Makayla Reed's Story

Makayla stalked the town's streets in the form of her sandy blonde wolf, watching her fellow pack members and making sure they were alright and doing what they had been ordered to do. She still bared a headache as consequence for the previous night, but ignored it. A headache, afterall, is hardly something to cry about. She knew that her partying ways needed to stop, things were getting out of hand and she needed to focus solely on her role as beta. Hmph, focus. Now that would be the day. Makayla was many things, but she was no fool. She knew fully well that her position was in danger and that if she didn't make some serious improvements she would lose it. That couldn't happen, what would her parents think? They would never be able to watch her with pride, only with disappointment.

Suddenly, an overwhelming smell passed her nostrils, practically making her wolfy eyes pop out of her head. She quickened her pace to a sprint, following the scent, and was shocked by what she found at the end of the trail.There stood a girl; sandwiched between Makayla and two other wolves from the pack. 'Why didn't they get the Alpha?' She wondered, but soon realised it was a stupid question. They were most likely bored and wanted something to show off to the Alpha. Unconsciously rolling her eyes, she remembered that the task on hand was more important. She let out a snarl at the girl, who was clearly frustrated by her lack of luck that night.

He skimmed the area the scent was fresh two of them the ones he had been tracking for a while. He moved his legs faster trying to catch up to the beasts there was a small town nearby and he was damn if he was going to let them hurt anyone. He hear their attention being caught by something good with this I'll be able to get even closer without them noticing me He thought to himself. There was a small breeze coming from his left side which mean he had to stay to the right to avoid being sniffed out. He got closer to what seem an old neighborhood the houses were empty and look like they been that way for a while. He clenched his fist this was just another reminder of why he needed to kill those animals. He saw something else a girl running he knew this was now getting harder him fighting the werewolves easy, but protecting someone while he did it maybe if he had back up but most of the hunters stayed up north guarding the big cities. He padded the hilt of the sword he carried in his back call him old style but he saw that a blade with the edges bathed in silver was a terrifying kill machine to them, also it didn't hurt he had mad dog his trusty 5.7 mml ready with the bullets to wreck anything in its way. He was no closing in on the three he decided to go for the girl first as she was being attack watching her push off the white wolf he made his way to the White one and before the wolf could react he used his training to push him down to the downstairs level with a well executed hip toss. He jumped across to reach the girl his eyes and ears waiting for the two wolves to return " You alright, did they bite you " he ask concerned he knew if that was the case he need it to kill her. He reached for his sword as he waited for the answer being caught of guard wasn't something he let happen often.

Lizzie shakes her head and shows him the pads she put on. She sees a wolf with sandy blonde fur and hazel eyes snarling at her. She turn around to see a long branch going to the forest. She runs along it kicking on it hard when she got to the tree to make the branch snap. She sees mud on the ground so she drops down and rolls in it so they find it harder to smell her. She then runs through the forest way from the murder scene. 'What just happened?' she thinks. Lizzie heard a howl and turns around to see the dark brown wolf running after her. "Do they ever fucking give up!?" she shouts out loud in anger. She sprints away trying to throw them off but it was obvious that they would catch up as she was already starting to pant as she has been sprinting for ages. She starts to slow down as she runs out of energy and the white wolf is also in sight now. Lizzie knows she can't do anything. She used to not mind them unless they tried to eat her but in this situation, even hunters are her friends. She thinks back to that day as she runs.

