Greetings, friends. It has been a slow week for writing due to my brother getting married this weekend and the weather being unbearably hot this week. The fact that I have a pet lizard that requires a hot lamp living in my room doesn't help matters. Did I mention that my house has no AC? Ah well. This is why I made a backlog for this piece. Even if I write nothing (which isn't going to happen), I'm good for another month on this story at least. We're back with the werewolves this chapter. Enjoy!

"From the looks of it, the deer passed through last night. The tracks are less clear and the places where they nibbled the trees are brown instead of green, so it definitely wasn't more recent than that," Ruby was saying as she examined the deer path.

Pyrrha nodded. "Good. It looks like I won't have to teach you much in the way of tracking."

"Huntsmen are in charge of getting food for the village," Ruby explained. "We don't just fight monsters." As soon as those words left her mouth, she quickly shut it. It was easy to forget that the nice girl who had cared for her and tended to her wounds was actually one of the "monsters" she used to fight.

"I know it's hard to adjust," Pyrrha said, ignoring the ugly feeling that rose in her stomach at the mention of "monsters."

"It's just…you're nothing like what you're supposed to be."

"And what are we supposed to be like?" Pyrrha asked, though she knew the answer.

Ruby looked guiltily at the ground, aware of her mentor's sharp, green gaze. "Monsters. People who act like Grimm. Unholy things that can't control their hunger for human flesh."

Pyrrha shook her head with a wry smile. "I'm sure that humans would taste quite awful." A thought occurred to her. "Ruby, have you ever met a werewolf who wasn't transformed at the time?"

Ruby paused, pondering the question before shaking her head. "No. Raids always happen at night. That's also when the werewolf hunts are."

"Really?" Pyrrha's brows furrowed. This was new information. "Why wouldn't werewolf hunts take place during the daytime, when we're weaker?"

"It's so we can easily tell the difference and don't shoot one of our own by mistake," Ruby promptly replied, remembering her training.

"But, wouldn't you be able to tell who's who in the daylight?"

"I…" Ruby paused. "I guess that's true." She shrugged. "It's just how we were taught to hunt."

You were taught to hunt us when we look the least like you, Pyrrha thought grimly. It's easy to see us as beasts that way. Out loud, she said: "Well, since you seem to understand tracking, I will show you the borders of our territory."

As they walked, Ruby rubbed at her arm, where one of the bites was. Unlike her other wounds, the bites on her left arm, left thigh, and right ankle had left ugly red marks that would never go away. A werewolf's bite remained on the skin forever. It was part of how villages were able to keep from getting infiltrated by the beasts.

She couldn't help but notice that Pyrrha didn't have a single mark on her body. So, she was born a werewolf. Yet, for some reason, she was a lot kinder than the werewolves in the pack that had once been human or Faunus. Ruby would have thought that the latter category would be more understanding and welcoming of a newly-bitten person. Instead, most of the pack gave her untrusting glares and didn't speak to her at all. Besides Pyrrha, Sun and his three friends were the only ones who were openly nice to her.

Every nerve seemed to be charged with lightning. Ruby couldn't tell if that was due to her new nature, or due to her constant nervousness that came from being surrounded by her former enemies. Though Pyrrha assured her that the pack had accepted ex-Huntsmen before, she was on edge. Also, she didn't like being referred to as an ex-Huntress. I'm a Huntress, she told herself. I just need to get Blake away from Adam. Then, we can…

They could what? Kill themselves heroically the way they were supposed to? Despite everything that Ruby had been told, she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to do that. Maybe we could run into town and let the Huntsmen do it. The thought of one of her friends killing her wasn't much better. She imagined Weiss holding a saber to her throat, her eyes cold and lacking any recognition as she plunged the blade through. Ruby shuddered at the image.

Pyrrha noticed Ruby's discomfort and paused. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Ruby jumped before nodding. "Y-Yeah. I'm just…just thinking."

"You miss your home?" When Ruby nodded Pyrrha touched her shoulder. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but this can become your home in time. A pack is like a large family." Complete with several dysfunctional relationships, she added silently.

Just that morning, Mercury had snidely asked if Pyrrha was training her future second-in-command. When she hadn't responded, he had kept harping on her. It had taken every ounce of self-control to keep from using her alpha powers to force the beta wolf into silence in front of everyone. She knew that was what he had wanted.

"I guess that would be fine, if I could see everyone at home and tell them I'm okay," Ruby sighed. She gripped her bitten arm. "I don't get it. I don't feel too different from how I was before. I don't feel unholy or evil or anything. Then again, maybe I'm not supposed to notice."

"There is nothing inherently evil about werewolves," Pyrrha explained patiently for what was probably the hundredth time. "We are people first. It just so happens that our powers come from an evil source."

