When Luna finally woke up, she felt that her entire body was hurting. She couldn't move without whimpering. Sitting up was absolute agony, her legs were shaking.

The air around the wolves felt so hot that their fur might as well have singed off. The ground was also burning hot. Their wounds seemed to heal quickly because of Cheza before she left with Darcia. When Luna glanced up at the moon, it was now a crimson red color.

"Luna, are you okay?" Tsume asked, feeling her stand up. Luna's head turned to look at the grey wolf, her wolf ears raised a little bit. Tsume had a disquieted look in his green-yellow eyes, which was unusual for the grey wolf.

Luna sat down quickly, her paws hurting. Her tail wrapped around her hind legs. "My whole body hurts, Tsume," Luna groaned, her head dropping a little. Tsume pushed himself to his paws so that he was sitting up. For a reason, he didn't want to see Luna getting hurt. Why was he feeling like this?

He started to lick her wounds comfortly. Luna's wolf eyes open and she looks at him in surprise. Since when did Tsume become so affectionate? Her heart sped up when she thought, 'There's no way he's falling for me. Is he?'

Afterward, the pack make their way to the next city that was 15 miles North. Neither spoke a word the whole way there. They took shelter in an abandoned warehouse. Luna lays beside Tsume since he laid on a piece of debris.


They spent the rest of the night there. To say that they were sore was an understatement. Luna pushed herself up with a groan, sitting forward with her back bent a little, arms in her lap. Kiba soon wakes up and sits up, rubbing his left shoulder.

"You up and moving already?" Hige asked, breaking the silence. However, he was only met with silence. Luna pulls her legs up to her chest, resting her arms across them. Kiba felt the most defeated of losing Cheza to Darcia. He made a promise he'd protect her but he couldn't from that noble.

"Aw, I know we've been through a lot, but why the long faces?" Hige asked, tastelessly joking about the situation. "Well, I couldn't sleep, that's why," Toboe said, looking at him. "Well, neither could I!" Hige defended. "You can't be serious, Hige. You are a hard sleeper. Not even a freight train could wake you up," Luna said bitterly.

He slept unlike the rest of them. Hige became angered by getting the silent treatment. "Look, I'm just as shocked and upset about this as the rest of you, but it won't help us figure out what to do now! Are we gonna live in a stoop for the rest of our lives? Somebody say something, dammit!" Hige shouted, looking at the white wolf, "Kiba, you haven't said anything to us since it all happened!"

"Shut up, will you?" Luna growled. "Leave him alone. He was hurt worse than the rest of us. He's still distraught about Cheza," Toboe added. "Yeah, so drop it," Tsume growled.

Kiba speaks up in a calm voice, "It's not that. It's just… I'm really pissed off," He just needed time to think to himself. Neither one of them could understand that. They all needed to take a breath for a moment.

However, that moment didn't last long when they all heard the sound of footsteps coming in their direction. "Down there! Get her! Come back dammit!" a male voice yelled in frustration. The pack of five look up at the entrance.

Then, the form of Quent's wolfdog slid into the room where they were in. They gasp at the sight of the collarless half-breed. She looked up at them for a moment before shifting to her human form as a wolf would.

She was olive-skinned with black hair that was similar to Hige's. She still had her blue eyes. She wore a long trench coat with a red scarf and boots that went up to her thighs. She stood in a fighting position as she stared down the pack.

Hige stared at her almost like the way he stared at Luna when they first met. "Wow, what a babe!" he said softly. Not long after, four humans come running in after her. The leader of the small group grinned and crossed his arms.

"She's got friends," he chuckled. Hige doesn't hesitate to jump in front of her with his hands on his hips like he was some kind of hero. "Yeah, so what's it to you?" he spat at them. Those humans weren't fazed by his dominance.

"Hand over the girl," they ordered. "Why should we? There's a reason she's running from you freaks," Hige said, still taking charge. The leader sent his goons to pursue an attack on the group. "You guys aren't from around here, are you?" the leader asked. "So what?" Hige growled.

Luna's fists clenched up, ready to punch anyone who crosses her. The humans carried lead pipes and crowbars. "There's a large demand for young bodies in this town. We get paid top dollar for healthy organs," the one with the beanie said with a grin.

