"I don’t care. Stay still." Kayleen gave her command, and Annie felt the hot water hit her.

Upon returning to the base, Kayleen first sent her entire pack to the medics, forcing healthy members to loudly cheer up injured members as their wounds are treated. Once it was done, medics checked the bodies of wolfkins. Through domination, wolfkins grew in power and stature. With surprise, Annie saw that she actually grew a tiny bit after the events of the night. Upon completion of check-ups, Kayleen ordered her pack to the shower room. Wolfkins had a natural aversion to water, viewing showers as an excessive luxury, unworthy of true warriors. Yet Dragena always insisted on keeping her pack clean, thus the wolf hags ensured her will. Pack W and Pack A both managed to get there first, much to the infuriation of Kayleen, who forced her pack members to wait still, until one of the shower rooms was free. Then, like a caring nanny, she forced the wolfkins inside, walking around the room, making sure that each member of her pack would be clean from the blood and filth of today.

A tight bandage was on one of Annie's legs. The wound on her head was stitched by medics on the base and covered with a waterproof medical patch. She looked at how water, mixed with blood and dirt, was flowing into the sink beneath her feet.

"Wolf hag, will the injured soldiers be fine?" Annie dared to ask, as the wolf hag poured water on her, clicking her tongue in disapproval. When the wolf hag noticed Annie was not cleaning herself properly, she took the job into her own hands.

"One of them had her bottom torn up. She will spend few months in hospital, but eh, we are tougher than this. We all alive, no one lost limbs, everyone will be back in some time."

"That’s goo… Shit!" Annie screamed as Kayleen increased the stream of water from the tube in her paws, slamming Annie against the wall.

"That’s good, my ass! I don’t intend to let you off the hook, Annie!"

"What in the abyss did I do now!?"

The wolf hag turned off the water, coming close and inspecting the body of Annie for any signs of dirt. Annie felt how amber eyes ran all over her body, noticing every scar, every bruise and damage, checking for any weakness. Finally, the wolf hag nodded and grabbed the scout by the head:

"What haven’t you done, you little, stubborn, idiot?" Kayleen spoke slowly, stretching words, "You have ignored telling me about your "problem" with the normies. You have taken off your helmet in a field. You managed to get injured. You made the warlord worry. What else could you keep in secret from me? Any past trauma, hmm? I would have asked you to come with me with any of your problems in the future, but I feel kind of hurt and angry right now. Tsk, tsk, little idiot, we will have to have a long and proper talk real soon. For now, you are free!"

Cursing slightly, Anni wiped the water from her body. Scout took her clothes and was busy dressing herself, gritting from the pain in her leg. Finally, she looked in the mirror at herself. Bruises were covering her body, but this was nothing serious. Medics carefully treated all her cuts and scratches. The whites of her eyes were slowly pushing the blood in them away.

Her paws trembled as she remembered what happened today. The wide eyes of the man that she killed. Blood from the dead covered her armor, sneaking through the cracks onto her fur, soaking all the way to her skin. Trying to get rid of these memories, Annie bit her finger, lightly. Her fangs drew a bit of blood, yet dread remained.

"Scout? Is everything fine?" Asked one of the warriors coming into the room.

"Yes, yes, all fine, everything just dandy!" Annie stormed out of the room, forgetting her jacket inside.

No matter, I will get it later… I need to talk, I need to talk with someone… Thoughts rushed through the mind of Annie as she stormed across the corridors, half lost in fear. She was confused as to why she was afraid. They all survived, all was well, so why was she feeling herself so… so… strange. Each time she blinked, she saw her first kill over and over. Her mouth became dry as she hurried to her room. Her fingers trembled, releasing claws against her will.

"Annie?" said someone, and the scout understood that she nearly crashed into Dragena, who was returning to her quarters from medics. The Warlord was dressed in a light white shirt and simple linen pants. A black belt was over her waist, small communicator was on her belt. Her shirt did little to hide the ugly wound on her skin beneath. With surprise, Annie understood that she was hearing a soft hissing sound and that faint smoke was coming from the edges of the wound. Damaged skin was healing before her very eyes.

