“Roxy… I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“I-it hurts, S-Sam.”

“I know, sweetie. J-just breathe, we’ll g-get you some help, you’ll be okay. Just f-f-focus on breathing.” 

Sam’s words started to shake. Roxy could tell she was lying. There was too much blood, too many of her limbs twisted at wrong angles. It was strange, though. Why had she said that it hurt? Roxy couldn’t feel a thing. 

The endless forest around them seemed to stretch and shrink along with each deep breath that forced itself in and out of Roxy’s lungs against her will. Sam was fretting, tears streaming down her cheeks as she helplessly tried to think of something, anything she could do. Roxy wanted to reach up and comfort her, but she was pretty sure that she could see her severed arm lying limply on the ground some distance away, so that option was a bust.

The night sky hanging above her like a tapestry of stars was familiar. She remembered this night. It was the night that Blaine attacked her in the woods, chasing after her like a wild animal until Sam stepped in to save her.

Only, she hadn’t saved her, had she? Sam had never shown up like she was supposed to, and Roxy was left alone to fend for herself. Weak, frail Roxy. As if she could ever defend herself against anything, let alone a werewolf. She was nothing more than a damsel in distress, always needing to be protected. After all, look what had happened when no one had shown up to save her. Blaine had gotten his way and now Roxy was broken, used and discarded like some sort of unwanted toy.

Wait, that’s not right.

Roxy wasn’t defenceless, not by a long shot. Kimberly had thought that, too, and Roxy broke her arm. She had held her own against a beast twice as tall as her while Sam was indisposed, and had managed to hold out until help arrived. Sam was the one who was hurt in that fight, not her.

Sam…

Roxy stood up and saw her girlfriend standing on the other side of the street, waving at her. She tried to run to her, but the ground refused to move under her sprinting feet. She tried to shout to her, but no sound escaped from the vacuum in her throat. She was helpless to stop the brunette with the knife and the shadowy face from walking up to Sam and burying her blade into the soft flesh of her belly, stabbing her over and over again as red spilled out onto the pavement.

Pedestrians walked by without a care as Sam fell to her knees, lifeblood spilling from her mouth as she looked at Roxy hopelessly, eyes pleading for help. Roxy couldn’t do anything but watch as the figure brought the knife to Sam’s throat and cut it without hesitation. Roxy screamed soundlessly, the pain of her heart shattering into tiny pieces far outweighing anything she had felt when her body was carelessly ripped apart in the forest.

The culprit returned, his one beady green eye shining from the endless void of black that was his silhouette, still missing half of its head. His huge claws gripped Sam’s head, her almost lifeless grey eyes still staring at Roxy like this was her fault.

“Ro-”

Blaine tugged and Sam was dead.

Roxy thrashed, desperately trying to break free of whatever was keeping her in place. Her throat was already raw from screaming. Her arms and legs were tangled in something and she couldn’t break free. Her whole body tingled as her lungs constricted, not getting enough oxygen from this hell she was trapped in. Something grabbed her shoulders and-

—

“Roxy! Roxy, calm down! What’s wrong?!”

Roxy stopped screaming and opened her eyes. Her dad was in front of her, gripping her shoulders tightly with a terrified look on his face. She was in her room.

It was just a dream.

She tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat as her eyes welled up. Her dad noticed immediately and pulled her into a hug, tucking her head against his shoulder and gently rocking her as she started to sob.

“Oh, ချစ်လေး. It’s alright, you’re okay. Did you have a nightmare?” he asked softly, using that familiar pet name from her childhood. He had once told her that it meant ‘sweetheart,’ though Roxy wasn’t able to verify that. Despite her heritage, her understanding of the Burmese language was patchy at best and non-existent at worst.

She didn’t respond to his question, just squeezing him tighter and nodding against his shoulder. He hummed, gently rubbing her back in calming circles. She felt like a little kid again, being comforted by her dad after a nightmare. It almost felt trivial, after everything she’d been through, but it was nice regardless.

“Do you want some coffee, ပွင့်ချပ်?”

That was one that she didn’t know the meaning of, but the paternal love behind the word filled her with warmth all the same. She pulled back from the embrace, sniffling slightly.

“Y-yes please.”

Her dad smiled and ruffled her hair affectionately. It was much more disruptive than it would’ve been had her hair still been short, but she still found herself smiling at the gesture regardless.

She made her way downstairs where her dad poured her a cup from a freshly made pot, adding cream and two teaspoons of sugar, just how she liked it. The drink helped her calm down quite a bit, but it didn’t fully get rid of the awful feeling that her dream had instilled in her. Much of the imagery was familiar - she’d had her fair share of awful nightmares since that night in the woods - but the way it had shifted once she had remembered herself made her feel unwell. It was almost as if her own mind was trying to scare her by targeting every little fear and insecurity she had. 

