On the first day of spring, the town sacrifices the prettiest girl.
They marshal her to the woods where they tie her to a stake and set her ablaze.
For the werewolves who call the woods their home so they won't come stalking to the town to eat the children. Ah, but it's never the children the wolves are after. No, they hate the entire town. None more so than the alpha who keeps his reasons under lock and key.
...
"F-f-f-forgive me, Alpha but-"
"What can't you see I'm like, eating!" Shaggy snapped, blood trickling from his mouth as he relentlessly tore into the poor animal who'd become his meal after a successful hunt.
"The, the-"
"SPIT IT OUT!"
"The town's left us another girl but-"
"Toss her remains to the pack-"
"She's alive, not barely but completely intact, still tied to the pyre"
Shaggy spat out the leg he was gnawing on, eyes like saucers, "Alive? Did you say she was alive?"
"Not even burnt, sir"
"Show me!"
...
It was true. The sacrifice had survived but the closer came he realized he knew her.
"Christina..."
Sweet innocent Christina who did her best to be ignored by the horrible townspeople who sliced her cheek to mark her as different. Christina who never spoke, wrapped in clothing sloppily sewn from scraps taken from the garbage. Christina who rescued crows and ravens, hugging them close to her heart while the people tried to drive them out.
Christina who he hadn't seen for five years.
Secondly, he realized that while she was unharmed her clothing was gone. In the time it took him to remove his shirt the other werewolf was reaching for the unconscious girl, a lewd smile on his face.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Shaggy knocked him away, standing over his fallen packmate.
"I'm gonna keep her, she's real pretty"
Shaggy ripped out his throat before kicking the body away.
Quickly, Shaggy slipped his shirt over Christina lifting her from the pyre. She had a head wound that needed attention but one deep breath revealed something he wasn't prepared for.
Christina was with child.
...
His face emotionless and head held high he carried Christina into the deep heart of the forest where the townspeople dared not to tread, believing stories of trickster fae and ghostly spirits spread by those who came before. Into the place the pack called home a small cluster of cabins and dens carved out of the earth. Shaggy lived in the biggest of these on a hill overlooking the rest. As he passed the rest of the pack scrambled for a look at the living girl in his arms. They'd only known their mothers or sisters before they'd been driven from their families or their families had been killed. The prospect of a girl, a living girl was enticing, making them frantic with excitement.
"Give her to me!"
No, me!"
"Me! ME!"
"BACK OFF!" he roared giving them pause, "SHE STAYS WITH ME! SHE'S MINE"
Back into his cabin, latching the door behind him he went. First, he tended to her injury. Washing the blood from her hair upon remembering how she disliked it, he managed to dress her in a clean but worn shirt without looking, discarding the soiled one. Once mended and clean he laid her in bed, pulling the covers up to her chin.
"What have they done to you?" he touched the scar on her face, "They'll pay, I swear!"
...
Christina woke several days later, long past dark.
Oh, what a fool she'd been. Abandoned to the town as an infant, only surviving thanks to the quick actions of the animals. The crows who brought her water to drink, warm clothing snatched off lines blowing in the breeze, food from tables. Kicked, slapped, pinched poked by the people if she got too close, she had made her home in the hollow of a tree. Learning to speak, read, and write by watching from a distance. She knew she wasn't liked, wasn't tolerated yet, she couldn't leave it was all she'd ever known.
In the blustery cold of winter hiding in her tree a patchwork shawl over her shoulders as she clutched to the blanket she'd been wrapped in as a baby, the sole reason she knew her name, she'd received a visitor.
The eldest son of the richest family, his eyes as green as grass, hair of fine gold with straight white teeth. He whispered words of love, filling her head and heart with promises to take her away from that place, heaping compliments and praise over many visits until she gave herself to him. One night, when the promise of spring was on the breeze under a round full moon she'd let him do as he pleased believing that the next day they'd leave together to start a better life.
But, it'd all been a nasty trick done on a dare.
He spat in her face the next morning when she leaned in for a kiss.
You awful witch no one shall ever love you!