"Beowolves," Ruby muttered.

"That's right. However, the source isn't important. What matters is what we do with our abilities." When Ruby didn't say anything, Pyrrha continued. "In a way, isn't it extraordinary that we can draw goodness from something like the Grimm?"

Ruby looked at Pyrrha again. She wanted to agree. She opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again without uttering a word.

Pyrrha sighed, deciding not to press any further. She won't change the beliefs she's held throughout her life overnight, she reminded herself. If she didn't need me to help her friend, she likely would have run away at the first opportunity. Still, she's not the first Huntsman to be turned. There's time for her to understand.

Putting aside talk of religion and morals, the young alpha wolf focused on showing her new charge the borders. Besides the mountain base that held the majority of the dens, there was also an expanse of forest to the south, ending a few miles away from the village of Vale. To the west was a rocky area that didn't hold much, but was still marked to make their territory seem bigger. To the east was a vast field that could either hold Grimm or deer depending on the day. Today, it held Grimm.

Ruby's fingers itched with the urge to draw a weapon that she did not have. The pack shunned regular weapons, electing to create simple tools from bone and rock. Dust, due to its poisonous nature to werewolves, was entirely forbidden. Being unarmed in this land made Ruby even more on-edge. It was well-known that, despite her speed and skills, she was practically useless without some kind of weapon.

At least I'll be able to fight as a wolf. She quickly beat down the thought, though. That was the complete opposite of what she was supposed to think!

"Um, is it okay to be this close?" she asked.

"Yes. Just keep your emotions neutral," Pyrrha replied.

"I know that, but can't they smell us? We're upwind of them."

"They smell us, but they won't attack. To them, we smell like Beowolves." As soon as Pyrrha said it, she realized that she shouldn't have. She turned to Ruby in time to see her companion's stricken look.

So, it's true… We are like Grimm. Even the Grimm think so. Ruby stared at a nearby Ursa, a beast that she would normally be running through with a Dust-enhanced blade at this point. Now, she was walking near it as if she was just another Grimm. The Church had been right. Maybe it was better to run herself through quickly and hope that Blake had done the same.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha hissed, moving back a few paces. She could see several pairs of orange eyes turning in their direction. "Keep your emotions neutral!"

Ruby saw the Grimm's increased attention and quickly tried to reign in her thoughts. Part of her training as a Huntress had included many lessons in meditation. One of the main methods had involved putting one's thoughts into a metaphorical bubble and imagining the bubble floating away on a black lake. She had never been very good at it.

The nearest Ursa stood on its hind legs and roared. All of the Grimm were looking in their direction now.

"Run!" Pyrrha shoved Ruby into the trees before following. The sound of crashing logs and breaking branches followed them closely. "Head for the dens!"

"What?! Are you crazy? We can't lead them to-!"

"Trust me!"

Pyrrha glanced over her shoulder only once during their retreat. The skull-like face and blazing eyes that pursued convinced her not to look back again. As they drew close to the dens, she let out a wordless, piercing cry. Nearby, several voices answered. "Ruby, keep running."

As the cries of her packmates drew closer, Pyrrha stopped running and spun around so that she was facing the Grimm. Taking a deep breath, she locked eyes with the closest Ursa and focused. She glared at the monster with a single-minded intensity that caused it to skid to a halt. It shook its head, growling in confusion, but unable to look away.

Around her, Pyrrha could sense the other pack alphas gathering. Cinder stood next to her, staring down three Beowolves. The group glared at the Grimm with a single message: "Get out."

Slowly, the Grimm moved back. After a few more tense seconds, they turned around and retreated back into the woods. The alphas continued to stare at the darkness for a little while, just in case a straggler got any ideas. When Cinder turned away, the others took it as a signal to relax. Pyrrha remained tense as her leader turned to look at her.

"What is the meaning of this?" Cinder asked coldly.

Pyrrha bowed her head submissively, carefully not looking at Cinder's eyes. So soon after using her powers, direct eye contact would be seen as a challenge. "I'm sorry." She didn't offer any excuses. There was no point.

"I accepted this whelp because she's something Adam wants and could be helpful to us in the future," Cinder growled. "If she turns out to be more dangerous than she is useful, however…"

"I understand. I take full responsibility for her. Please have mercy," Pyrrha begged, bowing her head even lower. She flinched when a warm hand touched the back of her neck.

"I will for now. Keep an eye on her when she has her first transformation."

"Yes, leader. Thank you," Pyrrha whispered, lifting her head only when she heard Cinder walking away. As she straightened up, she noticed some of the beta wolves, mainly Mercury and Emerald, smirking at her. She allowed her eyes to flash at them, feeling some satisfaction when they averted their gazes.

