The shifters stacked the Unseelie bodies and set the corpses ablaze with ruthless efficiency. Their strength was overwhelming and their endurance infinite. Their very existence mocked the humans who struggled to dig shallow graves to bury their fallen brethren. Most of the dead had not even been able to conjure the least bit of resistance as their life was stolen from them. The surviving humans were like worms who only remained alive because the bird had chosen to feast on the other worms around it. Pure luck separated life and death, it seemed.
Having no way to transport the bodies back to their loved ones, the humans dug shallow graves in the unfamiliar land. This would be the final resting place for these brave explorers who dared travel into the unknown. They didn’t say any prayers, perform any ceremonies, or bid any farewells to the departed spirits. Respect was a pleasantry that required time, and they had none to spare.
Instead, the exhausted humans focused their remaining energy on those who could benefit from their efforts- the living. Despite performing the most advanced medical aid the caravan was capable of, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference for the injured. The disfigured would remain hideous, the dismembered would remain crippled, and the broken minds would be forced to wander through the fogs of insanity ever after.
Luck was on their side as they were able to find a few horses that had run off during the battle. Despite their screams of pain, the rescuers loaded the injured into the saddles as gently as they could manage. A slow pace would be required to avoid jostling the patient and worsening their injuries. The rest of the caravanners would have to walk alongside the horses, increasing the time of their return journey to well over a month.
Most of the wolves had shifted a few hours after the battle and returned to their territory. No matter how powerful a pack may be, they couldn’t leave it so lightly guarded for prolonged periods. The Alpha and a few of her strongest warriors remained to protect the frantic humans that rushed back and forth, attempting to leave the wolves’ territory as soon as possible.
Noah was not permitted to assist the caravanners in their never-ending work. The shifter warriors, whose constant vigilance filled him with unease, encircled him and the Alpha. With nothing to occupy his racing mind, he decided to begin the intelligence-gathering phase of his escape early.
As the shifters watched the scrambling humans with curious eyes, Noah approached the giant shifter that he had mistaken for the Alpha. The shifter’s dark brown eyes tracked his every move, but he allowed Noah to approach him.
Noah tipped his hat and gave a slight bow while twirling his cane. “Good day, good sir! My name is Noah of Greenwood, and it’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Who might I have the honor of addressing?”
He ended his bow and pushed his hat back into place. The massive shifter just stared at him as if he were a rabbit that had learned to juggle. As the silence grew awkward, Noah gracefully turned his focus to the shifter seated beside the giant.
The family resemblance was uncanny. Dark brown skin and dark brown eyes framed his handsome face. Only the lack of grey in his close-cut hair marked him as a member of the younger generation. He was around the Alpha’s age, somewhere in his mid-twenties. He wasn’t quite as tall as the shifter, who Noah assumed was his father, but still towered over Noah.
“Good day, good sir! My name is Noah of Greenwood, and it’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Who might I have the honor of addressing?”
The younger shifter could not control his emotions or hold his tongue like his father. He jumped to his feet in a rage, deep growls booming from his chest.
“Alder!” his father warned him, but he paid no heed.
“Silence human! You are not to address your betters while in our custody. You are only alive due to the mercy of the Alpha. If it were up to me, I would have killed the lot of you and freed my hands of this whole mess.”
Noah cocked his head at the enraged shifter. “And why, good sir, is it not up to you? Or at least your father there. You two clearly are the biggest and strongest shifters in the pack. It is my understanding that the Alpha must dominate the entire pack to hold their position.”
The older shifter snapped his head toward his son and growled while baring his teeth. Alder averted his eyes and bared his neck to his father in a sign of submission. Both of their heads snapped up and their eyes followed something behind Noah. He was just about to turn around to see what had stolen their attention when he felt a warm breath on his neck, causing him to shiver.
“They are not the Alpha because I am the Alpha. There is more to domination than mere strength and size, my weak human.”
Noah pasted on his most dazzling smile and turned around to face the Alpha. The glowing silver in her eyes meshed with her bronze skin to create a stunning scene of contrasting beauty. Her raven hair fluttered in the slight breeze, small wisps blowing in front of her eyes. He stopped himself from reaching out to tuck the stray hairs behind her ear. His quick thinking had probably saved him from pulling back a nub where his hand had once been. “Of course, honored Alpha, forgive my ignorance in pack politics.”
She eyed him and whispered so softly that he could barely hear her words, “You are so proud of that false bravado of yours, but it outs you just like everything else about you does. You are an imposter, Noah, and only the naive would fall for your act easily.”
