Murder and a thief

I ran through the forest, softly but quickly. They wouldn't be able to track me after I hit the village. I slid into a wolf den and crouched down as they went past. I would stay here until they went the other way, determined to find me…thinking I went back to that wretched place. I curled up and fell asleep. I woke to a dog nosing me, a silver wolf.

"Hey there." I said. He wanted to know why I was hiding in his pack's den.

"I'm a runaway slave. I didn't have anywhere else to go." I looked outside, it was dark and his pack leered in from behind him.

"You can sleep with us tonight. Call me Remus, come we'll go deeper into the den." He barked to the others behind him and they rushed by me.

"You're a mix of wolf and Shifter demon, right?" he said over his shoulder.

"Yes, along with part shadow Demon." I said shifting into my wolf form, a black wolf with a dark violet tint and violet eyes. His wolf grin made me shiver, I followed him through the maze and curled up in a corner out of the way. Remus sat down in front of me and jerked his snout back at they pack, inviting me to sleep with the pack. I whined thanks and followed him to the rest of them. They were friendly and weary of humans but they accepted me as if I was a real wolf. Pups nipped at my tail in play until I fell asleep.

"Stranger?" Remus asked nuzzling me.

"Morning." I said awake.

"What's your name? I don't like calling you stranger all the time."

"Rain. That's what my mother called me, when she was alive." I got up and walked outside with the pack.

"Do you wish to hunt with us today?"

"I would, thank you."

"Let's go then." We ran to the plains, through the forests and for the first time I felt free. We took a long time to spot elk, and then we planned for it. I was to scatter the rest of the herd while getting the two we targeted closer to the pack. We moved out and went to work, I snapped at the younger bucks and they took off, alarming the herd. I watched the others take their signal and do their part. Soon we brought them down and we feasted. It was good to have a full belly, I felt like everything would be alright.

"Tell me about the humans." One of the younger males requested.

"Humans are afraid of everything and anything they don't understand. They stole me from my mother when I was 8 and she died from their cruelty. I don't really care for humans."

"Then why take on their form?"

"So I can roam free, besides I'm part human. Wolf Demon is what they call a werewolf, they don't let us breed so we take on a wolf form and live as a wolf. We take a human mate for a night and then we disappear. That's how we've managed to live." He gave a dog grin and pounced on me, he was still a pup at heart. We wrestled and he lost, I took off flying around the field and the pack joined in on the run. We ran through the forest and went up a huge hill, we stopped at a cliff next to a huge waterfall.

"Nice view?" the young male asked.

"Yes, it's beautiful. Your name?"

"Tristan…yours?"

"Rain."

"Beautiful name, your mom give it to you?"

"Yeah." I sniffed the air and looked on the other side of the waterfall. A human male was climbing the cliff on the other side. He stumbled and slid a couple feet.

"That human is ridiculous. No humans have made it up that hill, they always fall to their death. We usually scare them away from the cliff."

"Then why don't we go do that?" I asked him.

"Because we're not allowed near humans. You were not human when we sniffed you, we smelt wolf and shifter. Remus decided to give you a home for the night, to see how you would behave."

"Anyway-" I stopped as the human slipped and fell. I shifted into a dragon and flew down to catch him. He screamed and I flew underneath him and opened my wings, he landed on my back.

'Hold on' I said in thought to him.

"What the hell do you mean 'Hold on'?!" he yelled. I dove and he grabbed the spikes sprouting from my shoulder blades. He swung a leg to the other side of my body. I flew up to the cliff and landed in front of the pack of wolves, they growled, I shifted into my wolf form and kneeled in front of them.

"Rain, take him to the village and return alone. We do not allow humans to come near us." Remus bristled and led the pack away. The human male wasn't quite sure of what to do. I shifted to my human form and he backed up and almost fell off the cliff again.

"What do you want?" he asked coldly.

