The moment I step foot back on the streets, a woman rushed to me. "Harbinger!" She called. "I'm glad you're here. We have a problem." "What is it, Aela? Another saber-cat got stuck in some man's house, again?" "No. This time it's a bit worse… it's a werewolf." "What? Farkas lost his temper again?" "It isn't one of us. It's a wild one. It managed to break into some house in Falkreath, and killed the family who lives in it. Any guards that entered the house to take care of the problem never came back." "I see…" She was gazing at me, eyes full of anxiety and lust. She was probably controlling herself right now to not transform in the middle of the street. And it was always amusing to me… seeing her being tortured from inside out. "I will take care of that… issue. Do you have some additional requests, Aela?" I couldn't avoid not smirking as she starts to bend herself before me, swallowing saliva before she asks in a soft voice. "I will be honored… if I could go with you…" I looked at her, enjoying her attitude. From the circle, she was considered the most aggressive, and now here she is, behaving like a pup. "Very well, you can come. But only if you promise not to give me any trouble." "Of course, Harbinger."

We reached the gates of Falkreath by sunset. The whole town was desert. A single guard awaited us by the gates. "Do not enter the town!" He screamed in panic. "We have a beast inside these walls! Stay away!" I could smell his fear. For God's sake, I could hear his body trembling beneath the armor! "Calm down! Where are the other guards?" "They tried… one by one… none of them got out of that damn house! The only ones left are those assigned to protect the Jarl." "And where are the citizens?" "They're inside the Longhouse, of course!" "Very well, go join them. We'll take care of the beast." "You… you two are the warriors sent by the Companions?" Even though I cannot see his face under the helmet, his voice sound alarmed. "Yes, we are. Go meet your comrades in the Longhouse, we can take it from here." I heard Aela, behind me, growling lowly. I have to hurry sending that man to safety, or the next time we set foot in the hold, we'll end up in jail. "It's your funeral. The Jarl has called for additional reinforcements from Whiterun anyway…" Then, he ran to the safety of the Longhouse. "Bastards will never learn that the only way of winning this fight is by working together." Aela commented.

She started to rush her pace towards the house. Before she gets time to enter, I stopped her. "Remember the part in which you swore not causing any trouble?" She exhaled in frustration. "The town is desert. Please, I beg you. Just let me in, and by the time I got out, you can give him the final blow." "Aela…" Her eyes began to change from their silver tone to a rich luminous gold. She can't hold her inner beast for much longer. "One night… you'll know…" And then she rushed inside, leaving behind an unfinished sentence, spoken between her fangs.

First I heard roars of hostility. But soon they changed into long pleasant howls between whines and gasps. "Damn it, Aela…"

Ever since we lost Skjor for the Silver Hand clan, she changed: first, she became distant from the rest of us, and then she simply disappeared at night. No one knew anything about her location. And sending the twins after her didn't work either. So if I wanted a job well done, I had to do it myself. One night, I found her, gazing the moons above, sitting at the edge of the Skyforge. She passed long minutes lost in the moonlight. Then she took the Underforge's secret exit to Skyrim. I didn't want her to see me, so I walked behind. Along the way, after the city was left as tiny walls in the dark horizon, I saw her changing in the distance, howling desperately to the skies, before run off. At some point, I lost her visual, so I followed her scent, which sent me to the swamp regions of Hjaalmarch in the misty area near the Abandoned Shack where I first met the assassins of the Dark Brotherhood. Between the mists, the icy waters, the deathbells emerged from the mud, and the distinctive sound of the nirnoots, I sensed another smell: the smell of feral werewolves. What the hell was she thinking?

I ran as fast as I could, with the swamps trying to sink me at every step, while I fear for her life. We could somewhat maintain the actions of our beasts between certain limits, but not feral ones. Just caught one of those in bad mood and you will not see the next sunrise.

