Well, this week has not been a good one for writing. Thankfully, I have a backlog for this fic that will last for a few weeks. This weekend will be dedicated to commissions! In the meantime, enjoy!
On the night of the attack, Cinder's pack stood ready. Their leader watched the gold and red flames leap into the sky, matching the colors of her fur and eyes. Her claws dug in the ground as she scanned the borders of the human village. She was familiar with the layout, as well as the best places to go in and come out. If her knowledge was correct, Adam's pack would be emerging soon.
Nearby, Pyrrha gazed at the town with nervous eyes. She had tried to get out of being a part of this attack, but Cinder had been clear that all of the strongest fighters had to be here. We're not attacking the town, she reminded herself. We're just using this opportunity to further weaken Adam's pack.
Practically everything Cinder did was to undermine Adam's pack, which controlled most of the woodlands and plains in the area. They were ruthless, ferocious fighters. Their weakness, ironically, was their bloodthirsty leader, who relished in the killing of humans. Cinder often exploited that, staging small raids and attacks on the towns and then leading the Huntsmen toward Adam's territory before hiding.
Now, she hoped to use their weakened state after a large raid in order to decimate their forces further. It was a brilliant, risky strategy that invited the Huntsmen's weapons and Dust as much as it did Adam's fangs.
When the first of Adam's werewolves came into view, Cinder was quick to kill it. She stood on her hind legs, freeing her forepaws to slash at the next. As more ran from the flames, the rest of Cinder's pack rose up and met them.
Pyrrha was knocked back by a larger male wolf, but managed to get ahold of his shoulders. She bit down, cringing at the smoky scent of his fur. She almost yelped when his claws dug into her back, but managed to lift her back feet to dig into his exposed belly. Toppling him over, she let go of his shoulder and bit down on his throat, turning her head sharply. A sickly crack told her that this fight was over. Eyes blazing, she gave in to her natural bloodlust and ran eagerly to meet her next opponent.
The salty tang on her tongue and the frantic singing in her veins caused her fur to bristle, as if charged with lightning. She fell upon another wolf, slashing wildly with her claws. Some part of her mind coldly observed how easily flesh was cut, how richly blood flowed from new wound after new wound. Another form grabbed at her, and she roared her defiance. She could hear her packmates fighting, could feel the vibrations of dozens of paws on the ground. She smelled blood as it soaked into the earth.
As she threw off her new attacker and turned to face him, something broke her out of her battle-induced stupor. It was a tiny cry of pain and fear. It was a soft sound that just barely carried over to her keen ears, likely because of a chance breeze blowing in her direction. It was the distressed call of a young girl.
Pyrrha turned her head in time to see a small group of wolves fleeing the town several tree-lengths away from the barrage made by Cinder's pack. Two of them were running on their hind legs and carrying something in their forearms.
Narrowing her eyes, Pyrrha broke away from the battle and ran at them. She heard some of Adam's wolves pursuing her and sped up as much as she could. She barked over her shoulder, hoping that some of her packmates would hear her.
As she drew closer, her eyes widened and she suddenly became very aware of the painful rasp of breath in and out of her heaving lungs. Adam was in the group of fleeing wolves. A large, black beast with streaks of red that reminded her of dried blood, he turned and bared his fangs at her as she approached.
Knowing that she had no chance in a fight, she barely dodged to the side and kept running. Planting her paws, she spun around, losing one of her pursuers and allowing herself another look at the fleeing group. One of the upright wolves was less guarded and trailing behind the other. Also, Adam was staying near the front one, making it easy to decide who to attack.
Pyrrha lunged at the werewolf's side, knocking him off balance. The thing he had been holding fell out of his arms, letting out another girlish cry. Sharp pain in Pyrrha's shoulder caused her to spin around and snap desperately at a new attacker.
Luckily, several members of the pack approached at that point, pulling Pyrrha's attacker away and easily killing the wolf that had been carrying the small girl. Adam, the other upright wolf, and the rest of that group disappeared into the forest.
A frightened howl signaled the pursuit of Huntsmen. Adam's pack was mostly gone at this point, so Cinder called for a retreat. Pyrrha quickly bent down and picked up the tiny body before following. Since she was running on her hind legs, she quickly fell behind.
To her relief, she saw her friends Sun, Neptune, Scarlet, and Sage slow down to keep pace with her. She smiled gratefully at them before ducking as an arrow whizzed past her ear. She heard Sage pause and turn around to attack one of the Huntsman pursuers. There was a slash and a thump before he rejoined them.