The look that dream Sam had been giving her when she died wouldn’t leave her mind. Fear and hopelessness and betrayal and disappointment. It was a look that she prayed she would never have to see in real life, especially not from the eyes of her partner. It made her feel like it was somehow her fault, like all of the bad things that had happened to her and her friends were somehow because of her.

Honestly, if she thought about it, that idea wasn’t entirely wrong. If she’d just kept her curiosity in check while researching about Sam, the hunters never would have targeted her. If she had never dragged Leif along to help her deal with that, she wouldn’t have had her nose broken. And just how many times did Sam get hurt trying to defend her from Blaine?

Roxy internally shook the thought from her mind. It was a dangerous thing to start thinking like that. Nobody could have predicted what happened. Not with the hunters, or Blaine, or any of it.

Once she’d finished her coffee, Roxy returned to her room, booting up her computer so that she could find something to watch or play to kill some time. She had a couple of hours to kill before it was time for her and Sam to meet up and go hiking through the woods. She didn’t really know why they were doing it - Sam had been a little cagey on the details - but apparently the day was important to her somehow.

Well, whatever the reason, Roxy was looking forward to it. It was always nice to spend time with her girlfriend. Now if only that awful feeling in her gut would go away…

—

“Hey, Sammie!” Roxy called, running up to her girlfriend and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Sam wrapped her in a tight embrace, picking her up and spinning her around before setting her down again. It was everything her body was craving since the moment she had woken up.

“Hi, blackberry,” Sam responded, smiling down at her. Roxy couldn’t help but notice it didn’t reach her eyes, their usual icy sparkle replaced by an almost unnoticeable hint of deep-seated sadness.

“You alright, hun?” Roxy prodded gently.

Sam’s smile dropped and she sighed deeply. “Yeah, I guess. Today’s just… A bit heavy for me.” She paused for a moment. “There’s something I want to show you, but it’s a bit of a walk away, so I hope you have some sturdy shoes.”

Roxy looked down at her favourite pair of converse shoes, comfortable in the way that only a well-worn shoe could be. They’d served her faithfully every day at school, and had already survived the numerous trips into the woods she’d taken since she got them, many of which involved running and sliding over the rough ground as she played with her favourite wolf, so she didn’t have any doubt that they would be okay. The rest of her outfit wasn’t anything extreme, just a graphic tee displaying the name of her favourite horror movie (A Nightmare on Elm Street, of course) tucked into some ripped jeans. She’d also brought a bag with some sandwiches in case they got hungry.

Sam was dressed simply; grey tank top and signature flannel for tops, denim jeans for bottoms. The blonde was nothing if not a walking lesbian fashion stereotype, after all. Not that Roxy could really talk in that department, to be fair. There was one facet of Sam’s outfit that made the dark-haired girl raise an eyebrow, however.

“Those are some big words from someone who’s barefoot,” she observed with a hint of humour. “Gonna be bringing Artemis out?”

A soft shade of pink washed over Sam’s snowy cheeks. She grinned bashfully. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard that name,” she reflected. “But no, I’ll be walking with you. It’s mainly just a precaution in case I need to shift quickly. Clothes will rip easily, but shoes? Let me tell you, they get really uncomfortable real fast. My skin’s a bit tougher than yours, anyway, so I don’t really need to worry regardless. I-I just… Ever since him I've been trying to be a little bit more prepared, y’know?”

Roxy nodded. “Makes sense.” She held out a hand. “Shall we head off, then?”

Sam took her offered hand and off they went into the trees. The day was calm, but it was the type of mildly unnerving stillness that always preceded a storm. No wind disturbed the leaves above them, and the only sounds to be heard were those of the wildlife flittering in and out of the bushes around them. Sam walked near silently, the practised movements of a predator who didn’t want to be heard. Next to her, Roxy was like a newborn calf, stumbling mindlessly and uncaringly into old crispy leaves and crunchy twigs. To her credit, she wasn’t trying to make so much noise, and usually she would consider herself to be quite adept at manoeuvring through the undergrowth. It was just, compared to Sam, she was hopelessly outmatched.

The blonde seemed to be once again lost in thought, her eyes reflecting her resigned dejection. Roxy hated seeing her like that.

“So, where exactly are we going? Is this some sort of ploy so you can get me somewhere isolated and sacrifice me to your werewolf gods?” the raven-haired girl joked, attempting to lighten her partner’s mood.

Sam broke out of her trance and looked at her, completely befuddled, before snorting and bursting out into laughter. Just like she’d hoped, that dead look in her eyes immediately melted away, replaced by her signature brand of unrestrained joy.

“N-no, of course not, silly,” she said, wiping her eyes as her giggles petered out. A more reserved, yet still sincere smile took its place on her face. “We’re, um… We’re actually visiting my old den, and…” Her eyes began to well up slightly, though her smile remained in its place. “I’m gonna introduce you to my parents.”

Roxy understood immediately. “...Oh.”