And then I spot her, a shadow between the reeds. And she wasn't alone: at her side was a big male. Yet he didn't look interested in doing her any harm. She began rolling in the ground, and both start sniffing each other. Then the sniffs turn to nuzzles, and before I even believe in what I was seeing, the two were mating in front of me, growling and howling loudly to the night sky. "Why…? Why I didn't stay home?"

I knew Njada was a great confident of Aela. So the next day, when I caught her alone in Jorvaskr's main hall, I asked her about my suspicions. "Do you know if Aela had something with Skjor?" Her eyes widened, and she took several seconds to answer. "Something like what?" "Were they dating, in the past?" "Why's that?" She asked, even more surprised than before. "I'm just asking. And I expect you to answer." "Harbinger…" She exhaled. "The truth is I don't know either. They went out to hunt by night very often. And the rest of us started to suspect of something between the two of them. But when I faced her with such rumors, she denied everything." "I see…"

That very evening, at dinner time, everyone was around the table, preparing for the night feast… everyone except… "Where is Aela?" I asked. "Don't know. Maybe she's out again…" Answered Ria. "She probably went on a hunt." Said Farkas. "Hunt? Again?" Asked Vilkas. "It wouldn't surprise me. It's what she loves to do." "Very well. Eat. I will look for her." Everyone stared at me, as I stood up. I wasn't hungry anyway…