(PAST)
The fire crackles as Benjamin (Lizzie's dad) puts a few twigs on it. It was early in the morning and Kathryn (Lizzie's mother) comes down the stairs. David (her younger brother) is sitting on the floor cross legged playing about with a small wool ball they found next door. All was quiet until they came. First there was a knock on the door. "I wonder who that is..." Kathryn says as she walks to the door. Lizzie watches her and just before she opens the door, Lizzie realizes they could be werewolves. "Wait!" she shouts but it was too late. The door opened and there was a ringing of shooting in her ears as Kathryn was mowed down by the bullets. "Mummy!" David says. Lizzie instinctively grabs David and carries him to cover. Benjamin follows. "You two go. I can give you a few seconds to run but only a few seconds." Benjamin says. "Dad no!" Lizzie shouts. "GO!" he shouts. He runs out of cover and gets shot lots of times. Lizzie picks up David, smashes the window next to her and vaults over it to escape. She hears gunshots behind her signifying they are being shot at. She jumps to the side and keeps running for 10 minutes. She puts David down to see he was shot in the chest. He is gasping for air. "Liz... It hurts..." David gasps. Tears come out of Lizzie's eyes. "No David. Your okay... Your okay..." she says but it is clear he is already dead. She bursts into tears. She lost everything that day. Her family, her only safe place and her trust in other humans. The hunters had obviously thought they were werewolves and that was why they came.

(PRESENT)
She remembers the knife in her pocket and she pulls it out. She had never used any weapons as she has just had to run right now. 'First time for everything.' she thinks. She takes the knife out while running and checks again hoping that they aren't still chasing her. All three of them are and the hunter has seemed to have disappeared. She turns around knife ready and the sandy blonde one jumps on her immediately disarming her as she didn't hold it tight enough. 'Shit!' she thinks. She pushes the wolf off to see many more are now around her and the brown wolf, now looking closer is actually light brown, is on top of her.

Ruan allowed himself to slide down the hill slightly ahead of Arturo, keeping his footsteps light, which was one of his several key talents. if Ruan wanted to he could become a ghost, silent in step and a mere white shadow in wolf form. It wasn't until they got closer and where about to enter the streets of the town that the situation began to change. The sun was setting and Ruan felt the change come over him like a violent wave. The familiar sensation of bones popping and shifting under his skin, painful but strangely a relief, as if he'd spent the day cramped at the driver's seat of a car all day. Ruan's clothes slipped off, falling to the floor and he shook himself pure moon-white fur being tossed to and fro across his smaller but lithe strong figure. It was right about then that the human they'd been tracking came out from the house, turned, and spotted them all in quick succession. Ruan acted on pure instinct instantly tagging her as prey in his mind the moment she turned her back and began to run.

He bolted, his tail raised level with his spine as he went at top speeds after her, a snarl at the front of his throat as he snapped at her ankles. If he'd caught her, he wouldn't kill her. He would take her down and disable her legs first before turning human and taking her in with Arturo. It wasn't really about showing off for him. It was more the chance to bond with another of his pack mates and fullfill another duty for the Alpha and the pack. Running through the streets was easy but running through the forest was natural. This human was a complete fool. She should know if there's one wolf coming out of the forest there could be ten wolves hiding in it as well keeping alert to the scent and sound of its brethren. Ruan leapt across the broken log just as it snapped digging his paws in in order to keep from slipping into the steep ditch barring the way back into the forest on the other side. Once free Ruan slowed and let loose a howl to inform the others of his position and situation. The very tone of his unique and personal song both identifying him and screaming a single word to the alpha and all the others. CHASE!

The white wolf continued said chase, keeping easy pace with the human, it wasn't hard for him being the wolf of pure stamina and speed. The scout and occasionally when he had nothing else to do, assistant hunter. Ruan howled again, loudly and with the fierce energy of his wolf, the eagerness for the taste of blood in his voice. His pack was coming.

Arturo ran in close quarters with Ruan still in his human form, he could see the human running from then he glanced to the night sky. His heartbeat grew louder in his ears as his body contorted to the changed, light brown fur tearing through his skin as he landed on all fours. His feet thundered on the ground right on Ruan's heels overtaking him as they burst out of the forest that the human ran through.

He chased after the human again but Makayla had appeared disarming the human of her silver knife. Arturo circled the human snarling fiercely, he zig zagged towards the human taking her down quickly. He pinned her to the ground leaning closer to her face growling deeply, his eyes glaring into hers. He snorted out a breath glancing to the other wolves, keeping his feet on the girl he changed back to his human form but kept his feet on the girl weighing her down.

He growled deeply and spoke " you put up quiet a fight, didn't you?. Give us a bit of fun, right guys?" He said giving a dark chuckle and glancing to the others.