Pyrrha chanced a glance over her shoulder. The human, or Faunus, was moving. There was no way to tell from where she was if it was her human.
Ever since that night eight years ago, when she had run away after an argument with her parents, she thought often about the young human she had met. Initially, he had been ready to kill her, just as any civilized person would. It had taken a total stalemate between them before he had even tried talking to her. Still, once Pyrrha had let down her guard, he could have easily changed his mind and killed her.
Instead, he had freed her from the brambles. He had given her a piece of cloth from his own shirt to bind her wound (a piece of cloth that she still kept in her den). He had spoken to her as if he actually expected her to keep her end of their bargain. That night had changed everything Pyrrha thought she had known about humans.
After that, whenever Cinder called a raid on the town, Pyrrha made herself scarce, drawing the ire of the rest of her pack. She didn't care, though. Technically, her promise had been to not lead her pack to the town. However, the pack already knew about the town, making the promise useless. Instead, she chose to not take part in any of the attacks. Her fangs had never tasted human or Faunus blood, and she intended to keep it that way.
She hoped that her human was okay, that Adam's pack hadn't hurt him. Subconsciously, she hugged the girl in her arms closer, listening to the scared, weak whimpers. Do you know my human? she couldn't help but wonder.
She could see bite marks on the girl. This didn't surprise her. The only reason why Adam would take humans alive would be to turn them. She felt a flush of pride at having foiled him at least this much. You won't be getting this whelp, you monster. This one is ours.
The run back to the pack's territory beneath the mountains was long and strenuous. They had some pursuit from Huntsmen, but thankfully not much. It seemed that most of the humans and Faunus were either tending to their own wounded or pursuing Adam's wolves. By the time Cinder's pack got home, they were perfectly safe.
Pyrrha found a patch of grass and placed the girl down on it before regarding her thoroughly for the first time. She was a tiny thing with wide silver eyes. She wore a red cloak, which had been badly damaged during the fight. She was covered with bite wounds and was trembling violently.
Why did they savage a young girl so badly? Pyrrha wondered before noticing an empty weapons belt. She stiffened. So, you're a Huntsman. At least you don't have your weapon anymore.
An angry bark caused her to turn around. Red eyes blazing, Emerald approached. The beta wolf snapped angrily at Pyrrha's face, glaring at the human girl at the same time. She was angry at Pyrrha for endangering packmates for the sake of a human's life.
Pyrrha's hackles rose as she indicated the bites on the girl. She's one of us, now, she tried to explain. She had risked herself in order to get something Adam wanted, and had strengthened the pack as a result. She would take responsibility for the whelp's education.
Emerald took another step forward before a sudden bark from Cinder caused her to pause. Her ears flattened as the flame-colored wolf approached.
Cinder eyed Pyrrha before looking down at the girl. She leaned down and sniffed a few times, letting out a growl when she caught the smell of Adam. The black leader had bitten this girl personally. She was a prize, for whatever reason. Cinder turned to Pyrrha and nodded once.
Relieved, Pyrrha left the girl in Sun's care while she went to collect healing herbs. This werewolf-to-be wouldn't be any good to the pack dead, after all.
…
Pyrrha awoke the following morning to stirring in her bed. She opened her eyes and yawned, stretching her pale human limbs, wincing a little as this action stretched some of the scabs from the previous night. She was also a bit stiff from sleeping on a makeshift bed of grass and leaves. She had given her proper bed to her injured ward.
The girl was trying to sit up on the grass-stuffed pallet. She looked around, gasping as her silver eyes fell on Pyrrha. Her hand instinctively went to her belt and started shaking as she realized that there was no weapon there.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Pyrrha said calmly as she watched the girl. "I'm also not one of the werewolves who attacked your village. You were bitten, and will need guidance when your time of transformation comes. I'll be your teacher. My name is Pyrrha." She spoke slowly and precisely. Though she wanted to go over and comfort the girl, she knew that that would not be a good idea at the moment.
The girl swayed, looking like she would faint, but shook her head quickly. "I'm Ruby." She blinked a few times before her eyes widened. "Blake! Where's Blake? They took her too!"
Pyrrha tilted her head. "Blake?" She thought back to the battle. There had been another upright wolf carrying something. That must have been this girl's friend. She sighed regretfully. "We weren't able to get her. She is with Adam's pack, Moon help her."