"Sorry, warlord, I just… Need some time for myself." Annie bowed hastily, showing her neck. She understood the stupidity of her movement a second later. Dragena never touched anyone with a finger. The last recruit who showed her neck to the warlord was sent to clean toilets for the whole week.

"Of course. Medics finally freed me from my armor. According to the damage that I saw, it will take engineers quite some time to fix it. Time is late, so I will run through your score later and update your record later. You are free to go."

"Record, warlord?" Annie asked in surprise. She hadn’t heard about any scores before.

"Yes." The warlord looked at her, pressing two fingers to her own lower jaw as she was lost in thought, "It is a minor thing that shows your victories and defeats. Since today was your first win, we will start your official record. Pay it no mind, it is of no concern, just something to brag about before other new breeds. Would you like to meditate with me, by any chance? Meditation sometimes helps you to calm down your troubling mind."

"No, thank you, warlord. I need… I need to sleep. Yes, some rest, that’s it." Annie let out a sigh, finally coming up with some clear goal. Yes, she will be again if she just sleeps for a while. Everything will be fine.

"Go on then. Keep in mind, my door is always open for members of my pack, when I have free time, of course." The warlord turned around, reaching for the communicator on her waist.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Not believing her luck, Annie stormed away. Dragena rarely left members of her pack alone. If she notices a flaw in one of her soldiers, the warlord quietly takes the soldiers away, either whipping them into shape with her words or putting them through her own training courses until they meet her standards .In the case of mental distress, Dragena would often make pack members meditate with her, until they were ready to talk about their problems.

Annie reached her room's door and opened it with a trembling paw, a blood smear from her wound on her finger on the door handle. Carty was already inside, sitting in the chair and reading some book. Unlike her usual attire, she was dressed like a peasant tonight. Black pants and a blue jacket over her shoulders, which was all that he had chosen to wear for tonight. The bandages that covered her body probably played some role in this. Carty hated allowing others to treat her wounds with passion. She was sour after every mandatory medical inspection. Serious in the field, the scout tried to escape from medics with some childlike stubbornness.

"Well, this will need cleaning." Carty noted the blood on the handle. She looked at Annie and frowned.

"I… Carty, can I speak… If this is not a prob…" Annie licked her lips, unsure what to say.

"Of course, you can. What’s the matter, Annie?" Carty called her by her own name. This meant that, on this rare occasion, the scout was going to treat her seriously.

"I… I wanted to sleep, but I am afraid right now," Annie said simply, feeling burning shame in her body at this admission, "Each time when I close my eyes, I see the dude whom I offed back in the field. I have no idea why, it was fine just a few hours ago, yet now… I, sorry."

"Ah, yes, it was your first time." The scout put aside her book and stood up. She was about to take Annie's paws, when someone hit the scout in the ass, forcing her to stumble deeper into the room from the doorway.

"Lies! I knew that you were going to keep some secrets from me once again!" Kayleen stumbled into the room, throwing Annie's jacket onto her bed. The wolf hag had a manual under her arm.

Kayleen looked around the room with a burning gaze and sniffed the air. Carty just rolled her eyes as the wolf hag grabbed Annie's arm and dragged her to bed, forcing her to sit.

"Okay, what are you gonna drink?" Kayleen asked in annoyed voice.

"Wh… what?" Annie replied in lost voice.

"She is drinking only juice. Beer and above makes her weird," Carty said, sitting near Annie, "I will drink wine as usual. Red one, preferably."

"Phh, piss poor recruits, piss poor discipline, stupid idiots… Red wine, snobbish asshole…" Kayleen reached for the communicator, calling for staff of the base. She ordered snacks, vodka for herself, and drinks for the scouts. With surprise Annie noticed that Kayleen paid for all herself. Usually, members of a pack spread the costs among themselves.

Kayleen threw the manual on the bed, sitting in the chair for a moment, looking angrily at Annie. Her eyes were burrowing into Annie with burning intensity, as if the wolf hag wanted to bite her. Annie raised her head, showing her neck. If Kayleen was here for domination, let her get over with it already.

"I came to read you a lecture about the fact that it is unacceptable to take off your helmet during a fight. And I still will, just a bit later," Kayleen swallowed, as if speaking words was a physical torture for her, "You did good, ‘kay? You saved the blasted cub, worked hard and all that. Listen, we all had that time, it sucks for a couple of days, but you get over it eventually."