“Yeah. Today’s… Today’s the day that they, um… p-passed away. I come here pretty often as a wolf, just to relax or get my head straight when I need to, but every now and then I come up here as a person, so that I can talk to them… a-and pay m-my respects. My emotions work differently as a wolf, so it’s not really the same unless I can really sit there and comprehend things, y’know? I always make sure to do it on the anniversary, especially if I haven’t in a while…” She paused. “I’ve never actually brought anyone else with me before, so this’ll be a bit new for me, but I r-really wanted to show you this.”

Roxy’s heart broke a little for the girl beside her, words shaking as she clearly tried to keep herself together. She didn’t really know what to say, so she just squeezed Sam’s hand and stepped closer to her. Sam squeezed back.

The blonde sniffed and wiped her eyes. “L-let’s change the subject for now. It’s no use if I start crying before we e-even get there.”

Roxy smiled softly, bringing Sam’s hand to her face and kissing her knuckles. “Okay.”

The two engaged in idle conversation for the rest of their hike, occasionally slipping into periods of companionable silence. Through it all, Roxy neglected to bring up her dream. After everything they’d been through, nightmares were a common occurrence for both girls, and while they usually at least tried to make a point of talking through them and sorting their feelings out, Roxy felt that given the context of the trip they were on, it was better to just leave it for the time being. She was no stranger to sorting out her feelings on her own, after all. Having Sam around to vent to was just a privilege that she’d grown to rely on.

After walking for somewhere between twenty and thirty minutes, the two finally came upon what seemed to be their destination; a shallow cave set into the side of a rocky cliff face. Sam took a breath and half-heartedly gestured towards it.

“Well, this is my den. Was my den. M-my parents’ den.”

Roxy inspected the cave. It wasn’t very large, just about tall enough for Sam to be able to walk in without crouching, and about thirty feet deep. The floor seemed to be covered by a soft padding of some sort. She started to bend down to get a better look at what it was, but Sam stopped her.

“P-please don’t touch that. A-actually, I would rather you didn’t go inside at all… p-please.”

Roxy looked at her curiously. Sam was looking away, gripping her arm tightly. “Oh, sure.”

Sam crouched down and buried her head in her knees. “I’m s-sorry. It’s not you, it’s just th-that it still smells like them, a-and I’m afraid that I’ll lose that if anyone else goes inside. I-I just didn’t think about it b-before.”

Her voice was thick with barely restrained emotion. Roxy walked over to her and stroked her back gently. “It’s okay, Sam. I get it. I can stay out here.” 

The blonde lifted her head from her knees and looked at Roxy, watery blue eyes piercing her heart. She smiled back gently, deciding it was probably a good idea to change the subject. 

“So, this is where you used to live when you were little?” she prompted. Sam sniffled and wiped her eyes, settling back into the dirt, with Roxy following her down soon after.

“Y-yeah. I mean, we lived in Dewsbury proper when I was really little, but I was too young to really remember it. We moved out here to hide from hunters after they caught our trail. My parents tried to hide the reason from me, but I think they forgot how good my hearing was, because I could still hear them talking about it. I didn’t really mind, though. I always thought that living out here was so much fun. Every day we could just run around the trees and play, hunting any food we needed from the wildlife. Looking back on it, I’m not really sure what our financial situation was like, but it never really felt like we wanted for much.”

Roxy listened intently, resting her head on Sam’s shoulder to offer her the simple comfort of her presence. She sighed deeply.

“I just miss them, Roxy. Nothing’s been the same since they left. Don’t get me wrong, I love Carol and Ava and Tom, but… It’s just not the same. I-I tried to call Carol ‘mom’ once, but it felt so wrong. I feel really guilty about it, honestly. I know she sees me as a daughter, and I’ve tried to see her as my mom but i-i-it just doesn’t work. I just can’t l-let them go.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Roxy said in a reverent whisper. “I think it’s okay to still hold onto them in that way. I don’t think Carol would blame you.”

Sam hummed. They stayed like that for a while, leaning into each other. Sam idly drew shapes in the dirt with a finger while Roxy relaxed against her shoulder. It was a nice moment, the serenity of the overcast day amplifying the quiet atmosphere of the scene. After a time, Sam picked herself up off the floor. She took a deep breath.

“I think I’m ready now.”

“Ready for what?” Roxy asked, following her up. Sam looked at her.

“Ready to talk to them.”

—

Sam led her through the woods once again, although this time their trip was much shorter. She walked robotically, with a tenseness in her shoulders that Roxy hadn’t noticed before. She wanted to try and comfort her in some way, but she had no idea what she could possibly say to alleviate the ache in her lover’s heart, so she remained silent, just following behind Sam as respectfully as she could. 

She was brought to a clearing where the trees grew in what looked like an almost perfect circle, the occasional ray of sunlight filtering down through the canopy of leaves above them giving the grove an almost sacred energy. Grass and wildflowers bloomed all across the ground, a far cry from the rough dirt floor that covered the rest of the forest. A solitary, overgrown gravestone sat in the perfect centre of the clearing.