He ran to his father.
She's hexed me! Cursed me! Puppeted me! She wants our fortune!
So it was her they tied to the pyre. Unknowing that fire was her friend, the flames that burned others only tickled her. Springing to her palms with a mere thought.. she could have run then if they hadn't hit her over the head... laying a hand to her still flat belly she began to sob. What was she to do? An unmarried woman. A child born out of wedlock. Even if she could have found a new town one more tolerant, she'd be known as a harlot. A disgrace.
"Christina?"
Startled she realized she didn't know where she was and could do nothing more in her current state than watch the door open.
"S-Shaggy, is that you?"
It certainly resembled him but the man before her was taller, his face flecked with scars. One right through his left eye which appeared dull, and unfocused. Was he blind in that eye?
"Yes, it's me" he nodded, drawing closer with that smile she remembered from childhood.
"You've grown"
"So have you," he sat on the foot of the bed, "Please, like, tell me what's happened to you, please?"
"I was a fool,"
"You were tricked, weren't you?"
A half nod.
"By who?"
Christina remained silent.
"Tell me, please," Shaggy's eyes burned with a ferocity she wasn't used to.
"Chadwick, it was Chadwick"
"Thank you"
"And thank you for your kindness but I must go," she started to rise from the bed, "If they find out I'm still alive...I have to get as far away as I can"
"No," he caught her wrist, holding it loosely so she could slip away if she wanted, "stay here with me, you'll be safe"
How can you be so sure?"
"You don't know where you are, do you?" Slowly he guided her to the small window.
Outside the crescent moon cast thin pools of light through the trees, just enough light for her to see the figures darting in and out, some on two legs, others on four. Talking, laughing, howling together as they worked.
"The werewolves," she whispered in quiet surprise.
"My pack, like, you'll be safe here, I promise, please stay?"
"Alright"
...
A scream tore through the town the next morning. Chadwick, the most sought-after man in the entire town was found dead, blood still leaking from his formerly perfect mouth, pearly whites stained red, face frozen in fear.
Liar the word scratched across his forehead.
What could have done this?
...
In the early morning light Shaggy set to work, perplexing the rest of the pack. He took up an ax and disappeared into the woods. Christina would need a space of her own. A house she could call hers. So while the rest of the pack spread out to hunt or cause trouble deeper in the woods he began to plan. His eyes glowed with satisfaction only to fade as he paused, ax hanging limply at his side. Christina needed more than the bare-bones cabins with piles of furs for a bed and a heaping pile of gnawed bones. She'd need a bed, a table, a chair...so many things. With a deep breath, he allowed himself to recall his father at work on such things. Yes, he remembered. He could build these things and what he couldn't he would acquire.
Yes, he could do this. Confidence returning he set to work to turn thoughts into reality. To treat the girl so like him with the respect she deserved. To give her a happier life after all she'd endured.
...
When he returned home that night tired but happy with the foundations and the start of the frame he found that Christina had cleaned until his home sparkled in the setting sun, she stood in the center of the main room, hands clasped in front of her as she shifted from foot to foot, eyes on the floor.
"I'm sorry, I hope you aren't angry, I-"
"Christina.." he gently cut her off, lifting her head so she met his gaze, "Thank you, I like, have really been meaning to clean up"
"You aren't upset?"
"No, how are you feeling?"
"Fine, just tired, what were you working on out there?" she nodded to the window, still nervous.
It made Shaggy want to rampage but he pushed that anger down, answering her with a smile, "It'll be yours when it's like, finished, A place to call your own"
"I really can't-"
"You are not a bother, you are safe here and I like, want you to be comfortable, I want you to have the home you've like, been denied all this time"
"Okay," she whispered.
"Would you like dinner?" he slowly changed the subject.
She barely nodded.
"You go lay down, I'll like, come get you when it's ready"
Hurriedly he dashed out into the woods where he knew crops grew, wild undaunted by the seasons. Maybe at one time, these woods had been touched by the fae. It would explain why it behaved so unnaturally but if the fae had left they'd abandoned Christina because she was too different from them with her small but noticeable vampiric features, the way she was cold to the touch, the fangs in her mouth and the strength and agility she didn't acknowledge. That made him angrier than he cared to admit or understand.