In fact, it didn't take long for me to find her. All it took was to enter the Underforge: she was praying at the Totem of the Hunt. "Don't come to dinner?" "I'm not really hungry, to be honest." "You know, I think it's about time for you to come back to your pack…" "What do you mean? I'm just not hungry!" "Of course, then you sneak out to hunt in the middle of the night!" "So what?! I'm a hunter! It's what I do!" "And that includes mating with the first werewolf on sight, too?" I saw her cheeks turn red. She froze for several seconds, before she reply. "What…? How do you know?" "That's not of your concern." Then, she started growling at me. "So… you're going to mock me for it? Is it?!" "No. All I want is to bring you back. The others are pretty concerned about you." I spoke in an assertive voice and she looked calmer. "And besides, messing with savage werewolves is a bad idea. You know it. They had lost control upon themselves for long. You're going to get hurt if you continue with this madness." "You have no idea of what you're talking about." "In matter fact, I do. It is truth, isn't it? About you and Skjor?" "DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" She roared, as she began to tear out her armor with the claws emerged from her fingertips, bending to the transformation. Her desperate howl made the walls of the Underforge shake. "So you think you're the only one who suffers with his death more than anyone?" "Shut UP!" She charged to me. But I was ready: in a movement, I managed to take her right arm, and launched her over my shoulder. As she hits the ground, we listened to her elbow cracking and she immediately responded with a whimper. "You try that again and I ensure you'll never fire another arrow again!" I said out loud, releasing a growl from the depths of my throat. I pity her. Believe me. But she sees me as a pack leader, so I have to act like it. And when you chose to embrace that title, you cannot give any slack, or your subjects will start to doubt your sense of leadership. "You… you cannot even imagine… how much he means to me, even now…" She spoke, trying to regain her breath, but still without courage to move her right arm. "He was the only one who understood me. The only one, before you came, I really trusted… enough for us to start a relationship, off the records, of course. Skjor and I always enjoyed keeping the low profile." "But why keeping it a secret? What's the big deal?" "The big deal is that for much we enjoyed our romance as human beings, we had no problem in dating with our wolf forms. No one would see that with good eyes, especially Kodlak." "Why?" She reverted back to human, and then I had a naked nord woman, with the muscles tense, beneath the smooth pale skin, the red hair around her shoulders, and with a sharp look on her eyes. She smirked, shaking her head in disapproval. "You must be blind to not see it, Harbinger. It wasn't Kodlak the one who asked you to rip the wolf spirit out of his body? Give me a break! The man passed all his old age looking for a 'cure'! Now even the twins are considering it! And you still call us a pack? You and I are the only ones who treat lord Hircine with some dignity! The only ones that truly embraced his blessing! I knew you were different, right when you changed for the first time. The proof I was right is that ring you're wearing." I looked to the Ring of Hircine in my finger. Since the moment Hircine blessed it and gave it to me, I never took it off. "With Kodlak you have to avoid your beast at any costs. And for Farkas and Vilkas, those hypocrites, it isn't different! Those bastards seem stuck in the past! What kind of pack are we? We cannot hunt, howl at the moon, nothing! We live enclosure inside the city walls, and we must not run into a forest and get some fresh air, now and then!" "You know that one step away from civilization is one step closer to insanity, right?" "You're wrong! I still recognize who I am, I still venerate the nordic heroes of Skyrim, I believe in Sovngarde! I just made a choice! Just as many other Harbingers before Kodlak! What about you? How much prey did you tear apart? How much blood was shed by your claws and fangs? And you still know who you are, do you?" "I do." "The wolf spirit is a blessing from Hircine. And a blessing must not be taken freely. We are strong to keep it, to live in harmony with it. And it's part of this harmony to let your wild side take you, some nights. Do you ever know what happens when you avoid the transformations, Harbinger? I trust you never got that far…" I remembered Sinding, then. "Hircine curses you, and make your transformations go random?" "Good shot." She replied. "You pretty much close. I'll give you an idea: just a couple of weeks before, at night, I caught Vilkas in the training area, with claws of his fingers, and savage eyes. I heard him growling. He scratched the arrow targets deeply, until they were no more but a pile of ragged rope in the ground. His fingers started to bleed, and when he began licking the blood, he had to control himself not to eat his own hand. And Farkas… well, you already know it, don't you? One night he's perfectly fine, and in the next he just freaks out, and he might or turning Jorrvaskr upside down and ending up scratching and gorging upon raw pieces of venison, or kill some of the guards of the city!" I've never caught Vilkas with such attacks of anxiety. I always looked at him as a very controlled man. But what she said about Farkas is true. I remember the day I came to Jorrvaskr and thought that it was been assaulted by a hurricane, so what she said about his brother must be truth as well. "Feeling better, now?" "What is it this time, Harbinger?" "I came here to talk about you, and until now the only thing I've heard were you complaining about your comrades." "It must be an honor to you, then." She started with an ironic pitch on her voice that quickly faded away. "As you must understand, I've never told this to anyone else. As to my… nocturnal adventures, if that's the only thing that matters to you, I will not going to stop. I need this. In my human form, I will be faithful to Skjor till the day I die, but when the wolf crawls for the need, I have no choice but to let it follow its path. I confess, at first, I felt uneasy for what I was doing. But I can't deny it: it always feels good… and somehow, it makes me remember him every single time." "I hope you know what you're doing." "I can handle myself." Then, she paused, looked to her shattered armor on the ground. "Now, if you can make me this favor, I would like to have a decent armor to wear, at least until I ask Eorlund to forge me a new one. I cannot appear in the main hall to dinner like this!"

At that hour of the night, all the stores were closed, and it was too late for me to forge armor for her. So I passed by Breezehome, to see if I got something in my dresser that could fit her. I may have found the perfect armor for her: a wolf armor, which has this name for being forged out of wolf pelts.

"Here you go." I said when I came back to the Underforge, throwing the full set to Aelas arms. "Where did you find it?" She asked, sniffing the armor. "In my home." "Right… thank you." When she dressed it, she started to look at herself. "I've never thought I would use armor equal to Vilkas one. Mine was sexier." "Be careful next time, then. But if you want my opinion, I think that armor suits you better. You may keep it, if you want." "Thank you, Harbinger!" For the first time since I met her, I saw her with a genuine smile of gratitude. "Well, let's go!" "Yeah… right… I don't think there's food left on the table for us."