He approached Luna with a pervy look on his face. "What's a strong, dominant woman like you doin' with these boys? We could use a pretty thing like you working for us," he said, trying to reach out to her. Tsume didn't like that this human was doing this and tried to come to her defense, but she didn't need defending.

"Don't touch me, bastard!" Luna shouted, throwing a punch at the human's jaw as hard as she could, sending him flying backwards onto the floor. That one punch began the fight between them. The second human swung his crowbar at the wolves but he missed.

"You don't expect us to give up our bodies, do you?" Tsume said, rolling his neck before roundhouse kicked the human across the room. Hige uses his body force to knock another human to the ground. All Kiba did was stick his foot out so the human with the beanie tripped over it so he fell face first.

Luna punches the fourth human and knocks him down to the ground. The wolves pin the humans down and shift to wolf form. Luna stood atop the human that pulled the moves on her, holding him down with her forepaws. She stared at him with her teeth bared and her yellow wolf eyes wide open. These humans have never seen wolves before from their reactions.

Tsume, Hige, and Kiba were holding down the other three, baring their teeth at them. "I'm going crazy! It's a curse! It's a curse of the house of Darcia!" the human Kiba was holding down cried. Kiba snapped his teeth at him with a loud snarl, making the man scream. However, all Kiba did was put his wolf nose up against the humans to signify as a warning. After that, the pack of six run out of the warehouse in their human forms.


They stopped at the other side of town in a junkyard. Everyone was feeling exhilarated about what happened back in the warehouse. Luna sat down at Tsume's left side, hands at her sides. "Man, did you see the looks on their faces back there?" Tsume asked, laughing heartily. "Yeah, those humans were pissing themselves," Luna said with a grin.

"Yeah, that felt terrific!" Toboe exclaimed. Kiba, who was standing, sat down on a flat piece of debris while holding his shoulder. "Kiba, are you okay?" Toboe asked. "Yeah," Kiba answered, letting his hand drop on his lap.

Hige hung around Blue, giving her a smile. "Are you okay?" he asked her. "Yeah, thanks for saving me," Blue replied, her voice soft.

Tsume glared at the wolf-dog, making it obvious that he wasn't at all pleased to see her. "We didn't do it for you. Those idiots just caught us at a rough time," he scowled.

Neither him, Luna, Kiba, and Toboe were happy to see her because she tried to hunt them down with Quent. Hige turned towards the grey wolf, furrowing a brow. "Hey, she was just thanking us. Why do you have to be so harsh? Other than Luna, we don't run into girls every day," he retorted before looking back at the wolfdog.

"I'm Hige by the way," he introduced flirtatiously. Luna rolled her green eyes when he said this, remembering how he was just like this when they first met.

The wolf dog looked at the ground in a bashful manner. "My name is... it's Blue," she said, looking up at the four other wolves. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" she asked them.

Hige was taken aback by this, looking from his friends to Blue with wide eyes. "Wait, you guys know each other?" he exclaimed. "Yeah, we know her. But in case you haven't noticed, we're not on good terms with her," Luna said coolly.

Blue had spent a majority of her life hunting down wolves; her own kind. In the pack's eyes, it was unforgivable. "You did some pretty nasty things to us when we were in the city," Tsume spat at Blue.

Hige was confused for a moment. He was the only one who didn't have an encounter with her before; he never saw how she really was. Kiba was glaring at her the hardest because she was the reason why he ended up in that cage back in Freeze City.

"That old man. Were you with him when we saw you last?" Toboe asked. "I'm... not sure. We got split up," Blue answered, looking down at her feet. "He was tracking us back in the city. He has tried to kill us before," Kiba said.

They knew he wasn't wrong. He tried to kill them countless time before, even before they escaped into the Forest of Death.

Luna hated humans with every fiber of her being, and Quent was partly the reason why. "Yes, I know. That's why he was there. He will hunt down a wolf to the ends of the earth," Blue responded, keeping her tone firm.

"But, I don't understand, aren't you a wolf too?" Toboe asked. From the look on her face, she didn't want to talk about it. "Hey, that girl you was with you guys, she carried... a really strange scent," she said, dodging Toboe's question.

"Girl, you mean Cheza?" Toboe wondered. "Cheza?" Blue repeated eyes widened. She remembered how Cheza revealed that she was half wolf.

