Unleash The Wolf

CW: homophobic and racial slurs. (not the opinions of the author)

"Look who it is!" Aiden's voice roared over the clearing; his presence promised a threat, and in response, my entire body tensed, preparing a reaction—I didn't know which—fight, flight, or freeze. The taste of blood was reminiscent on my tongue; my leg ached, recalling the splintering pain of our last encounter. "Someone's a brave boy coming to my patch. Didn't we make it clear that you're not welcome here already?" he asked, Gus and Kyle at his side, the other behind.

"Maybe you ought to teach him another lesson, Aid'," Gus sneered. Despite being muscled, his rotund stomach wobbled as he laughed.

"Break his other leg…" Kyle, the snivelly, weaselly-looking one of them, jeered. At his back, the other four chuckled along like high-school bullies.

"Maybe he's forgot the taste of silver already," Gus added, and my stomach seized. Memories of silver fever flooded my mind, fogging my thoughts, but they were getting closer, and I couldn't risk letting my guard down. I rearranged my shoulders, praying I could physically shrug off my fright and muster some gumption.

"I'm not here to cause trouble; I'm just here to see the kids, Aiden." Facing them head-on, I said my piece as amicably and resolutely as possible. That's when I spotted him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hayashi standing at the edge of the trees, waiting for me. Aiden's eyes followed mine, and fear bit me.

"Ho ho ho, boys, looky here," Aiden snickered, turning to face Hayashi. He hadn't put a foot in his direction when I closed the gap between me and my brother as a barrier between him and the crow. "Nate's lil' boyfriend's come callin' on him,"

Chest to chest, eyes burning, I heard myself growl before I'd put my brain in gear. "Say what you want 'bout me, but leave him outta this,"

With venom, disgusted by my reaction, he said, "Hit a nerve, did we?"

"Yeah. You did." I spat and squared up, my body fully on board with my fight reaction; I was primed to shift and rip his head off.

"Found another fag to fuck, huh?” His fangs bared. We were on the same page. Both on the dawn of releasing our wolves. If we shifted and collided, there would be a whole lot of blood and fur over the ground. “Such a small, filthy world you live in, isn't it?"

"I'll treat that comment with the contempt it deserves," I growled. Holding my head high, heat rippled off of me, and when I flexed, honing my strength, Aiden's resolve faltered. His eyes darted from mine, checking his three and nine to see if his backup was still on hand like a true coward. He knew he couldn't take me alone, even with a dicky leg. When we stood nose to nose, my wolf dwarfed his in both prowess and strength. I had over a decade as Alpha at my back; I’d honed my skills at starting and finishing fights—that was the Lycan way. Since training with Hayashi, I’d say I was more on form than ever before. "‘Sup Aid', lost your nerve?" How his nostrils flared, told me he was.

"F-Fuck off, faggot…” He gulped, “Run home to your little Japo wif—"

My hand was barely an inch from Aiden's cheek when Hayashi caught my wrist. When my brother met the black eyes of the crow, his lip quivered, shaken. But with his men at his back, he couldn't afford to lose face. While my hand was held hostage, he curled a fist and pounded it over my left cheek; the bone beneath creaked, and my jaw rattled.

"I said, Fuck. Off," he growled through gritted teeth.

Aiden started the fight, and I had every right to finish it.

***

"Can… Can you say something?" I pleaded, doing my best to keep up with his stride. He shot me a look—which was somehow worse than his silence because I couldn't read it—such an annoyingly stoic crow. "Hayashi?" Still, he kept his silence. "Please, just say something! Anything!"

"Don't raise your voice at me," he snarled, and his sharp words and gaze instantly doused my desperation to get a response.

"I… Look, I'm sorry. Would ya' jus' stop marching off an' talk t'me? I'm sorry, okay?"

"I don't want an apology, Nate,"

When the Compound wall stretched skyward in front of us, I realised we'd charged through the woodland, Northward, away from the Lycan village in the opposite direction of the Charm's nest. It didn't dawn on me why we were here until Hayashi stripped off his overcoat and sandals. Flexing his fingers and curling his toes into the undergrowth, he began a transformation I'd never witnessed in such close proximity.

A fanned display of shimmering black feathers sprouted down the length of his arms. The skin on his legs thickened into black scales, a clawed toe stretched back into the dirt from his heel, and his toes fused and lengthened into a three-forked foot. Panning my eyes up from his feet, just in time, I watched as his mouth gaped open and a black beak, like polished obsidian, grew from his cheeks and jaws. He let out a singular shrill "caw" before springing up from the ground, flapping his great wings; the gust of air he commanded blasted me, and he took flight over the Compound wall.

"Hayashi!" I called after him, to no avail; he hadn't answered before, so why would he be now? There I stood, looking around the woodland, wondering what to do. Exasperated, I huffed, "For fucks sake 'Yashi." I stripped out of my clothes, too, paying little mind to where I left them on the woodland floor. Bearing my feet against the earth, I coiled by strength and leapt up and over the wall after him, unleashing my wolf as I took flight. "Get back here!" I growled, tearing up the earth with my four paws; I hit the ground running and charged after him. Nose up in the air, I tracked his flight; I could smell the salt in the direction he was headed. I knew where we were going.

It took me a mile of hard running to catch up with him. I could see the shadow his wings cast onto the canopy and how his form disturbed the moonbeams that glittered through the gaps in the leaves. I barked up at him to get his attention. He looked down at me, under his wing, and cawed back. Somehow, there was a smile in those black eyes that looked down at me. I grinned back toothily, enthusiastically displaying all the gnarly teeth in my maw.

Being out under the moon, in my full fur, was liberating. The adrenaline that rushed through me from running, tracking and being desperate to catch him filled me with a zest I hadn't felt in so long. I felt alive!