Wolf

Pain.

All she felt was immense pain. An agony greater than any she had ever felt before. Her eyes shot up and she just then realized she was screaming. She tried to stop herself, but she was too tired, and in too much torment.

A man walked into Redri's view and lifted her head, placing a flask against her lips. She opened her mouth and drank the liquid, but immediately spat it out as it burnt her throat.

"Drink. It will help with the pain, pup." The man said in a grumbling, but surprisingly kind voice. Redri managed to swallow more of the liquid, and true enough, she began to feel odd, her head almost floating and the pain felt distant.

"Honestly, Klaue. Alcohol seems to be the only remedy you ever use." A feminine voice, which Redri was certain she had heard before, chimed from outside her limited, blurred vision.

"At least it silenced the yelping." The man, Klaue, replied. "Why do you want her anyways, Alpha? After what she did to your eldest?"

"She is Dunkelrot, she is the last remnants of Jagen. Her and my last pup." The woman replied and came into view. She had long, straight, blonde hair, and an angled, royal face. Redri felt captivated by the woman's beauty.

"Welcome home, Rose Red Hood." The woman said, her brown eyes oddly familiar to her. Redri tried to sit up, but gasped at the pain that felt like someone punched her in her chest.

"Don't move, pup, you have to heal first, you are in real bad shape." Klaue warned, while mixing together something in a mortar, though Redri could not see what, from her position. A gust of wind blew past, and the girl absently tried to grab the small riding hood to pull it around herself, when she realized it was gone. And the clothes on her were not ones she recognized.

"My cape?" The girl croaked out, but the woman, Alpha, as Klaue had called her, shook her head.

"We do not bring red in here, to our home."

Redri's eyes widened in horror and confusion. She tried to get up, but once again, Klaue held her down.

"No, no, no! Of course. That voice. You were the wolf-bitch that attacked me and Merlot!" Redri whimpered, tears once again streaming from her eyes, from both horror and fear this time. "You're going to kill me! My family! You monsters attacked my village!"

"We are the monsters?" Alpha shouted back, "You huntsmen kill as many of us as we kill of you! If not more. We rarely kill humans, most of the year, the deer of the woods keep us fed, but you and your clan murder our kind relentlessly!" The she-wolf glared daggers at Redri. "You regard us as less than human, but how ironic is that, seeing you are not a human yourself, Rose Red Hood."

Redri's eyes widened. "No, That's a lie. I wear red, I can cross wolfsbane, I am the child of two huntsmen."

"You are not fully a Blauwulf, that is true, you are something even more dangerous. You are Dunkelrot. Born human, swallowed by a wolf. The second chief Crimson pulled you out of my mate's bowels, you were doomed to become one of us." Alpha smiled and placed a hand on Redri's forehead. "You are developing a fever. Your feet were probably infected. In a few days, you will be dead."

Redri let out a whimper and closed her eyes.

"Or that would be it if you were human. If you decide to transform into a wolf, your wounds will heal." Alpha said, causing Redri to look awestruck at her. "Indeed. I saw you had quite a large wound in your palm, the night we first met. A wound, turned to a rather nasty scar, which is now gone, as you transformed for the first time, fleeing your village." Alpha lifted the hand in question, which Redri reluctantly looked at, and indeed, only fresh cuts were displayed on it. "If you transform again, your wounds and infection will heal. That was the gift we were given in exchange for our evolution into wolf kin. We cannot heal all wounds, but most all are easily fixed by our wolf blood."

"I don't know how to do it." Redri whispered. She did not know what else to do. She had no way of fleeing home, especially in her current state. If what Alpha said was true, she had to try it.

"It's simple, Rose Red. See yourself as a wolf, paws, maw, tail, fur." As Alpha talked, she stepped back, and her body swiftly contorted into that of the giant, white wolf Redri had lastly seen as her village got attacked not too long ago.

Klaue helped Redri up from the bed and supported her weight as Redri began to do as Apha had said. She imagined her mutilated feet becoming soft paws, her hair turning into shaggy fur, her teeth sharpening. Soon she fell forwards, but she told herself he would land on her front paws, which she did.

"Good job, pup." Klaue said from behind her, and she looked over, spotting a coat of dark brown fur over her shoulders. She felt relieved, the pain was gone, as well as the numbness from the alcohol. She tried to take a step forward, but stumbled, not yet used to moving in such a way.

"Walk to me, Rose. Use all four paws. Do not think, let your body move." The voice of Alpha was in her brain, which felt odd, but she bowed her head slightly in a nod, and began walking. After she reached Alpha, the larger wolf kept walking, and the two were soon joined by another big, brown wolf, whom Rose suspected was Klaue.

Redri jumped in surprise as a grey wolf bolted past them, in-between the trees.

"Wulf, one of the pups, the youngest like to play chase in the woods, soon enough, you will see Amber following, I am cer-" Alpha got cut off as a second grey wolf ran past. "-tain. As I said." Alpha chuckled slightly.

"Those two end up on my recovery bench more than any other wolves around." Klaue sighed. Redri turned her head to him and cocked it slightly.

"Healing is taxing, Leaves us volnurable and weaker than normal for a few days. For minor wounds, as well as births, I step up as healer." Klaue explained. "You will feel weak and lethargic for a few days yourself, Or at least for a wolf. Then you will soon feel the power of being one of us."

Redri nodded slightly and looked around, first then seeing the structure in the woods. Though at first it looked like they were simply in the middle of the wild, she now saw tracks which all lead to small houses, camouflaged in the forest. She even spotted wolves in their human forms, walking about. Children, adults and elders. And in the foliage and between the trees, wolves were staring at the trio.

Redri cast her gaze down, some kind of guilt forming in her. Had she really been hunting innocent people? If the wolves only killed humans in retaliation to protect themselves, were they really the bad guys in all of this?

Alpha let out a howl, and stopped. Redri blinked and nearly crashed into her before coming to a halt as well, looking up at the huge wolf. Then she spotted it, A brown wolf ran to them, at a speed unlike anything Redri had ever seen. The wolf stopped and looked at the white she-wolf, bowing before stroking his head against Alpha's

"Son. I believe you are familiar with this one." The white wolf said, the newcomer looking to Redri, cocking his head and poked his wet snout against her neck-fur. Redri yelped and pulled her head back in confusion and slight discomfort.

"Redri?" The wolf said, and the young huntress stepped back.

"No..." It couldn't be. "You? Was this the plan? You came to us, pretending to need help, so you could attack us?" Redri looked away and bolted into the woods, away from Alpha, away from Klaue, and away from Hound.