Noah’s smile froze on his face, and he narrowed his eyes in anger at the Alpha. Rage from somewhere deep inside of him, untouched for years, coursed through him.
She smiled at him in amusement. “Oh, the human lowers his mask. It’s nice to finally meet your acquaintance, Noah. I am Sylvie, Alpha of the Baleful Fiend pack.”
And with that, she stalked away from the small circle of guards to discuss logistics with the Captain who now led the caravan. The massive shifter waited until Sylvie had withdrawn, following his alpha with narrowed eyes.
His deep baritone voice vibrated the air, “We are wolves, human. ‘Shifters’ can include any that shift, but we will not demean ourselves by being categorized with the other breeds. You will not survive the night in our territory if you slur any of us with the name shifter.”
Noah dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Of course, sir wolf. Please do not mistake ignorance for offense.”
The father didn’t respond and returned to ignoring him, displaying an impressive level of indifference. The bear pack didn’t care when the humans called them shifters, but apparently, the oh-so-special and unique wolves did. He’d have to watch his tongue or risk hurting their delicate sensibilities.
It turns out there were almost no wares for the shifters to salvage. Everything had been destroyed or ruined during the battle. Noah kept a keen eye out for any hints of the silver weapons but didn’t find any traces. Either the wagons were never loaded with the contraband before departing Greenwood, or it had disappeared sometime during or after the battle. Truthfully, it wasn’t his problem. He would leave the shifter’s territory in a matter of weeks, and after that, they could use the silver weapons for whatever nefarious purpose the buyer desired.
After finally finishing their preparations for the return journey, the remaining humans set out before the sun disappeared below the horizon. Noah stood with the wolves as the small caravan, if it even qualified as such any longer, slowly shrank in his vision.
His eyes found Owen, who was leading a horse that carried an immobile Lin strapped on its back. Owen was holding her hand and making sweet promises of their future to the sharpshooter. Lin had not awoken once since the battle, and Noah doubted she could hear his loving whispers. She was engaged in a battle to escape whatever dream world currently ensnared her mind.
His gaze found Smith, who was bracing Lazar with his hand as the lad tried to sit up in the saddle. Smith had not left Lazar’s side since the battle had concluded. The coachmen honored his late friend by taking up the mantle of mentorship.
The caravan grew smaller in the distance until Noah had to squint his eyes just to see it. The daylight was dimming as the sun sunk below the horizon, and the caravan was just about lost to the gloom of dusk. Over one hundred had begun the journey, but only a few dozen remained to attempt the return trek home.
“Not even one looked back,” Sylvie whispered at his side.
Noah continued to stare in the caravan's direction even after it had long since disappeared from view. Suddenly, Sylvie grabbed his shoulder and spun him around in a blur, nearly throwing his hat from his head. A crack sounded out as his wet trench coat flaps whipped the air from the abrupt motion. Staring daggers at the beautiful vixen, he straightened his hat with a snort.
Sylvie bellowed out her commands to the remaining wolves, “Return to the territory. I will keep my human form, but the rest of you shift. It will be slow going with the human, but unless any of you volunteer to let him ride you, we will have to keep his pace.”
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The shif…wolves snorted and shifted in an instant. He had to get used to referring to them as wolves or an inadvertent slip-up would lead him to his death. The wolves bounded off to run large protective circles around the pair as Sylvie pushed Noah along at an unsustainable pace. An hour into their journey, the massive wolf, whose name he still didn’t know, prowled up alongside them. He shifted to his human form, walking just behind Sylvie.
“Alpha, why do we keep this human prisoner? We should have either let them all go or killed every last one of them. Now the humans will know we captured one of their own. If he is important enough, they might retaliate.” The wolves running in guard formation perked their ears toward the wolf, who brazenly questioned their alpha’s commands in front of the pack.
Sylvie growled and stared down the much larger wolf, her eyes glowing silver. She slapped his face in a blur, snapping the wolf’s head to the side. The sound of the slap broke the silence of the night, bouncing between the trees in an echo. The massive wolf did not seem to mind her attempts at dominance, returning his calm gaze to hers. He maintained eye contact for a few moments before voluntarily averting his eyes.
The other wolves, including Alder, slowed their circling, ready to pounce if given the command by their alpha. Sylvie placed a hand on Noah’s shoulder and sniffed his hair. She took great inhales that rustled his hair when she snorted the air back out. Finally, she stepped out of his personal space but kept a hand firmly on his shoulder. The warmth of her hand somehow seeped through his leather trench coat, flushing his skin where her fingers made contact.