"Are you going to hit me or…" Annie asked in confusion. Kayleen usually acted with rage and fury, not… like this.

"She is trying to tell that she cares about you, stupid!" Carty rolled her eyes again, wrapping her arm around Annie’s shoulder.

"I will strangle you. Both of you." Kayleen looked at the scouts with bloodshot eyes filled with anger.

"You will die trying, sweetheart." Carty sent her air kiss and the wolf hag released her claws, growling. She was about to stand up, when she threw a glance at Annie and forcibly calmed herself.

"I am not good at soft approach… Fine, mock me all you want. Just for today only, I will be as fluffy and harmless as a… I don’t know, plushie toy maybe?" Kayleen asked in an uncertain voice, before shaking her head, "Never had any toys, but I heard that cubs like them. Listen, Annie, let’s play a game, all of us. I will tell you what is bothering me, you will tell me what is bothering you, we will spend the rest of our free time drinking ourselves to a state of vegetables and then we will all fall asleep. The warlord gave packs leave for today, so no worries about training, everyone will skip them anyway, lazy bastards. Once we wake up, I will give you the lecture and we will all move on with our lives as usual. Deal?"

"We can talk about anything?" Annie asked with a suspicion, worrying that this might be some kind of trap.

"Yes. Anything. If you think that I am a bitch, just say it, I won’t be angry tonight. Don’t hold down your punches."

"This "tonight" part worries me very much. But I agree. I… Who will start?" Annie looked around in fear and hope that the other two will decide to drop this game. Her paws were trembling slightly less, yet she still felt cold sweat running down her spine.

"I suppose, I will." Carty shrugged her shoulders, "So you know that I dislike lies, right?"

"We noticed." Kayleen responded angrily.

"Good for you. Well, it is because back when I was a cub, parents often promised me toys if I became the top member in the pits. Or do chores at home. I did all that they asked of me, but they never bought me any, cause we were poor. Like I love my parents, always send them tokens, but why the hell do they need the urge to lie? Why can’t people just say the truth, just accept the bloody truth?" Carty bared her fangs, a hint of madness appeared on her face, turning the beautiful woman into an angry-looking beast. Her voice turned into a low growl as she continued to speak, "Truth is what makes us human. Only by not lying can we excel. Accepting failure is not a bad thing. They could have just told me that "sorry, we are poor, but we love you, please try hard", but no, they thought that I needed some cheap prize to excel. They dared to think that their love was not enough drivel for me! Curses, lies, any lies, just piss me off! And it still pisses me off that I can’t just call them and tell them this, cause I am afraid to hurt their feelings! I'm lying to myself by keeping it inside! When I think about it, I just want to rip and tear, to see the guts of my foes spread on the ground before me, to see a sea of dead arrayed before me as far as eye…" She looked around at Annie and Kayleen. Annie was pale as snow underneath her fur and her eyes were round. Kayleen pushed herself deep into the back of the chair, looking with surprise at the scout, "I am sorry, why are you both looking so strange all of a sudden?"

Before anyone could answer, base staff knocked on the door, and with a sigh of relief, Kayleen jumped out of her seat. Trio ate and talked for a long time before finally falling asleep. As she woke up, Annie noticed with surprise that she had no nightmares about yesterday. Her paws were no longer trembling and fear was no longer running down her spine. She felt great!

She felt great, right up until the moment when Kayleen woke up and forced Annie to sit through a three-hour long lecture about the dangers of removing armor in a combat zone and how to avoid it. Turns out, listening to the lecture of someone who was suffering from a hangover and then answering questions on a test at the end was quite a task, when your examiner was looking for a way to screw with you out of bitterness. Instead of helping, Carty merely verbally cheered on Annie, causing the wolf hag to get angrier with every moment, while Carty clearly enjoyed herself getting Kayleen all riled up. After the lecture was over, Carty dragged the fellow scout to a training field, forcing her to spend the entire day sparring. Annie felt as if her ankle was about to burst from pain, but she suffered through all eight hours of training without a single complaint.

At the age of fifteen, Annie participated in her first military operation and took her first life.