As the new moon draws closer and closer, Darra grows more and more restless.

Today was the most unkempt I had ever see him. The fur around his neck was raised, giving him the appearance of a depressing lion, and he wouldn't stop pacing. I was afraid he might worry a trench with how hard he was doing it.

Regardless of my worry, I set off around dusk to perform my task. I was to lead Darra's brother Damon and his merry band of idiots into our ambush.

It's not dark enough yet for me to be able to lose them in the forest, so all I have to do is catch their attention and lead them to the river bank.

I set off at a brisk trot, following both my nose and my memory towards the human camp.

"What do you mean you want to go back?!" Roars a voice that I had come to recognize as Damon Baron, Darra's slightly kooky older brother.

"We've been here for weeks, Damon. Weeks. And we've found nothing," says the voice of the tracker-lady. Darla or something. She is very bad at her job. "You can't honestly believe we're actually going to find this thing, can you?"

"We have to find it! It killed my brother!" Damon says. That's my cue, I'd say.

I dash out of the undergrowth and leap over their make-shift fire pit before running back into the trees.

"There it is!" One of the bumbling dumbasses parading as bowmen declare.

I grin as I hear four stets of feet give chase. Oh, this is going to be fun.

###

I pace steadily between the trees, my paws having long worn the leaf litter down to bare earth.

"Does everyone remember their targets?" I ask for what was probably the millionth time.

"Yes," Sam says, having long given up on stopping my nervous pacing. He sounds more bored then irritated, although I'm sure I've gotten on his nerves by now.

Alarra's ears twitch and flicker and she perks up. "I think that's Dean,"

I freeze, one paw held in the air, poised to continue my path. I perk my ears, wondering if she was just hearing things. Then, the sound of paws thudding on the forest floor reached my ears.

I feel a jolt of anticipation. I take my place among the undergrowth and wait.

Not two minutes later, Dean is bursting out of the trees and onto the river bank a few yards away.

"They're right behind me!" Dean shouts, scrambling over the bank towards us.

Four humans burst out of the trees and trip over themselves, sliding to a halt on the loose pebbles that make up the river bank. One of them slides all the way onto his back.

"Go, go!" Dean shouts. "Before they shoot me!"

I burst out of the trees, followed by my pack-mates. I pump my legs, flying over the bank, and tackle Damon. I hear the sounds of my companions tearing into his and grin.

"Hello again, brother," I say, meeting Damon's wild, fear-filled eyes. "It's been too long,"

Damon opens his mouth to talk or scream or something else, but I move faster, firmly wrapping my jaws around his bicep and biting down. Hard.

Damon screams, writhing beneath me. I release him and stand. He crumples over his arm, eyes glassy and breaths frantic form both the shock and the exertion of chasing a wolf around the forest. It pains me to see him this way, but it must be done.

"Alarra, Sam, take him to camp. Make sure he doesn't get away," I command.

Alarra, her mouth dripping gore on the ground, nods. "Yes, Alpha,"

Sam, who had already licked the worst of the red from his jowls, also nodded. "Yes, Alpha,"

Flare's ears perk and he cocks his head.

"Later, Devil," I say. "You need to help me drag these corpses into the woods,"

Flare's ears droop but he complies without complaint. Alarra and Sam each grab one of Damon's biceps in their jaws and begin to drag him away. He fights against them the whole way, twisting and kicking and shouting. Damon had never been one to go down without a fight.

I help Flare drag the human corpses into the woods. The foxes and ravens would get to them, after that, the maggots.

***

I slip into my den and find Sam and Alarra stood outside the secondary chamber, where we keep the newly transforming as well as any bones we wish to keep.

"How's he been?" I ask, searching the floor for any scratch marks.

Alarra sighs. "Defiant, rude, annoying," she scrunches up her muzzle. "He spat on me,"

I give her a sympathetic smile, rather than laughing like I'm half tempted to. It's kinda funny. "Well, he's definitely Damon," I say with humour.

Sam chuckles but is quickly silenced by a venomous glare from Alarra.

"He's asleep," Says Alarra, turning her attention back to me. "He seemed kind of delirious when he was awake, though,"

"That would be the bite," I say, scratching my jaw with my hind leg. "He probably won't be lucid for a few days,"

"When are we going to get your other brother?" The white-furred wolf asks.

"Tomorrow night, I told the woman to bring him to the river,"

"An' she'll be there?" Sam asks.

"She had better be," I say around a growl.

###

"Where are we going, Tera?" I ask, hurrying to keep up with the young woman's quick footsteps.

