(Rewritten 10/22/2017)

I don't own anything that belongs to Rick Riordan.

Anything else is debatable.

So here I am. I'd been living with the Pack since I was three years old, hunting, playing, and running. It was eleven years later when my entire world was shoved over a cliff into a meat grinder and then mixed into dog food. My name is Drago Walker. This is my story.

One stormy night fourteen years ago a knock upon a door was heard. When the owner of said door answered, there was no one was there. Well, except for me, I was there in a basket with a note. That only had four words written on it(it was a real quick read).

That was the story of my birth.

Now, fast forward a couple years and you'd find me in some stupid orphanage. The story goes that the owner of that door died very suddenly, only a few hours after he found me. His body was found the morning after, and though there were no signs of foul play, the authorities never found the true cause behind his death and he was eventually forgotten. Thus, I was sent to the nearest orphanage, to be forgotten as well.

I was a trouble-maker and if you asked any of the caretakers, they would've loved to forget me. I broke toys, I fought the other kids, I had the caretakers looking for me for hours on end, and I always ended up with most of the knives somewhere on my little three year old person.

Needless to say that orphanage was happy to see me leave. I wasn't adopted if that's what you're thinking, at least not in the traditional sense. That night I left on my own, and I left with the Pack.

Now, eleven years later, I'm still with the Pack. It has definitely changed over the years with the Alphas having pups and the pups growing up and becoming Alphas and having their own pups.

There is one day that I will never forget.

It started out fairly normal, all things considered. Back in the Den, I'd woken up early, and eaten some of the last hunt's prey. There was a bad feeling in the air, like a cold chill. Still, I was stupid enough to ignore it, I was stupid enough to ignore my instincts.

As I prowled through the mists of the early morning, I caught little glimpses of sparkling red eyes watching me from the edges of my vision, but they were gone so fast. I was stupid enough to convince myself that it was my imagination.

The day wore on and I hadn't caught sign or sight of any prey. The sun was high and the fog had cleared. The only sounds I'd heard the whole time were the tiny rustles of leaves as I stalked past them. I crouched for a while, and listened for anything that might disprove the foreboding stillness that had spread throughout the forest. I waited for a while, but I only heard silence. I was about to move when I heard a distant yelp. It wasn't loud and I barely heard it, but it was enough to confirm my fear.

I felt in my gut that whatever had been watching me had left, but that didn't ease my nerves at all. I decided to warn the Pack so I let loose a wild howl, waited a moment, and howled again. I listened for a response but I already knew something was wrong. As fast as my legs could take me, I sprinted back to the den, and still I listened for a response and every moment of silence increased my dread tenfold.

Blood pumped in my ears as I crashed through the forest. There was only one thought going through my head. I arrived and it felt like the blood drained out of my body all at once and I became very cold.

Everyone was dead. Dead and ripped to shreds, and I saw it all in one giant smack to the face. I saw the Alpha's bodies crumpled over the lifeless pups. I saw the old she-wolf laying belly-up with a crumpled rib cage. I saw the others, my friends, my family, all with their spines broken, all with shreds of flesh hanging from what little was left of their bodies. I saw the blood of them all and I nearly collapsed right there.

But there was one who was unharmed, who stood in the middle of the clearing. Her name was Moonbeam-Shadow. We stared at each other in confusion. I didn't understand why she wasn't hurt but she asked if I was okay. Before I could even think of a response, a huge, shining, golden creature blurred into the clearing and snapped Moonbeam clean in half with a maw full of blinding silver spikes.

I looked at the beast that had appeared from the shadows and a word popped into my head and out of my mouth, "Lion."

I didn't know where it came from but when I spoke the creature jerked it's head to the side and I saw Moonbeam's two halves fly out of my field of vision. I saw the blood stains on it's mouth and on it's claws and in that moment I knew that it was the Lion that had killed the Pack.

The cold in my body had receded and was replaced by a raging furnace. A sound bubbled up from inside me and clawed it's way out of my throat in the form of a blood curdling roar that I hadn't known could come out of me. This monster had killed my family, had destroyed my world. Every fiber of my being screamed to end this creature, and I listened.

