A Werewolf Fantasy

The commotion outside drew Erin's attention and intruded on her sulking. She had spent the last couple of minutes ruminating on how she would give Danshak a piece of her mind when he returned to the tent. As she brushed her hair in preparation to retire for the night, she thought she heard wild dogs barking, and men screaming. What could be going on out there? Should go outside and see for herself or was it safer for her to wait for her husband to return and tell her what the noise was about?

When she heard her father-in-law's voice, asking what was going on, Erin knew she couldn't just sit in the tent and wait for secondhand feedback about what was happening outside, she had to go and see it for herself. She got off the sleeping mat and ran to the entrance of the tent to lift the flap. To her horror, she saw a pack of strange-looking black werewolves, making a mad dash to the front of the longhouse where the Prime Alpha stood with a bewildered expression on his face.

She saw Danshak running after the beasts and then he shape shifted into a huge grey wolf in an attempt to gain speed and catch up with the invaders.

"No!" Erin screamed the moment the beasts pounced on Vak and the Prime Alpha seemed to disappear in a cloud of black fur and bloody fangs.

Everything went crazy at that point as the warriors inside the longhouse and Danshak and the guards joined the fray to wrestle with the beasts. By now, everyone in the camp was awake and scurrying about for safety. "Come, Edvana. Let's go and hide in the woods," said Seisa who suddenly appeared beside Erin.

"Hide? My family is being attacked by strange creatures and you're telling me to hide?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do for them right now, and I am very concerned for your safety. Come on, let's go."

The urgency in Seisa's voice grated on Erin's nerves. The girl didn't seem to get it - once those beasts were done with devouring the Smallchief family, they would come after the rest of them.

Besides, she was not just going to run and hide like a coward when her mate would probably be killed in this mad invasion if she didn't do anything to help him. She may not like the guy, but she wasn't cruel enough to just hang back and watched him mauled to death by invaders.

Ignoring her maid's pleas, Erin ran towards the longhouse, shapeshifting into a huge brown wolf on the way. She didn't know what she would do when she got to the spot of the attack, but she just kept going.

As she neared the fracas, one of the black beasts fell to the ground, dead. It had been bitten in multiple places and blood was oozing out of the wounds. And then another one followed the first, and another, and another until she could see through the haze of black furs and see the warriors and her family, fighting to kill off the intruders.

She noted with relief that the beasts were now outnumbered by the warriors, and finally, they all lay dead at the entrance of the longhouse. The black beats were six in total, but they had seemed like a legion just a few moments ago. "Is everyone all right?" she asked, panting.Content rights belong to NôvelDrama.Org.

"Edvana, my dear. You should not be here," said Vak Smallchief. He was now in werewolf form, a giant white and grey wolf with its muzzle covered in blood.

"I was terrified when I saw these black creatures coming at you like that. I couldn't just stand back and watch without helping out," she explained.

"That was very kind of you, dear," said Olna Raven, now a majestic-looking wolf with honey-colored fur. Erin had expected her mother-in-law would have black fur, judging by her name, but this coloring suited her best because it bore a close resemblance to her human form.

"You should have stayed back in the tent or joined the others who went into hiding. You could have been hurt if things had turned out differently," said Danshak.

"You heard the she-wolf. She only came out here to help," countered Zanisck.

"Of course, you would defend her," Danshak shot back hotly.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" his brother asked with bared fangs.

"This is not the time to quarrel, boys," said Vak. "We have a more serious matter to look into right now. First of all, what kind of creatures are these? They do not quite look like us."

"I suspect that they are Nikjin's minions," said Monah, the general of Vak's warriors. "From the little intelligence that I have been able to gather from my spies, your brother's army of evil werewolves is a distorted version of our kind." Vak sighed. "I thought that the rumors were just embellished to scare us, but it seems like they may be true. These beasts have unnatural strength and if it had not been for our numbers, they could have overpowered us and killed us all." "You are right, Father," said Weruona. "We barely survived by the skin of our teeth. At least we now know what we are up against."

"When I saw them earlier, I thought they were torches shining in the distance," said Danshak. "But as they drew closer, I realized that there was no smoke following the flames, and then they pounced on the guards so suddenly, I barely had time to react."

"You saw them before they attacked?" asked Vak, intrigued.

"Yes. I was sitting underneath a tree at the edge of the camp when they approached.'

"Why were you outside?" his mother wanted to know. "Did you not say you were going to bed when you left us in the longhouse?"

There was an awkward silence as all eyes turned to Danshak, waiting for his response.

"I told him to fetch me my little box from the wagon," said Erin, trying to rescue her mate from embarrassment. "I wasn't sure if my maid was still awake at that time, so I begged Danshak to help me get the box because I needed to use one of the things in it."

"Welcome to the world of running errands, my brother," said Weruona with a laugh. "Now, back to these creatures. What do we do with them?"

"More importantly, how did they find us?" asked Monah. "Do you think they simply stumbled across our camp or were they following us?"

"It is had to tell," Vak admitted. "I still find it hard to believe that my blood brother wants me dead just to get a title."

"It is more than a title, my love," said Olna Raven. "It is about power and becoming the Prime Alpha and supreme leader of all werewolves. As long as you are alive, he will never attain that position of power that he craves so much." "And I have a feeling that he will not stop there," said Zanisck. "If he ever succeeds in killing you, he will come after us, your sons. He will not stop until he has conquered every possible opposition."

"At this juncture, I think we should continue the rest of our journey home as werewolves," Weruona suggested. "Now that we know that we are being followed, it is best if we remain in this form rather than in our vulnerable human form." "I agree," said Monah.

Vak sighed. "We were traveling in human form for the benefit of the humans around us whom we encounter along the way. Not many of them have seen us in werewolf form and I do not want to frighten them."

"I understand that, but we also need to consider our safety now," Monah insisted. "Once Nikjin realizes that we have survived this onslaught, he will try again and we must be prepared when that happens." "Then it is decided," Vak conceded. "What do we do about these carcasses?"

"Burn them," said Olna Raven. "If they have spiritual powers as we suspect, then it will not be surprising if they have the power to rise from the dead."

Erin felt the skin under her fur prickle at her mother-in-law's words. These beasts were definitely not ordinary werewolves, judging by how fast they were and the way they barked like dogs. It wouldn't be all that surprising if they rose from the dead like zombies and attacked everyone in the camp again.

Monah instructed his men to round up the dead invaders and burn their remains at the back of the camp, while the two guards who were killed earlier were to be buried in the woods. Everyone in the camp began to pack up their things in preparation for the next phase of the trip.

Erin returned to her tent and changed into her human form to make it easier for her to gather all of her stuff. She was so engrossed in her packing that she didn't hear Danshak coming into the enclosure.

"What a sight to behold," he said in a low voice that sounded as if he was awestruck.

Erin turned around to find her husband still in wolf form, staring at her as if she was the goddess of beauty. She wasn't going to lie, it was flattering to see this guy who had spent the last 24 hours criticizing her, now looking at her as if she was the most beautiful creature alive.

Was he going to make a move or would he just stand there and continue to stare at her as if he had never seen a naked female before.

"At some point, you will have to stop teasing me," said Danshak. "I do not understand this game you are playing with me, but you know it cannot go on forever."

"I am not playing games with you," said Erin passionately.

"No?"

"No."

"Then prove it."

It was a challenge and Erin had been expecting it. She dropped the quilted fur she had been holding in her hand and she strutted purposefully towards her mate.