"Can't we like, take her in, Mom?"
"I don't see why not, poor girl needs a home"
Shoving the memories down, he quickly collected enough tomatoes and herbs to make a passable soup before dashing back to the kitchen. Once the soup was simmering over the fire he went to the bedroom finding Christina not on the bed but the floor, her arms wrapped around her no blanket or pillow though she had turned down the bed.
"Christina.." he lightly touched her shoulder jumping back as she startled awake, "Why are you on the floor?"
"It's your bed..."
"And you're my guest therefore you get the bed"
"No..."
He was starting to realize that Christina didn't think she was worth anything. Treated as nothing more than an inconvenient pest, like a raccoon you couldn't get rid of or the mouse that made a home in your kitchen. Helping her to her feet he brought her to the kitchen.
"For me?" she asked meekly when he set a bowl of soup in front of her.
"Yes"
Christina looked at the food like he was going to take it from her.
"Eat," he gently urged her as there was a knock at the door, "I'll be right back"
Opening the door he found the pack waiting outside, heads bowed with shameful expressions on their faces.
"We wanted to apologize for how we acted yesterday"
"We all had mama's and sisters once"
"We want to help you make the Miss comfortable, Alpha"
"However we can"
"Thank you, tomrrow"
Sensing their dismissal the wolves headed for their respective dens and the dinner that waited there. Returning at once to the kitchen Shaggy found that in his absence Christina had devoured her meal. She did think I'd take it! He could feel the rage coursing through him but squashed it, "Are you full?"
"I don't-"
"Are you full?" but he was already refilling her bowl.
She drank it all in one swift gulp.
"I thought so"
"I'm sor-"
"No more apologies"
"But-"
"I mean it"
When she grew tired he carried her to bed and tucked her in waiting until she was asleep before curling beside the fire in the kitchen to sleep.
...
"Can't you speak?"
The girl let out a strangled sound, a poor imitation of a bird's call as she backed into the hollow tree, hiding her dirty face in her arms.
"Norville, it's time to go home!"
"I'll be back next week"
...
"Is that your blanket?"
She held it tightly to her, as if he would take it.
"It's got your name on it, see?"
she didn't look and it occured to him that maybe she couldn't read.
"It says Christina, that's a pretty name"
...
"DON'T HURT HER!"
"Get lost weirdo she's nothing but a rabid monster"
"You're scaring her! She like, just wants something to eat"
...
Christina woke at first light, feeling incredibly ill. She barely made it from the bed before her stomach lurched and she lost its contents. Confused tears welled in her eyes as she retched. What was going on? Why was she so ill? She'd never been sick before.
"It's normal, Christina," Shaggy stood behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
Normal? How was this normal?
When at last she finally stopped, Shaggy handed her a clean shirt to wear stepping out so she could change.
I've made a mess.
"Leave it, I'll clean it up," Shaggy said from the other side of the wall.
But...
"Christina, like don't you dare"
Sighing with resignation, Christina pulled the clean shirt over her head. Shaggy was so tall of course that his shirts hung like dresses on her. Stepping around her mess, Christina exited the room to find Shaggy waiting, "All better?"
She shrugged.
He cleaned up quickly, remaking the bed while he was at it.
"I don't understand..." She really felt quite stupid, when she had learned to read the birds had brought her whatever they could snatch. Pages, letters, notices. Never an entire book and never something that could explain.
"Like, it's called morning sickness, it happens with pregnacy, it's nothing to worry about it will pass," he assured before saying, "I like, almost had a sister a long time ago"
Christina didn't press.
"Lay back down, okay? I'll like, be working just outside if you get hungry"
When she made no move to do so, he picked her up and tucked her into bed.
"What if I get sick again?"
He set a wooden bucket beside the bed, "Don't worry about making a mess" he squeezed her hand.