Roxy followed as Sam slowly approached the headstone. “I-is this… where they’re buried?” she asked nervously.

Sam turned and looked at her, a certain fog seeming to clear from her face as she did so. “N-no, not really. Th-they were, um… They were c-cremated. They’re interred at the Dewsbury cemetery. Th-this is just a gravestone that Carol had made f-for me. I b-brought it out here because I felt like this is where they b-belong… More-so than that overcrowded graveyard, anyways.” She chuckled mirthlessly, the last few twisting into sobs as her barely restrained emotions leaked out a little. “It’s p-pretty s-selfish, don’t you th-th-think? F-f-for me to decide th-that for them?”

“Not at all, Sam. It’s a beautiful spot. I think they would love it.” Roxy replied, rubbing Sam’s back comfortingly.

A wobbly smile grew on Sam’s face. “Th-thank you. I p-planted the seeds for the f-flowers and the grass m-myself. I wanted it to be ni-nice for them.”

Roxy smiled back at her. Sam took a few seconds to compose herself before she approached the gravestone and sat down on the soft grass, gesturing for Roxy to follow. From this distance she could easily make out the words on the grave.

DEBORAH & MARCUS REED

1981-2007          1979-2007

LOVING PARENTS, TAKEN TOO SOON

Sam reached out and placed a hand on the cool stone. Roxy remained silent as she closed her eyes for an extended moment. When she opened them, she had a gentle smile on her face, though it was clear that it was mostly a facade.

“Hi mom, hi dad. I’m sorry it’s been so long since I last came to see you, i-it’s just been a really hectic year, y’know?” She chuckled, taking a breath to steady herself. “Well, that just means I’ve got a lot to tell you about! Probably the biggest thing is… I, um… I-I have a girlfriend now! Her name is Roxy, and she’s really sweet. She saved me from a bear trap a-and I somehow managed to make friends with her, and then all of a sudden w-we were dating! She knows about me being a werewolf and everything, so no need to worry about that, either.”

Sam sighed wistfully, a now genuine smile adorning her face. She seemed lost in her own little world, and far be it for Roxy to pull her out of it, even as her heart fluttered at the way Sam spoke about her. “She’s honestly so amazing, I don’t know how I managed to score her. My life has changed so much in just the few short months since I met her. I mean, I have actual friends now! There’s Leif, who knows I’m a werewolf too, and Ross, who’s still figuring it out, I think. They’re both really snarky and sometimes I have trouble figuring out when they’re joking, but that’s not too different from Ava, so I don’t really mind. Th-the point is, they’re both actually my friends this time. They actually like me, they’re not just pretending to or putting up with me like people used to in middle school. I-it’s a really nice feeling. There’s also Lukas and Brooke, although they’re more Leif and Ross’s friends, but they still hang around with us sometimes.

“I-I actually met some other werewolves, as well, though for the most part it didn’t end very well. Blaine was the first one, and man, he was a real piece of work. He wouldn’t leave Roxy alone and I had to keep telling him off. H-he ended up getting expelled, a-and I wish I could say that was the end of it, but things only got worse after that. He kinda went a little crazy, I think. To make a long story short, he ended up attacking both of us while we were walking through town late at night. Usually I could take him down no problem, but there was something… wrong with him. He knocked us around pretty good. I-I actually had to go to hospital for once, which was pretty scary. I-I’m okay now, though I got a few new scars for my efforts. Th-the other werewolf was a doctor who patched me up. She was really nice, actually. I wonder if you guys knew her.

“Roxy says that there’s another one that she met, a detective or something, but I haven’t met him yet so I’m still a bit wary. Y-you guys always told me to watch out for other werewolves, b-but I’m trying to keep an open mind. I-I think part of the reason Blaine was the way he was was because I was aggressive to him first. I wonder a lot about what might have changed if I had just let him be, but I was too scared. I didn’t want him to hurt any of my pack. Well,” Sam took a deep breath. “I don’t have to worry about him anymore, at least. He d-died. Hunters, right after he attacked me and Rox. Th-that… brings me onto my next point, actually. 

“I… We’re worried that the hunters might be planning something, something that might have to do with why Blaine was all… messed up when he attacked us. Roxy thinks drugs, but I’m not sure. They were definitely prepared for Blaine when they hunted him, according to Roxy. But even if we’re right in our theory, we still have no idea why. Why would they want to make werewolves stronger? It just doesn’t make any sense to me. A-a-and honestly, it scares me a lot. It feels like we’re on the edge of a cliff, ready to fall at any second, like I-I’m just waiting for something to go wrong, for them to show up again. They’ve already tried to go after Roxy before. I’m not even that worried for me, I-I just don’t want them to hurt my f-f-friends. Th-they’re all I have.”