Makayla chased the human girl with ease until she turned, revealing that she had a knife. Taking quick action, she jumped on the girl and disarmed her. After being pushed off, she stood up swiftly and stood around her with the others as Arturo had her under his foot in human form.

Deciding to stay in wolf form in case the human had any more tricks up her sleeve, remembering the hunter that had attempted to save her would most likely still be around. She let out a dark, wolfy chuckle as she nodded in agreement with Arturo. She used chasing humans as a way of release, it being one of the rare occasions that she had a clear goal. Whenever she saw one killed or killed one herself, that was when she had difficulty. She used the memory of her parents to get her through it, making herself believe that they would want this, that they would be proud. She wasn't a monster, this wasn't her idea of fun. Fun for her was cracking jokes, partying. Makayla always felt as though she didn't fit in with the pack, despite it being all she's ever known, she hated this way of life. She didn't like to hurt people, human or not, it just wasn't her.

She was constantly at battle with herself, wanting to run from the pack but at the same time not wanting to be alone. 'Focus, Makayla, you need to focus!' She reminded herself, shaking out of her thoughts and paying full attention to the task at hand.

Ruan never had the unfortunate experience of watching his family die or become wolves. He had no idea what became of them and so far Ruan felt it pointless to fuss and worry over it. As far as he was concerned his human life had been fruitless and pointless. He'd spent all those years doing nothing but what his father had declared right or what his bosses had demanded of him. He'd never really lived for himself and thus felt no loss for his human life. He felt at home now in the pack especially when he was in wolf form. He felt he had real purpose then, real freedom as well. Ruan trotted off to the side, circling Arturo and the human. A snarl bubbled at the back of his throat as he hungered for the chance to tear out her throat with his teeth and feed off her innards. He didn't however. The only thing that kept him from it was the hierarchy of the pack. He passed Makayla and his dark eyes lingered on her as he smelled her very insecurities. Her doubts and empathy evident in the slights of her posture and the look in her eyes. He didn't pay much mind to it however and watched on to see what would happen next.

Pavel's ears perked up hearing the first call with human ears. 'Ruan.' He shook his head a bit wishing they had informed him before they had started their chase,boys will be boys as the saying goes tho. He loosed his garments and set them aside in a tight ball be for shifting. For him it was a little easier than most, like slipping into a winters jack after you already had one one, do able but not exactly comfortable.

He stretched once , mostly his shoulders and back , simply making sure everything was alright then shook his fur loose before darting off to where his pack was it was an easy enough run for him he'd be there in a few moments.
He didn't know which he enjoyed more. Racing through the woods effortlessly like he could never do as a human or the fact that when he shifted it was like taking a helmet off. No longer having muffled hearing, he could taste the air with every breath, and even feel closer to the earth as it raced beneath him. The second call came.

Pavel was closer than he realized and was soon upon the group. He felt a grin across his mouth , at least imagined the feeling.
The sight of his pack surrounding the human always made him grin, it felt like yet another small victory knowing that they had surrounded this harlot luck those wretched monsters had surrounded his wife. A deep snarl rumbled from his throat when his eyes met the humans , ears back and teeth bared.

She watched as the light brown wolf turned into human form. It was a boy and his foot still on her keeping her body down. She smiles. Her father taught her to always act like I have the upper hand. 'You haven't COMPLETELY disarmed me...' she thinks. She had a trick up her sleeve, or more rather a boot. She quickly checks for an opening and oh my god, it means going through the whole pack or climbing a tree and then jumping from tree to tree. She kicks the werewolf with their foot on her's other foot that was keeping them balanced and they tumble to the right but they immediately get back up. The sandy blonde wolf growls getting ready to attack but they took too long. Lizzie was already climbing the tree. She hears a slash under her and she checks to see if her leg was scratched. Thankfully, it hit the tree so she continues climbing. It reminds her of the day the hunters came, how alone she was and is right now facing inevitable death but it also gives her hope because that means, the miracle could happen again.

Location: Nearest bar and civilization.
Time: Same night.