With all of my might, I ran at the lion. He was roaring at me now and shaking the wreath of golden fur around his head. I shoved my hands into it's open mouth and I clamped my hands onto one of the Lion's largest teeth and I pulled.

Without warning, an unfamiliar power flowed into me, strengthening my arms and my back as I pulled. The Lion shook it's head and it's teeth tried to pierce me, but I held on. As I yanked and pulled harder, it's shaking and flailing lessened until finally, with a roar of effort, the fang snapped. I heard a squelch and suddenly I was flying through the air.

I bounced off a tree and landed on my butt, but I was able to see that the lion looked different. It didn't shine and was more of a dull brown color instead of the bright gold it had been sporting before. It shook it's head and stared at what was in my hand with it's burning ruby eyes. I could see it's look, it was angry and shocked. Hurt and stunned. I'd done something unforgivable and I smiled. I smiled because I'd stolen from the thief. But it wasn't enough, I needed more than just a tooth.

I flipped the fang around in my bloodstained hand and jumped at the lion. I don't know how but easily I cleared the twenty foot gap. As I fell at the Lion, and as he reared up to pounce on me, the second most unexpected thing happened to me that day. A full grown buck charged out of the forest and used it's golden antlers to throw the lion to the side, then a voice echoed in my mind, "Please Lord, they're coming! We must go! We must ride!"

The Lion was gone, but I hadn't killed it. I heard far off sounds, terrible shrieks and cries for blood, my blood. I didn't know how but I knew an army of nightmarish things were coming to tear me apart. The buck pawed the ground nervously and kept talking about needing to go. I still don't know why I got on or what I was thinking, but that day I rode a wild buck and left my home forever.

I didn't know where Bowen (that was what he wanted to be called) was taking me but we were moving faster than any animal should have been able to move. But despite the speed we were moving, I could hear the roar of the Lion and other things gaining on us. I didn't notice at first, but there was also the smell of dirt and stale air. It was the same must that had been on the Lion and every moment it grew stronger in my nose.

Bowen didn't say much, he was focused on running, and we were going fast. After a while we began to slow down. I wasn't sure where we were, the scenery had gone by so fast I'd only caught a few glimpses of it, but I did know that Bowen was at his limit. Before, his rack had gleamed like the Lion's fur but now they were pale and dull. I could feel his muscles quivering from the strain and I knew he couldn't go on like this.

"Bowen, how close are we?"

The buck's mind pressed against mine and I could feel his exhaustion wash over me. He pointed with his nose, "There, Lord." I looked and saw a huge tree at the top of a hill covered with many smaller trees.

"Up there?"

Bowen stumbled on a root and I fell off with a thud, "Are you well, Lord?!"

"I'm fine, but you need to go up there now!" I gripped the tooth I'd stolen from the lion and turned to face the direction we'd come from. The direction where I smelled the Lion.

Bowen shook his head and tried to nudge me in the direction of the hill, "We must go. Too many. Too many! There is safe. Safe! Must go!"

I could already see the Lion and it had friends. Most were creatures with strange bodies and some were holding strange, shiny, sharp things. I yelled at Bowen, "It's too late for me but you can still make it. Go!" Then, without looking to see if Bowen had listened, I charged at the group of what could only be called monsters. The Lion was in front and we locked eyes. I roared, and for a moment, the monsters hesitated. Then the Lion roared his own challenge and the monsters swelled forward.

As we surged toward each other, my vision narrowed and I only saw the one I would kill. His coat and mane had returned to their former splendor, though it was tarnished by the blood of the Pack. He shook his mane, and I brandished the tooth I'd stolen from him. We collided and I felt the power pour into me once more. I jerked my arms and he crashed into the other monsters.

One of them, a strange kind of snake, opened it's mouth and out came a cone of light and heat. My body moved on it's own, I hopped to the side, jumped forward and stabbed the shining tooth through the snake's head. A moment later, the Lion was on top of me raking his hind claws down my sides. Without thinking, I plunged the fang into the his leg and it let go with a yelp.