Sam was silent for a moment as her emotions overtook her. Roxy understood, she’d been silently crying for most of the one-sided conversation herself. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose someone that close to her. Sam took a deep, shaky breath in and continued speaking, though her voice was clearly breaking up as she reached her limit.

“I j-just wish you guys were still here. I wish you could tell me what I sh-should do. I-I-I d-don’t know wh-what to do if the hunters come b-back. I d-don’t want to k-k-kill anyone but I-I’m so s-scared I might h-have to. I w-won’t hesitate to protect my friends, but I’m j-j-just so scared.”

With that, Sam finally broke, all of the emotions she’d been holding in throughout the course of the day spilling out in an avalanche of broken sobs as she trembled and hugged the gravestone. Roxy silently cried with her, embracing her from behind and trying to offer any sort of comfort she could.

It took a long time, but eventually Sam’s sobs quietened down. She continued to sniffle and hiccup occasionally as Roxy soothingly rubbed her back, her head resting on the cool stone of her parents’ grave. She was whispering something, but Roxy couldn’t make it out. It was probably for the best- she’d already felt somewhat like she was witnessing something she shouldn’t be when Sam was talking to her parents, so she had no qualms about letting the blonde have her private moment.

“Th-thank you,” Sam muttered, barely audible to Roxy’s ears.

“Hm? What for?” she asked in reply.

“F-for being here. For staying with me. You’ve made today a lot easier.”

Roxy leaned over and kissed Sam on the head lovingly. “It’s really no trouble, hun. It’s honestly really nice to do something like this with you. It helps me feel connected to you, y’know?”

Sam hummed and leaned into Roxy. They sat there for a while, just soaking in each other’s presence and quietly listening to the animals scurrying through the forest. It was a peaceful moment. At least, until the loud rumbling of Sam’s stomach broke that peace.

“Getting hungry?” Roxy teased.

Sam exhaled a tiny laugh. “Yeah, apparently so. W-wanna head back to the den? We can eat there.”

“Sounds good.”

—

Sam was sitting with her knees tucked up to her chest, resting her chin on them and looking out to the trees as Roxy sat behind her, combing her hands through her hair and working all of the knots out of it. It was clear that she hadn’t brushed it very recently, but honestly, Roxy couldn’t blame her. There was a reason that she usually kept her hair short, and Sam had so much of it. She briefly entertained the idea of what Sam might look like if she cut her hair as short as she usually did, but quickly decided that it would be far too much of a tragedy to lose those long, wavy white and gold locks.

After they’d finished eating the sandwiches Roxy had brought, they spent a long time just idly chatting, as well as playing among the trees when Sam decided to shift into her wolf. It had been a few hours at this point, but Roxy wasn’t going to mention anything about going home until Sam did. This was her day, after all.

Roxy’s fingers idly started to braid Sam’s hair, calling on the skill from her childhood that she hadn’t used in years. Sam immediately foiled her attempts by instead leaning her head back into Roxy’s touch, clearly looking for scratches. Roxy laughed breathily, giving Sam what she wanted and running her nails along her scalp. The blonde, predictably, melted.

“Hey, Sam?” Roxy asked after a few minutes.

“Hm?” she responded, flopping backwards into the dark-haired girl’s lap.

“Do you think I should cut my hair short again?”

Sam inspected her for a few seconds. “I dunno,” she eventually settled on, reaching up and taking a lock of black hair between her fingers. “It looks good like that. That being said, you do look really cute with short hair, too. So, I dunno, up to you I guess.”

Roxy flicked her forehead playfully. “Very helpful.”

Sam yawned, her voice coming out low and rumbly. “Hey, it’s not my hair. I think you look beautiful either way. Just do whatever makes you happiest.”

Roxy leaned down and kissed her. “You make me happiest.”

Sam snorted tiredly in a failed attempt to hide the dusting of pink growing on her cheeks. “Cheesy.”

“Says you.”

“Yep.”

Roxy just laughed and shook her head, leaning back against the cliff wall. After a short moment, her phone started beeping from her pocket. Sam flinched away from the noise as the shorter girl quickly tried to shut it off. 

“Shit, sorry Sam. That was my alarm, I have work tonight and I wanted to make sure I had enough time to shower before my shift. I’m really sorry, but I’m gonna have to head home.”

Sam grumbled and sat up, yawning again. “It’s cool, I get it. Do you need me to walk you back?”

“You can if you want, but I should be fine. Surprisingly, I still have service out here, so I shouldn’t have any trouble finding my way.”

Sam hummed. “Alright, in that case I think I’ll stick around for a bit longer, maybe have a nap or something.” Her tired features softened as she looked back at Roxy. “Thank you so much for coming today. It meant a lot.”

Roxy kissed her again. “Of course, hun,” she replied, picking herself up off the dirt and brushing herself off. “I’ll text you later, yeah?”

Sam nodded sleepily. “Yeah.”