Ruby took a shuddering breath, clearly trying to keep from sobbing. "Who's Adam?"
"A rival leader. His pack is responsible for most of the attacks on your village." Pyrrha walked over to the bed and knelt beside it. "You will learn about him soon enough. Are you hungry?"
Ruby said nothing, instead fixing her gaze on her hands in her lap. Her face was rapidly turning as red as her tattered cloak.
"What's wrong? Do you have a fever?" Pyrrha placed a hand on the girl's forehead. The human winced instinctively in response to her touch, but she chose to ignore that. She glanced at the herb poultices. They still looked okay, but would probably have to be replaced by midday. "Your face does feel hot. I'll get some water."
Taking a wooden bowl from near one of the walls of the cave, Pyrrha crawled out and started toward the stream. Sun met her on the way.
"Hey, if it isn't the new nursemaid? How's your whelp doing?" His words were teasing, but his tone was kind.
"She just woke up. I'm getting her some water." Pyrrha knelt down and dipped the bowl in the stream.
"Is it smart to leave her alone in your den?"
"What would she steal? Besides, she can't run away. One, she's still too weak. Two, she can't go back to her home with those bites. I'm pretty sure she knows that." Pyrrha stood up and started back toward her den. "How many were injured last night?"
"Ten were injured. Three were killed." Sun listed the names of those killed.
None of the newly-killed had been close to Pyrrha, but she still felt their deaths as much as any packmate should. She bowed her head as she walked. "At least we were able to do sufficient damage to Adam's pack."
"I wonder why he wanted that girl. She seems a bit small, you know?"
"He didn't seem to want Ruby as much as the other one he had." Pyrrha glanced at Sun, noticing his confused look. "Ruby is her name. Blake is the one that Adam got away with."
"Hm. Could've been a random turning, or maybe he'd been stalking them," Sun mused. "Maybe he fancied one or both of them."
"Don't ask her about that now," Pyrrha warned as they approached the den. "She still needs to recover before thinking about anything else." She crawled through the entrance. "I'm back."
Ruby turned toward Pyrrha and Sun before quickly looking at her lap again. It was easy to see the redness in her cheeks from where the two werewolves stood.
Sun frowned. "You don't need to be scared. We're not the wolves that attacked your village, and we won't hurt you."
Pyrrha stared at the girl for a moment before realization hit her. She looked from Ruby's carefully-averted eyes, to her own naked body. "She's not scared. She's embarrassed."
Ruby's sideways glance and the deeper flush to her face confirmed Pyrrha's assumption.
"Huh? What about?" Sun tilted his head.
"Neither of you are wearing anything," Ruby finally muttered through gritted teeth.
Pyrrha nodded, chuckling a little. "It's been awhile since we've had a newly-turned werewolf. I forgot how you humans and Faunus can get." She was so used to not needing clothing in the warmer seasons, her nakedness and that of her companion hadn't even occurred to her.
Sun snorted, glancing down at himself before shrugging a shoulder. "Wearing clothes all the time sounds like it'd slow you down. Humans are such prudes!"
"I guess I'll have to get used to it," Ruby cut in, her voice coming out hollow. "I'm one of you now, right?"
"It's not as bad as your churches make it out to be," Sun assured her, shifting so that most of his body was hidden in the cave's shadows, more for her benefit than his.
"Doesn't the Church say that those who are bitten should kill themselves?" Pyrrha asked, recalling some of her parents' lessons concerning the manic nature of humans.
"Yes." Ruby looked at her hands. "I…I don't know if I could have done it under different circumstances, but I know I can't do it now. Blake needs me. If I can rescue her, or kill her, then I'll figure out what to do next." She glanced at Pyrrha. "You don't like that other pack, right? Can you help me?"
Pyrrha felt a pang as she looked at the human girl's eyes. Despite her maturity, and the fact that she was likely a Huntsman, she was so young. While humans were fearful and zealous, they did at least seem to care about their friends. Pyrrha couldn't help but think back to her human. Was he as compassionate as he had seemed to be eight years ago? Did he know Ruby or Blake? Would he be the type to challenge Adam for their sakes?
She shook her head. "Adam's pack is bigger than ours. That's why we had to make that attack while he was weak from attacking your village. A rescue of someone he wanted will be nearly impossible. I only got you away due to luck." Seeing the stricken look on Ruby's face, Pyrrha continued. "I will teach you about how to use your new gift to your advantage. Train yourself and hone your skills, and you will become a member of this pack. Then, you can bring your case to Cinder, our leader."