"What made you so stupid to even attempt that cliff! No one has ever made it up that one. Demon or otherwise." I stomped my foot and he twitched in annoyance.

"Excuse miss dragon shifter thing! But I made it up just fine!" he snarled.

"I could easily kill you." I stated.

"I've heard that more often then you could imagine." He stepped forward and got in my face. Black eyes were full of hate and doubt.

"You have had run-ins with the guards?" I asked, smirking.

"Yeah, one could say that." He walked past me and started making his way through the forest. I followed him, smiling and keeping to myself, but making myself known.

"Why are you following me?"

"I have orders to take you to the village." I informed him.

"Well take me to the village and I can get rid of you." He cleared away a branch and tripped and fell down the hill. I shifted to my wolf form and ran down to meet him and the base of the hill. He wasn't too happy about that.

"Don't you have a form that's more like a pet then a wolf?" he asked, brushing off his clothes. I shifted to a parrot and landed on his shoulder, "Like this?" I asked him through thought speak…he sighed and nodded and walked towards the village. I flew and led him to the village and he seemed to grow restless, as we got closer to the village.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"I don't really feel comfortable around people, besides I'm not really a good person to be around." He scratched his head and I landed on his shoulder.

"Why?"

"I stole from someone so I could help out my family, then I…" he stopped and leaned against a tree.

Remus howled and the pack answered, they were keeping an eye on me and this guy.

"Your name?"

"Roy. Yours?"

"Rain. Wait here. Sit and nap." I flew over the trees to Remus and shifted to my human form and bowed to him.

"You have a request, don't you?" he asked, I nodded and shifted to my wolf form again.

"Is there a place where the human could live out here and not disturb us or the village?" he nodded.

"It's next to our den, how ever…if he hurts one of my family he will not live to see the dawn. I will allow him to earn his way to the family, but we cannot provide for him."

"He's not asking you to. He is a lonely person and is broken…he only needs shelter. He can make trips to the village and get what he needs."

"Rain, why do you stick up for him?"

"I know the pain in his eyes…He will not harm you or your family."

"Very well. Tristan is to go with you, and bring him to our den, he must be able to tell us apart from our enemies. Otherwise he will be hurt by them." He grinned and I licked his muzzle and ran off to get Roy. I arrived and yanked at his short-sleeved shirt and he started awake.

"It's only me…come on!"

"Don't startle me like that!" I ran off and then back to him.

"Follow me! Follow me!"

"Great, now I'm talking to a wolf." He muttered.

"You want to follow a human?"

"That would be nice." He said, I shifted into my human form and Tristan howled at that. I walked towards him and let him sniff me and then he led the way to the den.

"What are you?"

"Shadow, wolf, and shifter demon."

"A werewolf?" he stopped.

"In some one else's words, yeah. Some call us spirits and then others call us demons, but it doesn't matter what you call us…we are people just like you or the next person. My skirt tore on a branch and I limped a bit but I kept going, blood flowing down my leg.

"Shouldn't you take care of that?"

"Later." I glanced back at him, he was muttering under his breath, but he was following us. Tristan licked the blood off my leg when I stopped for some air, and to wait for him.

We arrived at the den and the wolves were sitting outside the den.

"What is this?" Roy asked.

"They want you to learn to tell them apart, because these are the wolves you'll be living next to. They are your neighbors, so be nice and learn their faces from others. I'll change to mine so you can learn my form." I went back to all fours, and sat in front of him. My eyes were a violet that wasn't wolf at all. He gave them names and petted each of them and let them sniff him, only then did I lead him to the small cave behind a waterfall, not even a mile from the den. He set his pack down and got to work preparing lunch.

"Would you like something to eat?"

"No, thank you. When you go into the village, I will go with you to help you carry things. The others might not but if they are willing to would you accept their…services?"

"Yes. How far is the village?"

"For human…2 days walk, wolf…1 day, dragon 1 hour flight. I'll fly you a mile away and then we walk. When do you want to go?"