This night, Laavi Korpiklanen was playing with his band in the bar called "Neon wolves". Laavi and his band "Licking Iron" were making the bar turn over to a metal rock bar over the years, and people didn't mind. His band had gained good relationships with the staff and regular customers. The twelve tables inside were full of people drinking and partying with loud volume and cheers. The vocalist growled songs about hunting down your prey and feasting on it, in whatever way you pleased. He winked at a woman with short red hair and she giggled before grabbing her drink with a fully tattooed arm, not daring to keep eye contact for too long.
Laavi laughed deep and loudly in the microphone as a part of the song before jumping in on the text again. Some of the men laughed, knowing Laavi used to get sidetracked when on stage. He was one of the young werewolves who always spread good mood around him. The place was so crowded you had to slalom your way over to the bar.

In the break Laavi sat by the bar with another friend in the band. A dark haired man had taken over the microphone on stage to keep the music flowing until "Licking Iron" was supposed to be on again.
"Jaevlig bra," a man said to Laavi as he passed by and patted his back. "You too bud," Laavi answered and smiled at the attempt of Norwegian. He dipped his smoke in the ash tray, trying to keep up with his friend's story of last night. "You gonna hunt down that red haired, then Laavi?" he asked after realizing the rough blonde was not impressed by his story. A deep chuckle left the hairy throat. He accepted his pint from the bartender and grimaced at his buddy "I scared her off, man...Girls can't handle me, I'm too hot!" he exclaimed and threw his arms to the side. By doing so he hit someone behind him. He immediately apologized, still smiling "Oi, Sorry, dude!" the man punched Laavi playfully in the shoulder and they both turned back to theirs with a chuckle.

Laavi took a heavy sip from his beer and jerked his head while stretching his jaw as if something bothered him. A question came from his buddy "You haven't feasted for a while, have you?" A small annoyed growl from Laavi and a shudder while looking away added up his answer "Meeh, been too busy practicing." "Bullshit..." Jack went serious, he knew Laavi and he always turned his head when something was up. He'd been thinking about his unreachable friend for a while and decided to confront him. He cared about his wolf and band brother; "You can take down whatever you need, Laavi. What's the problem? I know the lack of humans, but there's always a way. I went on a long trip with the guys last week- Why don't you ever join us to hunt, Laavi." The long haired blonde vocalist moved displeased and grunted before taking another large sip, almost emptying the glass.
Jack would have none of it; "Come on, what's wrong? You're practically our brother, why won't you-" Jack was surprised and tensed at first when Laavi shot up and got him in a headlock while growling, then he laughed and spoke in his ear; "You're not my mother, Jack. Let's keep it like that, huh, bud?" Laavi kissed Jack on the cheek before walking over to party of young werewolves, who he loved to fool around with. He needed the motivation for next song and didn't want to talk about why he hadn't been in the mood for hunting.

The truth was; he was lonely and couldn't find a way to fill the gap. He filled it with songs, beer and other werewolves for now.

Jason made his way back from the outer borders of the forest as soon as he heard the commotion at the Pack's camp. He sniffed the air, 'a human', he thought. He continued in the direction of the camp and as he reached it he was met by a rather crazy scene. The whole pack could be seen snarling and scratching at a tree and a girl, a beautiful one in Jason's eyes, was getting higher and higher, trying to escape. 'Her fate is already sealed.", thought Jason, who proceeded to sit down on a log, 'Shame she seems nice.' Jason chuckled at his own comment before looking up as the girl got closer to the top. Being the pack hunter meant that he was more agile than the others with slightly keener senses. Jason brushed through the crow of people surrounding the tree and looked up, saying, "You know you're done for right? I mean, you have a limit to how high you can climb and even then you can't stay up there forever. We will eat you whether you are dead or alive. Meat is meat." The girl did not respond to Jason's taunting, so he decided to put his agility and strength to the test and began to climb.

The tree did not have many footholds, but this was no worry for Jason, or any of the Pack for that matter, because he had claws. The only difference was that this would all be over quicker if he did it. He was catching up to the girl quickly and as he neared her bottom half, reached out for her leg.

