Chapter 3 Alyx

I couldn't think past my wolf. I'd been doing so well there for quite a while, longer than I'd pretended to be human for a very long time. Even managing to force my feral wolf down long enough to be submissive to whoever had trapped me.

It disappeared when he pushed his hand through the bars and offered me a taste. The feral part of me burst free then; no matter how hard I struggled against it, the sight of blood, the smell, even the offer of it- it set my wolf free.

The idiot side of me that was too distracted by the blood red of his cloak to care that the silver was burning my fur off. I might have killed myself if I hadn't heard the grating sound of metal against metal that was familiar now. My next lunge sent that section of the bars crashing to the ground. It surprised my animal side long enough that I almost managed to get ahold of it; I lost it in the next second when the fool who offered me his blood pull his hood over his face and taunted me again.

The freedom of being outside of the cage, away from the acid hint of silver in the air all around me, had another howl clawing out of my throat. The sound tumbled on for a long time; if a wolf could have laughed, that was the sound that would have filled the air. When it died, my muzzle dropped, my paws spreading out slightly to get better footing as I bunched back on my rear paws, coiling up.

My lunge had more than enough force to knock the human over when I collided with him, teeth snapping just inches from his neck before his hands were up to ward me off. My feral side was not prepared for him to fight back. To be good at it. If the wolf hadn't been so damn focused on tasting his blood I might have been able to save myself.

Instead I ended up slammed into the dirt next to the human, a coughing bark forced out of me as I rolled to get back onto my feet. Even my wolf was more wary then. My intelligent side began to push forward again, straining against the feral wolf that didn't care if I was injured as long as there was blood from my attacker in the end.

I dropped back a few steps, regarding him warily as my growl tore up out of my throat to rumble like thunder again. Baring my teeth even though it wasn't going to be that much of a threat, I sank back on my back paws so that I could lunge forward again, with more force than before.

He'd only just managed to get to his feet, and I knocked him down again. Enough reason had slipped past the wolf after that first shock that I didn't go straight for his throat. I used my weight to pin him down, instead, front paws planted firmly on his chest while my back paws were spread slightly, one on each of his thighs to keep him down.

My growl became a sharp barking sound right in his face. I snapped at him, an inch or two away from his nose, dripping saliva on his face as I snarled and snapped close enough that he must have been able to smell the blood heavy on my hot breath.

The feral side of me was winning again, with my teeth so very close to his neck and the vein that would gush blood like a fountain when I tore my teeth through his flesh. Though the intelligent side screamed, my paws shifted so I was lower on him, and I lunged for his neck once more, intent on the kill.

A hand latched around my muzzle. Coming up from underneath my jaw the force of the strike closed my mouth just enough for him to curl the rest of his fingers around the top of my snout and clamp shut. The other hand cupped up under my throat, gripping me just behind the ridge of my jaw. With a low growl of his own, he twisted his body and gained enough momentum to roll us.

Straddling me, he had more power in holding me down than I'd expected. But he was only holding my head, nothing else. Keeping me pinned down on the ground just by my face was aggravating. Paws thrashed, nails hitting him hard though most of his clothes kept me from scratching him up too much. At least, not enough to draw blood. I wasn't finished though, the vicious kicking and struggling kept him constantly moving his hands to keep me down, a look of strained concentration on his face as he held me there.

Yet despite that, his ridiculous grin was still painted on his face. One that I wanted to wipe off his lips so badly. I wanted to tear his face off even. The thought wasn't help when he gave a pained expression and the smell of blood wafted into the air. His grin faltered then and a curse fell from his lips as my feral side kicked into overdrive at the smell. Growls filled the air, mixing with his voice as he hissed under his breath, "Fuck…"

My reasonable side was vaguely amused by his swearing; it was quickly overwhelmed by the need to taste the blood I could smell. I was pushed into a new frenzy, twisting my body around on the ground as I desperately clawed at him. The smell of blood was thicker as I connected with him again, and I felt his grip on me falter.

Just enough for me to wrench my muzzle out of his grip. Too crazed to care where I got the blood from, I didn't even get off my back. He hadn't pulled his hand back fast enough- my teeth sank into his arm, my growls muffled only slightly as I bit down viciously hard.

The wash of blood in my mouth pitched my feral side into a feeding frenzy that made things go fuzzy. All I could think about was that beautifully sweet taste of fresh human blood, better for the fact that he'd frustrated me so much. I brought my jaws down harder, teeth slicing further into his flesh so I was near the bone. Would it satisfy me if I snapped his arm? Even the thought sent a fierce jolt of pleasure through me.

I wanted to hear him scream, taste more of his blood, when I took away his chance of keeping me down ever again. His panting in my ear told me how much it hurt, but surprisingly all I'd gotten out of chomping down on his arm was a deep groan, nothing more. Looking up to him, that grin was back, pained, but there all the same.