"Tomorrow, but I want to walk it first, so I can mark the trail. Or at least memorize it." I curled up and he grinned.

"Keeping an eye on me?"

"Yes."

"Not you, them." He pointed behind me. The entire pack came in, the last four wolves dragging a small buck. Remus licked Roy's face and told me to tell him, "Save the antlers, they are worth much in the village, the hide is also good for trading. This is the only time we bring you food." Roy hugged the old wolf and nodded his thanks. The pack curled up near the entrance and we fell asleep.

The morning sun broke through the water, waking me from my deep slumber; Roy sat up watching the sun come up, his silhouette warped by the rushing water. Tristan sat next to him, his head on Roy's lap, Roy petting him.

"Remus wouldn't be to happy by this." I whined to Tristan.

"He was sad, I only wanted to help. Remus used to be a pet to the village, not many years ago. That's how he knows that those items were worth much in that village."

"But he doesn't want you to become a pet now does he?" I snapped.

"She's right you know. We can't get attached to a human, they die before we do. It only causes a heart to break."

"Remus, this human…is like her."

"How is that possible?" I asked. Tristan nipped Roy on the back of his neck in one swift move and Roy vanished and there sat a black wolf with green eyes.

"What just happened?" he whined, I sniffed him and stepped back…he was part shifter. But less than a quarter, other wise he would have been able to shift more freely, and he would have known about it before this.

"You're part shifter!" I growled.

"My family has shifters in it but I couldn't have inherited it!" he snapped at me and Remus tackled him to the ground.

"Learn your place or I'll send you to the village!" I nuzzled him and he got off of Roy.

"Teach him his place if he's going to be shifting into one of us!" he stalked off and Tristan followed him. I got the harness Roy built for me to help him carry stuff and put his backpack on it and put it on and met him outside.

"Ready to go?" I asked him.

"If you are?" he got up and we ran to the village's trail. I had run away in human form, and I wasn't going to be seen in my human form by those who lived there, but I wasn't going to let my fear stop me from helping Roy.

"This villages respect wolves but don't let them know that I'm a shifter, other wise my old friends will come to kill me."

"Why?"

"I ran away from them, I was sold to them as a slave. I'm from another tribe but these guys hate me, my tattoos are known around here so I will never be in human form around here."

"Will you teach me about this shifter stuff?"

"You'll need to work harder to shift, but I will try to teach you. We're almost to the village, about two more miles."

"I'll walk the last mile as human." He grinned and ran faster. I chased after him and we stopped by the big fir tree and he shifted to human.

"It's kind of easy…once you tell me what to do." He pat my head and we walked into the village. People stared and pointed talking about the sight of a 'tame' wolf. The men came forward and pointed to me and my little pulling wagon.

"How is this possible?"

"Respect and trust." Roy answered. I stood by his side and let my tongue roll out and panted.

"How did you train her to pull a contraption like this?"

"She started to pull my stuff around and I built her a wagon and a harness, but when I didn't put anything on her wagon she would whine. She trained me, not the other way around." One of the village wolves came over to me, trying to mount me, I snapped at him.

"She has much spirit. I'll buy her from you to breed with my best wolf."

"She's not for sale." Roy bent down to scratch my ears, but the male snapped at my feet and I jumped up to challenge him.

"Take off the harness." I thought to Roy. He unclasped the harness and I sprang forward, and us two wolves went at it. I caught him in the ribs on one attack, he retreated and charged for my throat but I jumped and bit the back of his neck, I let go of his scruff and snarled my warning.

"A female fighting my male?" the Indian asked the others.

"Yes, that's a female. She doesn't like your male and she doesn't like to be picked on." Roy smiled. The male looked at me in disbelief.

'You are not full wolf.'

'Wanna bet?' I growled.

