Roja Lupa

She was to blame for this. For all of it.

Roja had come back to the pack. Not as a full fledged lupin but a full blown traitor. Willing to spill the blood of her own kin than to take from the town we leashed.

I was the first of her victims, though I wish I never came to. Roja missed the only shot in the musket she carried but I fell to the silver coated bayonet attached. It tore through my face and chest. Burned my open flesh. Acrid pain trailed down my body, as my boiling blood uprooted my white colored furs.

I couldn’t forget her face. Couldn’t forget the anger she struck me down with. Long curly hair as dark as ink framed her visage. Coal black eyes burned into my memory. She was wearing a red hood that kept her clean from my blood splatter.

I hadn’t lay a single claw on her when she moved on to my brothers and sisters. She remained untouched and unharmed on her way to the Alpha. And just as swiftly as she attacked, Roja left with her trophy. The head of our leader.

With it, there was no stopping her from becoming a true lupin. She spilled more than enough blood. And yet she remained in that disgustingly weak form. Masquerading among the common folk for safety. The head was merely a shallow ticket to freedom. She had done far more than escape, she had made enemies of us all. And the new alpha’s order was to collect her head.

There was much debate on the execution. So much so, that when I finally came around near a week later, I was subsequently volunteered to my demise. Stir her from the town by taking a child in the night. Something to force her to give chase and lead her to the rest, who lie in wait. They would pounce the traitor and get revenge. A runt she may be but a power raged within. Something unnatural that could tip the balance into a dead end’s favor. No matter. All creatures bleed red.

But I had several issues with the plan. If my normal, healthy self was no match for the witch, what was I to do as I am now? My left eye was missing along with a piece of my upper left lip. My maw had looked like a squirrel chewed it off. My torso was deformed and the way my muscles melted made my chest sink in like an airless bubble. My spine was left crooked from the blow and the acidic blood cut through all the cartilage in my lower back. My survival from the silver was nothing short of a miracle, but what use does a pack have for an injured wolf?

Alas my concerns were met with deaf ears and threats. If I could not stir her then my death would surely serve to gauge her whilst the rest watch. The pack had one need of me and I was to serve to the best of my ability.

The town Roja betrayed us for was barely a day’s walk away. It was me and two others. Young lupins who belonged to the new Alpha. They preferred the child alive as to keep the hope of rescue. It should be easy. The human pups are left alone so often even witches snatch them. All I needed was one.

Upon arrival, a party was in full swing. Lively music played for the dancing people. So many gathered around the piked head of the Alpha. His jaw hinged open and tongue splayed out. I would have been angry but what was left of my fur bristled as the smooth skin grew goosebumps. My padded paw drew over the skin. An odd sensation. I wasn’t sure if I was cold or being watched. The others must have felt it too and chose to hang back.

As I crept further through the woods, ducking into the cover of trees and bushes, the feeling remained. The fur around my neck and knuckles raised further like I was entering the den of a slumbering dragon. Dread dripping like drool along my crooked spine. It had been a while since I felt this fear. This constant sense of danger with no source.

That wasn’t completely true. There was a source. It was uncertainty. Roja’s scent was all over the town and the woods but she was nowhere to be seen. Like she wasn’t in town at all. Even if I did manage to take a child, would it be for nothing?

I had come to the edge of a bank where a gaggle of children played. Skipping rocks and playing tag. Perfect. I’ll nab the one that blinded himself. He’s small and round. I can pluck him with ease without it hurting my back.

My fur bristled once more but I allow it to wash over me. The water was cold as I wade through. I stop behind a curtain of leaves and vines where the water reached up to my knee. I wait in silence and shadow. The orange and purples of the sky tell me the sun is leaving. Soon I can finally prey.

Something brushed against my leg. I ignored it but could no longer when it bobbed into my view. A head. A lupin head. One of the whelps left to scout. My eyes grew wide as the danger became real. As real as the grip around the back of my neck. Claw tips broke skin at my throat. And the lump I tried to swallow couldn’t go down.

“Blanco,” breathed the tower behind me. “Do you like my new form.”

I went stiff. As if lightning went through me. I didn’t want to look up but I had no choice. The greater beast curled me into them so I could see. My face flush against their red cloak that did little to cover the lupin underneath. They were draped in golden red fur. Their height beyond my own by several feet. Their mass matched a ferocious grizzly. But those eyes. I knew those eyes.

“Roja? Is that you?”

“You couldn’t smell me, could you? They couldn’t either,” she said as her other hand dropped a head into the water. “I do like the view from up here.”

I gasped, unable to fight the mounting fears within me. “Mercy.”

A laugh rumbled up from Roja’s chest. “I may have use for you. We can be family again. From one abandoned sister to an abandoned brother.”