When she entered the den, she was immediately greeted with a hug from Ruby. She stiffened in surprise. Just that morning, the small whelp had flinched whenever Pyrrha got too close. Seeing her face down a Grimm should have been terrifying. "Ruby…?"

"I'm so sorry!" Ruby whimpered. "You got in trouble because of me! I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake! Are you okay?" Her arms tightened and tears leaked from her eyes. She had honestly thought that Cinder was about to kill Pyrrha.

"I'm fine, Ruby," Pyrrha assured her, lifting her arms to hug back. Despite the situation, she smiled at the closeness of someone else. Werewolves were highly social animals, after all, and Pyrrha didn't get hugged nearly as often as she would have liked. "At least it happened during the day, so she couldn't bite or claw me."

"She'd do that?" Ruby sniffled. "That's horrible."

"She's our leader. She has to keep order." Pyrrha gently stroked the younger girl's hair. "It's okay. That wasn't my first time being scolded and it won't be the last. It was my fault for taking you so close to the Grimm when your emotions were unstable." She nuzzled the top of Ruby's head, readily allowing her motherly instincts to take over. "Don't cry. It's okay." She reached for her brown cloak and wrapped it around Ruby, rubbing her back soothingly.

Ruby sniffed a few times, resting her head on Pyrrha's shoulder. In the back of her mind, she wondered what her friends and family would think of her crying over a werewolf. Reactions would probably range between angry exclamations concerning Ruby's stupidity and gentle pats on the head with fond smiles at how naïve and compassionate she was.

To distract herself from her battling thoughts, she asked: "So, what did you and the others do just now? How'd you make the Grimm leave?"

"Well," Pyrrha explained, loosening her grip on Ruby but not letting go. "All werewolves have some sort of ability relating to what kind of wolf they are. Alphas can make other creatures submit to their will by staring at them. I used it on you when you first arrived."

Ruby frowned, remembering when she had tried getting up in spite of her injuries, only to suddenly feel sapped of the will to move. "That seems like a dangerous power to have, especially for a leader. Couldn't they abuse it?"

"Even though a leader traditionally has the most powerful stare, enough alphas together could overpower them," Pyrrha explained. "And strong-willed creatures can resist if they fight hard enough. For the most part, it's used to keep order and as a last resort in conflicts."

"What can the other wolves do?"

"Well, betas have the best tracking abilities and senses. They usually direct the hunts and create battle strategies. Omegas can sense emotions and calm others down with their presence."

"That sounds useful." Ruby thought about Cinder's angry face and shuddered. Something told her that it would take a thousand omega wolves to even slightly affect the cold-eyed leader. "What determines what kind of wolf you are? What will I be?"

"For born werewolves, these things are usually inherited," Pyrrha explained. "Both of my parents were alphas, for example. For bitten wolves, it really depends on personality. We won't know for sure until after you transform for the first time."

Ruby tried to imagine what it would be like to change into a wolf creature. "Does it hurt?"

"In a way," Pyrrha murmured thoughtfully, closing her eyes as her mind drifted to the familiar sensation of transforming. "Though, it's a good kind of pain, like cracking your back or pulling a thorn out of your hand. The first time can be a bit jarring, but I'm sure you'll do just fine."

"Okay." Ruby realized that she had curled up in Pyrrha's lap over the course of their conversation. The older girl's warm arms were wrapped snugly around her. For a moment, it felt like Ruby was a kid again being comforted by Yang.

Yang… More tears sprang to Ruby's eyes before she could stop them. Ever since her first day with the pack, she had been determined to not think too much of home. Thinking of what she had lost was too dangerous. She had to focus on Blake and her determination to get her back. If she started crying while thinking about home, she wouldn't be able to stop.

She tried reining in her emotions, but her resolve shattered when Pyrrha tightened her hug and started making those soothing, animalistic rumbling noises in her throat. The situation was both so familiar and so alien, so like and so unlike being held by Yang. She realized that she'd probably never sit in her sister's lap again.

Sobs shook her small body as she cuddled closer to Pyrrha. "I…I'm sorry," she murmured. "I just…I just…"

"I know," Pyrrha said, rubbing the young girl's back slowly. "It's okay." Nothing else was said as she held her young charge in her arms. Even when Ruby calmed down, they stayed close, drawing comfort from the close presence of a friend and packmate.

….

A few nights later, Pyrrha and Ruby sat together at the spot where the dens stopped and the forest began. The rest of the pack was preparing for a hunt, but Cinder had allowed Pyrrha to stay behind to assist Ruby in her first transformation. A new, unstable whelp wouldn't be much use on an organized hunt, after all.