—

Sam awoke with a snort. She looked around in a daze, trying to remember where she was. It was hard to make anything out through the darkness, but from what her nose was picking up, she figured that she must be in her den. She remembered lying down inside it for a nap after Roxy left, but surely it shouldn’t be this dark yet?

She clumsily fished her phone out of her pocket, wincing as the light hurt her unadjusted eyes. When she could finally stand to look at the screen without her retinas burning off, she found that it was already eight thirty in the evening. Carol had sent her a text about an hour ago asking if she was going to be coming home for dinner, followed by another text fifteen minutes later saying that she would leave out a plate just in case.

Sam sighed, letting her head flop back onto the ground as she lamented her situation. It certainly wasn’t ideal, but it was nothing to get worried about. Honestly, the biggest issue was just getting back through the woods in the dark. While she used to roam through the woods at night all the time, ever since getting attacked by Blaine she’d been having a bit of trouble keeping a hold on her nerves whenever she had to walk through the dark alone.

Well, nothing for it. Might as well get going.

She picked herself up with a grunt and made her way out of the cave. Ordinarily it would still usually be at least a little light out at this time of year, as the sun wouldn’t have fully set yet, but with the heavy cloud cover that was threatening to break into a storm at any second, it was effectively already the dead of night. 

Sam brought her wolf to the surface and started jogging quickly through the trees, trying to make it back as quick as possible. Ideally, she would just shift fully and sprint back that way, but she had neglected to bring a bag in which to carry her clothes, so that option was a bust. She did her best just to focus on getting home, trying not to think about what could potentially be lurking in the trees.

After a while, she started to feel as though she was being watched, but her nose wasn’t picking up on anything, so she attempted to shrug it off. It was probably just her paranoia anyway, right? What are the chances that anything would actually be out there that would be able to hurt her?

Despite her attempt to comfort herself, the feeling refused to go away. She slowed down to a stop and looked around, trying to see if anything was out there. Her nose still wasn’t picking up on anything aside from the ever-present pine wafting from the trees all around her. There weren’t even any animals nearby, likely scared off by the sound of her trudging through the woods as fast as she could. So why did she still feel like there was someone out there?

Sam closed her eyes and strained her ears, listening for anything amiss. The leaves above her were rustling as the wind picked up and, just as her nose had told her, a clear absence of the sound of wildlife scurrying around her. She was completely and utterly alone.

I’m too paranoid. I’m fine, there’s no one out here but me.

She shook her head and was about to start moving again when she heard it. It was so quiet that she almost missed it, but she knew she definitely heard it. Someone took a step and crushed the detritus of the forest floor. It was definitely a someone; the sound was far too heavy to be created by an animal. It wasn’t that far away, either. Why didn’t her nose pick up anything?

“Wh-who’s out there?! Show yourself!”

For a long moment, the only thing to be heard was the sound of the wind in the trees and her own heartbeat pounding against her ribcage as adrenaline flooded her system, but eventually things, people, started moving beyond the darkness. In seconds, Sam was surrounded by men in ballistic armour, armed to the teeth and aiming their rifles directly at her.

Sam’s heart stopped. These were hunters, no doubt about it. Their uniform was much more advanced than her last encounter with them, with dark visors covering their faces, but there was no mistaking the situation. They’d finally found her. In the back of her mind, she faintly realised that even at this range, she still couldn’t pick up a scent from any of them, nor could she hear their heartbeats. For some reason, that scared her even more than the weapons they had trained on her head.

“Wh-wh-what’s g-going on?” she asked shakily, slowly putting her hands up and attempting to play dumb. Maybe if she could convince them they had the wrong person, they’d leave her alone?

“I’ll tell you what’s going on, dog. You’re being hunted.” A voice called out from the darkness. She knew that voice. She hadn’t heard it in fourteen years, but she knew that voice.

No…

A man walked out of the shadows, approaching her. He was dressed in priestly garb, drastically contrasting with the heavily armed team of soldiers surrounding her. His hair was almost non-existent, only a thin halo of grey around the sides of his head. He certainly looked a lot older than the last time she’d seen him, when he’d killed her mother right in front of her.

It felt like a vice had gripped her insides, an incredible flame of unbridled fury burning through every inch of her being. Her wolf was thrashing, forcibly dragging itself to the surface against her will. Her gums ached as her teeth grew, her eyes already glowing a deep red. Her chest rumbled with the sound of her own growl. There was no chance of hiding her identity now, but Sam didn’t really care anymore. She’d been waiting for this chance for a long time.

“You.” she snarled, the sheer hatred in her voice seeping out like a physical thing.

The priest huffed in amusement. “Hello to you too, Samantha. My, look how big you’ve gotten. I’m sure your mother would be so proud.”

“DON’T YOU TALK ABOUT HER.” Sam forgot herself for a second and lunged forward, perfectly ready to slice his throat out with her claws. The readying of weapons all around her brought her back to her senses, causing her to freeze up.