'We see who win.' He charged and jumped, I rolled over and jumped to bite his neck, I twisted and swept his feet from underneath me, he was on his back and my jaw had a firm grip on his jugular. I growled once more and he whined his defeat. I jerked my head making him yelp to make sure everyone got my point. He whined again and his tail went between his legs, I let him up and he slunk off. I returned to Roy's side and licked his hands.

"She would be worth much here." The Indian pointed to me. I growled and lunged at him, snapping my jaw just short of his finger. He jerked back and Roy laughed.

"That's my answer. I'm not going to part with her. I'm here for supplies and supplies only. I have hide and antlers to trade."

It took the rest of the day to get what he needed and while he was doing that I wondered around the village, finding my old place and snuck in and stole back my tradition knife, in the tent I morphed to human, hid it in my hide belt and shifted back to wolf, it was hidden and part of me now. I wondered back to Roy and howled. He smiled, "Come here girl."

I bounded over to him, he fixed the harness on me and patted my head.

"Does she not have a name?"

"Yes, she does."

"It is bad luck to not call them by their name. They will turn on you if you do not call them by their name."

'call me Zani. They will bow, she is the great wolf and they fear her.'

"Let's go home, Zani." He turned as they bowed, I howled and snatched a piece of meat and followed him, tail wagging with my happy mood. The knife I had snagged came from my mother when they caught us both and made us their personal slaves. We traveled as a pair of mix-matched pets and made it home before dark. Remus asked where we went and what we did. We told him and he howled our victory to the pack and they howled back. Roy shifted to human form and lay down alone. Soon he was surrounded by wolves and sleeping peacefully. I shifted to my human form and took out the knife from my past.

"Mom, I can do this. I can hunt by myself." I said.

"Rain, I know but there have been sightings of our enemies, and you know what they would do to you if they ever caught you out there alone." Mother said, "White paw will only protect you."

"Mom, he tried to take me down to the river rock." I whined. She shook her head, "And you almost killed him. He won't try it again."

"Chief should have married me off when he had the chance." I muttered as I left. My bodyguard and I went to the field and caught two old bucks, but were attacked by our enemies. White paw was killed and I was taken hostage. They attacked our village and my mom gave me her knife as good luck. The next day they killed her.

Roy sat next to me and looked up at the stars.

"What are you thinking about?"

"My past." I answered.

"What did you do?" He asked softly.

"Nothing, I was only trying to provide for my mother and I. Hunting when I was taken for a slave. I ran away and this is what happened to me." I sighed and leaned against him, he put his arm around my shoulder and leaned towards me.

"What did you do?" I asked him.

"I killed someone. He was threatening my sister and brother and I shot him, then I stole a passport so I could run. It didn't even matter, they died anyway." He glanced at me and then onto the ground.

"Where were your parents?" I asked him softly.

"Dead. I had taken them to hide and escape but it didn't work." He seemed to shake with rage. I clung to his chest, trying to comfort him gently.

"You were doing what you thought was best, you tried to protect the family you had left. You are not to be blamed for their death."

"It really doesn't feel like it."

"It never really does." I shifted closer to him and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

Remus nosed his way in-between us and wiggled so that we were apart. We woke up laughing with the old wolf.

"Sorry, it's kind of a human thing." I told him. He smiled and barked twice.

"Why don't we go hunting with them today?" I asked understanding his question.

"But I thought that they weren't gonna help me at all." Roy said.

"You are part shifter so part wolf, they look out for one another. Come, you will learn what it's like to be a shifter." He nodded and closed his eyes to focus on shifting shape. He shifted and I followed suit and greeted the rest of the pack, we went to the high plains and hid in the forest to find the herd of elk from yesterday, or even buffalo. A twig snapped and I turned around and growled, a man stepped out from the bushes and pointed to me.

"Zani! The queen wolf that traveled with the strange man yesterday!"

"She is wild, no man could tame her." Another voice came from the direction. Remus snapped orders for the pack to stay together, Roy ran out of ranks and vanished. The Indian walked towards me and I padded closer to him.

