Attack

The world was blurry when she opened her eyes again. All the dark colors were mushed together and nothing really looked like anything. Her body was moving. She didn't have any control and it felt strange. A familiar kind of strange. A good kind of strange. She looked down and smiled when she saw her paws. Her wolf form felt more like her than her human form.

Lupita's head turned in the direction of a small whimper. It didn't take long before she what made it as she saw a small figure laying in the grass currently looking at her with big, scared amber eyes.

'Let me get some control,' Lupita told her wolf, and surprisingly she let her see and move immediately.

Lupita walked over to the small wolf and nuzzled her nose into their neck to pick up their scent. It was Jazmyn. Now that Lupita had fully transformed and stood beside Jazmyn, she realized how much bigger she was than her. She always knew she was big, but Jazmyn looked like a puppy compared to her.

Jazmyn's wolf whimpered and moved away from Lupita. Instead of following, Lupita laid down and began to lick her paws. Or, her wolf began to lock their paws while Lupita managed their surroundings and kept an eye on Jazmyn who was slowly coming to her senses. When she did, she slowly walked over to Lupita, and began to stick her nose in her fur. Lupita smiled as Jazmyn's entire muzzle disappeared into her neck.

Lupita let out a small growl and pushed Jazmyn slightly so she stood in front of her. Jazmyn's entire body trembled with fear so Lupita quickly licked her nose before she put her head down to try and give Jazmyn some sense of security. Jazmyn slowly calmed down and began sniffing her face. Lupita let her and slowly, Jazmyn got more comfortable around her, walking around her giant body and even getting as far as to biting her ear, which made Lupita let out a playful growl and a wolfish smile.

The night progressed incredibly slowly. Jazmyn was high energy all the time and Lupita was focused on their surroundings, still getting the feeling of being watched. North not having arrived also concerned her. It wasn't like the white wolf to be late. Jazmyn seemed to not have a care in the world and happily ran around, catching an occasional moth or just rolling around in the grass.

Every time Lupita turned her head, she could feel eyes on her. She looked at Jazmyn, something in the dark was too; She looked at a random tree, eyes peered on the side of her head. The hairs on her back slowly began to raise, and her mane of fur started to puff up. Her claws made indents in the ground and her muscles tensed with every sound or movement. Her nose wrinkled without her realizing and a growl laid in her chest, waiting for the right opportunity to come out.

Eventually, the feeling of peering eyes became too much to bear and Lupita stood up and began to stand up. The second she was on all fours, a strong stench entered her nose – like left out meat, sweet but rotten and sour – and a black figure shot out of the dark forest. It was coming for her neck, yellow teeth bared, saliva dripping from its maw and dirty claws out, ready for the kill.

Lupita quickly moved out of the way of the deadly creature, caught it by the neck and bit down as hard as she could. It didn't even get a chance to fight back or try to wiggle for freedom before it went limp in her jaws.

When she let it drop, she could clearly see what it was.

A rogue.

It had shaggy and unkempt fur and Lupita was almost certain their original color of fur was not black. Its ears were torn and there was only half of their tail remaining. It was full of scars and other dirt mingled with dried blood. A disgusting creature.

Jazmyn immediately came over to her and peeked at the rouge from between Lupita's legs. She sniffed the dear rouge and slowly walked back, still hiding under Lupita. She trembled and cautiously looked up at Lupita, fear evident in her eyes at how easily she had killed the creature.

Lupita sniffed the air and looked around – not trying to comfort Jazmyn after what she witnessed, she would do that when she knew they were safe. Yellow eyes slowly began to appear in the dark and Lupita's own began to glow an icy blue. She quickly picked Jazmyn up by her neck – careful not to hurt the small creature – and began to run. A howl sounded behind her and soon after followed many thumps on the ground behind her.

The more they ran the more her wolf started to push and drag at her to try and get her back in the mindspace and away from danger, but Lupita had a steel grip and refused to leave her side.