"Hey, I know! Let's not talk about that, okay? I mean, we did just bump into each other and all. Besides, it's pretty dangerous for a girl to be out in a dirty city like this," Hige interjected, looking towards the wolf-dog.

Luna scoffed at this. She swore that Hige underestimates females way too easily. Luna could easily protect herself if she needed to. Even Tsume saw that she didn't need defending from those humans after she punched one of them out.

"I beg to differ, Hige," Luna growled at Hige. The Mexican wolf turned back to look at her, giving her a look that he didn't want to test that theory. "Psh, yeah. I thought not. Besides you must be crazy if you think she'd be interested in you," Luna said coolly.

"How come?!" Hige exclaimed. "As if any one of us would hang around with her. She had tried to kill us back in the city and why're you on her side anyway? You don't even know her," Tsume scowled.

Hige looked offended by Tsume's response. He was right about that though. They knew that Hige was a hopeless romantic whenever he comes around a new female. He was that way with Luna and with Zali's mate.

"Psh, sorry, Hige. I'm not stupid enough to become a trophy to her human. Don't even make the choice that she's coming with us. You're only saying that because she hasn't hunted you down. Let her go back to being that humans lapdog," Luna frowned.

Blue turned from the group and said, "Forget it. I don't want to hang around with a bunch of kids either. See you around," She gets up and jogged back down the debris.

"Hey, wait!" Hige shouted, turning back to the others, "Agh, aren't you guys being a little cold?! Hold on, it's dangerous!" Hige then bounded down the debris and went after her.

"Hige!" Toboe called, but Hige was out of earshot. Tsume sighed and sat down on a piece of debris, hand on his leg. "His tail wags whenever there's a girl around. He'll come back sulking when she rejects him," he said, looking at Luna, "Luna, didn't you turn him down before?"

"Yeah, when we first met. He hasn't noticed that I'm not looking for a mate. Don't know if I'll ever be ready for one," she replied, trying to hide her reddening cheeks. One of these days, Hige's gonna get a slap to the face.

"When we were back in the city, she found out she's half wolf," Kiba said, looking off in the direction that Hige and Blue went. "Half wolf?" Toboe said, looking back at the white wolf.

"Yeah. Cheza told her," Kiba said. "Do you guys think Cheza's okay wherever she is?" Toboe asked. Nobody replied to what he said. Luna was tired of all of the chaos that they had to put up with.

Toboe had decided that he'd go after Hige and Blue, leaving the older wolves behind. Luna hoped that he wouldn't do too much spying.


Back in the city, Blue had wandered into an alley way, hands in her pockets. Hige ran behind her. "Hey, wait up!" he called, running up to catch her.

"You should go back. Your friend will leave you here," Blue said, looking at the ground. Hige smiled big and said, "It's okay. It was kinda weird anyway with just guys," "What about that black she-wolf?" Blue asked.

"It's nice to talk to her too. Besides, she'd rip my head off sooner or later," he answered, rubbing the back of his neck. The two wolves look at each other and kept on walking.


A few hours go by, and the sun was starting to set. It colored everything in it's path in an orange-yellow color. Luna glanced up at the sky, remembering how she'd watch it with her family. The air around them started to get colder.

Luna lay on her back beside Tsume. Her arms laid on her belly and her legs were stretched out and crossed.

Kiba sat up and looked ahead. He saw a large stone with the Darcia family emblem engraved in it. "That's the same crest from where Cheza was being held," he said to the black she-wolf and the grey wolf.

Luna turn her head in his direction and saw what he was talking about. She sits up with one leg propped up so she could rest her arm on her knee. She saw what Kiba was talking about.

"You mean the Darcia family crest? This is probably the noble's territory," Tsume said quietly. "Yeah, it's like the family owns every damn city we've been in," Luna sighed, looking at the family crest.

"Curse of the House of Darcia," Kiba muttered, sounding as if he was lost in thought. "Huh? What'd you say?" Tsume said, turning his head towards the white wolf. "That's what that human said when we showed them our true forms," Kiba replied.

"What'd you expect, Kiba? Humans have always seen us like that. It isn't any different," Luna said, stretching her limbs.

She was right. Wolves in this world had always been feared or hated by humans. Luna wasn't one to hurt any living thing unless her pack is put under threat.