"Remus, they have a pack in their village. About 30 strong…I, alone can take 4 or 5. How easily could we beat them?" I asked him in growls.

"With much effort we might be able to give them a run for their money. I prefer not to test this theory though."

"Then wait for my attack on their village and steal whatever you can grab…they will send one or two dogs to find us…we can weaken them that way." I looked back at him, and smiled, he nodded.

"Grab Zani, the stranger will pay much to get her back."

"Only if you can catch her." Roy appeared behind them, sword in hand.

"What do you mean?"

"She chooses who she'll work with. I don't own her, she is my friend, like the rest of these wolves."

"They serve you because she does." The other one yelled. Remus attacked him and I went for the other one, we got them down and the pack circled us and we grabbed their necks and growled.

"You never want to anger her…unless you have a death wish." Roy stepped through the ring of wolves and kneeled and scratched behind my ear. I whined and licked his hand.

"Thank you, my friend. For making sure I didn't come with you earlier. I see why you stole my sword and buried it last night." I looked him over, he looked filthy and his sword was covered in dirt. I gave a couple laughing barks and turned my attention back to the Indian I had scared.

"She doesn't want to see you around her pack again. You are to leave them alone, while you hunt you may be here but if you harm a wolf you will pay for in more blood and crops." Roy stood and went to the field.

"Why don't we get our hunts over with?" the pack got up and ran to his side and we cornered two of each animal and got our hunt, and left.

"That was quick thinking." I told Roy, he shrugged.

"Lies come in handy-don't they?"

"Yeah." I pulled the buffalo and the pack was helping me, we had managed to make harnesses for them to help pull the meat with less effort. We feasted and had some fun playing with each other. Roy and I went to his hideout and talked until we fell asleep. I woke in the middle of the night, sensing that something was nearby that shouldn't be I shifted and belly crawled outside and lay down, keeping quiet. A pack of wolves was sniffing around; the male I had fought in the village was leading them.

'I know you're here wolf girl.' He growled. I sat up and laughed to myself.

'Too bad you can't do anything about it.' I replied.

'Jiki you gonna let her talk to you like that?' another male asked, the rest of the pack came to watch what was happening.

'No. I'm gonna force her into submission.' He growled. He sniffed for me, I saved him the trouble, I jumped at him from behind and chomped down on the scruff of his neck. He howled and tried to buck me off, he rolled and I let go and jumped back, he lunged and I ducked, he hit a tree and yelped. I snarled a warning.

"I can make you forget about that, cause if you don't leave you're gonna be wishing you never saw me."

We leapt and met in mid-air, snarls, growls and yelps went on for what seemed like hours, most of them were his.

"What the devil are you?"

"The devil's daughter." I snapped my teeth shut and he backed up, his beta wolf stepped forward and Jiki growled an order to him.

"Don't try her fool, she'll kill you. You need to work on your fighting."

"Team her." A female suggested.

"Guess what, you can have three and I'll take you on."

"Stranger!" Remus snapped. "You have the pack behind you, we could take these weaklings with you." He snarled. Tristan came up next to me and licked my paw, then lunged at Jiki, catching everyone by surprise…soon everyone was snarling and fighting. I howled as I took Jiki down, for the last time and his pack stopped and turned to watch their alpha fall. Jiki was on his back, tail curling all the way to his belly and whining his defeat. His pack laid down in submission, noses to the ground and tails curled under them. Remus howled in victory then nudged me so I howled next. Roy came out from behind the waterfall and held up his sword.

"I heard snarling." He stated. I went over to him and held out my paw.

'You did. We had a major fight.' I laughed and he bent down to scratch behind my ear.

"Come on, let me patch you guys up." He smiled and the pack came over to him, but Jiki's pack stayed where they were, Remus went to them and gave them orders. They returned to the village and howled their allegiance to the Twilight Rose Pack.