneath his nails and did not know whose.
But still, he fought.
Still, he rose.
By age twenty-three, he was Alpha, not through lineage, but through survival.
***
"She can't remain around people," Marek stated, his voice rough as he stood out of range from the blaze. "You know what they'd do to her. She's witnessed too much."
"She's still here," stated Adrian.
"She's not one of us."
"She will be."
Marek froze. "You think she has a hand in this curse?"
"I don't know," he moaned. "But she didn't yell. She stared at me like I wasn't a monster."
"They only say that once they have seen worse."
Adrian's jaw tightened. "Exactly
***
Later that evening -- Alone by the fire
Lily sat up awake, gazing into the flames.
Adrian approached silently, dropping a pouch of dried meat beside her.
She flinched.
I'll not harm you," he said softly. "You're not a captive.".
"I don't know who I am anymore."
"A survivor."
She looked at him, bitter. "That's not the same as living."
He was across from her, and between them was the fire. Silence grew, but it was not empty. You rescued me," she finished at last. "Why? His eyes flashed up to the moon in the sky. "Because once… I wasn't saved."