“Return to the territory. I don’t like being exposed like this. The Unseelie might have targeted the humans, but they were much too close to our territory for us not to have been alerted to their presence. We will discuss the human once we are safe, and I can call a pack meeting at the lodge.”
The giant wolf made to argue, but Sylvie’s eyes glowed silver, even more illuminated than before. A strange humming vibration entered her voice and she commanded in a guttural growl, “Now!”
Whimpering, all the wolves lowered their eyes to the ground. The giant went rigid and shouted, “Yes, Alpha”.
He instantly shifted back into his wolf form and rejoined the protective circle. Noah did his best to maintain the wolves’ grueling pace. Sylvie constantly pushed him forward or growled menacingly from behind him in “encouragement”.
He was exhausted and hadn’t recovered from the battle or the shifter powder he had used earlier. He was stumbling on the road like a drunk and even fell to his knees a few times. Instead of allowing him to rest, Sylvie just picked him up by the arms as if he weighed nothing and set him on his feet again.
They walked for a few hours until they reached the boundary of the wolves’ territory. Only a few hours away from the safety of a powerful pack, but the humans had never made it. Unlike vampires, who used a universal ankh as their symbol to mark their territory. Shifters personalized their symbol to represent the animal they shifted into, as well as the unique oddities of their pack. The bear pack he had traded with over the years had a simple bear claw carved into a boulder serving as their territory symbol.
The wolves had made even less of an effort than the bears, but it screamed the message loud and clear to all who came upon it. Two giant trees marked the territory. On each tree, the wolves had carved out one menacing wolf eye. Each eye had a large fae globe embedded in the wood, giving off a yellow glow that was impossible to miss in the dark.
The eyes did not give Noah the reassuring warmth of safety that it provided the wolves. From such a distance in the dark, the twenty-foot eyes seemed to be connected to a face instead of separated on each tree. They had a mystical feel to them, as if a guardian spirit of the wolves was watching all those who dared to encroach upon its territory; it would never tire in its eternal vigilance and nothing could slip past its gaze.
It wasn’t as complex as the Vampire’s ankh; it wasn’t as beautiful as the Fae’s symbol and didn’t carry the hope of the race as the human symbol did, but there was a menace in its simplicity.
As they crossed the boundary, the wolves visibly relaxed upon entering their own territory. Guard wolves appeared from behind the trees to greet the procession. They sniffed in Noah’s direction before cocking their heads in confusion.
As they continued into the wolves’ territory, the trees became bigger and bigger until Noah could scarcely believe their unnatural size. The wolves had either found an enchanted forest or somehow their magic had warped the local fauna because he had never seen trees this big before. They towered above him and the leaves nearly blocked out the sky from view. The branches of the trees did not grow near the ground, keeping the majority of the massive trunks bare. The trees were spaced dozens of feet apart from one another, creating an open and airy sensation deep within the forest.
Streams lazily curved around the trees in nonsensical paths. Upon seeing the rushing water, he refused to walk another step further until he was permitted to clean his ruffled shirt. Lost in obsession, he scrubbed and scrubbed until he revealed the pure white of his shirt once more. He tossed the sopping wet shirt over his shoulder and buttoned his trench coat to hide his bare chest. Sylvie hadn’t taken her eyes off his chest since he had first stripped and rolled her eyes at his attempts at modesty.
The gurgling of the languid brooks provided a scene of pure serenity. At some point, Noah stopped in his tracks, mesmerized by the beauty of the peaceful forest. He could stay here forever and just admire the…A kick almost pushed him to the ground. Cursing, he spun around to find Sylvie tapping her foot with narrowed eyes. Apparently, she did not have the patience to admire the natural beauty of the forest.
The further they walked into the oversized forest, the more signs of the pack he began to see. Some of the larger trees held treehouses well above the forest floor. There were wooden platforms built into the trees, scaffolding their way up the trunks.
Two rows of platforms reached up to the treehouses. One row had roped ladders that hung down, connecting each of the wooden platforms. The other row had fewer platforms, giving the wolves the space to jump side to side between the two rows in their animal form. He suspected he would only take one of the paths that led up to the treehouses embedded in the canopy.
Wooden walkways connected the trees, allowing the wolves to travel in a separate world from the one that existed on the forest floor. An entire world, teaming with life, hung above him, but not all the homes were built in the branches of the trees.