“This brings back many memories for me, I must say. To be one of the few who can claim to have hunted a direwolf is an honour much higher than most, but to be the man who may have very well hunted them to extinction? Well, that would be a truly monumental achievement, wouldn’t it?”

Fear twisted around in Sam’s gut unbearably. She grit her teeth. “T-try it.”

The priest sighed. “Alas, as much as I would love to put a bullet in your brain and finish what I started all those years ago, I have my orders. You see, we need you alive, Samantha.”

“Wh-what?”

“Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the fun way. We do need you alive, yes, but I have absolutely no qualms about breaking your legs if need be. It’s up to you, wolf. What will it be?”

The pounding of her own heart was all she could hear. The priest rested his hand on the holster of his revolver, watching her every movement. She was fast, that was sure, but could she move faster than he could draw? And what about the men all around her? They appeared to be more at ease than they were a few seconds ago, but it was impossible to tell for sure without being able to hear their heartbeats or smell their anxiety. Seriously, what was up with them? Were they wearing specialised suits or something?

I could try running, but they know who I am now. They won’t hesitate to go through the Walkers if it means getting to me. I can’t put them in danger. Can I take these guys? If I can get into the trees I might have a chance. Oh, who am I kidding? They would just shoot me and even if they didn’t, I would have no choice but to kill them. Knocking them out would just postpone it. I-I can’t do that. I d-don’t want to kill anyone. I’m not like them. But… wh-what else can I do…?

I’m sorry, Roxy. I’ll find a way out of this. I’ll be okay, I promise.

Tears burned behind her eyes. Against every single nerve in her body, Sam forced herself to ease up, surrendering. The priest smiled awfully.

“Ah, good girl.” 

He moved his hand off of his weapon. The men around her lowered their guns. She hadn’t expected that. 

A chance.

None of the soldiers were able to react in time. Sam moved like lightning, charging at the priest and grabbing him from behind, holding her claws against his throat. With her free hand, she pulled his revolver from its holster and threw it away into the darkness. It was all done in less than a second.

“NOBODY MOVE!” she growled. The soldiers, finally catching up to the situation, all trained their guns at her. She was really banking on the hope that the priest was valuable enough to them that they wouldn’t just blast holes in him to get to her.

“Drop your guns!” 

No one moved. No one obeyed. 

“I-I’ll kill him! I swear! Drop them!”

Nothing.

She jostled the priest, digging her claws into his neck hard enough to draw blood. “Tell them to drop their wea- hurk.”

Sam’s words cut off as an unimaginable pain overtook her senses. There was something in her abdomen, plunging deep into her side. She could feel some sort of… feeling, spreading through her body from the wound, burning her insides as it went. Her claws sunk back into her fingers. Her fangs shrunk back into her gums. 

Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees, causing whatever was stuck in her side to come out. She gasped in pain, too shocked to even scream, holding the wound as something warm dripped through her fingers. She tried to pull her wolf back out to quickly start healing, but found that she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t come out. She was completely cut off.

She shakily lifted her head to find the priest looking down at her, holding a crimson-coated knife and looking absolutely ecstatic. 

“Haha, it worked! It blocked her transformation! If only we’d had something like this when we hunted her parents, I might not have lost my whole squad. I suppose standard silver really doesn’t cut it with direwolves.”

He put the knife away before kneeling down in front of her and taking her head in his hands, smearing her own blood on her cheek as he did so. She weakly gripped his arms.

“Thank you, Samantha, truly. You have absolutely made my night. It is a shame there aren’t any other direwolves that we’ll be able to use this on, but still, you’ve made my hypothesis a reality, so thank you.”

She looked into his eyes, something boiling in her gut. She was so angry. How dare he? He murdered her parents and now he’s thanking her like she’d done him a favour? He STABBED her. How fucking DARE he!

A shockwave of pain rocked her body, coursing out from her stab wound. She heard a scream. 

Her eyes refocused. She looked down. 

Her claws were back. There was blood dripping down her arms, matting the fur that had sprouted on her hands. The priest’s arms were crushed in her grip, her claws piercing his weak skin and digging deep into his flesh. Her head felt foggy. What was she doing?

She looked up at him. Saw the pain in his eyes. The fear. Something twinged deep in her belly.

Prey.

She shot up. He didn’t even have a chance to gasp before his throat was caught in her jaws, her fangs digging deep into his neck. His blood spilled into her mouth like a fountain, leaking out and dripping down her chin as she swallowed madly. There was a loud banging sound, over and over again. Her prey’s body jerked. Something whizzed past her. She remembered that she wasn’t alone.

She reluctantly dropped the body and darted into the trees. Trees were safe. They meant cover in the dark. The banging suddenly stopped. She could hear the other men communicating to each other, but the words meant nothing to her. She watched them from the cover of the bushes, waiting for her moment.