"I hope it tastes good, mister big bad wolf," he said, his voice only slightly strained while he shifted around on me.

I answered him with a deeper growl of my own and clamping down harder on his arm, increasing the pressure as I prepared to take his precious limb from him. He gave a sharp sound then, almost a cry, but it was gone before it became anything. Lifting his free arm, he hooked something between my jaw, shoving it down so that it was so far back in my mouth I was choking on it as he pried my teeth from his forearm. That wasn't the least of my problem though, whatever he'd jammed into my mouth was most definitely silver as it burned horribly.

"Be good and chew on that for a minute," he snapped.

The shock of the silver silenced my animal side for a moment. Only a second, but a precious second. I gave up on my attempt to take his arm, scrambling away with my paws sliding out from under me in my panic. Shaking my head and heaving, I got the silver out of my mouth, my paws scratching at the top of my muzzle like that would stop the burning. Pitiful whimpers escaped me as the taste of his blood was wiped out by the nasty, burnt taste in the back of my mouth.

My growl, that time, wasn't pure animal anger- it was an almost human, pissed off growl. Shoving silver in my mouth… that was low. My urge to claw his face off grew. Not because I wanted his blood. But because I was furious with him and he deserved to be in the same kind of pain I was. His screaming might, just, make up for the whimpers the silver had pulled from me.

My wolf and my reason were working together for the first time in long enough that it was an unfamiliar, alien thing that set me off guard. Making me pause, the tension that had built as I prepared to attack him again slipping away. Another sharp shake of my head, a soft growl, reminded me to pay attention to my prey.

I bared my teeth at him, letting him see his blood on my fur. Daring him to attack me so that I could justify shredding him to pieces. If he made just one move in the wrong direction, I'd have all the reason I needed to kill him. And it would be much easier when I was smart enough to keep him from trying to shove more silver down my throat.

Digging my claws into the dirt, I howled at him again, the loud sound ringing through the forest. Just one step forward and I was going to stain his face red with blood and see if he kept smiling then.

He watched me closely, the howl only giving way to his arching an eyebrow at me and lifting his head much the same way he'd done when he'd taunted me while I was in the cage. The only difference was the weariness in his eyes, a dull glow that lit the blood red color. His dark hair was fanning over his forehead then, getting into his eyes. Yet, even as he slowly dropped to one knee, blood making a pool under his useless fingers of the arm I'd all but ruined, his smile still remained.

"What?" he asked softly, a bit of a laugh on his lips, "Did that hurt? Didn't really enjoy having that shoved down your throat, did you? Well," his voice went dark as did his eyes as he reached down with his good hand and lifted the dark shirt under the blood red cloak, "This hurts too, burns. As does my arm, thanks very much, big bad wolf."

He lowered the cloth to cover the cuts I'd inflicted all across his torso while struggling under him. Tilting his head a little, he watched me for a long while as if trying to figure me out, curiosity flickering in his eyes along with the pain that was no doubt making him dizzy. It was probably the reason for his inability to stand as well as the dullness to his eyes.

"Get enough? Or maybe tearing me apart would be satisfy. Just like all the other ones. What I don't get, is why you are still there. You've been out here a long time, haven't you. Too much wolf and not enough human. Or would you prefer to kill me? I don't suppose you'd like the idea very much if I told you I was out here trying to help you, Alyx."

His grin was wider that time as he watched me, and as an after thought he tossed out, "Oh, keep howling and you're going to gather a lot of unwanted attention. I'd really prefer not to knock you out with silver again if I could keep from doing so. But don't test me on it."

My mouth snapped shut, every noise I had been making giving way to absolute silence.

The idiot human knew my name.

Even many of the wolves didn't know my name anymore. After thirty years of living in the forest, the ban put on me and the use of my name… how was it that a human knew, when none of my kind would?

The hair that had risen along my back settled, my ears pressing a bit closer to my head as I relaxed from my threatening position. I didn't trust him- I wasn't able to trust a human, let alone one that had thought shooting me several times and then shoving silver down my throat was a good idea. But I was damn tired from the constant assaults with silver, and coming dangerously close to losing my grip on my animal form and ending up stuck in that aggravating in-between form. I would be vulnerable then, and that was the last thing I wanted.

This situation… I didn't like it any more than before. But there was nothing I could do about it without risking another dose of silver and losing my form. So I sat back on my haunches, beginning to clean his blood from my face. Hoping it would at least piss him off as I ignored him entirely and kept my eyes on the forest instead, knowing his friend would be back eventually. The wolf who'd intruded on my territory- and I only hoped I was tired enough that I wasn't going to lose to my feral side again.