A snake lady appeared in my field of vision and sliced down with one of the gleaming shinnies. I roll to the side leaving a small pool of blood and smashed my hand into the snake lady's leg, knocking her over. I snatched up the shiny and swung it at another monster behind me. The shiny caught the creature across the middle and it turned into dirt. I hit the snake lady with it and she turned to dirt too.

The Lion limped toward me and I brandished the shiny for a charge. I swung and ducked and bit and dodged together with the Lion in some kind of a vicious dance to the death. The shiny bounced off of the Lion's glittering coat and he caught it in his mouth. The Lion flexed his jaw and shattered it into tiny pieces.

That was when I saw my chance. While the Lion was distracted with the pieces of sharpness in it's mouth, I lunged for the tooth and ripped it out as hard as possible. The Lion howled in pain, and the sound was deafening. It was full of rage but I didn't stop. I leapt onto the Lion's back and with a roar of triumph drove the fang past the depths of it's mane into the base of it's skull and beyond.

It's cry of pain was cut short, the Lion shuddered and fell still before it crumpled into dirt, leaving behind only the pelt of the once fierce creature. I stood and looked around at the carnage around me, there was dust everywhere, and also people. They had fought the other monsters but hat wasn't important. They all stared at me and they all had shinnies in their hands. I saw Bowen standing at the top of the hill next to the biggest tree, I heard him calling that they were safe.

I nodded to him absently, too absorbed in my thoughts to really pay attention to him. I had killed the beast that had killed my family but that knowledge did nothing to ease my pain. They were gone and they weren't ever coming back. Killing the Lion was supposed to make me feel better. Instead it felt like it's claws were still ripping into my chest and I had no strength to fight it. I sat down right there, in the middle of the pile of dust that had formerly been the Lion and put my head in my hands.

And then I cried.

The rest of the day was one big blur of words, faces, names, explanations, and revelations that might have been shocking in different circumstances, but I was just tired.

Before I knew it I was lying face-up in an overcrowded building staring at the ceiling. I was supposed to fall asleep but it didn't feel right, the Pack had always been there for him and for them to be gone just reopened the hole in my chest. These people couldn't replace the Pack. I suddenly felt trapped.

Silently, I got up and stalked out of cabin eleven, alert for anyone who might try to stop me.

The moon was full and as I looked around for some place to curl up, one of the cabins in the courtyard caught my attention. It glowed just as the moon did and I felt something stir inside me. It reminded me of a memory, of a night long since past. I felt drawn towards that glowing silver building and a moment later I had crossed the threshold and into the cabin. Inside there were rows of beds, many of them with blankets carelessly tossed on them. It didn't feel right to leave the beds in such sorry states so I tried smoothed them out in an attempt to make it right.

As I made the beds, I noticed something. The cabin, it smelled similar to home, similar to the forest. Thoughts flooded my head and feelings flooded my chest. Why was I there? What was I doing? What was I going to do? Images flashed behind my eyes, unbidden. The blood of the Pack that stained the claws of the Lion, Moonbeam-Shadow as she was snapped in half, the Lion as it crumpled into dust, his face full of pain and fury and anguish. I felt something wet touch my arm and my body twitched.

"Please don't be sad, Lord..." It was Bowen, he was trying to... comfort me? "Please Lord, don't be sad." My eyes still stung from crying and my body shivered as well. Even so, I could feel a tingling power trickle into me. I tore away from the buck and stared at my feet for a moment.

My voice came out in a whisper, "It hurts you when you touch me..." It wasn't a question, and even though Bowen tried to deny it I knew he was just trying to spare my feelings. Now that I paid attention I could feel that he was in pain. It made sense. That was how I killed the Lion. That was the reason why he almost died getting me here.

With that in mind, I fled as far back as I could in that cabin. Bowen came to me anyway, though I noted with a sense of satisfaction and sadness that he didn't try to touch me again. "Just, leave me be, Bowen. You've done enough." The words came out harsher than I'd intended but I held my ground. I felt him prepare to argue but I shouted at him, "Go!"

The buck looked at me with it's big black eyes. Then he said, "As you wish, Lord."

After that he turned tail and left. When he was gone, I whispered dejectedly, "Leave me alone."