Partial Transformation

The particular part of the forest Lya and Dacia were in, was a very safe territory, controlled by an Iron Grade Tribe that was composed mostly of women. Their composition was not normal for the standards, but no one tried to change it, since it was a treat of their bloodline.

That tribe was called Southern Moon and they were not the strongest Iron Tribe around that area, but were not the weakest either. However, their overall strength couldn't be so easily dismissed, since the women of that tribe were a bit special.

Their conversation suddenly reached a dead end, where none of them could think of a good enough reason that could take them off of their complicated predicament. If it were a just normal marital pact, everything would be fine, since Iron Grade Tribes usually did those things, if it was a necessity. Even the Southern Moon Tribe resorted to those means in order to increase their numbers. However, the other tribe had requested for Lya to be one of the candidates. No, actually, she was the main reason behind that sudden marital pact, to begin with.

If she were to refuse, then a conflict might end up forming between their tribes and many lives were going to be lost. But conflicts, were very normal and sometimes inevitable. The real problem though, laid on the fact that the other tribe, the Grey Mane Tribe, was the strongest group that existed in that whole region. Their number was considerably superior to the other forces and they could solely rely on that, to create trouble for the Southern Moon Tribe, if something were to go wrong.

A conflict with them would not necessarily result in total destruction for the Southern Moon Tribe, but it would certainly weaken them considerably. Due to the fact that they lacked men, with only less than ten percent of their total numbers being of that gender, it would inevitable take longer, for them to recover from a battle.

But the real reason that it would take longer for them to re-emerge, was not the battle itself, nor was it because they would lack capable fighters, but in fact, it was because they couldn't breed as fast as the other groups.

Their matriarchal society didn't allow any man to have more than one woman and together with the fact that their bloodline was rich in what they called "Yin" essence, ninety percent or more of the newborn babies were girls, making it incredibly hard for them to multiply quickly.

In contrast, their strongest warriors were not the men, but the women. Their bloodline gave their female descendants more advantages and their strength grew faster than male descendants. They lacked quantity, but they had quality though. Their normal females could overpower normal males easily and their strength was recognized by the other forces that inhabited that region.

Every single tribe believed that the Southern Moon Tribe was blessed by the Moon Goddess and even them themselves believed in that too. Because of that, their tribe maintained the old customs and were never willing to change them and the outsiders also never dared to directly attack them.

Being followers of the Moon Goddess too, Lya and Dacia were praying for the best, trying to find a leeway out of that predicament, even though things were not looking good for them.

However, it seemed the Moon Goddess had blessed those two women with her light and their prayers were going to be answered soon, because lying a bit ahead of them, right in their way, the perfect reason was currently peacefully staring at the skies, admiring the silver moon, while resting inside a basket.

"Lya what's that?" Dacia saw an unfamiliar object on the floor, but since it was dark, she couldn't see it properly. Despite not being weak, she was a normal werewolf and couldn't see properly in the dark.

"What?" Lya turned her head to look at her best friend, just to see her pointing towards something.

"There! There is something right there." Dacia pointed out to a basket lying some forty meters ahead of them. She felt like rushing to see what it was from up close, but she didn't go there directly, since she was carrying a few wooden sticks, she had collected from the ground. Also, that quick earthquake, had made her act a bit more cautiously.

Lya saw that object and her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, making her recognize it as a basket made out of straws. Her breathing suddenly stagnated and a different feeling started to take over her.

Normally, a person would certainly think that someone may have lost it there, forgetting to recover it after having a meal at the outside. But at that moment, her senses were screaming for her that it was not the case. As if what was inside that basket, was calling for her. But before Lya could go there, she felt something was off. Dacia had a similar sensation and she swiftly dropped the sticks she carried.

Awooo!

Awooo!

Awooooo!!!

Suddenly, they heard multiple wolves running and wailing at the same time, as if they were preparing to circle the prey, and those sounds were coming from the same direction that basket was in, albeit a bit farther.

From afar Lya, with her evolved senses, saw four wolves running at their direction at full speed. They didn't seem to be aiming for her or Dacia, but at the contents of that straw basket.

Lya was taken by a feeling of desperation and she ran at her maximum speed towards there.

The night was beautiful and there was a platinum full moon on the skies. That was the perfect night for a hunting. The wolves were at their peak of power, but she also was.

Her eyes suddenly changed to sharp yellow animal-like eyes and her nails started to become razor-like claws, sharper than knives. Her body was undergoing a partial transformation, signaling her bloodline was not common at all.