Chapter 1

The woods were still, silent, but one thing disturbed that silence, that peace. Far off, across lands I’d never explored, scents whirled and anxiety flitted through the trees.

My nose had always been keen, better than the rest, much like the rest of my senses but the stench that emitted from those far west regions made me wrinkle my nose in distaste, made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

I train my eyes to the forest off to my left, facing the west, my nose tilted into the air as I flare my nostrils inhaling sharply and deeply.

Seven.

I could smell them, each totally separate, not a mating mixture or familial mixture among the bunch.

Six.

Six smelled of rotten pigs flesh, decaying and infested.

One.

One smelled of fresh roses, such a gentle scent, such a young scent. Nothing lingered around it. Clung to it.

I’d found, as I’d gotten older and those around me had gotten older, that smells manifested. Scents were more than an identifying feature of someone, they were something that manifested and grew over time, something that was added onto. It had layers.

This scent was new, had only freshly sprouted.

This pup was young, newly shifted.

Narrowing my eyes, I take off to the west, feet hardly touching the grassy terrain, trees and weeds becoming blurs of greens and browns, branches hardly nipping at my ankles and arms.

I was faster than most, quieter than all, and with senses more keen than the gods. I’d been blessed by goddess Selene, I knew as much. My senses were unparalleled, she’d devised the perfect beast in me but had made me an orphan with a title less than a humans.

I held no animosity for her nevertheless.

The scents were stronger now, overwhelming, my nose wrinkling in distaste as loud laughing and quiet whimpers met my ears.

I walked to them slowly, easing my way forwards, masking my scent.

Their noses weren’t keen enough anyways, besides, they weren’t paying attention.

From where I stood I could see them. Six men, smaller than myself but larger than some hassled something in between them.

That’s when I saw her.

She was smaller than them, thinner too. Her hair, a pale, gentle blonde was dirtied by grass and twigs.

I could see the fear in her gentle green eyes, smell it in her scent, hear the racing of her small heart.

She had active wear on, having most likely been on a run, but the nearest pack was a good hour away. She’s wandered far.

Snarling lowly, I take a step forward, the males head whipping in my direction, shoving the smaller female away.

I take another step forward, the thick foliage giving way to my lithe form.

They snarl as I step closer, claws extending from the tips of their fingers, snarls leaving their parted lips, eyes flashing a murky yellow.

They didn’t intimidate me the way they’d meant to and by the acceleration of their hearts, I knew that that infuriated them.

“Please,” the young girl said, whimpering softly as she backed up, hitting a tree.

I glance at her for only a short moment but find that that was all they seemed to have needed.

The tallest of the six lunges at me, his moves quick, but not quite quick enough. I grip his mid-section as his claws graze my shoulders, tossing him far to my left and into a thick healthy tree, a crack echoing throughout the forest.

One of his friends was next, a shorter blond boy with skin so pale and transparent it looked of wet paper. He jabs for my weaker spots, my ankles and knees, attempting to harm me enough to stop me. His attempts were feeble as I yank his arms away and over his head, twisting them in my left hand behind his back forcing him to face his comrades before plunging my claws into his back.

He howls in agony as I lift him, blood spirting from his mouth as I wrap my long fingers around his spine, twisting and then pulling it from him, feeling as if snaps and breaks, his screams dwindling as he falls from my hands.

His friends follow his feeble attempts in a rage. Their anger clouding what little was left of their rationality as they lunge to me. Claws forwards and jaws wide apart, canines exposed.

Kicking one off to my right, my foot having met his meaty chest, I take on the bulkiest one of them all.

His rage clouding his judgement as he attempted to strike at me, landing few at my ribs and stomach, but nothing substantial.

I catch his right hand between my left arm and my side, feeling as he goes to pull away. Quickly, I wrap my right hand around his elbow, yanking it to the right, a sickening crack echoing off the trees. He snarls as I release him, his left hand coming up to support his dangling, broken right arm before he lunges at me once more, jaws open.

At his attempt to bite me, I meet him in kind, my left hand finding his upper jaw while my right hand finds his lower jaw.

He screams as I pull them apart, the skin stretching and snapping, blood pouring from his open wounds, cracking filling the dampened air until all is silent, the top portion of his head dropping to the floor with a thud, his body following.

I look to his friends, watching them closely as they help their fallen brother to their feet before circling me. Three of them were here. Three was less than I could handle.

Where was the fourth?

I focus my senses on them, still, disregarding their companion, assuming that perhaps he’d fled. I listen and watch them closely, that is, until I hear a little whimper and my eyes find that cowardice fourth, the tallest of the group, gripping that young girl, claws to her neck.