Makayla growled at the girl as she escaped, readying herself to attack but was too late as she was already climbing the tree. Angered, she attempted to slash at her leg but missed and got the tree. She snarled at the girl from below, accompanied with her fellow pack members but was cut short mid-snarl by the pack hunter, Jason, brushing past her and speaking up. She mentally winced at his reference to eating her, Makayla hated that part of being a werewolf. She didn't hate all humans, just the hunters, but they were unpredictable. Keeping any alive would be a risk and it was her duty to help in the killing of them all. Others are often shocked to learn that she was born a werewolf, as she had many typically human traits and knew that certain pack members weren't exactly thrilled about them.

She watched as Jason climbed the tree with what looked like ease, not getting involved as she knew he could handle it but instead standing as close to directly beneath the girl as she could, ready to catch her if she fell. Of course, being in wolf form, she would be catching her with her jaw but the girl was going to die anyway and she knew it would be preferred by the others if it was by a wolf rather than a fall.

Vada ran behind the rest of the pack, her small, lithe form darting in and out of the shadows as the rest closed in on what smelled to her like a human. She usually kept to the back of pack, due to her age and also to the fact that she had somehow become the resident healer. She definitely knew her stuff, Vada’s mother had taught her well before her untimely death and the teenager had suddenly learned what real responsibility meant. Speaking of responsibility, the thin brown wolf came to a sudden stop as she spotted the rest of her pack surrounding a human girl. She wondered why the girl still lived as Vada watched her climb a tree. It seemed as though some of her pack preferred to try verbal intimidation, something she never bothered with. Vada usually let her brute strength and raw agility do the talking for her.

Winding her way through other pack members Vada came to a stop near the foot of the tree where she sat and waited patiently. Vada was known for her patience and tenacity especially when it came to prey, and she was sure that sooner or later, tree or no tree the human would be drawing her last breath this night. Vada licked her sharp teeth, her golden eyes never leaving the frightened girl in the branches.

Ruan paced impatiently. This kill was starting to draw out. They where all there, there was obviously no escape for this girl and they had her stuck in a tree. He padded over to their alpha, Pavel, swiftly shifting back to human as he did. He sat crouched in the leaves, his furless body nevertheless warm against the chill of night. "We killing this one? When we where chasing her I did catch another scent out there. There's a hunter lurking and he's placed wolf's bane. Surely she could be useful luring him out into the open. Hunters love to be the heros. We'll either need to move on to the next territory or take him out before others arrive." he suggested

"There are many ways a woman can be used to our advantage in this." Ruan looked up towards the woman, his dark eyes glimmering in the moonlight.

Pavel huffed a little still in his wolf form. Ruan was right, and this news of a hunter changed things a bit. On one hand a kill was a kill. 'If we just killed her now that would be one less person to worry about. But on the other, if this hunter had anything to him, him un-distracted could to prove annoying.' pavel sat and looked up at the girl regarding her worth as a kill or as bait. He only had to think for a moment.
'we need to move, we've been here to long and a single kill is not worth getting the pack killed over.'
He shifted to his human form.

" It's time to leave." Pavel spoke. " Live tonight human, live tonight like it's you're last night.You and you're kind's days are numbered." He spoke with no malice or anger. He spoke like he was reading something from a children book with out much enthusiasm.

He turned on a heal and started walking and shifting at the same time. Seamlessly he trotted off as a large black wolf only looking back to make sure his pack left this girl alone for the night. They had to make a plan to draw out this hunter.
His yellow eyes watched the human in the tree, he chucked. ' A tree... of all places you run. I should have let them rip you apart for your ignorance.'