The small girl was shaking as she watched the sun set. Even Pyrrha's warm hugs and whispered reassurances did nothing to help. This was it. She was going to transform into the very thing she had been taught to fear all her life. If there was a moment for her soul to be doomed and her mind to be corrupted, this was it.

God and the Maidens will understand, right? she wondered. I'm only still alive because I need to save Blake. Then, we'll… We'll… Even now, she couldn't complete the thought. In the very back of her mind, she wondered if she was making excuses, if she still would have allowed herself to live if Blake hadn't been a factor.

Pyrrha watched the sky, her skin already beginning to tingle with anticipation. Though the change was always exhilarating, it was particularly so on the night of a full moon. She truly hoped that Ruby would finally get over her fears and flawed beliefs once she experienced it for the first time. It would be the first full moon in a long time during which Pyrrha wouldn't be running with the pack. There was almost always a hunt on those nights. It would be quite liberating being able to run with only one other person.

When the last traces of redness faded from the sky, both women grew tense. Ruby's knuckles were white with how tightly she was gripping Pyrrha's hands. Pyrrha's green eyes were fixed on the darkening sky and beginning to glow with the first signs of the change.

The moon was completely visible now, shining down on the world in an unbroken orb. Its light cast a white-silver glow over the trees, grass, and waiting werewolves, sapping them of their color and making them look like ghosts.

Ruby stared at the moon, her eyes widening as she realized just how beautiful it was. Its light was filling her in a way that the sun never had. It was like she was drawing it into her very body through her silver eyes and her hands, which were just stretching skyward.

Then, she felt the light turn into something more. A feeling akin to an electric shock traveled from her unblinking eyes, down her spine, and to the very bottoms of her feet, seeping then into the earth. Her toes dug into the ground hungrily as she tried to make herself taller. She reached for the moon, whining in the back of her throat like an infant calling for its mother.

As she stretched out, her fingers grew. Her nails extended and hardened. She felt her bones shifting and cracking, and winced at the sensation. The moon was soaking into her skin now, tugging insistently at her, drawing out waves of thick fur. She groaned, cracking her back and extending her spine. As she did so, she felt a tail grow from the base. She shook her head, scratching irritably at her ears, which suddenly felt very itchy. They grew longer as she scratched, moving to the top of her head.

Ruby tilted her head back fully, trying to touch her face to the moon's too-distant brilliance. Her nose twitched, extending into a muzzle. She sniffed the air, her mouth watering as traces of deer blood, moonlight, and her fellow packmates filled her senses.

The shifting and cracking stopped and she shook herself out, grunting a little with relief. The moon was now sending pulse after pulse of beautiful energy through her blood, and she couldn't get enough of it! She had to run!

The smells of the forest beckoned her and she lunged forward, only to be stopped by a firm set of jaws closing on her scruff. She struggled, yipping in annoyance, but was silenced with a hard shake. Sensing the superior power of a stronger wolf, she let herself to limp, ears flattening.

When she was put down, she spun around to see a bright red alpha she-wolf grinning at her, green eyes reflecting the moon's light. The name "Pyrrha" rose to mind slowly before fading again. Names weren't important right now. All that mattered was running. Ruby looked toward the forest, letting out a pleading whine.

Pyrrha let out an amused whuff. She had forgotten how enthusiastic whelps were during their first transformation. Sometimes, she envied how easily the younger, inexperienced wolves could slip into their animal forms, often forgetting things like names and thoughts. Pyrrha was too old and too practiced to lose control like that.

She took a moment to admire Ruby's wolf form. The younger wolf was a small, lithe, dark brown creature with just the slightest touches of red around the shoulders, back, and paws. Her already-beautiful silver eyes were like miniature moons on her lupine face. She would blend in well on hunts, and definitely had a fast build.

Most importantly, she looked like she was finally ready to surrender to her new nature.

Pyrrha beckoned toward the trees, flicking an ear before running into the shadows. Ruby eagerly bounded after her, overtaking her within seconds. She barked sharply, calling her charge back to her side. She gave her a reproachful look, silently commanding her to stay close.

Ruby rolled her eyes, but didn't dart ahead again. She instead focused on the feeling of dirt and bracken beneath her paws, the moonlight in her fur, and the scent of prey in her nose. At that moment, she was the ruler of everything around her. Nothing dared challenge her!

Unable to resist, she stopped running, threw back her head, and let out a long, piercing howl that echoed through the trees for miles.

Just a quick note: I have one more commission slot open. After I finish the second part of A Rationed Recovery, I'll be free to type. Message me if you're interested.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. As always, review but don't flame. Peace out!