Suddenly, the sounds inside the house silenced. Next, the door opened, and a big werewolf emerged. Aela, the huntress, immediately bent herself at my sight. She was fighting at her every step to not loose balance, her breath was heavy and her fur shines at the moonlight with sweat. "Now it's my turn, then." I commented, but she ignored me. Instead she began gazing the entrance of the Jarls Longhouse. "Do not even think of it!" I said assertively, while trying to keep my voice down. She attempted me, putting her tail between her legs. I was dealing with a full wolf, now. Her human being was hidden in the deepest parts of her soul. Luckily, her wolf was obedient, plus it was too tired to try to oppose me, even if she wanted. "Now, go! Run to the forest and beware the men! As for the other creatures, you may hunt as much as you please." She made a gesture quite similar to a bow, before running to the wilderness outside the town. The moment I lost sight of her, I stepped into the house.

The sound of deep snarls echoes throughout the house walls. Right in front of me, a big werewolf lays down, too deep in his sleep to even sense my odor or notice the sound of my steps. Next to him, within a pile of a dozen guards, bathed in blood, with shattered armors and broken swords around them, lay the corpses of the family he slaughter: Mathies and Indara. Then, I remembered: it wasn't their daughter the one who also died at the claws of a werewolf? Sinding? "This family was cursed…" I cooed to by buttons. Then I took my battleaxe and I swung it as hard as I can: I separate the beasts head from the rest of the body. He didn't even try to fight for his life. He didn't wake up, or so ever. It was an easy kill. That's why, beside all the setbacks, I don't resist to bring Aela with me. Werewolves are dangerous beasts. I caught myself into 'life or death' situations because of them. And she willingly makes the hard stuff: she tires them, weakens them. So when I step in I can kill them and go out without a scratch. It's like a deal between us.

The work has been done. It was time to get myself out of there. But then… my hands start to tremble and the weapon I was carrying slipped away of my fingers. My whole body shivers, my heart begin pounding fast, and I feel my mouth start salivating. The blood… the corpses… the smell of the fresh kills… was inebriating. The wolf inside me crawls desperately beneath my skin. I feel a hungry growl forming in the depths of my throat. The bloodlust. It's taking me. The powers of Hircine, this wild side within me, started to call, in a way awkwardly seductive. I wanted to hunt, to kill, to gorge! The fangs started to grow on my mouth, which is still too small to accommodate them properly. In addiction my gums started to bleed. As I taste my own blood, I started to sweat, and to feel myself hotter and hotter. Claws burst from my fingers, and try to scratch my armor apart: I need to cool down. I feel trapped in my own clothes. I started to panic, mixed with the urge of claiming those preys as mine.

"Stop!" I demanded to myself. I need to maintain my posture. I cannot turn now. I cannot turn here. The army of Whiterun will be here soon. Feed! Feel their taste! Feast on them! "NO!" I screamed. No! I cannot! I will not! I closed my eyes, looking for quietude in the darkened sight. A wolf…? I'm more than that… Zu'u Dovahkiin! When I opened my eyes, the words came to me. "FUS ROH DAH!" At my voice, the corpses were projected to the opposite wall of the house. And it wasn't just the corpses I pushed aside, but I also calmed my wolf spirit, that I had thought to be winning seconds ago. I inhaled and exhaled, slowly and deeply, and feel myself turn back to normal. And without even bother in taking the battleaxe I dropped, I left the house.

The air around Falkreath is fresh and clean, especially at night. The breeze caresses my face, as the sweet scent of the pine trees clear out my nostrils and pacifies my soul. Then, out of sudden, the smell of burnt wood and oil starts to get notice in the wind: the stench of burning torches. The warriors of Whiterun are coming, stepping closer at the request of the frightened town to kill a beast they don't know it's already dead. But I will not be the one giving them the good news. Let them come and tell the Jarl to have more faith in the Companions next time. As for me, after this battle with my inner beast being won by close, it's better for me and all the other people if I kept myself away from civilization for tonight. I don't transform for nearly two months, since I promised myself to only turn in times of true need. But I'm aware that I'm pushing too far with this. Aela was right: one night, the wolf is going to take me. Hircine always wins.