"She's not wrong. Why didn't you let that human have it back there? Luna and I would've expected to tear his throat out. Don't even think about blaming it on your injuries," Tsume said, shrugging his shoulders.

As fierce as Kiba was, both were surprised that Kiba didn't kill that human. "I would have if I wasn't so sore. He probably wouldn't have tasted good anyway," Kiba smirked. Luna smirked and closed her eyes.


Across the city, Blue and Hige had stopped at the edge of town. They stopped on a bridge so they could keep talking, their shadows were wolf-shaped.

"So, why were you being chased by such low-lives?" Hige asked, looking at Blue. "I thought I had to work," Blue replied. Hige raised his brows in surprise, "Work? Never thought about it," He shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, normally you wouldn't, huh?" Blue sighed, looking in front of her, "But that's how I've been living up to now. Because until now, I was with the old man... Thinking that I have to be somehow useful to him, all the while... From your pack's point of view, this might be stupid,"

She looked at him as she said this. Hige was listening attentively while she spoke. "I was happy," she said with a small grin. She thought about how she lived with Quent, his wife, and their son. She couldn't be any happier with them.

"If nothing happened, I would've been happy like that forever," Blue said. Things went to hell when their home was burnt to the ground, the only survivors were her and Quent. What they saw, were a pack of wolves standing on the remains of their home.

"I don't know if wolves really killed everybody. But he believes they did," Blue said. "So because of that, he hates all wolves?" Hige asked. "If I didn't know anything, I could've stayed with the old man forever. If I hadn't met that girl, I wouldn't have to change. If I didn't know that I was half-wolf..." Blue said.

"Do you want to go back to that guy?" Hige wondered. He was facing her, hands in his pockets. "No. I can't go back. If I went back, I'd be chasing you guys again," Blue denied, leaning against the bridge wall.

Hige sighed, turning to lean against the wall with his arms crossed. "That sounds good," Hige chuckled, "I want to be chased by a woman," "What about Luna? Did she try to chase you down?" Blue wondered.

"If she was pissed at me, then yeah, she would've. She's cool though," Hige said, knowing full-well that Luna would chase him and tear his head off if he pissed her off. "I always chase them, but they always run away. When things go well, I get excited, that's the chase right now, too," he said, closing his eyes. He opened his right eye.

Blue smiled at him, eyebrows narrowing a bit, "Jeez, if you have something to say, then say it," Hige smiled back and said, "Nah, I'll hold it, you look like you might run away," Blue chuckled at what he said, "You're nice,"

"Yeah, I'm told that a lot," Hige said. "Do you wanna come with me?" Blue asked him. "Where to?" Hige asked. Blue sighed and looked back ahead with a smile, "Doesn't matter where does it?"

Hige sighed with a smile before he saw someone out of the corner of his eye; Toboe. "Huh, what the hell are you doing here?!" he exclaimed, turning towards him.

Toboe poked his head around the wall with a big grin on his face. "I just happened to be passing by," he giggled, standing up. He jogged over to him.

Just as he did, there were gunshots in the air. They came from the junkyard. The three wolves glance up at where the sound was and jumped off of the bridge.


Luna, Kiba, and Tsume all jumped to their feet when they heard the gunshot. They all turned around and came face-to-face with those same humans they encountered earlier that day.

This time, they had brought shotguns with them. The trio stood in a fighting stance. "Well, looky here. We've got us some wolves," the leader laughed, cocking the gun. "Jaguara will pay us a fortune for the three of you," another member said.

"Jaguara?" Tsume said. Who was this woman they were talking about? What did she want with them?

The leader raised his shotgun and aimed it at them. "Shit, run!" Luna exclaimed. The three wolves took off running just as the three humans fired their guns at them. Luna felt a sharp pain coming from her leg and arm, causing her to cry out from the pain.

The wound on her leg caused her to limp a bit heavily. Glancing down, she saw that she'd been shot twice by those humans.


They made it over a hill and found a single trailer home. It was their only chance to get away from the bloodthirsty humans. Tsume stopped in his tracks, gripping his right arm tightly. Luna stopped too, holding her throbbing leg.

Kiba turns back and runs back over to them. "You two okay?" he asked. "Yeah, we're just grazed," Tsume answered, holding his bleeding arm. "I've been shot twice," Luna said.

