'Thwack. Crack. Thwack. Crack.' Wood creaked and splintered, hewn by my axe. Each swing and fall of the blade released some of my inner tension, allowing me to vent my rage into useful work.

An afternoon had waned. The last of the day's sunlight flickered through the canopy, embracing the woodland before it sunk behind the horizon and left our hemisphere to sleep. With the days getting shorter, my favourite time of day came earlier and earlier. Moonrise was near. Tonight, the Goddess would be laid on her back; I hoped that seeing her in such a relaxed mood would bring about solace in me. I'd chop wood until I could bathe in her glade.

Though I'd been lost to time, it had hardly been wasted; I'd cleaved many a log, and the pile of firewood leant against the stump had stacked up, heaved, and fallen into a mess. I didn't care to stop and tidy my haul. I was busy; the rhythm of the work soothed me and warmed the river that ran down my back and chest.

My axe was aloft when I caught a scent only moments before its owner spoke.

"I'd say you've got about a month's worth of firewood there, Nate," my brother's familiar voice goaded. "But who are you chopping it for, huh?"

"The wood store was almost empty." I huffed, catching my breath as I lowered my axe to rest.

"You don't need to worry about Alis or her wood store anymore, brother. She's being taken care of... Better than ever."

I knew what he meant; it caused my lip to twitch, threatening to curl back in a show of teeth. I held the axe shaft tighter, my hot palm squeaking against the varnish to sate the rage bubbling under the surface. All the hours of therapy chopping wood had brought went to waste the minute he'd mentioned my Wife.

"But you keep coming back to the village, so I'm not convinced you've got the message that you're not welcome through that thick skull of yours yet."

He always was a cocky one, but all smoke and no fire.

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"You gonna teach me a lesson, Aiden?" I scoffed. Pound for pound, he was no match for me. He might've had an inch or two on me in height, but he was always the weaker pup despite being two years my senior.

"Yes." He nodded. "We are."

I only caught a glimpse of the wicked smirk that spread across his face before I was on my knees, grounded by a simultaneous skull-splintering blow to the back of my head and a gut punch. Doubled over, my knees quickly buckled under a boot. I found my eyes level with the stump. I saw red when the blade that I'd embedded into it rose inch by inch before my face, instantly imagining it was for my neck. Fortunately, perhaps, only the shaft descended to bar my throat and choke me.

"Get the silver down him before he turns, Gus." One barked to the other. "If he shifts, we're fucked."

Knowing my brother's posse, there were four heavies, and the weedy, masochistic Smithe twins would watch. The Colloidal silver was probably their idea. It would poison me enough to disarm my wolf, a cowardly way to defeat me, to say the least.

Ducking out of their hold, I grabbed the stump for purchase and pushed back to fling off my two current opponents. There was no telling where the others were. This part of the wood was always so drenched in Lycan scent that my nose was useless; trying to track them was pointless.

'Thunk!' The butt of the axe blade hammered into the back of my head, blurring my vision. Wetness soaked my head, trickled down my forehead, and dripped off the end of my nose. Gathering my knees under me to crawl away was futile; it gave them room to boot me. 'Kick' and another 'Kick' and another... Each blow caused me to cough up onto the leaf litter.

Clawing into the earth beneath me, I anchored myself and pushed up again. They wouldn't, couldn't keep me down - not two of them in human form. The muscles in my arms tightened and rippled, imbuing me with the strength to force them off my back and rise.

"Argh," I groaned, venting rage. My back arched, my arms struck outward, throwing back those that had clambered to pin me down. Their weight crushed my shoulders but fed my will to rise. The sound that roared up from my chest deepened and grew in my body until I let a ferocious growl rip from my chest. My lips peeled away from my growing muzzle, revealing two gnashing rows of deadly teeth. "Grr..." My growl cracked like crumbling glacial ice; an avalanche of rage was about to come to Aiden - he knew it when my glowing amber eyes met his.

"Fuck!" Aiden barked, fear-stricken. "The silver! Give him the fucking silver!"

"Do it now!" Yelled a panicked voice behind me.

"He's turning!"

If I could keep them panicked, flustered, and floundering, I stood a chance at getting away.