Even more were built directly onto the forest floor, sometimes even using a hollowed-out trunk as a base for their den. The wolves seemed to build in harmony with the trees and only lived where the forest permitted. Fae globes illuminated some homes while others remained dark. He couldn’t imagine the wolves had much trouble seeing in the dark of the night.
It was all quite breathtaking for Noah, in a sort of primitive way. Humans would have created technological wonders with the giant trees, but perhaps the beauty of the forest would have suffered. No wonder they had such trouble finding trading wares that would interest the Shifters. They lived a simple life and didn’t need any of the comforts that human production could provide.
They continued to walk for another hour, with Noah tipping his hat to every random wolf they passed. He was met with a slamming of the door most times, but occasionally, the wolves would sniff at him and tilt their head in confusion.
They eventually came upon a giant clearing that Noah assumed was the center of their territory. In the large clearing, a massive wooden lodge dwarfed any of the buildings he had seen so far. Purple flowers that rose to his knees covered the clearing, and without the towering trees blocking the sky, the moonlight bathed the meadow in a subtle purple glow.
The lodge was almost the length of the human caravan that he had ridden in for over a decade. Smoke rose from the roof in multiple locations with fae globes spaced evenly apart to spotlight the lodge in the darkness. Turning his head sideways, he examined the length of the lodge. It was a fallen tree! The biggest he had seen yet.
The wolves had somehow hollowed out and treated the wood, creating a lodge that could hold the entire pack comfortably. His eyes bulged as his eyes followed the trunk and found massive branches covered in leaves rising from the ground into the sky. What he had mistaken for the resumption of the forest was actually the branches and leaves of the fallen tree. It was still alive!
Was the rest of the tree growing beneath the soil? If you turned your head sideways, you could easily see the lodge as a trunk sliced vertically down the middle. The only question was if it was half a tree, or if the other half of the tree was buried beneath the earth. Either way, Noah couldn’t wrap his mind around the wonder. He stopped walking in shock, gazing upon the lodge’s majesty.
“How is this possible? he asked, his voice shaking in amazement. Sylvie, who hadn’t let go of his shoulder, chuckled, the sensual sound reverberating through him.
“Impressive, is it not Noah? Humans can build structures in the blink of an eye, but none of them will take your breath away like this. None of it will inspire wonder and awe for generations with their beauty.”
“Ah, my dear Sylvie. You overlook the beauty of human creations. Humans contain no magic. They don’t possess immortality or supernatural strength and speed. And yet, they still create wonders; they still build to the heavens, and they still thrive in inhospitable conditions. The beauty isn’t in our structures, but our ingenuity and perseverance.”
He balled his fists as some wolves let out a strange wheezing sound that he suspected was laughter. A soreness that every human carried deep inside of them ached inside of his chest. If they couldn’t take pride in their creations, then nothing could lift their heads in the presence of the other races. Sylvie squeezed his shoulder lightly and he leaned into her comforting grasp.
“Hmm. Perhaps there is truth in what you say, Noah. I will search for this beauty you speak of the next time I visit a human settlement.”
Noah nodded his head and opened his fists, his anger leaking out of him at her promise. Suddenly, someone pushed him hard, causing him to stumble forward.
“Now stop dawdling and move. I am eager to be done with this expedition,” said Sylvie without an ounce of compassion in her voice.
Noah bit his lip. And there went the moment. As they walked through the meadow, the purple flowers gently bowed out of their paths as if they were sentient. Underestimating the size of the lodge, it took much longer than Noah expected for them to reach the wondrous tree. Sylvie walked up beside him as they stopped in front of the grandest structure he had ever seen.
“This is the communal lodge. Anyone is welcome to sleep or eat here and if there is any pack business, this is where the meetings are held. It is also a place of shelter for pups, the injured, and the elderly, should a war break out.”
The giant wolf shifted back into his human form and interrupted Sylvie. “Alpha, you can’t mean to take the human prisoner into the pack lodge?”
“Ah, but Rowan. He is not a prisoner.” Sylvie smiled at Rowan with a scheming look in her eyes.
Rowan visibly grew frustrated and asked, “Is he to be food then? A large majority of the pack does not like to eat sentient beings. You know that.”
Noah tried to make a break for it when he heard that, but Sylvie held his shoulder in an iron-like grip.
Her smile grew wider. “No, he is not food either.”
The enormous wolf growled deep in his throat at the lack of clarity by his alpha. “Then what is he!” he yelled.
Sylvie bared her canines in a wide smile, looking at Noah with excitement in her eyes. “He is my mate!”