Then, the three of them heard the sound of an old woman's voice from behind them. "What's the matter?" the old woman said. They looked behind them and saw the old lady standing outside of the mobile home.

"Have you three been hurt? Are you alright?" she asked them in a caring, nurturing voice. Luna was wide-eyed, she'd never met a human that was this caring for three strangers.

However, her husband was the complete opposite. He saw the trio and brought out his shotgun. The pack of three froze when they saw the gun.

"Elmira, you come over here now!" he said, aiming his gun at them. "We don't want to hurt you two," Kiba said, raising his hands. "Oh, for heaven sake's dear, put the gun down. They're only children," the old lady said.

"Don't be stupid, they're strays and they're dangerous!" the old man shouted. The old woman still didn't understand what her husband was seeing. "What are you talking about? Have you lost your senses?" she asked.

"Elmira, I may be an old man, but I'm not going senile! Take a close look at those three!" the old man said. The three wolves stare at the couple in their wolf forms, the form that the old man was seeing as opposed to his wife.

There were on-coming footsteps coming in their direction. It was Hige, Toboe, and Blue. "Oh, crap!" Hige shouted, eyes widening at the old man who had his gun. Blue, however, galloped passed the group of five wolves. The old man shot at her, but she dodged the bullet. However, she sat in front of him and gave him puppy-dog eyes, showing she meant no harm.

"We're not going to do anything to you. Just let us be," Kiba inquired. The old man wasn't falling for it and he glared at them. He was there only hope to not be killed by those humans.

"We don't need to fight if we don't have a reason. I don't want to kill," Kiba said, focusing his blue eyes on the old man. It seemed to work because the old man lowered his gun.

"Did you see the wolves?! Hurry!" one of the humans said. The pack looked back for a moment, they had very little time. "Look, those humans want to kill us and see our bodies to a highing bidder," Tsume said, still grasping his shoulder.

"You're our only hope so we can avoid bloodshed," Luna added, breathing heavily from the pain in her leg and arm. If those humans catch they were dead. The old man decided to help them.


Just as the humans returned, the pack of six laid in a pile, pretending to be dead. "Die, you damn wolves! Take this, and this!" the old man shouted, intentionally missing with each shot.

The leader of the humans shouted in shock, "Did you kill them?!" The woman went to grab her husband's gun. "Stop it! That's enough!" she shouted. The old man started yelling in fear, shaking in his boots.

"They cast a spell on me! I was only..." the man yelled, fighting off his wife. The leader of those humans scowled when he learned this and he turned away. "Dammit. Those things are worthless if they're dead. Let's get out of here," the human said, turning to walk away. His friends followed him.


Later on that night, the elderly couple were kind enough to bring the pack a big plate of chicken. The trailer light was bright, lighting the wolves along with the couple. The pack ate the chicken in their human forms.

Blue was sitting next to the old man in her wolf form with her head lowered, letting the old man stroke her dark blue fur.

"Please forgive my husband. I can't believe you kids are wolves of all things. I'm afraid he's been getting more confused lately," the old woman apologized. They knew he wasn't going crazy. He saw what they really were.

"We've come out here to spend what time we still have on the road. This trailer is our home as well as our coffin," the old woman continued to speak. There was a hint of sorrow in her voice.

The world was dying, so they don't have very much time left. "Oh, the house of Darcia that's out in the west is such a sad sight. It was a beautiful sight once, but its nothing more than a giant grave," she said, looking away.

"House of Darcia?" Kiba quietly repeated. Luna concentrated on eating her chicken. It wasn't what she was used to eating, but it was better than nothing.

"It's like the world has given up jut waiting for the end," The lady says in despair. This lady does have a point. Who knew how much longer they had left before the world does die?

"No, it hasn't," Kiba said. The lady looks over at him surprised look. "The old man isn't crazy at all. He is right. We are wolves," Kiba said. Habitully, no wolf would reveal what they are, but she had to know that her husband wasn't seeing things.

"You ready, runt?" Hige asked. Toboe grinned and nodded in response. "Let's get out of here," Luna said, setting the bones on the plate before standing up. Blue stands up in her human form and she says, "Goodbye, mister. Take care," she says.

Kiba tells them where they were going, before the pack of six run from that place in their wolf forms. They'd be heading out to Darcia's keep, however they had a feeling that something would be in their way.