"There's no time! Who knows what'll happen to her? She's all alone!" Ruby tried to get up, only to be forced back down by Pyrrha's firm hand. "I'll go after her myself if I have to!" she protested, trying to struggle.
"You're no good to her dead," Pyrrha growled, her eyes flashing. "Now, stop moving before you make your injuries worse." She fixed her gaze on Ruby's stubborn glare. Drawing on her instincts, she focused her stare until it felt like a physical force connecting her to this small human. A low rumble rose in her throat. She felt Ruby resist for a few minutes before letting out a sigh and turning her head away.
"Okay." The girl sounded deflated.
Pyrrha closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping a little. Her head pounded for a few moments before she calmed down fully. "I will do what I can for you," she murmured. "Just don't do anything stupid." Quickly, she turned and walked out of the cave to get a breath of fresh air. She heard Sun follow.
After Pyrrha had had a chance to breathe, Sun spoke. "So, you're getting better at that dominance thing. Maybe Cinder's gonna have to start worrying about you a little sooner than we thought."
Pyrrha groaned, shaking her head. "That meant nothing, Sun. Any alpha wolf can do that. Just because I'm an alpha, doesn't mean that I have to be the alpha."
"If you say so." Sun shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I see. You're stronger than any of the other alphas our age. It won't be long before you're seen as a threat."
"Cinder doesn't see me as a threat," Pyrrha protested. "Why would she have let me take charge of a new whelp if she didn't trust me?"
"Caring for the kid will take up time and energy, and even if she becomes a supporter of you for being her mentor, she wouldn't be enough to fight those loyal to Cinder."
Pyrrha growled in exasperation. "First of all, I have no intention of usurping Cinder, so this conversation ends here. Second, when did you become so knowledgeable about pack politics?"
"I listen." Sun glanced to the side. "And I take lessons from Neptune. He's got a whole list of conspiracy theories concerning you and Cinder."
"Well, see that he keeps them to himself," Pyrrha said firmly. "I need to tend to my charge. I'll see you for the hunt tonight, Sun."
Sun nodded, seeing that the conversation was over. "Okay. Take care, Pyrrha."
Pyrrha watched her friend go, a frown on her face. Sun apparently hadn't realized that he had been in a submissive stance during his entire conversation with her. Even my closest friends just view me as a future leader, she thought mournfully before looking back at her den. Was he right, though? Is Cinder letting me care for Ruby because she wants me distracted? What would she have done with Ruby otherwise?
She knew that Cinder was cunning and calculating. Above all, she was willing to make large sacrifices for the good of the pack as a whole. Some would say that the sacrifices were often too great. These werewolves often cast hopeful glances in Pyrrha's direction when they saw her. She was always quick to avert her eyes.
Shaking herself, she returned to her den. Ruby was still lying on her back, head turned away. "Would you like some food?"
"I guess you don't have any cookies, huh?" There was the barest hint of a laugh in the girl's voice.
Pyrrha shook her head, smiling gently. "I'm afraid not." She paused by a wooden chest and opened it, withdrawing a light brown cloak. She draped it around her naked form to make her new charge more comfortable with her presence. "There will be a hunt later, but I can dig up some bones or find berries for you."
"I think I'm fine for now." Ruby took a deep breath. "Thanks for taking care of me…" She paused. "Hey, you never told me your name."
Pyrrha sat down next to the bed and gently started petting Ruby's hair. Looking at the younger, vulnerable-looking girl, it wasn't surprising that Pyrrha's more maternal instincts were making themselves known. "Pyrrha," she said. "My name is Pyrrha. I'm glad to have you here, Ruby."
A few people have been wondering what kind of werewolf lore I'll be using for this story. I'm basically going to be doing my own thing, adapting werewolf qualities to a world based on RWBY. For example, werewolves in this world react to Dust in the same way traditional ones would react to silver. I also decided to add some extra abilities to the werewolves here to make them more menacing, such as alphas being able to make people submit to their will by staring at them. I'll go more into what the beta and omega wolves can do in later chapters. The way I see it now, Cinder and Pyrrha are alpha wolves. Sun, Emerald, and Mercury are betas. Sage, Scarlet, and Neptune are omegas.
I'll see you guys with the next chapter next week! Peace out.