"I told you," Tera says, laughing. "Somewhere I found,"

I huff, irritated at not having weaselled any more information out of her. "At least tell me why we're going there,"

Tera laughs, a lovely, melodic sound that I'd found myself growing quite fond of this last fortnight. "My, aren't you impatient? You'll see when we get there,"

I groan but follow after her regardless.

She tosses her wildly curly hair over one shoulder before looking back at me, her face cast in shadows from the lamplight. She smiles, toothy and teasing. "We're almost there," she says. Then, in a faux serious tone, "Any last words?"

"Har Har," I drawl.

She scrunches up her nose at that. "Those are terrible last words, Wolf,"

I had hated that nickname for months, ever since my brother had been... On her, however, it didn't quite sound the same. Her accent changes it from Wolf to Wulhf, which I found much more tolerable.

"I'm not exactly a wordsmith," I say, smiling.

Tera huffs and turns her head forwards again. "Come on, surely you have something you'd want to say, if they were truly your last words?"

I bite my lips, thinking. "I suppose... goodbye,"

Tera huffs, shooting me a flat look.

I laugh. "What? I don't have anything else to say!" I defend. Tera cocks a single, slender brow before returning to the path ahead.

"What would you say?"

"Hmm?"

"If they were the last words you'd ever say, what would you say?" I ask, skipping forwards before falling into step with her.

Tera's throat bobs. "Please let me live,"

I frown. "That seems rather counter-productive," I say.

Tera shrugs. "I don't want to die," she says. Then, she takes a fortifying breath before grinning at me. "Besides, I'm no wordsmith, either,"

I smile, shaking my head.

Tera shoots out a hand and I still, looking at her in confusion. She gives me a reassuring smile before descending the steep, wooden steps that I hadn't noticed before.

I follow her down and together we walk a thin gravel path before the trees come to a sudden halt and we stand on a rocky river bed.

The river runs an inky black in the dark of night, illuminated by the lamp Tera holds high. The water rushes by with a concussive current, the inky black depths looking ready to swallow us whole.

"I've never seen the river at night," I say as Tera sets the lantern on top of a flat rock. She cocks a brow at me. "It's beautiful,"

Tera gives the river a considering look, a sad smile playing at her lips. "You should see it during the full moon. The water shines silver and black, and sparkles like a million diamonds scattered across black silk,"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"It sounds breathtaking,"

"It is," Tera says. Her eyes lock on mine, although that sad look in her eyes fades only slightly. "Do you like lemon drops?"

I blink, momentarily put off by the change in subject. "Oh, yes. I do,"

Tera grins and pulls a small silver tin out of her bag. "They're my favourite," she says, opening the tin and offering it to me.

I reach out and pluck one of the small yellow sweets from the container. "Thank you," Tera grins and pops hers into her mouth. I follow suit, savouring the flavour for a few moments before I tuck it in my cheek so that I can speak.

"So, now can I ask why you brought me here?" I ask with good humour.

Tera's grin fades as she eyes a large nearby willow tree with something bordering on... resentment? Irritation? She could be hard to read sometimes.

"I..." Tera bit her lip, her eyes darting back to the river. "I wanted to show you the river,"

I look up at the river and nod, taking a seat next to Tera. "It is a very pretty river," I say.

Tera smiles and looks up at the sky. I follow her eyes, smiling at the sight of the same hundred thousand stars I'd been looking at all of my life.

"It's the new moon, isn't it, Wolf?"

I blink, looking back at Tera. "Yeah, why?"

Tera waves me off. "Just wondering,"

I open my mouth to tell her about the moon cycles when a twig snaps somewhere behind us.

I twist around, instantly alert. "What was that?" I wonder.

Then, a low, spine-chilling growl fills the night. The air suddenly feels many degrees colder as three large forms step out from between the trees.

"Tera," I hiss, grabbing her arm. I don't take my eyes off of the massive beasts for even a second. "What do we do?"

"Nothing,"

"What?" I whip around, surprised. Tera was looking at the beasts too, but she seemed more resigned then afraid.

Tera sighs. "They're why I actually brought you here," she says.

I blink. "What do you mean?" I ask.

Tera pulls away from me, standing.

"Tera?"

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

"You are not as useless as I first thought," A deep, rumbling voice says. I realize with a start that it was one of the beasts that had spoken.

The dark grey beast nods to the light grey beast, who steps forwards before flicking its head back and tossing the thing it had held in its mouth to Tera. It lands near her feet with a loud 'cla-thunk'. Tera slowly picks it up, it seems to be a rather large coin pouch.

"What is this?" She asks.

"Your reward," the dark grey beast says. I recognize its voice as the beast who had first spoken.

Tera opens the pouch. Her eyes grow wide. "There must be two thousand crowns in here!"