Lizzie watched as the wolf under her skids down in annoyance and walks off. Some of the other wolves do the same. 'This has to be a trap' she thinks. She sees a branch above her that goes to a tree towards where that hut was. She remembers the gun she dropped in there so she uses the branch like a monkey bar to get to the other tree. Lizzie continued looking for long branches and using them like monkey bars until she though she was far enough away. She slowly climbs down and sprints the opposite direction of where they went. She checks behind her to see no person or wolf following her but she continues running in case the are hiding. She finds the hut again and runs upstairs again for the gun. She picks it up and notices a grenade marked smoke. She knows what to do with it. She puts it in her pocket and continues. 'This might slow them down.' she thinks. Being taught about escape and evasion, if she makes a booby trap with this they might slow down thinking there might be more lethal ones. She makes a tiny basket and checks to see if the smoke grenade fits in it and then adds a tiny stick to it to remove the pin when it is set. She makes sure they aren't in the same pocket and checks for a sort of bag but she had no luck. She grabs a few sticks and gets a bit of her shoelace for later. She then runs off again.

Jason trudged off in a huff. What was Pavel thinking? Jason knew that he could have gotten the girl if he had just a few more seconds. He was an arm's length away. Where were the pack to move? Jason still hated Pavel for what he did to his family, he watched him tear his family apart. It was Jason's determination not to cry that had convinced Pavel to turn him. He didn't want to be a werewolf, he wanted to be dead. He sat on a tree trunk some distance away from the others, refusing to associate himself with them at the best of times. But he was hungry and it was getting worse, the less humans there were around, the less food. He walked to the river to get clean before moving. The other wolves probably would have called this a waste of time, but washing helped Jason connect to his past; he doubted he would ever let go. He stripped off down to his underwear and began to scrub off the dirt. After Jason had finished he rested to dry in the sun. He didn't care if the Pack had left without him, he could pick up the scent later. He just hoped no one saw him, soaking wet and in his underwear. That would be embarrassing...

Ruan started off with the rest of his pack, turning back into his white wolf form before he noticed Jason wandering off. He didn't think much of it. As a wolves they all understood a freedom that they all had. No one was bound by duty, they where only bound by blood and strength. The duty came with the need to survive and that's why every single wanderer always came back to the pack. Because they needed each other to survive. Ruan's duty came next, as the scout of the pack. He jogged, light footed up to where Pavel walked. Ruan's tail tucked low a sign of respect and of his place in the pack he looked to Ruan, the questions on the surface of his expression. He wanted to know where they would be migrating to so that he could scout on ahead for danger or nearby challenges. Sometimes Ruan was sent miles ahead to a location in order to find small rogue packs of three or four wolves encroaching on what was to be their territory. That or he would find that flooding had made their destination impossible to live in. Ruan's howl was always the warning sign. Sometimes he was sent miles back with one or two other wolves from the pack in order to cover their tracks from hunters or draw them in another direction. It all depended on the situation. Ruan's versatility on long trips and navigation skills made him infinitely valuable for them specifically.

Makayla was kind of relieved when the Alpha decided to let the girl live, glad she didn't have to witness another death. It was only one of many, but she'd take it. She stood still for the longest, watching as Jason wandered off before turning to her and giving her a look of apology. It was little, but extremely significant. Knowing that she was now behind, she ran off to join them before the girl even had time to react. She could have not even seen it, but Makayla didn't care. It's the thought that counts, right? She'd never let her morals get in the way of the pack's safety, but that didn't dull the guilt after killing someone. Soon she was walking just behind Pavel and Ruan slowing her pace slightly so that she was under no risk of passing them. She wasn't one for attention in the pack, she didn't fit in already as it is. Makayla only stayed because she needed to survive, plus the pack is all that she'd ever known.

"Licking Iron" was placing their instruments ready for the second and final play. Laavi hurried through the curtains on to the stage where his band mates waited while joking around with the expectant audience. Laavi forced both his band and some of the buddies in the audience to snort and chuckle when he stumbled in a thick cord. A grin was still on his face when he picked up his el-bass after he too had chuckled at his clumsiness. He was exhausted and hungry, but his mood were always on top. Jack were the only one giving Laavi a second glance of worry. He wondered how long since the blonde had ate, and if his increasing uneasiness and carelessness had something to do with the starvation Jack suspected. The band didn't give Laavi's intense performance any second thought, instead they joined him. The growls and crazy attitude Laavi added to the songs made the audience and most of the band even more excited and it kept going as one of the best performances they did in the "Neon Wolves."