It wasn't long before two pairs of steps came through the forest. They were soft and if I hadn't been listening or paying attention, I would have never heard, which made me think that the ruckus the idiot human had made when I first stalked him was most definitely on purpose. The female came back, though she went immediately behind the very large man who she'd brought with her. By the smell, he was most definitely a werewolf as well, though unlike her he kept his human form.

"Cean… Why is he out of the cage?"

The human named Cean looked over to the two who had joined us, "Ah, Zeke… Nice of you to show up. It's your turn… Take over."

"What?" The tall male looked utterly confused as he snapped the question and turned his pitch black eyes on Cean.

It wasn't until the idiot toppled over that the female let out a shriek and ran over to him, ignoring me entirely. Her eyes scanned his arms and body before settling on me. She didn't have any particular expression other than worry for the stupid human. Though there was anger in her voice as she snapped at him, "You idiot! What the hell were you thinking?"

"Tell it to him when he can hear you, Des. Come on, if we don't treat him he'll probably die, suicidal fool," the tall one said, frustration clear in his tone. Crossing his thick arms, he looked over to me with a slight frown. He eyed me for a moment before he spoke, "You certainly don't look feral. You gonna stay a wolf or will you at least have the courtesy of changing so we can talk properly? I doubt you'd like it much if I shifted to accommodate."

I bared my teeth at him with a soft growl. He'd think differently if he'd seen me when I was trying to snap his friend's arm off. Though I didn't lose my relaxed pose, the fur on my back was beginning to bristle again. I was not shifting into my human form. And if he was smart, he wouldn't shift forms while he was on my territory either.

Everything about my reaction screamed ‘leave'. Told him to get out of my territory before I decided to tear holes in him, too. It didn't matter if they knew my name or if the idiot human said he was trying to help. He might not understand, but they were wolves- they should have known better than to approach me. And not just because it was my territory. But because our people- their people, I hadn't been one of them in decades- had made it illegal when they tossed me out.

My growl grew deeper, a louder warning as I moved forward onto my feet. My head tipped slightly to the side, I was daring them again. As long as we were on my territory, he was staying human. So it was better if he just left. Before he started himself down the path to being exiled as thoroughly as I had been- or getting his throat torn out if I lost hold of my feral side, which happened more and more often the longer I spent in my forest.

Zeke scoffed, a darker scowl on his face, "The mutt thinks he's bigger than me," he muttered, partially pissed off, partially annoyed.

"Not here, Zeke."

"Then why did you?"

"Cean told me to, he thought it would calm him, but this place belongs to him. I didn't know he claimed it."

"God… Damn it. This is a waste of time. Why did they even think this was possible?" He uncrossed his arms, putting them on his hips as he sighed heavily, an eyebrow twitching no doubt out of irritation.

"Cean's stubborn… And stupid apparently. He doesn't want to leave here and he certainly doesn't want to listen to anything. We can handle this on our own!"

"Destiny… Cean doesn't think that, otherwise we wouldn't have come out here."

"Yeah, well look what it got him! Almost shredded by an undesirable, powerless, exiled mutt!"

"Don't go there, Des. You'll just piss him off. And Cean doesn't feel that way either, so quit shoving it off on him, it's irritating," Zeke said, the last part muttered softly that I almost missed it. Ignoring me yet again, he walked over and took the human from the female's arms, lifting him easily. He looked over to me briefly before leaving me with just a few words, "If you're still intelligent enough, I suggest leaving this little abode of yours. You want answers, you can find me patrolling the edge of your little sanctuary."

Powerless? If I'd been in my human form, I would have laughed in her face. Exiled, yes. Undesirable, probably. But I had never been powerless, and I never would be. It wasn't in my nature- simply impossible in the most basic way.

My amusement at that came out on a huffing pant as I backed away from them, unconvinced. There was nothing wrong with the territory that had been mine when I finally settled down over twenty years ago. I wasn't leaving. What reason could there possibly be? Without a pack or a mate, the least I could have was a home.

So I made another short huffing sound at him, just barely too soft to be a bark. I was not going to be the one who left. And if they came in my territory with traps and guns again, I'd kill each and every one of them and to hell with what the packs would do in response. I wasn't nearly interested enough in the idiot human to risk losing my territory.

So I turned around, a flick of my tail signalling my dismissal. I could feel the last bit of my control slipping through my fingers, and I was going to be at least partially human soon. Very soon- even running, I had barely made it far enough away that they wouldn't be able to see me before I hit the forest floor, panting and writhing as my body forced the change.

My breathing rasped harshly in and out of my human throat as I stayed there on my hands and knees before simply collapsing forward. Whoever they were, whatever they wanted, I hoped they left soon. Because I wasn't entirely certain I'd be able to keep any control over my feral side if they didn't.