'We are doing this together whether you like it or not,' she growled and her wolf stopped pushing at her, but kept her behind her. Her wolf didn't want her to fight, and having her there was more of a distraction than anything, but she would have work around i-

'Duck!!' Lupita shouted and her wolf just managed to dodge the flying rouge that came their way. It slammed into a tree and was knocked out cold. Rouges weren't known for being smart.

The large wolf looked around for a place to hide the small, trembling wolf still safe in her jaws. She spotted a large tree, quickly climbed up a few meters, and placed Jazmyn down on a branch. She took the time to breathe and gather her strength and checked Jazmyn for injuries. She was safe. They let out a sigh and licked Jazmyn's neck, trying to calm the trembling wolf.

Just as Jazmyn was beginning to calm down Lupita felt a piercing pain in her right leg and she was dragged down from the tree. When she looked down she saw about 15 wolves on the ground, all of them jumping and trying to reach her. Most of them were foaming at the mouth as they jumped up and clawed at the tree or bit the branches, but none of them managed to get to her or Jazmyn. She scanned more and found one having a firm grip on her ankle, most likely why she was in pain. None of them seemed to be good climber's though, as they would all fall the second they got a grip on the tree, if they got any at all.

With one last glance at a terrified Jazmyn, Lupita let go of the tree and let herself drop, successfully smashing into several of the wolves, but she also managed to land hard on her side causing her whole right leg to erupt in pain. She wasn't able to get up fast enough and she was quickly swarmed with the dirty creatures. As soon as they were on top of her, she could feel teeth dig into her skin and claws dragging at it. Luckily none had gotten to her throat… yet.

Lupita finally managed to stand up and shook her entire body. The pain didn't stop and she quickly took the closest wolf on her body by the neck and threw it off while dodging another that was going for her head. She shook her body to get rid of the other ones, but some still had a firm grip on her, and the ones she did manage to shake off, brought some pieces of her with them.

Another wolf latched onto her left leg and began to chew and scratch at her. And with that, she could no longer use her front legs. She took the wolf by the neck, but something latched onto her neck causing her to let go of it while roaring into the night as blood poured out of her neck from where the small wolf was still latched on.

She spotted a tree and rammed herself into it. One, two, three, four times. The wolf managed to switch sides after the fourth one, barely conscious but conscious enough to drag his teeth and claws so her neck began to bleed even more.

The world was slowly starting to get blurry as more and more wolves piled on top of her. She killed a few here and there, and didn't understand how there was more. The same wolf still had a steel grip on her neck and the other still didn't let go of her leg. New wolves latched onto her, but they weren't as strong and it was easy to shake them off, but her body was getting weaker.

Her front legs ached and she could barely stand, her neck pounded as the wolf tried its best to kill her by adding more and more pressure. Wolves kept scratching and biting everywhere on her body. Her legs could barely hold her anymore. Her eyes became droopy and her throat got clogged with blood as the pressure on her neck increased.

A howl sounded in the distance and a flash of white passed her line of sight, followed by a glowling, orange ball.

The pressure on her neck was suddenly gone, but the pain wasn't. As soon as her foot felt free, she fell to the floor and began to whimper and pant. A whet snout poked at her chin, but she didn't have the energy to look up at North as they tried desperately to get a reaction out of her.

"Lupi? You good?" a voice said and Lupita opened her eyes to see Valeria crouched down in front of her with a worried look and glowing eyes. "I really wish I would heal you, I do," she said and her voice broke as golden tears slid down her cheeks. "I am sorry for being weak," she whispered and Lupita huffed and barely managed to touch the girl's knee with her snout.

North began licking her wounds, and Jazmyn was suddenly beside her, worriedly licking her snout from where she had gotten a scratch. She let out a small hum and closed her eyes, not having the energy to hold them up any longer.

She could sense the panic around her; the wind ruffling her fur; North's licks suddenly stopping. And then…

Nothing.