Left alone, Christina could do nothing but worry. She didn't know the first thing about caring for a baby, only that unmarried women were looked down upon for having one. As if she wasn't already looked down upon. What was she supposed to do? With no one to hear her, she began to weep.
...
Even with help, it took quite a while to build Christina a worthy home, spring faded into summer. The busiest summer Shaggy could recall. All day, the pack labored over the home, some of the more human-appearing members taking the occasional odd job in another town on the far side of the woods to acquire what couldn't be built alongside their usual winter prep purchases. At night, Shaggy returned home where he was teaching Christina to cook and keep a garden. But, in the dead of night while she slept he crept to the horrible, small-minded hateful place she had once called home to torment the family of the brute who tricked her for his own pleasure. Eating their livestock, destroying whatever he could, and spooking the people within the un-deserved manor, built on the backs of people who'd come before.
More than once Shaggy entertained the idea of setting the place ablaze just to show them what Christina had felt tied to that stake but he dismissed it every time. If he burnt the manor down he couldn't have any more fun. So the manor stayed.
That didn't stop him, however, from setting fire to the homes of the elders. The black shroud hunch-backed men whose white beards tangled at their knees as they lent their ears to those with the most gold. With every fire he set, he scratched a bloody message into the doors and ground.
NO MORE GIRLS.
He wasn't sure if they would heed the message, the stubborn dust-bags that they were but he left them anyway.
"What are you thinking about?" Christina's gentle voice pulled him from his thoughts.
She sat across from him at the table, a plate of nicely roasted vegetables before her while his spot was empty. Christina didn't need to see him eat. It was too messy, too bloody.
"Nothing important really," he fibbed, "Your house is like, almost ready, just a few more days"
"I've told you-"
"And, I've told you that you derserve a real home, not a hollow tree"
"I wouldn't know what to do with myself in a house that big"
"Don't worry, I've like, thought of that"
"Oh?"
"It's a surprise"
"I'm not a fan of surprises, they don't end well"
"This one will, you'll see"
Christina didn't seem convinced but said nothing more, quietly eating the rest of her meal with a distracted far away look in her eyes that left him wondering what she was thinking about.
...
A few days later, Shaggy brought Christina to her new home next door to his with the rest of the pack looking on proudly as she marveled at the glass windows and sturdy front door. Within was a cozy main room, a small fireplace in the center of the wall across from the door. Beyond the main room was the kitchen, beside that was her bedroom, a cradle waiting beside her bed for the unborn baby, the smooth, polished wood carved with wolf pups at play. Bringing her back to the main room, Shaggy watched her eyes light up at what she had missed.
Tall shelves lined with storybooks. The same books she could never get her hands on, growing up. Between the two shelves was a chest filled with the best sewing supplies they could find, no more shoddy garbage scraps.
"Like it?"
"It's wonderful"
"I'm glad, here, I have one more gift for you," he handed her a book, its pages yellow with age, the cloth cover faded, "This was my mothers, all of her favorite recipes and patterns are in here, I want you to have it now, Mom would want you to have it"
"Shaggy-"
"Keep it, I know it's in good hands"
"Thank you"
"You're welcome, Christina"
...
Over the next few weeks, Christina sewed her clothes and the baby's beside the window despite the chill. One day as she sat there, sewing a homely dress with the laticed window pushed open to let in the breeze she was greeted by a comforting sound, the cries of a raven. The bird swooped from tree to tree before landing on her window to shake the cold out of his feathers.
"Hello," Christina quietly greeted as the bird hopped from the window to her arm, putting down her sewing she began to stroke the bird's feathers, "You've found me"
The bird, of course, didn't respond but cocked its head to the side in a questioning manner.
"Yes, I'm okay, are you?"
The bird cawed angrily.
Looking out the window again, Christina saw the entire murder sat in the surrounding trees, one holding her blanket in its talons.
"You can stay with me"
Something told her the birds had no intention of leaving.
...
soo, IDK where this is going but I liked it enough to post. I don't know if I'll continue it. Should I?