The men put their strange metal devices away and instead all pulled out long, gleaming sticks. She instinctively knew that they were dangerous, somewhere in the back of her mind. One of the men was slightly separate from the rest of the group. Target.

Sam bounded out on all fours, her claws slashing through the backs of his knees as she flew past, back into the cover of the trees on the other side. He fell to the ground, screaming. The sound just spurred her on.

The men chased her. Her heart was pounding. She darted between trees and swung around, changing her trajectory frequently. They couldn’t keep up with her.

But she could keep up with them.

One was looking in the wrong direction. He didn’t realise that she was right there.

She flew at him and sunk her fangs through the soft material on his neck. Somehow she knew that going for the head or body would be futile. She didn’t understand it, but she knew that her prey was protected, somehow. His neck was a weak spot, though.

She pulled her head back and tore a chunk of meat from his neck, jumping away from his collapsing body and scrambling back into the bushes as clouds of dirt exploded all around her. Some of the men had pulled out smaller versions of the devices they had earlier, and were now firing at her. It wasn’t going to save them.

One by one, the men fell, succumbing to her fangs and claws and speed and agility. It was all too easy for her to leap at their throats from the darkness, snuffing out their lives before they even had a chance to fight back. She was the predator, and they were her prey. She felt a burst of glee shoot through her every time she successfully landed an attack. Her pack was going to be so proud of her!

The beast prowled back to where the body of the first man she killed lay. He was face down in the dirt, unmoving. She remembered this man. This man had hurt her pack, hurt her. She could still taste his blood in her mouth. It was good.

Suddenly, another shockwave rocked through her from the wound that she had forgotten about. Her claws and fur and fangs receded. Her bones shifted back to where they were meant to be. Her mind returned to its full capacity.

The pain was the first thing to hit her. Sam doubled over, holding the wound at her side that had now stained a large part of her shirt red. There was so much blood. Too much. She needed medical attention. She-

Sam looked around and realised where she was, realised what those things on the ground were, what that taste in her mouth was. She stumbled back onto the ground.

“No no no no nonononononononononono-”

Sam turned and threw up. The clenching of her abs as she heaved burnt her injury with a pain like nothing else. But it didn’t matter. She deserved it. She was a murderer. She was just as bad as them. She-

Her vomit was red. She got the feeling that it wasn’t her blood.

She scrambled backwards, uncaring of the pain it was causing her. She looked around, desperate to find some reprieve from the sea of red around her, but everywhere she looked there was just more carnage. Carnage that she caused. Murderer. Monster. 

Another shockwave overtook her. Sam screamed.

—

“Thank you, have a nice night.”

Roxy hip-checked the cash draw back into the register as the customer left. It was a slow night at the 7-11, the monotony only occasionally being broken whenever someone came in to buy something. An eighties song was playing quietly over the speaker, covering up the ever-present hum of the refrigerators quite effectively. Leif would probably like it, Roxy thought. The girl was into older music like that.

“So, where was I?” Callum asked. Out of all of her managers, he was probably her favourite. He was a bigger guy with a bit of an unshaven look going on. ‘Handsomely rugged,’ he liked to call it. He was good at lending an ear whenever she needed/wanted to vent about anything, although she had to make sure she got her piece in before he could start talking, because once he began, he didn’t stop. She was also at least ninety percent sure he’d turned up to work high on a few occasions, if the smell of weed was anything to go by.

“You were… Oh! You’d just failed your save.” Roxy replied.

“Right, right, right. Okay, so, there I was, caught in the dragon’s breath weapon with only ten HP left. I’m thinking, I’m a goner, right? The DM’s already rolling the damage and I can see the look on his face-”

Truth be told, Roxy only really understood about half of the words that Callum was saying, but it was still a vast improvement from just sitting there and staring into nothingness while she waited for the clock to slowly tick down to the end of her shift.

Suddenly, a shock overtook her system, sparking out from the mark on her neck like lightning. Her legs buckled and she collapsed to the floor in a gasping heap. Her whole body was swimming with emotions that she couldn’t explain, that didn’t even feel like her own. Pain, fear, anguish. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Sam.

She couldn’t explain how she knew, but she did. Sam was in trouble. She was in pain. She needed help. Roxy shot to her feet, startling Callum, who had crossed to her register to see what was wrong.

“Woah! What the heck happened? Are you okay?” he asked.

“I-I-I need to go. I need to go home. C-can you cover for me?”

“Wh-what?! Why?”

“I-I just- It’s an emergency, I need to go!” The volume of her voice rose as her desperation increased. Those weird feelings were still swimming around in her stomach, her mark sending sparking signals through her nerves every few seconds. Pedro had said that the mark used to be able to send feelings between partners or something, hadn’t he? This had to be related to that somehow, there was simply no other explanation.

“Alright, alright, jeez…” he acquiesced. “But I expect a full explanation la-!”

Roxy didn’t even hear him finish, she was already out the door and sprinting down the street as fast as she could.