Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Wolf's POV:

Fight

I'm already running before the scream has finished. I'm not sure what possesses me. Abuse is common in the less-fortunate villages (well, the lesser-fortunate ones). The stars know I've heard screams just like this one in my childhood, when I was just handing out the rations with my parents. I'd been trained to ignore them, block them out, just like all the other children. Everyone learned at some point or another what happens when you step in. But I guess my years away have made that training go rusty.

The person screaming is a small boy, maybe around eight or nine. By the time we actually arrive, his screams have been reduced to helpless sobs. A soldier stands above him, kicking him repeatedly in the stomach, his brow creased with irritation.

"Did you seriously think that we wouldn't notice that you had taken extra rations? Honestly pup, have your parents taught you nothing? The Queen's laws are present to keep Luna healthy and prosperous, and you dare undermine them?" he scoffs. "Hopefully that stupidity will leave you before you grow up, otherwise the future for your family is going to be very, very dark."
The boy didn't reply. He couldn't over his own sobs and gasps as the wind got knocked out of him over and over again. All he could do was curl himself up into a ball in a vain attempt at protecting himself against the soldier's wrath. He couldn't even transform. Civilians weren't allowed to attack the soldiers, or escape punishment. Any transformation could be taken as an indication of either of those things. If the kid dared try it, he'd have a lot more to worry about than a bruised stomach.

I know the best thing to do would be to attempt to negotiate with the soldier that the boy has served his punishment and could go and hope to the stars that they would actually comply. I've seen it happen, with families trying to help each-other. Under no circumstances are you to directly interfere with the soldier's punishment. I know all this. Unfortunately, Kai doesn't.

He runs forward and shoves the soldier to the side, away from the boy. The soldier stumbles back a few steps, more out of surprise than anything, and narrows his eyes at Kai, who glares back. "Alright, I think that kid's gotten the message. You can quit torturing him now."
"Torture?" the soldier repeats incredulously, "This pup broke the law. It is my job to administer punishment for transgressions like that."

"I think being kicked in the gut a dozen times is more than enough punishment for being hungry." Kai counters, "Honestly, look at him! Look at all the people here! They're starving! And all those vampires up in Artemisia are stuffing their faces with ten course meals every night! I'm sure you can part will a little extra food."

The boy is staring up at Kai, not with gratitude but like he's staring at a bomb. Which he sort-of is. Talking back to soldiers is bad, but questioning the system with which the vampires govern our lifestyles? That is practically suicide.

I sigh and start making my way over. Maybe I can still defuse the situation, say that Kai was sleepwalking or something. Kai won't get away unscathed, that's for sure, but maybe I can keep him from getting scarred.

The soldier raises an eyebrow at him. ""They're" starving. Don't you mean, "we're"?"

Never mind. We're dead.

"And how do you know what it's like in Artemisia? Werewolf rabble like you don't go there." The soldier sniffs the air and exaggeratedly wrinkles his nose. "And what's with you're smell? Like… raw meat, only sweeter."

Kai rolls his eyes. "It's not like hygiene is very good around here. I haven't bathed in a while."

"You look plenty clean to me." The soldier remarks.

"Then… you need to get your eyes checked."

The soldier tilts his head to one side. "What was the description Thaumaturge Park gave for one of the outlaws again? Small, skinny, pale, brown eyes, black hair?"
"I haven't seen anyone like that if that's what your asking." Kai says, and I flinch at the slight tremble in his voice. I feel my bones shift beneath my skin with subtle clicks, and my jaw develops a familiar ache as my teeth grow to barely fit in my mouth.

"I think you've misunderstood. You're small. You're skinny. You're pale with brown eyes and black hair. You talk like you don't live here. You act like you don't live here." The soldier smiles, and I can see the gleam of his fangs in the lamplight. "Looks like I've found one of the outlaws."

That's as far as he gets before I slam into him, a growling mass of claws, teeth and muscle.

He cries out in surprise as I knock him to the ground, not even giving him time to blink before gripping the scruff of his uniform in my teeth and throwing him down the path. The soldier fixes me with a malevolent stare, fur sprouting rapidly along his arms. I don't bother waiting for him to finish shapeshifting.

I quickly shift my vocal cords and jaw just enough to yell, "Get out of here!" to Kai before bounding forward and sinking my jaws into the soldier's shoulder. His cry of pain is somewhere between a scream and a howl as he attacks my underbelly, dragging still-growing claws against my flesh. I jump off and dart around him, lunging forward again, jaws wide open, aiming for my opponent's neck. Now fully shifted into his wolf-form, he just manages to twist his neck out of harm's way and my teeth snap at the air. He raises his head to the starless sky and howls, a long, eerie note that I know every wolf could hear from miles away. And those wolves will come. This is a summoning, and every wolf it calls to is bound to obey. Soon, it won't just be one on one.

Guess I'd better finish this fast then.

I shift my form again, giving me legs and arms with long, claw-tipped fingers, much like the humans' idea of a werewolf, and lunge forward, savouring the other wolf's howl of pain as my claws scratch across his eye. I give him half a second to memorise what it feels like to see before going after the other one.

Blood drips down the soldier's face, staining the fur around his muzzle, dripping from his now permanently closed eyes. He growls and his ears twitch, swivelling back and forth, ready to pick out my location. Not that it will do much good at this point. In a fight, sight is your most valuable asset.

I go back to my regular wolf form and dart forward, easily passing beneath the other wolf's guard and biting down hard on his throat. I'm a bit surprised by the strong flow of the blood gushing into my mouth, coating my tongue in its iron tang. When I pull back, my muzzle is wet with the stuff, as are my claws, but not nearly as wet as the fur around my victim's throat, and the path beneath him.

A familiar feeling of triumph swells in my chest at the sight of his blank, staring eyes. I've won. The challenger has been defeated. I'm stronger. At least, that's what the wolf part of me says. The human part wants to throw up at the smell of blood and the sight of the deep gash in the wolf's throat.

I'm so focused on the war between my thoughts, of the feelings of both nausea and triumph swirling around inside me, that I don't notice the wolf sneaking up on me until they're literally right on top of me.

I growl and struggle to get up, but a soldier in human form rushes forward and presses a damp, sweet-smelling cloth to my nose. More wolves arrive and hold me down, keeping me from moving as the smell of the cloth floods my senses, laying a heavy blanket over my thoughts. My eyelids grow heavy with drowsiness, and my muscles are fast losing their strength. Darkness encroaches my vision. I have just enough time to wonder if this is how that soldier felt when I blinded him before slipping into unconsciousness.

A/N: Fight scene!

Please review!