"We have no use for money," the dark grey beast-thing says.

Tera eyes me with hesitance. "Are you going to kill him?"

The beast-thing looks at her with a strange mix of pity and amusement. "No, we're going to have a tea party with him,"

Sarcasm sounds strange in this beast-thing's rough, animalistic voice. The words, however, send ice spreading through my belly.

Tera nods slowly. "I'm free to go?"

The white beast-thing grins. How such a horrible expression could be worn so freely on these beast-things said everything about their intentions.

"Yes, run little girl," the white-beast says, it's voice an octave higher and less rough than the other beast-thing's, though no less animal-like. "We won't be the only monsters you meet, after tonight"

Tera shoots me one last look, filled with sorrow and regret and apologies. As though her feeling bad about it makes her betrayal sting any less. Then, she turns and runs.

I watch her go, and when I turn back, the beast-things are mere feet away from me.

I yelp and fall backwards on my elbows. The white beast-thing pins me to the ground with one large paw. Gravel bites at my skin and gnaws into my clothes, but I pay it no head.

The dark grey beast-thing, a head taller then either of its companions, stands with its head near my calf.

"This may sting a bit," it says, sounding, genuinely, bafflingly apologetic.

Then, it pulls back it's lips and bites into my calf with a snarl.

I scream and it bites down harder. I try to kick it with my free leg, and claw at the leg pinning me to the ground. The white beast-thing snarls and snaps at my fingers but doesn't, I realize through my hazy half-thoughts, actually bite me.

My leg is pinned to the ground, I scream out of both pain and frustration and redouble my efforts on clawing at the leg pinning me while my right leg begins to seise up.

"Take him home. I'm going to go make sure the girl doesn't cause any trouble," says a voice. The grey beast-thing? No, that thing was biting me. Or, was it? Had it stopped?

I feel something wrap around my upper left arm and sob, pushing at the leg that was pinning me down. The leg moves off of my chest, although I'm sure that has nothing to do with my efforts.

Something wraps around my upper right arm and suddenly I'm hoisted up.

I gasp and scrabble, trying to get my legs underneath me. I cry out as I try to move my right leg and suddenly, I'm being dragged, over the riverbank, up an incline, through the forest.

I can't see, I can't see and my leg is screaming and I can't see and it's so hot and my leg is screaming, burning, I'm on fire and I can't see.

###

After following the girl for a few hours, I'm confident that she isn't going to be telling anyone about anything. She wasn't returning to Forest Spirit. In fact, she slipped into a telegram office to hail a taxi, and asked them to take her to Reaiu, so I'm reasonably certain we won't be seeing her any time soon.

It's noon by the time I'm slipping back into my den. Which contains my entire pack, apparently. Since when did my den become the pack clubhouse, anyway?

"Any troubles?" Asks Sam.

I huff a laugh. "She got a taxi to the capital. She'll get a nice apartment, become a famous actress and be enjoying her newfound wealth within the year,"

"She was that good?" Flare asks.

"Oh, chills," I tell him seriously.

Flare laughs and Dean sighs. "I just wish I didn't have to give her all my coins," the grey-furred wolf grumbles.

"How are they doing?" I ask Alarra, ignoring Dean's continued muttering. He'd get more coins.

The white-furred wolf shrugged. "Damon is about the same. We gave him some water a while ago, but we don't have anything for him to eat,"

"And Wulfric?" I inquire. The last time I had seen my younger brother he was bleeding and clawing at Alarra's leg, trying to get her off of him.

Alarra smiles fondly. "Oh, he passed out about halfway back to camp. The little guy actually made me bleed, you know?" She says, holding up the leg she'd used to pin Wulfric to the river bank.

It was indeed stained a rust colour with dried blood, several angry red rivets dug into the flesh by blunt fingernails.

"And you're... pleased with that?" I ask, confused by her chipper tone and fond expression.

"He's a determined little thing," Alarra says with a happy grin. "Not a lot of teenage humans could claw someone bloody, it takes effort,"

I smile. "That sounds like Wulfric. Although I would have used the word stubborn,"

"How long until they transform?" Asks Dean.

Flare sighs, rolling onto his back. "We're not sure, exactly. It took me two weeks, it took Sam one week, it took you three days, it took Alarra a week," he shrugs. "So, three days to a week, maybe,"

Dean blinks. "That's all very speculative, Flare,"

"These are speculative times,"

"Wha' does tha' even mean?" Sam asks the red-furred wolf.

But Flare doesn't answer, he simply rolls back onto his belly and closes his eyes.

Sam looks to me for some kind of explanation. I shrug, simply saying: "Flare,"

And that's that.